“Okay, first, who is ‘them’?”
“Naomi Alcott, she’s the one that inherited Double A from her grandparents. Cole Mercury, he’s been that ranch manager for at least the last forty years, and Patrick Clemmons, who everyone refers to as Clem.”
“I don’t know if I know those people.”
“Okay, do you follow rodeo riding?”
“A little, not much, what does that have to do with anything?”
“Almost a decade ago, Naomi was the top female barrel racer.”
“Holy shit, I thought she died. Didn’t her horse trip and fall on her? I was at that rodeo. I saw her being loaded onto the stretcher. Holy shit, sorry for swearing, but wasn’t it her father who yelled at her and disowned her as she was being put into the ambulance? You’re saying she’s alive?”
“Yes on all counts. Patrick Clemmons was her rodeo manager when she ran the circuit. Cole Mercury stayed back to take care of the racehorses. Her father is in jail, that’s a gigantic story that’s still being worked on, but has nothing to do with us reaching out to you to see if you could come for an interview.”
“Where are you located if you still have snow on the ground?” She stood and went over to her window to look out at her small lawn in her Kentucky home.
“We’re in Colorado, basically in the middle of nowhere.”
“What’s the nearest town?”
“Fool’s Gold. We’re an hour east of there, three hours south of Denver, and roughly an hour and a half west of Colorado Springs.”
“Okay, give me your address, and I can be there in two days.”
“Make it three, and you’re going to want to pull into the ranch named Erin’s Way. Trust me, you’ll learn all about it when you come for the interview. I look forward to meeting you inperson, Faith. Oh, and in case you have any doubts, you were number one on Naomi’s list.”
“Thank you,” Faith said softly. They hung up, and as soon as she looked at the address, she looked it up on Google Earth and nodded when she saw that it was indeed in the middle of nowhere. She sat there sipping her cooling coffee, unsure of what to make of the phone call. She had been a jockey since she was eighteen-years-old. She now was thirty-eight, and though she was in tip top shape, it was still a male dominated world, and a lot of horse trainers refused to hire her, or even give her a chance. Several of them had used the term,‘long in the tooth’when talking to her. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, she researched the name of the ranches she’d written down, and hours later sat back with a mind made of mush.
“Damn,” she whispered to the empty room, then winced when she sipped her ice cold coffee. She refilled it, then stood there in her kitchen with her eyes closed, trying to picture the actual ranch she might be working on. With a full body shake, she went back to her computer to get the directions, and figured that it take roughly eighteen hours, so she would make the trip in two days. She would go up to her room and slowly pack and wait until after the interview to see if she could find a hotel room. If she wasn’t hired on the spot, or if she felt she was being placated she would grab a hotel room, nurse her sorrows for the night, then slowly make her way back home to put out more feelers. Just because she was thirty-eight, it didn’t mean she was ready to retire. As long as she was fit, and within the height and weight restrictions she was golden.
Being only five foot put her well within the qualifying height category, and she’d been at her one hundred and five pounds for the last twenty years, and didn’t plan on gaining any weight soon, so she was good there. She paused on her way to her bedroom and scowled.
“I wonder who their trainer is?” she asked the empty house, not expecting a response. Three hours later, she was packed to head out first thing in the morning. To release her nervous energy, she ended up cleaning her entire house from top to bottom, and when she fell into bed that night, it was with happy exhaustion and great hope in her heart that this interview would be what she had been waiting for.
CHAPTER 3
Five days later,Faith pulled her small truck beneath the sign that said she had reached Erin’s Way and sighed in relief. She had been delayed by two days because of a freak storm, and had to pull over. She’d called Naomi Alcott, and had been told to stay where she was, and not endanger herself with the weather. She was now at her destination, and nodded as she slowed to take a ninety-degree turn. Further down, she slammed on her brakes and stared in utter shock at the barns, and vehicles parked near it. The barns were extremely impressive. She hoped she’d get the job, just working in those barns alone would make her feel good.
She pulled forward and ended up parking at the end of a line of vehicles and pulled up next to one the same size as hers, but red, instead of her own hunter green one. She shut everything down, looked around, and for the first time in ages, butterflies starting fluttering in her stomach. She didn’t know whether it was excitement or dread. She closed her eyes, and processed the feeling. When she opened them, she had a smile on her face. These were the type of butterflies she always had before she had a race, and ended up winning it.
She reached over for her jacket, she didn’t like to drive with it on, and instead of putting it on inside the cab of the truck,she stepped out, donned it, and pulled on her gloves. She looked around and cocked her head to the side when she spotted several horses in a barn.
“What the hell?” She started to walk forward, but a man came out of one of the barns and approached.
“Help you?”
“I’m here for Naomi Alcott.”
“Are you Faith Webber?”
“I am, and you?”
“I’m Duane Manchester, I’m head of security for Erin Riceman.” At her look he invited her to follow him to his office, and he sent a text as he did. Inside his office he looked at her with a grin. “You look confused.” He offered her something to drink, but she declined, knowing she was nervous because the horses she spotted were no way in hell racehorses. She wondered if she was being punked or something. She looked up when someone entered, and stared in shock when she immediately recognized the woman. She was older, but she recognized her.
“You’re alive!” Faith responded in shocked awe.
“I am,” the woman laughed as she approached with her hand extended. They shook and Naomi introduced herself, “Naomi Alcott.”
