“I guess that’s a good thing.”
“That’s a great thing,” Naomi said. “Follow me over to New Double and I’ll explain more.” They quickly left and practically ran to their vehicles to get away from the biting wind and swirling snow.
CHAPTER 4
Faith parkedwhen someone pointed to, and hurried out of her truck to follow Naomi into the barn. They shook to try to warm up, and Faith nodded when she saw how clean and organized the barn was.
“Faith, this is my ranch manager, Cole Mercury. He runs this place while I run Broken. Eventually, I’ll probably take over the running of this place, but I trust Cole implicitly with everything. As I said, we have twenty-nine horses here.”
“Do you have trainers?”
“No, and before we go any further, I’m interviewing you for a weird position.”
“Which is?”
Cole spoke then after handing out cups of coffee. Faith took one this time, since her nerves had calmed down.
“We would like you to be the resident jockey for New Double.”
Faith reached out and gripped the desk she sat before. After shaking her head several times, she looked between the two, and didn’t see any grins, or expression of being punked.
“Excuse me?”
“You know how the race world works, you have a horse, an owner, a trainer, and a jockey for just one horse. The only thing we have are the horses, and the owner. That’s Naomi, I’m just the ranch manager. We have twelve horses ready to be run, along with twelve ready for potential buyers.”
“Do you have buyers for them?”
“Sort of,” Naomi said with a sigh. “They are showing interest, but until we can give them stats, they’re holding off even sending their trainer to look at them. Right now, they are only seeing them on our website.”
“Ah, and you want me to run them to get those stats?”
“Correct. I would like the new hire to work with you. He’s a great guy, but he’s a little green when it comes to horses. I thought if you worked with him about what the stats are, the timing, and what to look for while you’re out on the track, he could catch on. Like I said, he’s a great guy, but doesn’t know horses.”
“Why did you hire him?”
“Because he came highly recommended by another worker here. I don’t know if you talked to Erin yet?”
“No,” Naomi said, and turned to Faith. “She’s the woman that started all this.”
“That’s right, what about her?”
“Erin believes in giving people a chance. Shay, the new hire, worked in the military for twenty years before retiring. He doesn’t have any family, and two of his previous teammates work for Erin. Well, one for Erin, and one for Naomi. They invited him here to learn about horses. Also, New Double isn’t struggling in funds, or horses, the only thing we’re struggling in right now is physical people to help.”
They looked at her and saw she was processing everything, and Naomi spoke, “Before you say anything, there’s one more thing you need to know.”
“Which is?”
“First, with you being our resident head jockey, there might not be a chance you can run in a race. However, we have a horse that a buyer is interested in, but again, with no stats, he’s not willing to commit.”
“Okay, I can understand that. What aren’t you telling me?”
Naomi and Cole exchanged looks and both sighed heavily. Cole leaned forward in his chair and placed his clasped hands on the desk. “We don’t want to sell him. We want to keep him for ourselves, and your job, if you accept it, will be to not only be the head jockey, but in your spare time, you will be the sole jockey for this particular horse.” He exchanged looks with Naomi, and turned back to her. “We know the new guy isn’t good with horses, yet, but we also want you to talk to him, and train him on how to be a trainer.”
“Is there any written contract between you and this potential buyer?” Faith asked in concern.
“No, and no verbal one. He contacted us stating interest, but no commitment until he knew his stats. We have not run him yet. He’s just come of the age that he can take training and racing seriously.”
“Who is it? Have I heard of this horse before?”
