Cash was jumping perfectly, the course was riding beautifully, just as I planned, and everything was falling into place for this round. As I came around the corner to the final jump, I knew we were going to go clean. Cash’s ears pricked forward when he saw the jump I was aiming him toward, and once I got him down to the perfect distance, he fired off the ground, leaving plenty of space between him and the jump. The entire arena was silent as we soared through the air. Once we landed off the final jump, all of the jumps were still standing with plenty of time to spare, and the crowd erupted. “And we have a jump-off tonight, folks!” the announcer yelled over the speakers. Only one other rider had gone clean thus far. We still had eleven horses left to go, but this course was difficult, so even with that, I didn’t think we would have many in the jump-off.
I made my way out of the ingate, and Ava was standing there with a massive smile taking up half her face. Once I reached her, she held Cash’s reins while I hopped off, and she immediately pulled me into a hug. “Fuck yeah, Adds! That round was incredible. Y'all looked unreal!”
I pulled back to look at her and couldn’t wipe the smile from my own face. “He felt amazing!” I patted Cash’s neck and pulled a peppermint out of my pocket, handing it to him. “I couldn’t have asked for a better ride out of him tonight.”
Ava rubbed Cash’s face. “You were pretty incredible too, Adds. That one turn you made to cut off some time was beautiful, and you lined him up so well to that outside line that everyone else had trouble with.”
We continued to discuss the highlights of the course as we took Cash back to the barn to let him take a break and cool off before the jump-off. Once we got Cash settled, Ava walked back to the arena with me to look at the course for the jump-off and watch the rest of the competitors. I purposely avoided going to the stands to see my family, friends, and clients because I needed to stay focused. This wasn’t over just yet.
“I think I should make an inside cut here from jump three to four. Then gallop around this jump to get to jump six. I think that inside turn would be too risky for us, since Cash tends to fall in on the right side.”
Ava nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I totally agree. I think some will try that turn, but the angle has you jumping practically into the wall if you don’t get it just right. If you don’t line that up perfectly, the horse won’t know where they’re going.”
Once I had my plan of attack for the jump-off, I watched the final riders go. Only three more made it into the jump-off, which was no surprise, leaving five total riders to compete for the win. I walked back to get on Cash, since jump-offs went quick, and I was going last.
I rode around a little bit in the warm-up ring to let Cash loosen back up and jumped only a couple of jumps, not wanting to tire him out too much. The first three riders went, and so far, two had gone clean with pretty decent times. No one had attempted to execute the difficult inside turn that I was planning to also avoid.
I walked Cash back up to the ring to wait on deck and watchthe final rider before me go. They were having a great round so far. All the jumps were still up, and they were moving fast. If they stayed clean, they would be in the lead. They came off the fifth jump and shockingly took the risky inside cut to the final jump that no one had yet to try, and as Ava predicted, the angle was off, making it look like they were jumping into the wall, completely confusing the horse. The horse turned out away from the jump, refusing the obstacle, which resulted in four faults. The rider brought the horse back around and lined up properly for the jump, clearing it without issue.
I looked down at Ava as she shook her head. “Can’t say I didn’t see that coming.” She looked up at me and squeezed my boot. “Good luck, sis. Go kick some ass.”
I nodded and trotted out into the arena. The announcer once again introduced me and Cash to the crowd and ran through the time to beat for the win. It was a good time, but not impossible to beat. Cash was fast.
The buzzer sounded, and I immediately pushed Cash into a canter, letting him pick up speed. He knew his job. We cleared the first two jumps without issue. I came around to jump three and angled Cash in a way that would make the inside turn I wanted to take easier for him, shaving off as much time as possible. He landed off jump three, and I rolled him through the turn. He was right there with me, making the cut even tighter than I originally planned. We had two more jumps to go, and you could hear a pin drop, the arena was that silent. Cash cleared jump five, and I opted for my original plan of going around versus turning inside one of the other jumps toapproach jump six. I galloped Cash around the jump through the corner quickly, making my way to the final jump. Cash cleared it with ease, and when I landed and galloped across the finish line, I turned my head quickly to look at the large scoreboard for my time.
My time flashed on the screen, and I had beat the leader by 0.5 seconds. I won the Grand Prix! The crowd was loud as the announcer declared me the winner of tonight’s Prix, and I threw my body onto Cash’s neck, patting and rubbing him excitedly. My family, friends, and clients were on their feet, screaming and hugging.
They presented ribbons to the top eight riders, placed a large first-place blue sash around Cash’s neck, and handed me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. After we took some pictures, the top three riders participated in a victory gallop around the ring that Cash and I led. It felt incredible to be back at the top again, and now I really felt excited to get to Wellington to compete.
Everyone was waiting for me back at the stalls, and Ava took Cash from me to get him untacked and settled for the night. It had taken me a minute to get back because of several trainers and fellow competitors stopping me to congratulate me.
My mom and dad both engulfed me in an enormous hug. “Sweetie, that was amazing. We’re so proud of you! Y'all looked great.” My mom was beaming.
“Adds, that was a hell of a ride. I videoed it for your brothers.” My dad held up his phone to show me. “They both said to tell you congratulations and to call them tomorrow.”
Harper and Archer were next to hug me. “Wow, Addi, justwow!” was all Harper could manage to say. I chuckled and wrapped her in a tight hug.
“That was awesome to see, Addison. I don’t know shit about this sport, but you and that horse are impressive as hell.” Archer smiled as he wrapped his arm around Harper.
After more hugs and congratulations from all of my clients that had stuck around to watch, I felt myself coming down off the high of winning, and I felt a bone-deep exhaustion take hold. It was getting late in the evening, so everyone left pretty quickly, either to head back to Primrose Hill, to their hotels to rest for tomorrow, or, in Harper and Archer’s case, to fly back to Boston, leaving just me and Ava to put the horses to bed for the night.
I stripped off my show jacket, helmet, and gloves before rolling up the sleeves of my show shirt and putting a baseball cap over my helmet hair. I released a deep exhale and looked at myself in the mirror. I just won the Grand Prix against a great group of riders after being off for almost eight months. I should be ecstatic, but the face looking back at me wasn’t smiling. I looked sad, and I felt it too.
Coming off that final jump, knowing I won, all I could see was Dean. I even found myself scanning the crowd, desperately hoping to find him there. As if the universe was trying to play a sick joke, I swear I saw a flash of his dark hair and broad shoulders making their way down one of the stairwells. All I wanted to do was call him to tell him that I won, or better yet, to have seen him in the crowd with my family.
I shook my head, trying to dispel all thoughts of Dean and thesadness that came with them, and made my way out of the tack room. Ava approached and threw her arm over my shoulder. “Let’s get the horses taken care of for the night, and then you and I are going to do something a little old-school—grab a six-pack of beer, some Whataburger, and celebrate in our hotel room in our pajamas like we used to do after a great horse show day when we were teenagers…well minus the beer part.”
I chuckled and nodded. “That sounds perfect. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 26
Dean
Ithadbeenseveralweeks since I spoke to my parents about everything with Noah when my father called to tell me that he was sending the plane to pick me up to come to his office in California. So that was where I was now, taking the elevator up to the floor that housed all the executives’ offices for VRA Media.
Luckily, Grant and Lottie were able to cover me. Grant was going to handle the farm calls, while Lottie would handle all the office visits.I should really gift them with an all-expenses-paid vacation, I thought to myself as the elevator pinged, signaling that I had arrived at my floor. When the doors opened, I made my way down the long hall toward my father’s office.
My father’s longtime assistant, Dora, looked up from her computer as I approached, and a warm smile spread across her face. She quickly pushed up out of her chair and came around her desk to greet me with a giant hug. “Dean! Oh my goodness, I haven’t seen you in forever. How’s everything going with your practice? Your father is so proud of you. He talks about it all the time.”
