She took her position in the stall.
Her dad was welcoming the crowd. The first team of horses would ride out for the national anthem and “God Bless America,” and then her dad would introduce West and her.
She waited, keeping the reins taut, adrenaline making her hands sweaty.
But this was something she knew how to do. Well.
Last night she had done something totally out of her comfort zone.
Last night she had done Flynn.
She smiled softly.
“Head out of the clouds,” West said, his eyes severe and blue through the slats of the stall.
She stuck her tongue out at him. But she heeded his admonishment. They were great at what they did, but there was a high level of skill involved.
She probably shouldn’t be fantasizing about her fake boyfriend.
Was he her real boyfriend because they’d had sex?
She swallowed hard.
She didn’t think so.
Because there was no future for them.
There couldn’t be.
He was Flynn, and she was … just trying to figure herself out.
One thing at a time. And if she won the election, that was going to be a big thing to figure out.
She shrugged off her worries and listened to the music. Let the familiar anthem wash over her. For better or worse, this was her life. This was what had made her.
Very quickly, the moment of uncertainty passed.
And she was being announced.
“And before the lady knew it, her horse was running away.”
On cue, the gate opened, and Jessie burst out on the back of her horse. Running full tilt through the arena. She started her acrobaticroutine, hanging upside down. For some reason it brought back memories of Flynn. Flynn’s hands. The euphoria she felt. But the memories didn’t distract her from what she was doing. Far from it. They made everything feel electrified.
She felt more in touch with every part of her body. Was aware of every muscle as she moved on the back of the horse.
She felt … beautiful. Maybe it was just because she knew Flynn was watching. But it was an extraordinary feeling.
She still felt all the adrenaline she was used to. But there was something else she had never felt before.
As she moved into the last trick, just before West was supposed to ride up beside her, she realized what it was.
She was in her own body. She was herself.
She wasn’t hiding. She wasn’t conscious of needing to look a certain way. Just being herself felt like enough.
She hadn’t even thought about her mask. Hadn’t thought about looking confident, looking at ease. She hadn’t thought about projecting a thing. She had only thought about her movements. The way she felt. How happy she was to be doing the routine, and how much it suited her.
“I’ll save you!” West shouted, and she pulled up into position, leaping from her mount to his, right behind his saddle, where she stood up and waved to the crowd as they did a final circuit. Her horse ran back into her stable, and she and West went back into his.
