“Whatever.” Linden swings his horse round and rides off the field. Andrés goes to follow him but I catch his arm.
“Leave him, he won’t listen to anything we have to say right now. Let him stew for a bit and then he’ll calm down.”
I make a fuss of Merlin as I hand him over to Alfie. He did well. Charley joins me at the UTV while we wait for Andrés. We just have time to go to the cottage for a shower before heading back to the centre to make sure everything goes well this afternoon.
“What was that all about?” Charley asks.
“Xander was at school with us. He mostly played rugby, more in Ru’s set than mine. I don’t know why, but he and Linden hated each other back then. I guess old grudges haven’t died.”
“I hope he doesn’t cause any trouble, either of them,” Charley says as Andrés arrives and climbs into the UTV. I hope so too. It’s not like Linden, but then, as far as I’m aware he’s never hated anyone as much as Xander. Maybe we’ll just have to keep them separate for the rest of the weekend.
The rest of the day passes without incident. Linden appears and acts like nothing happened, except for looking round more often.I don’t see any sign of Xander, though, which is a relief. At the end of the afternoon we publish the results of the first day. We’re lying in third, which isn’t bad for our first game as a team.
Charley is awake and out of bed even earlier the next morning. We didn’t do anything except eat and fall into bed exhausted last night. I curled round him as usual and fell asleep almost immediately.
When I’ve showered and dressed I make a quick trip into the village, to Perks and Pastries, and get him a special coffee. When I get back I find him in his office running through his lists of things to do. I place the cup on his desk, along with the paper bag with a cinnamon swirl in it. He tears his eyes from his screen and looks at the cup as if it takes him a minute for it to register in his brain. A slow smile spreads across his face and he looks up at me. His eyes sparkle with silvery flecks and his freckles look like a dusting of gold. Fetching it for him was worth it, just for that look alone.
“I really need some liquid gold right now.” he says, but he doesn’t take a drink immediately. First he stands and comes round to the front of the desk and slips his arms round me. “Thank you, Gabby. It means a lot that you thought of me.”
“You’re welcome.” I smile and kiss his nose.
“Now, I have to get back to work, but I know today is going to be as good as yesterday.” He leans his head on my chest for a minute.
“I’m looking forward to having you to myself after the awards ball tonight.” I rub my hands up and down his back.
“Yes, me too, but promise me that tomorrow I can sleep all day.”
“I promise,” I say and he pulls back, and then as if he changes his mind, he rushes forward for a quick kiss. “I’ll let you get back to work, but remember, our match is at two this afternoon.”
“I won’t forget,” he says, picking up his coffee and taking a sip, already engrossed in his work.
I go in search of Linden. I agreed with Andrés last night that my role would be to keep him as far away from Xander as possible. I find him with the horses. His are staying in our barn for the weekend, and he’s binding up one of their tails. They’re all braided and bound so they don’t get in the way while we’re playing. There would be a nasty accident if a horse’s tail got caught round a mallet. Once he’s finished I take him up to the centre, to the table we have reserved for us in the VIP area. Austin and Andrés are already there. The first match is about to start. The Dockington Diamonds against Trellworth Park.
“Dickington Dickheads,” mutters Linden as he takes a seat.
“What exactly is your beef with Xander?” I ask.
“He’s a bully,” Linden says darkly but refuses to elaborate, and I don’t push him. We aren’t going to play against them again as we’re aggregating the scores rather than having playoffs. The Diamonds lose their match and Linden just has a grim smile as the last whistle blows. There’s a lunch break and then we get to play.
Charley joins us for lunch. He looks relaxed, which pleases me.
“Everything alright?” I ask as he takes a drink from a passing waiter and sits next to me.
“Yes, the only hiccup so far is that Felix ran out of ice. But Simon came to the rescue. So if that’s all that goes wrong this weekend, I can live with it.”
Over lunch we discuss tactics. We’re playing Langton, who lost their match with Trellworth Park yesterday. Trellworth are a strong and experienced team, and with two wins they’re going to win the tournament. If we lose to Langton we’ll come last in the tournament. If we win, it’ll be decided on total goals scored, who between us and the Diamonds will be second and third.
I see the grim determination on Linden’s face as we ride out onto the field for our match. Andrés has a few words with him and he nods. Linden’s a great player, so I hope he can focus. I line up next to Charley and he flashes me a wide grin.
“Is this what you imagined that day when you told me your dreams in a dusty hayloft?”
“No, this is better than that,” I reply. In this version I have Charley too. As the ball is thrown in, Linden urges his horse forward to take control of the ball. I see Andrés and Chispa gallop towards the goal ready to pick up the ball when Linden passes it, which he does, and they score a goal within the first minute. After that we dominate the game for the first chukker and finish it three goals to zero. Langton fights back and manages two goals in the second chukker, but we score another one so we have a two goal lead at half time.
We start strong for the third chukker, barely allowing Langton to even touch the ball. We’re playing well, looking out for each other and anticipating where we’re going to be so we can be in position.
“Gabe,” Linden shouts, as I take the ball from Langton on one of the rare times they have it. I send it his way. He gallops to intercept it before the Langton player can reach him, then he passes it to Charley who scores a goal. Linden high fives him on the way past. We change the horses for the final time and face the opposing team for the fourth chukker.
This time Andrés proves he’s the great player he is, and worthy of his high goal handicap. I’m sure I see one of the Langton’s players’ jaws drop as he takes the ball from him. We support him and he scores a further three goals. Once the final whistle is blown we’ve won, eight goals to four. I don’t know yet if it’s enough to take second place, but I hope so. Either way we’ve announced our arrival in the polo league with style, and proven we’ll be a strong team over the season.
