“Sal, I’m open to suggestions. Now, while we are all together. Would you both like to come round for dinner tonight?”
“Oh, that would be nice. As long as you don’t intend to do the cooking?”
Hilary looked shocked.
“Adam, she really is a terrible cook…” Sally laughed.
“Okay. I’ll make something for us to eat.”
“Thank you, Adam!”
* * *
Their two expectant faces meant I just couldn’t have just said no to them, and, to be honest, I quite enjoyed cooking, especially if it took me out of the static caravan for an evening. The farmhouse had a beautifully fitted kitchen, it was something which would have been fashionable twenty years ago and, as I rifled through the near-empty cupboards I saw it was seriously underused. It was clear that Hilary was an infrequent visitor, there were a stack of ready meals in the fridge and a distinct lack of any other ingredients. In the end, I drove out to the local shop for supplies and created a simple ragù sauce served with meatballs and spaghetti. I made a big pot intending to be able to leave them some for a meal over the weekend, but they easily finished it all off with the big lumps of warm bread I’d baked in the oven.
We all slumped onto the sofas in Hilary’s cosy living room which was lined with pictures of past victories, rosettes and horse photos. I recognised what must have been Hilary’s parents and felt a pang of jealousy, as my own parents had died in an accident at an early age.
It was clear to see Hilary and Sally were great friends, despite a potential falling out over Olivia, so I asked how they had met. They glanced between themselves before Sally started to tell her story.
“Well, we’ve known each other for years, I used to compete myself as I am sure Hilary has mentioned, so there were times when I would see Hilary in the collecting ring with her posh parents and top of the range horse…”
“Oi!” Hilary playfully slapped her shoulder. “What Sally is saying, is I worked hard and was sometimes in a more advanced class than her.”
“Am I telling this story or you? Okay, well, madam was more advanced, naturally, and, what with my lack of ability and the run-ins with Olivia I decided I wasn’t cut out for the spotlight of competition. So, I started grooming. I worked at quite a busy event yard with Peter Fitch, you will have heard of him of course. He’d just won Badminton and was a bit of a star in the horse world. We got on very well, extremely well… Stop sniggering. I was pretty infatuated with him and we used to travel to events in his horsebox. Look, I was a grown-up and so we… Well, you know. Oh… He was a very handsome man and so I was attracted to him… And…”
“And? Sally, oh, you’ve gone bright red… It’s better when I tell the story. I was competing at an event in Wiltshire, back then it was just me, I didn’t have a sponsor or a groom at the time. Sally sort of dropped in on me. It was quite late; I was just about to go to sleep when someone fell through the door of my horsebox. Now it was only a tiny one so the living compartment was really small. Sally sort of fell on me.”
“She fell on you?”
“Oh, it gets better Adam. She was stark naked at the time! She had been… Well, you can guess whatever she’d been doing with her employer when his wife came into their horsebox. Yes, I know! She’d travelled up to surprise him and my goodness she did just that! She had walked into the bedroom area, pulled back the duvet and screamed blue murder. Sally had leapt up, as she was and ran straight out of the horsebox, being perused through the horsebox lines by his very angry wife carrying a pitchfork. She apparently grabbed the door handle to my box thinking it was empty and threw herself inside to hide. She begged me to keep quiet. We could hear this poor woman outside; goodness knows what might have happened if she’d caught Sally.
So, there she was. Naked as the day she was born, feeling pretty sorry for herself having lost her boyfriend, and her job - she certainly wasn’t going to show her face at the yard in case the wife recognised her. I took pity on her. We made a deal, she could borrow some of my clothes and a place to hide overnight, all I wanted in return was a groom for the next phase.
And so, here we are, five years later with my loyal and honest groom. Definitely not a home-wrecking little, what did she call you?”
“Oh, my goodness!” I laughed. Poor Sally was shaking her head. “You dark horse you. No wonder you tried to jump me…” I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth and the sudden change in Hilary’s expression told me it was time for me to leave.
I stood up rapidly, grabbing my jacket, “Right, is that the time. It’s been lovely. See you in the morning…”
8
All Change
Hilary was apologetic however there was still no sign of Olivia who finally appeared at ten o’clock immaculately dressed in brilliant white breeches and polished boots.
“Why do I think madam is not going to be doing any work here today…” Sally hissed.
“You!” I looked up and saw Olivia gesturing in my direction. “Get my first horse out.” She had already turned and was walking away.
“Olivia let’s start as we mean to go on. I’ll show you where the horse you’re riding is, I’ll show you the tack room and even lend you a grooming kit if you don’t have one yet. But I am not
