“I did nothing wrong!” Sally shook her head.
“The least said about that… Okay, Adam, let’s get you up on Oscar, let me see you ride again and then we can discuss a training plan.”
* * *
It was many hours later when I finally slumped through the door of my caravan, pulling off my boots and sinking into the lumpy sofa. I’d spent almost three hours under the close scrutiny of Hilary, most of the time without stirrups, to allow me to develop my seat. After this, I’d exercised three other horses, swept down the yards, made hay nets and fed. Sally was a hard worker and, despite all the bravado, very fair and we worked side by side getting the tasks done.
Sally had laughed when I started yawning at the end of it all, saying I’d become unused to proper hard work as I had staff to do it all for me. Honestly, I had to agree, I’d looked after my horses for many years, but had never been a working pupil myself. I’d always tried to treat my pupils fairly and had heard many horror stories of unscrupulous stable owners taking advantage of young grooms who wanted to get a foothold in a tough industry.
The position was simple, you were given lodgings and training in exchange for your body in the form of many hours of hard work at least six days a week from dawn to dusk. Hilary was one of the top riders in the UK, I was sure that a training place was a rare thing and I hated to think about how many people would give anything to be in my boots. I was not averse to hard work; however, it was clear I needed to get used to it.
It had been many hours since I’d started the day, and, except for a couple of biscuits grabbed with a brew earlier, I hadn’t eaten. I dragged myself up and stepped into the kitchen area. I was not sure who had last been in the caravan, but the cupboards were bare. I swore under my breath, I was miles from anywhere, with no car and no food. However, I was far too tired to eat.
I’d slumped down onto the sofa once more when there was a gentle knock at the door. I stood up, opening the door to see Sally standing holding a casserole dish with oven gloves.
“Hello… I realised we didn’t stop to eat and I stupidly didn’t give you a chance to get any supplies in. I can’t let you starve.”
“Oh, come in, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”
Sally put the dish down. “I warn you, I’m no cook.”
“It looks like food, that’ll do for me.”
“Okay, well… I’ll leave you to eat something in peace.” Sally turned towards the door.
“Don’t feel you have to run away unless there are things you need to do?”
“I have a pile of laundry which I’m too tired to tackle.”
“Come and join me… I could do with the company.”
Sally found dishes and cutlery, dishing up portions of a very tasty lasagne, it was clear that she had hidden talent. Just before she sat down, Sally walked into the kitchen, removing a panel between two cupboards she pulled out a bottle of wine.
“Ah-ha… I thought Gerta had something hidden here.” She unscrewed the top of the German white, taking a deep swig from the bottle. “It’ll do…”
We chatted as we ate, draining the bottle of sweet wine, after an hour or so, she stood up. “I’m knackered, and you have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
“Yes, miss…”
“Oh, now I like that… Glad you know your place!” She laughed and I showed her to the door, just as she was stepping out, she turned and kissed me deeply. “Good night sexy…”
I stood back, slightly shocked, but put it down to the wine.
* * *
“So how are you?”
“It’s great Kate…” I’d called Kate who sounded just about as tired as me. I filled her in with some of the details and she gave me an update on our yard. My mind kept slipping back to Sally’s kiss. It was just some drunken thing. I shook my head, both Kate and I were soon yawning so we wished each other good night and I hung up the phone.
I held the phone in my hand for a minute, wishing I’d Kate here to hold instead, however, resigned to my fate I walked into the tiny bedroom. There were fresh bedsheets in the cupboard so I quickly made the bed and almost as rapidly fell asleep.
* * *
Sally lay in bed, her curtains were open and she could see the caravan below, the bedroom light had just been extinguished. She looked back down at her phone, flicking through the images she had secretly taken of Adam during the day. She sighed, switching off the bedside lamp.
3
Learning The Ropes
At Sally’s insistence, my alarm was set for five in the morning. I was up and out of bed, dressed and on the yard by quarter past. “Isn’t this a bit early?” I’d innocently inquired, she’d huffed and told me, on show days we would have been up for many hours. This was in effect a ‘lie in’ so I should stop complaining. I let the subject drop and went on to feed the horses under her direction.
We had a few minutes while the horses digested their breakfast so we were able to retire to the tack room and put the kettle on. As it clicked, I poured out two mugs and we sat together on the bench seat.
“We’ll muck out four each. Now, I have very exacting standards.” I nodded; I was sure Sally would pick fault with
