“I don’t know how people do this,” Pappa said. “It looks very dangerous.”
“You have like three actual teeth, Pappa,” I teased.
“I didn’t involve a beast jumping up and down on toothpick legs in my exploits. These are whole trees, sweetheart!”
“She’s brave, like you said.”
Betty stayed up over the horse’s neck, reins loose, as she approached the final fence. She was so confident and in-control. When she’d told me she was going to ride a horse she didn’t know, I hadn’t been totally surprised. After all, she was a professional. It was her job. However, now that I saw all that included, I was in awe of her ice-in-the-veins ability to take each obstacle.
The horse leapt into the air through a hoop of flowers. We collectively held a breath, waiting for all four hooves to land and for Betty to remain seated. When she did, a massive smile crossed her face. She continued towards the finish with a crowd whooping and whistling at her triumphant run.
On the other side, we didn’t get to do anything other than shout a congrats.
“Good job, älskling!” I called.
Breathless, as her horse’s nostrils flared, she gave me a dorky thumbs up and disappeared. I realized as silly as all of this seemed on paper, my heart swelled with pride watching her live her dream. I got what she said about watching me perform. Watching her joy intoxicated me. Her joy was contagious. Sharing it felt right. Andthatwas the minute I realized I loved this woman.
Chapter 31
I had an idea…
MARY
“So, I had an idea,” Betty said over the phone. “I asked the crew to include me in the VIP section. I said if they got us passes, then we’d let them follow us to the shows.”
Her words struck me down. On one hand, I felt relief. She worked it out without me doing a complicated dance of are they/aren’t they if I invoked a VIP pass. On the other, it meant we had to be on our absolute best behavior.
“And they agreed?” I rubbed my temples.
“Yeah. Look, I have to take off for my showjumping run. I miss you. I’ll text you the details.”
I fought an I-Love-You over the phone. “Best of luck. You’re going to kill it.”
Betty faded into the afternoon while I walked the grounds with Clarice. We watched the German UniVox act perform. It was a good show, but unlikely to best us. In a crowd of beautiful people, we looked less-than-remarkable. I felt too old to be here.
Around seven, my mobile buzzed as we hit up a lemonadetruck. I checked it as we waited on our beverages and something known as a funnel cake that Clarice swore would be “worth it”. As I saw the text, I grinned like an idiot, unable to hide my happiness.
“What now?” Clarice asked.
“She fucking won!” I showed her the photo of Betty on her horse holding a silver plate.
“Good for her,” Clarice said. “God, you aresoproud of her, Mar.”
“I know. I love her.”
The words escaped my mouth, leading to Clarice coughing.
A surly man punctuated it, “Clara!”
That was us. I grabbed our drinks and food. By now, she’d settled on a bench.
“Woman, you just… are we going to talk about it or…”
“Must we?”
“Talk about the low-key ‘I love her’? Yes!”
We tossed the cinnamon-sugar delight between us. Clarice dug in.
