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Cody, Jacob, and I were the last to get plates.
I took a seat next to Nora. “Mind if I join you?”
She scooted over a few inches, making room for me. “Not at all. This is delicious,” she said, as she took a bite of the pasta salad. “Did you make it?”
I smiled and said, “Sadly, no. I think Jacob gets everything from a local restaurant.”
“He certainly does a good job, doesn’t he? I read an article about this company in a Fodor’s travel guide. Number 1 in Wyoming for outdoor adventures. They didn’t lie.”
My shoulders straightened with pride for Jacob. “Jacob and Mia have worked really hard to build up their business. I can’t imagine Mia anywhere other than on a snowmobile. And I think Jacob just likes being outdoors.”
She turned her face to the sun, and closed her eyes. “Mmmm. I can see why.”
I grabbed a carrot muffin from a Tupperware container. “Where are you from?”
“Maine, originally. But Kentucky has been my home for almost forty years.”
I squinted at her. “Do I know you? You look familiar.”
“I know you. You brought your horse to my breeding farm. She needed rehabilitation for a soft-tissue tear after your fall.”
“Oh, my goodness!” I crossed my arms and leaned on the picnic table. “Yes! But I don’t remember meeting you. Officially, that is. How do you remember me?”
“Your trainer called after the Olympics. Of course, everyone in the horse world knew who you were. It was hard to watch your horse fall.” She added, “And hard to watch you fall.”
“Your team was amazing.”
“Not so amazing that we got her over her fear of that jump though, were we?”
I lowered my eyes. “It wasn’t all her. I thought the 2016 Olympics would be our redemption but I never really processed what happened and I think Betty Blue sensed my fear.”
“Do you still ride?” she asked quietly.
I looked up to see Jacob helping the girls whittle sticks.
I shrugged. “Every now and then.”
“Is this what you do now? Guide rafting trips?”
Inhaling deeply, I let out a deep breath. “No. Up until a few days ago, I didn’t do much of anything.”
She waved her hand at me, indicating my Brooks Outfitters attire. “You look the part.”
“Thanks to the work of our fearless leader, I have been appropriately outfitted.”
Her lined face broke into a grin as she reached for her water bottle. “Why do I get the feeling that you don’t really want to be here?”
I groaned. “I don’t mind being here but I was blackmailed into it.”
She nearly choked on her water. “Blackmailed?”
“No, not really. I was working on a calendar project. I ran out of money and connections. Jacob knows a lot of people in the sports world and I needed his help to convince them to be in my calendar. In return, I needed to help him on this trip.”
“A calendar of men? That sounds fun.” Her eyes sparkled.
I finished off my carrot muffin, wiping the crumbs from my mouth with the back of my fingers. “It was supposed to be for charity. For the Community Foundation. The thing is, I needed to pay for everything up front—the photographer, the sets, sometimes the athletes expect to be compensated—and now, I don’t have any money.”
She looked at me quizzically. Instead of avoiding the subject, I told her what had happened in the last few weeks.
