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“Have you been bitten?” he asked casually as they got to the end of the street. There was no fanfare there, it was just where the macadam ended and the sand started, and they continued on down the dunes and to the shore.
“Several times actually. The place where I took lessons had a really great horse for beginners. She was super sweet and an absolute dream, one of those horses that you knew were never going to run away with their rider.”
“Never say never,” he said ominously.
“All right. That you were almost certain were never going to run away with their rider. But she had a nasty habit of biting. She got me three times, leaving bruises all three times. I wasn’t exactly afraid of her, but I did learn to be very careful when I was saddling her.”
“Interesting. Usually horses that are easy to ride have easygoing personalities and great barn manners too.”
“She was a contradiction, I think. But the place used her because she was just such a great saddle horse.”
“I suppose we all have our things.”
“Have you been bitten? I mean, I’m going to assume that you have been. It’s kind of hard to work around horses and not.”
“Yeah. Multiple times. Never really that bad though. You talking about her leaving bruises... I don’t remember ever getting bitten that bad. Although, I’ve had my foot stepped on more than once.”
“Oh goodness. I never even thought about my flip-flops. I definitely don’t have the footwear to be riding today.”
“I thought about it when I saw them, but I figured it really didn’t matter. Nora loves to ride bareback. And she’ll be in her bare feet, bareback, and just riding with the wind.”
“I love watching that. I don’t think I’ll ever be a good enough rider to ride bareback. I’d fall off for sure, but it’s just really fun to watch.”
“Yeah. She’s really gotten good over the years. And she’s been Roman riding this past week.”
“Roman riding, that’s when they stand up on the backs of the horses?”
“You have two horses together, and yeah, she’ll have one foot on one and one foot on the other.”
“Okay. I am not sure I understand why anyone would want to do that, but I feel like someone’s dad allowed her to because he was trying to butter her up.”
“I think I’m gonna have to plead guilty to that. I had told her last year, toward the end of the year, that she would be allowed to do it more this year. So I did tell her, but yeah. She was kind of mad at me for a while, because of some of the things Eva said, and that definitely helped bring her around, when I asked her if she wanted to Roman ride.”
Jubilee laughed. “Sometimes as parents you have to be tricky.”
“And not living with your spouse makes it hard. Especially when you’re sharing custody with someone who doesn’t hesitate to use your child as a pawn.”
“That’s sad.”
They were quiet for a bit, then Jubilee thought of the issues she was having with her own ex. He hadn’t responded to her texts in several days, and he probably wasn’t going to. Not until it was closer to time for them to go to court. Then he would remind her that he wanted some kind of different custody agreement, if only because it would make his child support payments less.
“I was thinking about telling my ex that I don’t want any child support.”
“Why would you do that? Is Mom paying you that well?” he asked as a rather large wave came up, and their horses splashed through it.
Jubilee thought that Bucket and Boots both enjoyed that. Maybe the cold water felt good on their hooves.
“Your mom’s been better to me than I deserve for sure. She’s got a heart of gold. I think it would be easy to take advantage of her, and I hope I don’t end up doing that.”
“I think you were afraid of that the last time we talked, and I just want to tell you that I don’t think you have to worry about it. You are not the kind of person that would naturally take advantage of people. I think your inclination to try to pull your own weight will far outweigh any desire you have to take advantage of someone.”
“I hope so.”
“As for telling your ex you don’t want child support, why would you do that?” he asked again.
“Because I think that if I tell him that I don’t want child support, I’ll find out that he really doesn’t want any different custody arrangement. After all, I think he does love his girls, but he doesn’t really want to be bothered with them, you know? He’s got his new flame, and they are expecting, and we’re just kind of in the way.”
She didn’t mean to make it into a sob story, and she didn’t mean to make it sound like it hurt, although it did. She’d been tossed away, and no matter what kind of spin she put on it, no matter how many times she told herself that she was better off without him, it still hurt.
