GRACE
Mother was furious when I told her I needed a few days before I could leave. But like Blake said, if they really wanted me, they would wait. Mom called the NetJets, and they gave me until the end of the week to decide if I was joining them.
Blake and I dove into our computers and did as much research as we could.
What caught my attention the most was the rising name of the Kingston team. I hadn’t done my research before showing up here, but the Kingston team had a higher profile than I had expected. I had assumed they would have approached me if they wanted me to ride for their team, but maybe they didn’t want to overstep after hearing about Charlie, or maybe they thought it was a conflict of interest with Blake being their trainer.
Both Liam and Stefan had both been on the US team since they were now US citizens. I knew Liam was hoping to get chosen again this year, but I hadn’t seen anything about Stefan competing anymore. If I stayed, I’d really like to sit down with him and chat. He had an impressive riding history, and I know I’d learn a lot from him.
The Kingston’s team had ten people; most I had seen around the ranch the past three weeks. All or their riders were top-notch and had all been on the team since it was established. They were stationed here on King’s Ranch, which I loved. Their head trainer was Blake. They had a dressage training arena, jumping arenas, and an impressive Cross-country course. The Kingston team was a dream.
Why had I not thought about asking to join their team?
I knew for a fact my mother would be furious if she knew I switched teams and was working with Blake full time.
But that was the old me. The new me was willing to put my name in for a position on their team. I wanted it, and I was going to go for it.
I texted Liam for Thomas’ number and scheduled a meeting with him for one o’clock. I didn’t want to ask Blake, knowing that if she knew I wanted to go to Thomas, I would never know if the outcome of our meeting was because of Blake or because of me.
The nerves settled in when I drafted my first, for lack of a better word, resume. I finished it with only just enough time to make myself presentable before I had to head up to their massive house.
I knocked on the front door, and the housekeeper directed me to Thomas’ office off to the side. I’d never been inside the house before, only admired it from the outside. I wanted to stop and look around, but I didn’t want to be rude.
I was surprised to see more than Thomas in the office when I arrived. Mikel, Thomas, Declan, and Stefan were stationed around the office. All conversation stopped when I entered. My stomach flipped. I wasn’t sure if this was a good sign.
“Hello, Grace. Please have a seat.” Thomas stood and indicated to the chair on the other side of his desk.
“Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice. If I interrupted something important, I could come back at a better time.” I looked at each of the men in the room, trying to gauge what was going on, but their faces gave nothing away. I wouldn’t want to play poker with these guys.
“Grace, I hope you don’t mind I asked the guys to join us for this meeting. We all have a vested interest in this ranch. And I think it might be important that they are here to hear what you want to discuss.” He leaned his forearms on his desk.
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t told Thomas what I wanted to talk to him about, but he must have guessed, or why else would he have invited everyone? “I would like to put my name in to apply for the Kingston riding team.” I still wanted to pass out, but I’d said it. I handed him the folder I brought with me.
“You want to join our riding team? Why now? Why didn’t you apply when you first got here?”
“To be honest, I hadn’t considered your team since Blake worked on it. It wasn’t until recently that I thought about applying. I didn’t know if there would be any issues working with family.” I looked at Thomas, hoping I was portraying confidence in my decision. “A lot has happened that has changed my outlook on things, and I decided this team is what I want. The one that will push me and support me. But I understand if you immediately say no because of my relationship with Blake.”
“What about the one with Ty and Scott?” Declan asked.
My eyes widened as I looked at Declan. “Umm, no. How did you… is that a problem?”
“Nothing goes unnoticed around here. It’s okay, Grace. You don’t have to worry about either relationship having an influence over your application in any way. As you should be aware of by now, we are a close group here on the ranch. Family means everything to us.” Declan smiled.
I let out the breath I was holding and turned back to Thomas.
“Your team is amazing. I’ve known Liam for a long time and know what he’s capable of with his riding. I know my sister and how amazing she is at training. I’ve worked with some of the riders here during our joint training sessions and experienced first-hand what it would be like if I was on your team. And I love it. I’d hate to say if I found another place to go, I would be comparing it to here every second of the day.” I could hear the desperation creeping into my voice and pulled back to compose myself.
Thomas stared at me, not saying a word.