Keeping Grace

“Because he’s my horse. I’ve been working with him for weeks, and I want to compete on him.” I crossed my arms over my chest. She was not going to take him away from me.

“We’ll see about that when we get there.” She patted my shoulder. “You can try out on him and then if they don’t agree, you ride one of theirs until we can buy you a top notch horse worthy of the Olympics.”

At least she said I could take him with me. I wasn’t going to leave Storm behind again. Even if I didn’t end up competing on him, at least he’d be by my side.

I sighed. I really didn’t know what choice I had in the matter. If the NetJets told me to jump, my only question would be: how high? “Fine.”

“Great.” She clapped her hands. “Get your things, and I’ll be waiting for you at my hotel when you’re ready.”

We went over her current travel arrangements and where she was staying. I would pack my things and meet her in the morning. We would head up together and send a trailer back down to grab Storm. I didn’t like the idea, but it was the only option to get me away from the ranch the fastest.

Mother didn’t stay longer than she needed to. I could tell it was hard for her to even sit there and talk to me. She was used to five-star everything, and this small town wasn’t up to her standards in the least.

Eventually, I made my way back to King’s Ranch. It didn’t matter how slowly I drove down the driveway, the dust kicked up by my back tires made sure everyone was aware of my return. Having everyone know my business was not one of the things I would miss around here, but there were so many other things that I would.

Like having picnics with the guys, racing through the pastures without a care in the world, cooking breakfast with Scott every morning, and Ty trying to teach me to swing a lasso.

No. I couldn’t think about those things. It would just make it harder to leave. And I had to leave so I could get to Brazil. It was the only way.

I hurriedly started shoving clothes into my suitcase before I thought better of it. I needed to make a good first impression and getting there with a disheveled appearance wasn’t going to cut it. I didn’t need them to think I was a train wreck from the start.

“Where have you been, Grace? We were supposed to have a session hours ago.” Blake barged into the bunkhouse. She must have seen me come back since I barely had time to put all my dirty clothes in the washer before she came in.

“I met with Mom.” I looked over my shoulder as I put the last of the clothes in.

“What?” Her eyebrows nearly merged with her hairline. “Why would you do that?”

“Blake, how hard have you been looking for a team for me?” I turned and leaned against the washer and crossed my arms.

“Are you seriously asking me that question?” She pressed her fingertips to her temples.

“Yes.”

“I’ve reached out to most of my contacts. Most say they are full this year and have a waiting list. The rest said they would get back to me but haven’t yet.”

“Mom got me a place on a team. You’ve been working on it for two weeks, and she has for only a day. And she found me a place.”

“What team?” She mirrored my position against the kitchen wall.

“NetJets.”

“Are you serious?” Blake straightened.

“That’s what she says. They want me there in a few days. I’m packing up, and I’m going to leave in the morning.” I turned to the washer and adjusted the knobs to start a cycle.

“In the morning? You don’t have to leave that soon. You can call them and tell them you can’t come until after the Vegas show.”

Blake didn’t understand. I needed to leave now. “I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can.” Blake grabbed my arm and spun me to face her. “You can’t leave.”

“Why not? You did it.”

“That was different. This is Mom we’re talking about. She got you a place on the NetJets, but at what cost?” Her voice shook.

“What do you mean?”

Blake was right. Mom only really did things for us when she got something out of it.

“What does she want in return? Tell me what happened in your meeting with her.” She arched her eyebrow at me. “Word. For. Word.”

I went over the conversation with her, and I could see Blake’s mind picking everything apart. I tried to catch what mother’s angle would be as I retold it.

“What does she have to gain from finding me a team?”

“I could think of a few. The first is to spite me. You know she doesn’t want you to have anything to do with me. Plus, she said something about the reputation of the ranch. She doesn’t want her name and your name to be associated with that.”

“But those aren’t anything big.”