Dreaming of Tomorrow Read online

  “No thanks, I’ve got some.” He reached out and took Max’s rope, scratching the big horse’s head affectionately. “I guess you get the afternoon off, buddy. You probably did it on purpose, you lazy jughead.”

  “For someone who’s afraid of horses that was really brave, the way you got hold of old Max and held him for me,” David told Emily.

  “It was nothing. I was just so worried that he might be hurt, I forgot about being afraid of horses,” she admitted.

  At that moment David decided there was something very real about Emily, something that made him want to protect and comfort her. He grinned to himself; she sure wasn’t his usual type, but then maybe it was time for a change. Maybe it was time to look past a woman’s appearance and into her character. In spite of her shy demeanor and underlying sadness there was an air of humor and kindness about her, and a gentle side to her nature.

  After five or six more riders had gone, the very pretty blond woman rode up to David and handed him the reins to a large black horse she was leading around. She was covered with dust, her face devoid of make-up, and under her hat her hair was hanging in a long straight ponytail. She had on a western shirt, jeans and a pair of sunglasses that hid her eyes. Emily felt like there was something familiar about her but she couldn’t place it. She also couldn’t help feeling a little resentful that this woman could look so good even under dusty, dirty conditions when she herself didn’t look that good on any given day in her life. Some girls have all the luck, she thought ruefully.

  “Dave, you’d better get going, I’m after the next rider and you’re after me,” the blond said, then she turned to Emily and smiled. “I’m sorry, was I interrupting?”

  “Emily meet Nicole, Nicole this is Emily.” He made the introductions.

  “Hi,” Emily said softly, slightly intimidated by Nicole’s looks.

  “Hi Emily, nice meeting you.” Nicole looked Emily over and then looked from Emily to David, openly curious.

  David turned to Emily and asked, “Are you all right now?”

  “Sure, I’m fine. Good luck.” Regretfully she watched David swing up onto the massive black horse and ride away.

  The rider in the arena came out and Nicole rode in. Her horse was like David’s, very calm and well-trained. Nicole had a good ride. David was next and his horse was also well mannered. In fact, watching David ride his horse in, it was still hard to believe the horse could or would run at all. It was even hard to believe the massive animal was awake. David sat there, relaxed, barely holding the reins loosely in one hand, waiting for the arena judge to signal him that he could begin his ride. Just like the last event, when he received the signal, he took up the reins with both hands. As soon as he gathered the reins his horse visibly tensed, his powerful muscles bunched up, bursting with pent up energy. At David’s signal he exploded through the course, running down to the end and winding a figure eight around the poles before running back to the timing poles and coming to a stop at the gate. David waited for Emily to open the gate and rode out, exiting quietly with his reins loosely held and his seat on the horse relaxed. Target was prancing a bit but he was very well-behaved. David gave his reins to Nicole who walked her horse and Target around, and he stayed near Emily while the next few riders rode and then went into the arena as the awards were announced.

  They set up for quadrangle. The poles were set in a large square, with the timing poles in the center.

  That event was much more fun for Emily. She had David’s comments to help her understand the action taking place in the arena, and even better, she had David’s attention. She soaked up his attention like a dried up plant soaks up water. She realized that she hadn’t even talked to a man in a long, long time except for her father’s doctor, and he was in his sixties.

  David only left her when it was his turn to ride in the event. Disaster hit when he came to the first sharp turn. Target lost his footing in the arena’s soft dirt. The horse fell and of course, David went down too. Emily was shocked! The horse got up quickly but David laid there for a moment, dazed not only by the fall but because his horse had brushed his head with one of his sharp hooves as he scrambled to his feet. Emily left the gate to run to David, but she was only part way there when Target got up and trotted over to her. She grabbed Target’s reins out of instinct and continued running over to David.

  He was standing up, laughing ruefully, and he looked fine. He met her eyes and a spark seemed to flow between them. She ignored Target as she gently reached out a hand to the cut on David’s forehead.

  “Are you all right?” she asked with genuine concern in her voice.

  “I’m fine.” David smiled into Emily’s eyes.

  “You really had me worried.” She looked up at him.

  David looked down at the worry in her eyes and felt a slight tightening in his gut.

  “I’m okay.” He slid his arms around her waist in a quick hug.

  Emily reveled in the brief, warm strength of his arms, hardly aware of the soft rubbing on her shoulder.

  “Emily,” David said with a laugh in his voice, “you caught Target!”

  “Actually, he caught me. He just came over to me.” She stroked the horse’s nose unconsciously and said, “So I brought him back to you.”

  “Still, I think you’re not nearly as afraid of horses as you think you are.” He seemed to be fighting a laugh.

  “What?” Emily gradually realized that both of David’s hands were on her waist. The rubbing on her shoulder was Target.

  “What’s he doing?” she asked, with her eyes going wide.

  “Using you as a scratching post,” David told her.

  “Why is he doing that?”

  “Two reasons: He likes you,” Emily smiled softly at that news, “and he has an itch he wants scratched. Just slap his nose and say NO if he’s bothering you.”

  “I kind of like it.” She turned and scratched the velvet nose gently but firmly.

  David made no move to take the horse’s reins from her, instead he gently said, “Hold him still for a moment, would you Emily?”

  He bent down and ran his hands over each of the horse’s legs in turn, feeling for any sign of injury or tenderness.

  Then he straightened and looked at Emily. “Emily, do me a favor. Walk him straight away from me, about thirty feet or so. Then bring him back. I want to watch him walk to see if he’s limping. I want to make sure he’s okay.”

  She led the big horse away, with David watching for any sign of lameness.

  When she led the horse back, David said, “Now jog with him the same way.”

  She took off at a trot, surprised to realize that Target was jogging right beside her. She turned and came back.

  “Is he all right?” she asked with concern in her voice. “Is he limping? And how are you?”

  “No, it looks like he’s fine. He just slipped.” David grinned then continued, “And I’m fine, now that you ask, but I might have a bruise in a real interesting spot and I’ll probably be a little stiff in the morning.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “I’m okay, Emily, the dirt’s soft and Target managed to avoid stepping on me,” David replied softly. “Although the big lug managed to scrape my head with one of his hooves as he got up.”

  They both walked towards the arena gate. David took the horse when they got outside the arena and left Emily to her duties while he walked Target around for a long time. This time, he skipped the awards ceremony altogether and walked over to Emily.

  “Come on, you can join me for lunch. They have a thirty minute lunch break that usually lasts about an hour or so, and I have lots of food in the motor home.”

  “How can a thirty minute break last an hour?” Emily quizzed.

  “I don’t know, it’s just one of those things, like missing one sock out of every load in the dryer,” he told her.

  “Or the fact that the pen closest to the phone is always out of ink?” Emily asked.

  “You got it.”
David grinned. “Come on, let’s eat. Believe me you don’t want to eat the food they fix at the cook stand. I think the losing competitors wind up in the burgers.”

  “You’re kidding!” Emily shrieked, laughing.

  “You’d better believe it.” David laughed at her expression, earning himself a playful punch on the arm. “These folks love their horses.”

  They walked over to where David had parked his small RV with the horse trailer. David pulled the bridle off Target and hung it on the saddle horn, then he hooked the left stirrup on the horn and loosened the cinch. He slipped a halter on Target. There was a big net filled with hay for him to munch on.

  “Don’t you tie him up?” Emily asked.

  “Nope. As long as he has some hay, he’ll stay put.” David grinned. “I wouldn’t recommend this with most of these horses, though.”

  “How is he?” She asked with concern. “Did the fall injure him?”

  “He’s walking fine.” David knelt and felt the horse’s legs, finding no heat, swelling or tenderness in them. “And I can’t find anything wrong with his legs. I’ll see how he is after lunch. Let’s eat.”

  David offered Target some water from a bucket and fed him a handful of grain and a carrot. Then he gave the big horse a pat and held open the RV door for Emily.

  “Why did you leave the stirrup up?” Emily asked as she followed him into the motor home.

  “So I remember to tighten the cinch up again before I remount. It’s one of my old habits.” He dug into the refrigerator. “You can wash up in there, through the bedroom.” David pointed. “Would you like another beer or some iced tea with your lunch?”

  “I’ll take a beer.” Emily followed the direction David pointed.

  The bathroom was large for an RV, and the counter was filled with cosmetics. There was a large, well-lit mirror above the counter with a swivel chair in front of it.

  Emily caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed as she began to wash her face.

  How could any man spend time talking to her, she wondered. Her self-doubt doubled as she looked around the motor home and saw a small framed picture sitting on the dresser. It was a picture of a woman, a woman with uncommon beauty. She realized it was Nicole without the dust and dirt. Still, she seemed strangely familiar. No way she could compete with that, she thought.

  Emily jolted with surprise. When had she stopped thinking of this as a pleasant interlude and started thinking of ways to compete for David? She might as well enter the Olympics. She made a face at the mirror and thought: Hey! I can be the Jamaican bobsled team of love.

  Was this the kind of woman he dated? Emily gasped as she finally recognized her. The woman in the picture was Nikki Silver, one of the top models in the country. She was on the cover of at least one magazine a month. Her good looks were pure and classic: perfect features, flawless skin, and dazzling almond-shaped eyes, brilliant blue eyes. Shoot! Emily thought to herself, I should have realized David would know a woman like that. Stunning, rich, and famous, it figured, three things she would never be. Emily knew she was a good person, not perfect but fairly smart, witty and caring. She also knew that her outer appearance hid her inner qualities. How could she ever hope to compete with Nikki Silver?

  When she walked back to the small kitchen table, David had already washed up at the kitchen sink. He had pulled several containers of food out from the fridge and had set out paper plates and taken the lids off most of the containers by the time she emerged.

  There was a beer sitting by her plate.

  “This officially doubles my beer consumption for the entire last year.” She grinned, holding up the bottle.

  “We’ll sign you up for A. A. next week.” He grinned back then said, “Have some chicken.”

  “I’d love some,” she said firmly, “but first I want to take a look at that cut on your forehead.”

  “It’s no big deal. That big clumsy lump out there just forgot to watch out for me when he was getting up,” David protested, but he sat still and let her look at the cut.

  “You’re right. It’s minor.” Emily grinned. “Now I can enjoy my lunch.”

  “But that’s not my worst injury,” David protested.

  “Oh really? Where else did you get hurt?” Emily was concerned.

  “Where I landed.” David grinned. “On my . . .”

  He stood up and reached for his belt buckle.

  “Never mind, in that case you’ll have to take care of the problem all by yourself.” Emily laughed, grabbing a piece of chicken.

  “Darn.” He grinned back at her with a mischievous glint in his eye.

  Chapter Four

  Along with the fried chicken, there was homemade coleslaw and potato salad, and a crisp green salad, biscuits with honey and butter, and chocolate cake. There was also some carrot and celery sticks, and cottage cheese. They sat there talking companionably while they ate.

  “This looks fantastic.” She sipped her beer then asked, “Do you always eat this well at horse shows?”

  “Not usually,” David smiled back at her. “I just had my sister’s RV this time. She travels a lot. She also cooked the lunch, by the way.”

  “Then shouldn’t we save some for her?” Emily asked.

  “Not much, she cooked it for me.” He smiled. “She loves to cook but she has a really small appetite. Thank goodness.”

  “I’ll echo that.” Emily grinned at him.

  “So what do you think of your first horse show?” David asked her.

  “Well, it’s hot, dirty, long and yet fast paced.” She paused. “I like it except for these darn jeans. I thought they were supposed to be comfortable but these are stiff as a board.”

  “Wash them several times with lots of fabric softener.” David paused for a long swallow of his cola. “Not all horse shows are like this. Apart from gymkhana events, there are equitation events where horses are judged for their manners and riders are judged for their seat and hands. Those events are run in both Western and English divisions. They can be almost boring to watch unless you know what to look for. Then there’s also show jumping, dressage and so on. This is just the tip of the iceberg.” He looked at her with mischief in his eyes. “I already told you about the differences between horse shows and most other sports.”

  “Well, yes, you sit on poor innocent animals while you compete,” Emily teased, then continued, “and men and women compete against each other as equals.”

  “It’s a bit different in the judged events. There are trainers involved, and the trainers get clients by having their students win. So, of course, in some cases there can be favoritism. Still, there’s a feeling of fair play for the most part. Most of the judged events have all the riders in the arena at once.” David smiled. “That makes it harder to cheer on your competition.”

  “Back to gymkhana, do you like competing against women?” she asked, a teasing note in her voice.

  “I don’t mind competing against women unless they beat me,” David grinned, “and believe me, that happens more often than I care to admit.”

  “What do you do when you’re not riding in horse shows?” Emily asked.

  “I’m a lawyer, mainly corporate these days but I also do a bit of entertainment law.” He shook his head ruefully. “I used to do criminal defense, but I got tired of defending so many people who really did the terrible things they were accused of doing. Many times I thought they should be in prison or worse, which made it hard to give them the kind of defense I was obligated to give them and still sleep at night. What do you do?”

  “I don’t work now, I have obligations at home. I was just finishing my B.A. in business, going part-time, when things got so, um, messed up,” Emily told him, the sadness in her eyes deepening.

  “What do you mean messed up?” David asked tenderly, sensing her sadness. “You mentioned something before.”

  “Well, I have to take care of my parents,” she admitted. “They’re both sick.”

  “Both? That’s t
ough. Tell me about them.” His sympathy was sudden and real.

  “Well, it’s how life goes.” She took a gulp of her soda and then explained, “My dad is a great guy, gentle and caring, and very funny. He’s got this fantastic smile and a great sense of humor. He also has cancer, terminal cancer. He hasn’t got very long.”

  Her voice cracked, but she gathered herself and continued, “My mother recently had a stroke, probably partially due to the stress of my dad’s illness. She recovered the use of her limbs and her speech, but her mind is just not the same. She slips in and out of reality.”

  “So you’re the caregiver for both of them?” he asked gently. “How did you get away today? Wait, I remember, you said Laura was staying with your folks.”

  “Yes.” Emily was still quiet, reminded of her parent’s problems.

  “She’s an inveterate matchmaker. Did she mention anyone before you came? Tell you about any of the club regulars? Anything like that?” he asked quickly.

  “Not really.” She shook off her sadness and grinned impishly. “She just mentioned that I should look out for a hunk named David.” She paused, watching his eyes widen in surprise.

  “Oh! Do you think she meant you?” she asked ingenuously.

  “I can’t answer that.” He grinned. “If I say no, you might agree with me and that would crush my fragile ego, and if I said yes, I’d sound really conceited.”

  “Or truthful,” Emily said.

  “Thanks,” David said smiling. “So does that mean you’ll have dinner with me tonight after the show?”

  “I can’t,” Emily said sadly. “I have to stay with my folks.”

  “Laura would be glad to stay with them,” he grinned at her, “just tell her that her matchmaking worked.”

  “You don’t want me to tell Laura that,” Emily said with a touch of humor. “She’ll believe it and she’ll be like a shark smelling blood in the water, ruthless and relentless.”

  “Who said she shouldn’t believe it?” Dave grabbed another piece of chicken. “Do you think it’s so hard to believe that I’m interested in you?”

  “Why should you be? You’re very nice David, but why would you want to go out with me?” Emily’s eyes dropped. “I mean I saw the picture in the bedroom, the picture of the model. If she’s the type you usually date, I’m not in your league. She’s gorgeous, famous and rich. If that’s the kind of girl you like, why would you want to go out with me?”