Chapter Twenty One

A painful throbbing in her left arm brought Jenn out of sleep. Groaning she rolled over to unpin her arm from beneath her and suddenly found herself sliding off the bed. Shit! Grabbing for the sheets too late she hit the floor with a thump, twisted up in the sheets that came with her. Disorientated she groggily looked around her, trying to figure out where the hell she was. Coming to her senses, she sat up rubbing her arm where pins and needles had set in. Christ, as big as the bed is I still manage to fall out of the damn thing! Twisting her neck around she caught sight of her bedside clock gleaming in the darkness at her. 5.20am blinked back at her. Damn jet lag!

Giving up on any more sleep, she pulled herself to her feet and stiffly made her way to the bathroom. Stepping into the shower she revelled in the pulsing hot water beating down on her neck. Mint and eucalyptus shampoo had her scalp tingling and her senses restored. Throwing her robe on she headed for the kitchen to rustle up some fresh coffee. The first signs of a new day were beginning to streak through the blinds of the living room windows and judging by the sky the day was promising to be a good one. Whilst the coffee brewed, Jenn pulled on her comfy work jeans and a t-shirt, piling her wet hair in a scruffy pony tail which she hid under her favourite baseball cap. Stuffing her phone and cigarettes in the back pocket of her jeans, she headed outside, grabbing a mug of coffee on the way. The air had a chill to it and the leaves crunching underfoot hinted at the impending autumn. Nestling herself on the bottom step of the decking which ran around the house, she took a swallow of the steaming coffee and cradled the mug to warm her fingers. She loved this time of the day when nothing was stirring and it seemed like she was the only living thing on the planet. Lighting up a cigarette she grinned at her own contentment. Some may disagree but as far as she was concerned you just couldn’t beat a coffee and nicotine to get the day rolling.

By the time she’d finished her smoke the sun was rising steadily behind her and birds were noisily announcing the arrival of a new day. Swallowing down the last of the coffee she headed for the main barn which was still in darkness. Paul usually gave the girls who worked for him the day off on Sundays unless there was a show on so today Paul would have to be in early to feed the horses. Checking her watch Jenn reckoned he’d probably be thinking about getting out of bed right about now so she sent him off a text;

I’ll feed, can’t sleep so you might as well stay in bed with that lovely wife of yours!

A few seconds later her phone beeped with the reply;

You’re an angel - I love you! Don’t tell Sue!

Grinning to herself she pulled back the heavy barn doors and flicked on the lights. A noisy greeting from the resident horses ensued with heads looking out eagerly over the doors whickering and some impatient feet banging their doors.

“Morning boys and girls!! Whoah now sssh or you’ll have the whole county awake! Patience my friends!”

She greeted each one as she made her way to the feed house and began throwing scoops of feed into buckets checking the board as she went to make sure each one got the right amount. Fifteen minutes later all that could be heard was the steady munching of the horses and the occasional snort. Piling alfalfa onto a barrow she wheeled down the aisle, chucking in slices of the sweet smelling hay to each stall. That done she grabbed a couple more buckets of feed and headed out to the paddocks to check on the horses that lived out at night. Some were out due to dust allergies, some were on holidays after the busy summer jumping season and a couple were pensioners, retired and now living out their days in peace at grass. She had an especially soft spot for one of them, Rex was a big old grey gelding, now almost as white as snow with age. He had been Paul’s top Grand Prix horse when they had all been on tour together and Jenn had a lot of fond memories of him. Scratching him behind his ears as the gentle fellow munched down the feed in the bucket she allowed herself a fleeting glimpse back into the past of the glory days. They had been good times she reckoned with herself. Rex brought her back to reality with a bump as he flung the bucket out of her hand with his nose, disgusted that there was no feed left.

“Hey champ! Take it easy old fellah! You’ll get fat! See ya later old timer!”

She laughed as she picked up the bucket and gave the horse a fond slap on the neck. Realising there was no more food to be gotten here, he squealed and spun around, bucking as he galloped down to the back of the paddock. There was life in the old horse yet that was for sure.

Walking back to the barn, she hummed to herself as she swung the bucket back and forth. Rounding the corner she squealed as she ran straight into Paul who she inadvertently thumped on the knee with the bucket.

“Ow! Good morning to you too!!”

“Crap! Sorry bout that! Hey I thought I told you to stay in bed!” she said frowning at him.

“I was awake but don’t worry I put the spare time to good use! Sue’ll thank you later I’m sure!” Paul replied winking at her.

Throwing up her hands in mock disgust Jenn made a face at him; “Ewww too much information! Right well everything’s fed and hayed boss!”

Paul smiled and put his arm around her as they walked up the barn,

“I should have brought you over here years ago!”

“What and be your personal slave? Nuhuh!” She shook her head grinning. “We’d have killed one another long ago!”

Together they turned out most of the horses into their day paddocks and put the remainder on the electric horse walker. The last two they tacked up and took out for a gentle hack around the farm. Cantering along side by side, they blew the cobwebs away especially when Jenn picked up the pace a little and raced Paul to the top of the hill. Laughing they pulled up and Jenn wiped away the tears that had been forced from her eyes by the sheer force of the wind.

“Phew! Now that’s the way to start a day!” she laughed as they turned to walk the steaming horses back to the farm. They chatted as they let the horses amble along on a loose rein, Jenn filling in Paul on the trip and the horses she’d found for Steph. She left out the bits about Jon obviously but she had a sneaking suspicion he knew there was more going on.

“So whats’s the plan for the rest of the day?” He asked her as they turned up the road for the barn.

“Hmm well I gotta go down to the barn you’re leasing us and sort it out, see what needs doing and so on but apart from that I think I’ll just take it easy.”

“Well why don’t you join us for lunch? Sue normally does a pretty good roast on a Sunday!”

“Oh eh sorry I’ll have to pass on that, I’ve plans made but thanks anyway!” she smiled and hoped to God she wasn’t blushing.

“Plans eh? Well glad to see you’re making friends - anyone I know?” Paul grinned at her and raised his eyebrows.

Jumping down off the horse she glanced up at him and smirked;

“If I told you I’d have to kill you! Just taking care of a little business!”

With that she turned and led the horse off to the wash bay leaving Paul still sitting on his mount staring after her with a bemused smile playing on his lips. She was up to something he knew that much and he’d be damned if he wasn’t gonna find out what it was!