Chapter Thirty Seven

Swish/Swish……….Swish/Swish……..

The hypnotising motion of the windscreen wipers had Jenn in a trance as she sat in traffic headed back for the farm. In the trailer behind her were the two horses from Belgium that she had just picked up from their stay in quarantine. Thankfully all had gone well and the team of horses for Steph to compete were finally all here. The couple she bought in Ireland had arrived while she had been at home but Paul had effortlessly taken over and ensured their safe delivery to the farm.

Edging forward in the heavy traffic, she cranked up the air conditioning to stop the truck from fogging up. Sodden leaves flicked across the truck’s bonnet in the wet wind, summer was definitely long gone. Since her return she had thrown herself into work with the horses, grateful that they were now in full training mode to keep her focused. Steph had been very sweet, offering to look after the barn on her own if Jenn needed a few more days, but the last thing she had wanted was more time off.

Jon had called or left messages for her at least a dozen times in the first two days before she had finally blown a fuse and more or less told him to get lost before she throttled him. There was only so much comforting she could take and while she would always be eternally grateful for him showing up when he did, for now she needed to deal with things on her own. He had eventually relented and limited his calls to the evening time, showing up on her door two nights ago with take out and a cheesy grin to boot.

They had eaten together in easy conversation, both of them avoiding mentioning anything related to death or divorce. After watching a late movie, they had snuggled against one another in bed, content to feel secure in each others arms. Neither of them had made a move to instigate anything other than sleep since before everything had happened. Thinking back on it, Jenn restlessly tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. She was painfully aware that Jon had his own demons to deal with at the moment and she wasn’t quite sure how to help him through it.

Just over an hour later and she finally pulled up outside the barn. Steph came running excitedly to the trailer, her cheeks flushed with anticipation.

“What took so long? Thought you’d never get here! Are they okay?” her questions came tumbling out in one breath as she jumped up on the side of the trailer in an attempt to peer in the grilled windows.

“Damn traffic was a bitch, but yeah you can calm down!” Jenn grinned at her enthusiasm, “They’re just fine! Actually look better now than when I saw them in Belgium!”

Paul appeared from behind the trailer, a baseball cap slung low over his eyes. “Thought I better come welcome the new arrivals!”

Opening the side door for Steph to clamber through, Jenn laughed as she moved down the outside of the trailer to help Paul open the tailgates.

“Wait till you see these boys Paul! We’d have killed to have them in our string a few years back!”

Muttering under his breath, he looked at her through slightly narrowed eyes, a wry smile on his face. “We’d have killed for this kind of money too!”

Jenn shot him a look loaded with daggers, hoping Steph hadn’t heard him. She knew what Paul was saying but it wasn’t Steph’s fault that she was fortunate enough to have a pretty unlimited bank roll. Some people were just born lucky but at least in Steph’s case she was prepared to work for it.

Paul blew out a low whistle as he looked over the two horses standing in the barn once they had been unloaded. Both a dark bay colour, their chiselled muscles rippled under tight glossy coats, eyes bright and ears pricked as they took in their new surroundings.

“Damn Jenn! You weren’t kidding!”

Although every bit as experienced at picking out horses as Paul was, Jenn still valued his opinion and smirked as she watched him practically turn green as he ran his eye over her new charges.

“Impressed huh?”

“Yup! Hey Steph!” Paul nudged the teenager from her dream as she stood gazing in wonder at the horses. “If these guys get too much for you, I’d be happy to take them on!”

Steph giggled and grinned back at him, “No chance Paul! Hands off!! These babies are all ours!” She winked across at Jenn, “If you want to know what it feels like to sit on a real horse someday, we might let you school them sometime!” She stuck her tongue out playfully as she added, “At a price of course!”

Shaking his head in mock disgust, he threw his hands up in the air. “The youth of today! Shocking!” Grinning back at them, he turned to walk back to his own barn. “Well ladies, I gotta go do some real work, I’m not getting any help off you two kids anyway, have fun playing with your new toys!” He ducked to avoid the body brush that Jenn pegged at him and went on his way laughing.

Once the horses were settled in their new stalls, Jenn went to the office to make them both coffee while Steph pulled her phone out to make a call.

“Hey Daddy, the last two horses have arrived, you should come check them out!”

Jon’s voice sounded strained on the other end of the line.

“Sure baby……..I’m just with your Mom right now, tomorrow okay for you?……”

Steph nodded into the phone, a slight frown creasing the features of her pretty face as she tried to picture what was going on with her parents. When her Mom had told her about the divorce the other day, she had secretly been relieved but she had no idea what her father actually thought about it all.

“Tomorrow’s cool Dad, I love you ok?”

“Love you too baby.”

Snapping the phone shut, she wandered into the office and threw herself down in one of the comfy armchairs. Jenn handed her a mug of steaming coffee and took in the worried look on the young girl’s face. Settling herself into the other chair, she cradled her mug and looked in concern at Steph’s sudden change of mood.

“Hey what’s up?”

“Family shit…” Steph sipped at her coffee and stared out the little window. “Mom and Dad are getting a divorce….” Sighing heavily, she looked sadly across at Jenn. “It’s been coming for a while.”

Jenn’s heart leapt in her mouth as guilt burned across her chest, she couldn’t help but feel partly responsible for this. She chose her next words carefully. “And how do you feel about it?”

Steph was silent for a moment as she shrugged her shoulders. “I’m actually okay about it, it’s not like we’ve been playing happy families lately. I just want them both to be happy again, so maybe after this is all over they can be.”

Jenn marvelled at the young girl’s wisdom and maturity. She suddenly appeared much older than her tender age of sixteen. She thoughtfully took a gulp from her mug, the hot liquid scalding it’s way down her throat. She had no idea if Steph had any clue about her relationship with Jon but that was definitely a conversation for him alone to have with his daughter.