Chapter Four

A couple of days later, plans for purchasing the horses were well underway and Jenn and Steph had spent a lot of time getting to know one another. Jenn found the young girl to be quietly determined with a definite focus on her career. She was glad to see that Steph happily immersed herself in all aspects of the farm and didn’t just show up when it was time to ride. This was fortunate as Jenn would never have taken on somebody who wasn’t willing to get stuck in. Digging up a few of her European contacts, Jenn was busy scheduling flights to go source some new horses when her cell phone buzzed in her pocket.

“Hello?”

“Hey Jenn, howya doin? It’s Jon.”

She could not believe her stomach was doing flips again.

“Hey Jon! Am good thanks, what can I do for you?”

“Well Steph has been bugging me non stop about going to Europe to see these horses and so I was kinda wondering if you’d mind having her tag along with you?” Jon wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea but Steph had been driving him crazy about it and Dorothea didn’t see a problem with it as long as she was with her trainer.

“Oh right…em…let me see….” Jenn’s mind went into overdrive.

“If it’s a problem Jenn I understand” Jon cut in on her thoughts.

“No, no, it’s not a problem at all it’s just I’ll be covering a lot of places in a short space of time and I just don’t think Steph will get a lot out of it” she explained hurriedly. “I did have an idea the other day and actually needed to run it by you first before I mentioned it to Steph”

“Fire ahead!” came back the reply on the other end of the phone.

“Well, I’m gonna spend ten days or so back home in Ireland when I’m done in Germany and was thinking it’d be great if Steph could come and stay with me there. She’s get a taste for how we do things at home and her riding would definitely benefit. So, what do you think?” She’d been tossing this idea around in her head the past day or so and the more she thought about it, the better it sounded.

“Gee, that sounds like a great plan! Wonder would she mind her old man tagging along with her!” Jon laughed down the phone, “I’ve always loved stopping in Ireland on our tours. There’s just something about that country of yours!” He stopped himself “Shit, Jon, you just invited yourself, what the hell are you thinking?” Shaking his head he waited for her reaction.

Jenn wasn’t quite sure how to react. Was he serious? Did her really want to visit or was he just being nice? “Well we’ve got great beer, maybe that’s the attraction!” she laughed nervously. Why the hell was she so nervous! For God’s sake the man was just interested in his daughter, not her. There was a pause between both of them.

“Why don’t you run the idea past Steph and see what she thinks?” suggested Jenn. “Maybe she won’t want to do it?” Jon chuckled, “If I know my daughter, she’ll already have her bag packed!” Clearing his throat nervously, “Would it be okay if I came along? He had this feeling in his gut every time he talked to her, he wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“Of course you’re welcome to come along Jon, it might get kinda boring for you though! Horses, more horses and probably lots of rain!” Jenn had a million and one thoughts crashing around her head, was she really gonna bring a rockstar home? Karen would drop dead with the excitement! Stopping herself in her tracks she reminded herself that this was her employer she was thinking about and to get a grip!


“Well, I’ve a few meetings scheduled in the U.K so I could probably combine work with a vacation with Steph,” Jon paused “It’s been a while since we spent any quality time together and I’d like to rectify that situation.” His hectic touring schedule with the band over the years hadn’t allowed for much family time, something which had been a constant argument with his wife. She had been right of course but Jon just couldn’t sit still for long and he had allowed work to come before his family too often.

“Oh right! Of course!” Jenn stuttered over her words blushing fiercely down the phone. The man simply wanted to spend time with his daughter, he didn’t care who he was doing it with or where. ‘God Jenn, what has gotten into you’, she thought to herself.

“Great! That’s settled then! You just work out the details and let me know when you’d like us to join you and we’ll fly over for a few days!”

“Sure thing. It’ll probably be in a couple of weeks if that suits? Hopefully my work visa will be through by then and we can get started properly when we get back.” She started to relax back into business mode, jotting down a few details on the notepad in front of her. “Uhuh, lovely, okay Jon, talk to you then.” Hanging up she sank back into the chair at her desk. Life was going to get complicated if she couldn’t keep her hormones in check.

Jon shoved his phone back in his pocket and looked out over the New York skyline. The view from his penthouse apartment was fabulous and well worth the mega bucks he’d handed over when he bought the place a little over a year ago. Since the split this had become his base, leaving Dot and the kids in the estate in Middletown. It had made the most sense from every point of view but Jon had loved that house. Moving out hadn’t been easy and he missed the peace and quiet of the countryside.

Slouching down on the couch he kicked off his well worn leather boots and thought about his conversation with Jenn. There was something about the woman that had him intrigued, her self confidence was enchanting yet he could see she had a wall built up around her. When Paul had first mentioned her to him he’d had his people to do a little background search. All purely precautionary but when it came to his family there was nothing he wouldn’t stop at to protect them from any nut jobs that were around. The search had come up with very little about her personal life, mainly centring on her career achievements. These looked impressive even to Jon who knew precious little about the world of show jumping but when he had shown the file to Steph she’d lost the plot with excitement altogether! Steph knew her stuff and this lady according to his daughter was the hottest thing going a few years back in the show jumping world before she had retired. Steph didn’t seem to know why Jenn had retired so early and Jon was curious to know what had made such a talented lady step down from a sport she was clearly very much in love with. Paul had told him that he wasn’t prepared to discuss Jenn’s reasoning behind it as it had nothing to do with her profession and suggested Jon ask her himself if he really wanted to know. Jon had decided that wouldn’t be a great move on his behalf or at least until he got to know her a little better. Something was telling him however that he seriously intended on doing that at least!