The Horsewoman(57)

But it all looked extremely animated.

They made two trips around the ring that way before Mom hopped out of her saddle and started to walk Coronado in the direction of the barn.

I got ready to make my getaway.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Gus snapped at her. “We’re not done here.”

Mom stopped and turned to face him.

“I might be done in more ways than one,” she said.

They were close enough to the barn that now I could hear them both quite clearly. But I would have been able to hear Gus Bennett where I’d parked my car.

“I’ll never stop working with you because you’re riding for shit,” he said. “But I am the last person in this business that you want to feel sorry for yourself in front of. I thought that went without saying.”

I could see her face, saw that the words had stung her. But she didn’t answer.

“Now are you ready to get back to work?” he said.

“I’ll call Seamus to help me back up,” she said.

“We don’t need Seamus,” Gus said, and moved the chair closer to her and Coronado, extended his arms, and put his hands together.

Now his voice was very loud.

“Here,” he said. “Let me give you a leg.”





SIXTY-SEVEN

Daniel



THE TWO MEN SAT at the last table past the bar at the Trophy Room, each with a beer in front of him. The dimly lit restaurant was nearly empty at a little after six o’clock.

“Did somebody drive you?” Daniel said to Gus.

“I drive myself,” Gus said. “I call it the van of the future. We can drag race later, if you want.”

“Sorry,” Daniel said.

“Don’t be, not with me, anyway,” Gus said. “I’ve had no use for sorry since I zigged when I should have zagged.”

Zigged instead of zagged, Daniel thought. Like he’d given himself a bad line.

Gus had called Daniel for a talk without Maggie present, or Becky. Maggie mostly.

“About what, exactly?” Daniel had said.

“The women in our life,” Gus had said. “What the hell else would we be talking about?”

They knew each other, not well, from the shows. As many times as they’d had horses in the same ring, Daniel would never have presumed to call them friends. Gus did limited traveling on the summer circuit, preferring to stay close to home. On a trip to Michigan, he observed to Daniel that flying was a royal pain in his ass, when he was still feeling pain in his ass.

But they had never spent time alone until now. And Daniel could not help feeling a tiny bit of hero worship. Maybe more than that. He had only heard what kind of rider Gus had been, had seen old footage of him before he’d been paralyzed. Everyone in their world, though, knew what kind of trainer he was now. The feeling was that Gus Bennett could have more riders than he did if he wanted them. But he only chose the riders he wanted.

In his second career, Daniel thought, he was still leyendo.

A legend.

“So how is it going with Maggie, really?” Daniel said.

“Really what I wanted to talk to you about,” Gus said. “Her, not Becky. Because it’s not going. If it is, it’s going right over a cliff.”

“There’s still time for you two to get on the same page,” Daniel said.

“Bullshit,” Gus said. “If she rides in the next Grand Prix the way she rode the last one, we’re out of luck and out of time. And screwed.”

“If it’s that bad,” Daniel said, “I am not sure how I can help you.”

Still not believing that the great Gus Bennett had come to him for advice.

“I usually don’t need any help from anybody.”

“So I have heard,” Daniel said. He smiled.

“I’ve tried being nice, I’ve tried yelling at her, I’ve tried challenging her, I’ve tried backing off,” Gus said. “Usually I don’t give a rip about hurting somebody’s feelings. If they want to work with me, I just assume they know the deal going in. But she’s so goddamn fragile right now.”

“We both know she was different before the horse threw her,” Daniel said.

And was sorry all over again. As if Gus Bennett’s whole world hadn’t been different before he was the one thrown.

“I didn’t mean that the way it came out,” he said.

“Sure you did,” Gus said.

“What I am trying to say is that Maggie was fearless before she was injured,” Daniel said. “In so many ways, I had little to do because she trained herself.” He pointed at Gus with his mug. “Is she not allowing you to train her?”

“Beats the shit out of me what she’s thinking right now,” Gus said. He grinned. “So tell you what. How about we switch riders?”

He said it casually, as if asking Daniel if he wanted another beer.

“You don’t want that.”

“Don’t I?” Gus said. “Gonna tell you something right here: your Becky has a chance to be better than all of them if she stays with it and you don’t screw it up.”

“Not my Becky,” Daniel said.

“Figure of speech,” Gus said.

Daniel said, “I know how talented she is. I think I have always known.”