THE FOLLOWING SATURDAY was the horse show. Ruby’s nerves had nothing to do with how Violet would handle the competition. She was more worried that Levi wouldn’t show up. If he did, by some miracle, make it, then she had to worry about what he’d say when Violet asked him if she could live with him.
Everything seemed headed in a disastrous direction. How would she ever steer them back on course?
“Dad says he’s going to meet us by the practice ring,” Violet said as she typed something into her phone.
Wary of Levi’s promises, Ruby asked her, “Did he say that today or before?”
“Just now. He said he’s already there. The venue was closer to him than he thought.”
Ruby was rendered speechless. Levi was not only coming but was already there? That never happened. He was perpetually late. It was his most reliable trait after being unreliable.
She tried to focus on the road and Helping Hooves’s truck and trailer ahead of them. It wasn’t easy to ignore the creeping sense of dread, however.
“We should probably wait to talk to Dad about your living situation until after the show,” Ruby suggested. She was in heartbreak preparation mode. She needed all the time she could get. “I don’t want to start a big discussion right before you get on a horse.”
“Whatever,” Violet said, still staring at her phone.
“And I want you to remember that no matter what we decide today, Dad and I love you and only want what’s best for you.”
“I know, Mom.”
“And there are a lot of things we have to work out before anything would be final.”
“I know, Mom. Do you see any of my bags in the car? It’s not like I thought I was going home with Dad after the show.”
Ruby took a deep breath. She needed all her patience to get through today.
Once they made it to the exhibition center, Ruby prayed she wouldn’t throw up. This show was much bigger than the last one. There were so many people, she wondered how they’d even find Levi if he really was here.
“I don’t think I realized it was going to be this big,” Boone said, echoing the thought in her head. “I have a feeling it won’t be so easy for me to go undetected here.”
She always forgot how his celebrity played a part in everything he did. It was very likely a high percentage of people here knew who Boone Williams was.
Jesse was unable to come to the show this time, so Faith had sent her brother along to help manage the horse. Boone’s bad shoulder made it impossible for him to have full control of a thousand-plus-pound animal.
“Do you want me to go check her in while Sawyer and Violet get Sassy set up?” Ruby asked.
“Sounds like a good plan.” Boone put on his sunglasses. He wore them like a shield. “I guess I’ll stick to being more of a spectator today.”
“You can hang out with Levi,” Ruby said, dropping the bomb. “He’s already here, supposedly.”
“Oh, wow.” He sounded worried. “I guess you’ll be having that talk after all. Are you okay?”
“I’m terrified. But the show must go on.”
He grabbed her hand. “It’ll be okay. Whatever happens, I’m here for you. I know you’ll figure this out.”
His support and belief in her gave her the boost she needed. She gave his hand a squeeze and let go so she could check Violet and Sassy in.
The registration area was packed with people. Some teams had several riders and horses competing in multiple levels. Helping Hooves had Violet. She was a one-girl team.
The coach in front of her in line had a list of at least ten riders. His black cowboy hat and boots reeked of money. His dark hair fell over his collar, and he had light stubble on his face. He looked more like a fashion model for some high-end Western clothing line than a riding coach.
Ruby glanced around at some of the other people in line. They all seemed to have a roster of riders. She tapped the man in front of her on the shoulder.
“Excuse me. Am I in the right line? I have only an individual rider.”
He answered, “This is where you stand to check in teams.” He dropped his list, and Ruby bent to pick it up for him. As she was handing it back, she noticed one of the names, and her heart clenched.
Emmy Lou Williams.
Ruby didn’t hear a word the man said as he pointed out where she should check in her individual rider. Boone’s daughter was here. What if he ran into her? What if she said something to him that sent him into another tailspin? What if his ex-wife was here, too? She had to be here. She was like Ruby. She was the one who went to everything. Boone was Levi. No one expected him to show, yet here he was.
Only, Boone didn’t know he was at his daughter’s show. Ruby asked the man if she could see his list one more time. His eyebrows knit together. Maybe he wondered if she was scouting the competition. He let her see, watching her carefully.
Emmy wasn’t in Violet’s class. She had much more experience. With so many people here, there was a good chance their paths wouldn’t even cross. Unless Boone wanted them to. She had to tell him. Prepare him like she’d prepared Violet.
* * *
“ALL CHECKED IN?” Sawyer asked when she found them by Sassy’s assigned stall. Sawyer was a light in a dark room. He always had a smile on his face. His boyish good looks and abundance of charm made him impossible not to like.
“Where’s Boone?” She was anxious to tell him what she’d learned at registration.
“He went to get our water bucket out of the trailer.”
Violet seemed quite content, brushing and talking to Sassy. Ruby needed to get to Boone.
“Can you keep an eye on Violet? I’m going to go help Boone.”
Sawyer gave her a curious look but didn’t question her. Ruby made her way through the crowd, trying to remember where exactly they had parked. She spotted Sawyer’s truck and nearly knocked someone over in her attempt to reach it.
Boone had his arm around a young woman in front of the truck. Was she too late? They seemed friendly, the opposite of what Ruby expected from this particular father-daughter reunion. She noticed a man with his phone out taking their picture. He gave them the thumbs-up, and the woman thanked Boone profusely.
Fan, not family.
“It was nice meeting y’all,” Boone said as they took off. The woman excitedly checked the pictures her friend had taken.
“You’ve already been spotted, huh?”
“I told her I’d only pose for a picture if she promised not to post it to social media until after the show. She seemed trustworthy enough.”
“Emmy’s here.” The words just tumbled out. Ruby didn’t mean to spring it on him with no warning.
“What?” He stepped toward her like he had been too far away to hear her correctly.
“When I was checking Violet in, I was behind a coach who had a list. I saw her name on it. She’s here. She’s competing today.”
Boone paled. “Emmy’s here.”
Ruby nodded. She could scarcely imagine the thoughts running through his head. It had been almost a week since his accident. He had barely had enough time to get over the last interaction with his daughter, and now this.
He picked up Sassy’s water bucket and started walking without waiting for Ruby. She caught up to him and slipped her arm through his.
“Whatever happens, I’m here for you.” She wanted to be as reassuring as he was to her when they first got here, but she wasn’t so sure everything would be okay.
Boone apparently wasn’t feeling too confident, either. He wasn’t ready to discuss how this would all play out.
“We need to get Sassy out and about,” he said. “Get her used to this place so she doesn’t get anxious when the competition starts.”
Sawyer and Violet had Sassy ready to go when they returned. Violet was excited about showing off her horse to her dad.
“Do you want me to take Sassy for a walk around?” Sawyer asked Boone. “I’m not as famous as you are just yet. I don’t think anyone will be stopping me for autographs.”
Boone’s eyes were searching the crowd. There was no telling where Emmy and her horse were. There were four barns on the property, and two of them were being used for the show. Emmy and her horse could easily have a stall in the other one.
“Yeah, that would be good. I already had one photo op in the parking lot. Hopefully once things get going around here, no one will notice me.”
Ruby wondered if he wanted Emmy to know that he was here or not. “I’ll stay with Boone. I’m a pretty good bodyguard. You and Violet take Sassy to get acclimated.”
“If we find Dad, we’ll bring him back with us. Okay?” Violet asked.
Ruby had almost forgotten about her own issues. Levi was here somewhere, as well. This day was getting better and better.
“Sure.” She couldn’t tell Violet no.
“Well, this day is not going the way I expected,” Boone said once Sawyer and Violet were gone.
A nervous giggle bubbled out of Ruby. “Tell me about it.” She took his hand. “Do you want to go look for her? I can come with you or I can stay here. Whatever you want to do.”
He brought her hand to his chest and placed it over his racing heart. “I think I might be having an anxiety attack.”
Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his eye twitched. She encouraged him to take some deep breaths. As if she was helping him through labor, she talked him through the panic and breathed with him to keep him from going too fast.
“What’s the worst thing that can happen?” she asked.
“She could freak out when she sees me and lose the competition and blame me for the rest of her life. There could be some terrible scene that gets recorded on all the cell phones in this place and finds its way to all the national media outlets. Sara could file to have all my rights taken away, and I’ll never see my daughter ever again.”
He was much too good at coming up with worst-case scenarios. “Boone, none of that’s going to happen.”
“It could.” His breathing became labored again.
She modeled slow, deep breaths and waited for him to calm his body, at least. “No one is going to make a scene. If you’re worried about seeing her before her competition, then let’s not go looking until we know she’s been in the ring.”
“Maybe I should leave,” he said. Ruby’s face must have given away her opinion on that idea. “I wouldn’t go anywhere but back to the farm.”
“What if she’s glad you’re here? What if your being here makes things better? You let that lady take your picture. When this is all over, she’s going to post that she saw you at this show. How would Emmy feel if she found out you had been here but didn’t make an attempt to see her?”
He grimaced. There was no escaping this. “I shouldn’t have taken that picture.”
“Let’s watch her ride, and then you can say hello. If she doesn’t want to talk, that’s fine. At least she’ll know you were here and that you watched her. That will have to mean something. I know it would to Violet.”
“Will you come with me?”
When he looked at her with those desperate blue eyes, he could have been asking for the moon. There was no way she could turn him down.