It's Complicated

Chapter Seven

"Abby, wake up. We're here." I jolt upright, immediately groaning. My mom shoots me an amused grin before opening her car door and stepping out. I take a moment to rub the sleep from my eyes, failing to hold back a yawn. Through the windshield, I see Riley helping Aaron, Dani, and Kylie pull the tack lockers out of the trailer. With another groan, I unbuckle and slip out of the car to go help them.

"Nice of you to make an appearance." Dani says, shooting me a smirk. I merely roll my eyes and gently shove her shoulder on my way by to help unload my locker. Once it's off, my mom grabs it and starts rolling it toward the barn. I watch for a moment before turning back to the horses. Starr whinnies at me when he notices me waiting for him. "Hi, Big Man." I chuckle and wave, grinning as he bobs his head in reply.

Bashful comes off first, Aaron stepping forward eagerly to take her pony. Iconic and Heiress, Kylie's mare, follow before Starr is finally unclipped and lead towards me. "Thanks, Riley." I smile at him as he passes me Starr's lead rope. "No problem, Abby. It's my pleasure, as always." I nod and give him a small wave before turning and taking Starr toward the barn.

He neighs loudly as he steps inside, causing a ruckus as horses, both inside and out, neigh back in reply. Reaching up, I give his neck a firm pat before leading him into an empty set of cross ties. After clipping him in, I busy myself with taking off his shipping boots, making sure to do them up neatly so they're clean and ready to go the next time he's on a trailer. I don't let myself think about how much sooner that's gonna be than I had hoped. Or how the next time he does, he won't be coming back here.

"Abby." My mom's voice cuts through the barn. I hum in reply as I start unbuckling Starr's show sheet. "The car is pretty much unpacked. Whatever is left needs to go home." I nod, making brief eye contact before replying, "Okay." The static from the sheet being pulled off crackles in the air, and with a groan I look for the nearest metal item to touch so I don't shock Starr. I hiss as I brush my fingers against the stall opposite the cross ties we're currently in. "I'll quickly get Starr out and then I'll start unpacking what needs to be from my tack locker." She nods then disappears, probably to go talk with one of the other show moms that gets dragged to different shows almost every weekend.

Folding up the nylon sheet in my hands, I set it on top of my tack lockers as I go in search of his fly sheet. I finally find it hanging in the farthest tack room along with everyone else's. Grabbing it, I carry it back and swing it over Starr's back. The metal clips bang as they hit the opposite wall, making me cringe. The joys of blanketing a tall horse when you're short. I hurry through the buckles, making sure everything is secure before unclipping and leading him back outside. He neighs again, receiving just as many replies as before.

He starts to prance excitedly the closer we get to his paddock. "Oh, calm down. Idiot." I reprimand, while gently smacking his chest with the back of my right hand. Needless to say, he absolutely ignores me. I breathe a sigh of relief once I lead him through the gate, reaching up to unbuckle his halter and sliding it off. He immediately trots off a few metres before stopping and dropping down in the dirt to roll vigorously. Shaking my head, I leave his paddock and latch it snugly behind me. If anyone's horse was going to get out and cause trouble, it would be mine. No question. I can hear Starr briefly get to his feet before dropping and rolling on the other side.

I walk back into the barn with a smile on my face, waving to the other riders here who didn't go to the show with us. When I reach my tack locker I quickly unlock it and swing the doors open. Quickly scanning what I can see, I decide that most of it can probably stay. My saddle and bridle need to come out, but I have two sets of both my and his boots as well as my helmet. I enter the middle tack room, flicking on the light before continuing to my locker and opening the door. It's usually locked, but with all my stuff being at the show all weekend we had decided to just leave it. Going back to my tack locker, I haul my saddle out and carry it to my regular locker. I place it on the saddle rack gently before going back for my bridle. It hangs up nicely on the right side wall, right beside the hook for my halter which I now slip off my shoulder and hang up.

I walk back to my tack locker and quickly go though the different shelves and drawers, grabbing anything that generally gets used every time I ride and not just for shows. Once I have pretty much everything, I carry it all back to the tack room and dump it all into my locker. With a sigh, I start to sort through everything and put it away where it belongs. It doesn't take long and before I know it, I'm closing up my locker and slipping the lock on. Now, to deal with my show locker.

I trudge back to it, sudden exhaustion seeping into my bones. I close and lock it up as well before wheeling it into the very far tack room, and sliding it back into the corner where it's out of the way. Reaching my foot under, I flick the lock down on one of the wheels just to make it a little more difficult if someone were to decide that stealing it was a good idea. With one last look around, I grab the show sheet and shipping boots and head back out to the SUV.

My mom spots me and bids farewell to Dani's mom before making her way over to me. Unlocking it, she lifts the back door and takes my arm load and places it carefully in the back. I hold back my laughter at how particular and organized she is about everything. "You still want me to drive?" She asks and I nod tiredly. We're only about half an hour from home now but in my current state it's still too far. We climb back into the car, buckling up before pulling out of the parking lot.

"So, I was talking to Heather and it sounds like she's also interested in looking at Coven Valley. Her and Dani are going to come with us Tuesday when we go to watch Isabelle's lesson." I scrunch up my nose but nod anyway. Maybe it won't be as terrible if I have my best friend with me. Hopefully.

"Now, honey, don't be like that. I know you love Jo, we all do, but I think Coven Valley could be good for you. It's a competitive barn that always produces results at the shows. I know we don't know much about Madison yet, but she's obviously very capable at training winners. All I'm asking is for you to go there Tuesday with an open mind. You never know, you could be surprised by what you find." She's gives me a hopeful smile, making my shoulders slump in defeat. "Fine. I'll go and see what it's actually like before judging it too harshly. But I'm not talking to Isabelle or her mother." My mom's smile falters slightly but she manages to hide it well. "Okay. I guess that's the best I can realistically hope for." I hum in agreeance before focusing my attention on the fields and various greenery rushing past the window outside. I notice some nasty looking storm clouds building up in the distance and I feel immensely relieved that it held off until we were done. There are not many things worse that having to show in the pouring rain.

The rest of the car ride home is silent, except for my music trickling out of the speakers. Nothing more is said about Jo leaving, or Coven Valley, or the Kooper family. Inside my brain, however, is a different story. I keep going back to what Dani said about Isabelle. I'm not gay. That thought had never even crossed my mind before Dani went and placed it right there at the fore front of it. I don't care what she says though. She's wrong.

I'm so lost in thought that I barely even realize when we pull up to a stop outside our house. "Oh, thank god." I groan happily. A proper nap in bed has never sounded so good in my life. I help my mom haul our suitcases inside, before going back and unloading everything from the back into the garage. No one ever parks inside during the spring and summer so I'm quite content leaving it there until the next horse show. Or until either my mom or dad notices and makes me clean it all up.

Once I'm inside, I grab my suitcase and haul it upstairs to my room. Once through the door I place it on my bed and zip it open. It takes me a few minutes to sort through the mess of clean and dirty clothes. The dirty ones end up in my laundry hamper while the clean ones end up in a temporary pile on the floor. The suitcase I zip up again and place it in the hallway on the floor. With one last fleeting glance at the clothes on my floor, I collapse onto my bed. I honestly feel like I could sleep for a month at this point. Why are shows to utterly draining?