Giving Chase (A Racing Romance) (Aspen Valley Series #2) (33 page)

Frankie sat down on her bed with a bump.

‘Yeah, I know. Sorry about that.’

‘Hey, don’t be,’ he said, joining her on the bed and putting his arm around her.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, the fight drained from her. A
thick painful ball of tears swelled at the back of her throat.

‘Tom, I’ve been such a fool.’

‘No, you haven’t.’

‘Ye
s, I have. I’ve never felt so…so humiliated before. All those months, I was merrily under the impression I had a boyfriend who loved me for me. And now, now I find out he was lying the whole time. He was probably laughing at me behind my back, just like Donnie was, thinking how gullible I was and congratulating himself on making me give him the National ride.’ Frankie choked on a sob and Tom squeezed her closer to him.

‘Ah, sweetheart.
I know, I know. But it wasn’t just you he fooled. He had us all going.’

‘Except Dad,’ she sniffed. ‘Oh God, how am I going to tell him? Do you think he’ll forgive me for being such a bitch towards him?’

‘Of course he will. And you haven’t been a bitch. You were just defending Rhys. If anything, I’d be more concerned for Rhys’s safety than anything else because your dad is going to kill him.’

Frankie had never felt less like going to work than the next morning. When everyone met her with cheery congratulations for riding her first Cheltenham winner, another surge of resentment towards Rhys rose within her. Not only had he taken away her chance for a National winner, but he’d ruined her enjoyment of Bold Phoenix’s triumph. Cheltenham winners were supposed to be celebrated for the great achievement they were, yet for Frankie it was like drinking a chocolate milkshake that didn’t have any chocolate in it.

Jack met her outside her row of stables with a pat on her back and a rare smile.

‘I know I said it yesterday, but I’m going to say it again,’ he said. ‘That was a bloody fantastic ride you gave old Bold Phoenix.’

‘Thanks,’ she replied. ‘And thanks for letting me ride.’

Jack shrugged.

‘It was t
he least I could do considering—’ He stopped mid-sentence and looked down at his feet.

An uneasy feeling began to form in her stomach. Had Jack been in on
Rhys’s connivery?

‘Considering what?’

‘Well, considering you were going to ride Peace Offering in his National trial but lost out.’

‘Did you know what Rhys was doing all along?’

Jack held up his hands and took a step backward.

‘Whoa
, Frankie. I heard you and Rhys split up, but that’s as far as my knowledge of your relationship goes. I don’t want to know who’s to blame, who’s the bad guy in all this. Okay?’

Frankie nodded reluctantly and half-hid her embarrassment by receiving Blue Jean Baby’s head-butt greeting with a pat.

‘Yeah. Sorry.’

‘So am I. I’ll do my best to give both of you space away from each other. Rhys can go back to riding out just a couple of times a week, but I’ll be honest. I’m not
going to do this forever. Whatever differences you and Rhys have, sooner or later you’re going to have to put it behind you if you two are going to work alongside one another.’

Frankie tried to imagine working with Rhys a year from now. She failed, but she could see Jack’s reasoning. She nodded
again.

‘Okay, I know. Thanks for understanding.’ She fiddled with the gr
otty lead rope in her hands, feeling uncomfortable having this type of conversation with her boss. ‘How’s Virtuoso?’ she asked.

Jack shook his head.

‘Finished.’

‘For the season, you mean?’

‘Nah. We decided to retire him after yesterday’s debacle.’

For a moment, Frankie was jolted out of her own mournful world.

‘Seriously? Just like that?’

Blue Jean Baby stuck her
nose forward and Jack stroked her mindlessly.

‘He’s been telling us for a while. We couldn’t figure out why he ran so lethargic in February then when he refused to start yesterday, he made it clear. He’s had enough. He doesn’t want to do it anymore.’

‘But he’s got so much talent,’ Frankie said.

‘Yeah, three King Georges and a Gold Cup aren’t to be sniffed at. But come on, Frankie. You know horses. People think we force them to race, whip them into submission, but the simple truth is when they don’t want to do it anymore, they’ll just stop. Virtuoso’s an eleven year old
now. He probably would’ve raced for only two more seasons at the most anyway.’

‘So what’s going to happen to him now?’

‘We’ll think of something. Eventing maybe. Or show jumping. Who knows?’

Frankie
gnawed her lip in regret.

‘It’s a shame. All that ability, all that promise and now it’s gone to waste.’

Jack gave her a sympathetic look.

‘It hasn’t gone to waste, Frankie. Just remember the good times.’

The tone of his voice made her look up abruptly. Something in his expression told her he wasn’t talking about Virtuoso anymore. How could she remember the good times when they had all been a farce? She took a deep breath and gave him a brave smile.

‘Sure.’

Jack patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

‘Right.
Let’s get a move on. You’re due at Newton Abbott later and I’m off to Kempton and we’ve still got horses to work.’

*

Sunday lunch at her parents was rescheduled to dinnertime the next day after a full book of rides at Ffos Las. Frankie steeled herself as she walked in the door. She knew she must apologise to her father, but just the thought of Rhys’s deception made her want to cry. She didn’t want to cry in front of Doug.

He greeted her with wide arms and an even wider grin on his face.

‘Hello, honey. How’s my favourite Festival-winning daughter?’

A rush of p
ride warmed her blood. At last. She’d made him proud.

‘Okay
, thanks,’ she said as a matter of habit. She hugged him tight.

‘Darling!’
Vanessa said, appearing from the hall. ‘I didn’t hear you come in. Congratulations!’

‘Thanks,’ she replied, transferring her hug to her mother.

‘Where did you disappear to after the race though? We wanted to congratulate you.’

‘She was probably at the Festival after-party. Am I right?’

Frankie looked down at her trainers.

‘No, I went home. I was tired,’ she mumbled.

‘I’m not surprised,’ chortled Doug. ‘Bold Phoenix certainly made you work for your money. An inspired ride though, beautifully timed. Such a clever girl!’

Hearing Doug’s praise made Frankie
’s cheeks burn more. If he was this proud over a Cheltenham winner—and not even one of the more prestigious Festival races—then how proud would he have been if she’d kept the ride on Peace Offering and ridden
him
to victory?

She twisted her fingers together, summoning the courage to apologise.

‘Can we sit down?’ she said.

Doug laughed and waved her over to the sofa.

‘You can’t still be that tired.’

‘No, not quite.
There’s something else I need to tell you,’ she said, sinking into the sofa and dumping her handbag at her feet.

Hearing the seriousness in her tone, her parents both sat and looked at her with concern.

‘What is it, darling?’ Vanessa said gently.

‘I owe
Dad an apology—both of you, really.’

‘What for?’

Frankie opened her mouth to speak and felt a familiar wave of emotion rise up again. She swallowed hard.

‘Rhys and I broke up,’ she said in a stilted voice.

‘Oh, Frankie,’ Vanessa said sympathetically.

Frankie looked at Doug and her eyes filled.

‘You were right, Dad. I’m sorry, I should’ve listened. You were right about him.’

Doug stiffened.

‘What did he do to you?’

It hurt to even think about it; the pain was still so fresh.

‘I found out on Friday that–that what we…
shared
hadn’t meant the same thing to him as it did to me. It was all a ruse to make me give him the National ride on Peace Offering.’

‘I knew it!’ muttered Doug.
‘The son of a bitch.’

‘I’m sorry, Dad.’ She hung her head. ‘You told me right from the start that he was up to no good
. I didn’t listen. He–he played me so well. He saw that I was a fool and he took advantage of it.’

‘Darling,’ Vanessa said reaching out her hand to squeeze Frankie’s knee. ‘You mustn’t blame yourself.’

Frankie’s gaze flickered between her parents. In contrast to Vanessa’s sympathy, Doug’s face was turning purple with anger.

‘You know,’ he said through gritted teeth, ‘I was even beginning to doubt myself. That maybe I was overreacting
, living in the past, but now…’

‘I know. I’m so sorry.’

Doug shook his head and gave a cheerless laugh.

‘It’s like history repeating itself all over again.’ He looked at Frankie helplessly. ‘What is it about those Bradfords that
makes us sacrifice our own?’

Frankie sighed.

‘An incredible power of persuasion? Manipulation? I don’t know. He never asked me outright that I give him the ride, but it was in everything he did, everything he said. He made me think he deserved it more than I did. Even when I told him Peace Offering was his to ride, he still played along, tried to refuse it.’ Frankie’s voice faltered. ‘He said that he’d win it for me, that he loved me.’

‘And all the while I bet he was congratulating himself,’ Doug sneered.
‘Useless pile of shit. Are you going to try get the ride back?’

Frankie shrugged, feeling hopeless.

‘How can I? The National’s only three weeks away. Rhys has ridden Peace Offering in just about all of his prep races. I couldn’t ask Pippa and Jack to change everything back just because he’s an arsehole, especially not at this late stage.’

Doug sucked his teeth and looke
d across the room to the mantelpiece. Frankie squeezed her eyes shut. She could imagine his thoughts, how Seth would never have been so foolish.

‘I’m sorry I let you down, Dad,’ she said
in a small voice.

‘What?’ Doug’s eyes flashed back to her, but she couldn’t hold his gaze.

‘I know how much the National means to you. I wanted to ride in it—to win it for you. I wanted to make you proud. I—’

‘What are you talking ab
out, Frankie?’

Frankie couldn’t help herself. She burst into tears, overcome by shame and humiliation.

‘I know I’ll never measure up to Seth. I’ll never be as good a jockey as he was.’

‘Don’t say that.’

‘But it’s true. You were always so proud of him. Nothing I could do could compare. So I thought by winning the National you’d be proud—’

‘But I am proud of you!’

Frankie looked at him helplessly.

‘But how can you be? Every time I have the opportunity to win a big race I fall flat on my face. I know you’re just trying to make me feel better, but I can see it, Dad. When I got the job at Aspen Valley, when Pippa gave me the ride on Peace Offe
ring, you hardly even acknowledged those things.’

‘Frankie—
’

‘I didn’t know what el
se to do to make you proud. Then I kept messing things up. Every time you came to watch me race I either made a complete hash of things or ended up in hospital. Then Peace Offering didn’t take to me, Rhys was working his magic on me. I just despaired. And I was angry at you because you wouldn’t accept Rhys so I gave up the one thing which I knew would make you proud. I—’

‘Frankie!
Stop!’ Doug exclaimed.

Frankie halt
ed mid-blub.

Doug got up and kneeled in front of her. He mopped her wet cheeks with his handkerchief then took her hands in his.

‘Frankie, honey. I
am
proud of you. Not because of what you do or how many races you win, but of who you are.’

Her eyes stung as she looked up at him.

‘But why?’

‘You’re a good person. You’re generous, kind, helpful. How could I not be proud of you?’

Frankie crumpled again and she clenched her fingers in his.

‘
Then why have you always made me feel second best to Seth?’

‘I never meant to make you feel that way
.’

‘
Of course I felt that way. Look around, Dad. Why are there photos everywhere of Seth and none of me? They’re everywhere! Seth winning this, Seth winning that. I’m invisible.’

Doug looked at the mantelp
iece with a new sadness.

‘Oh, Frankie.
I’m sorry. We never thought you’d see it like that.’ He sighed. ‘I suppose we surround ourselves with photos of Seth because it’s all we have left of him. Whereas, I guess with you here, living, breathing, there was never any need to remind ourselves. I could be proud of you in the moment, so to speak.’

A bitterness
seeped into her mouth and she scowled at her father.

‘Then why haven’t you ever told me? Why haven’t you ever shown it?’

Doug hesitated, summoning the courage to continue the conversation.

‘
After what happened to Seth, I was just so scared of losing you too. I thought that if I didn’t encourage you then maybe you wouldn’t want to be a jockey. It wasn’t because I wasn’t interested. I just didn’t want the same thing happening to you as it did Seth.’ His voice cracked and he bit his lips together.

Frankie stared at him, her mouth agape. She really did need to work on
her people-reading skills.

‘You mean that? You don’t want me to ride? Why’ve you never said anything?’

Frankie was distracted from her father’s anguished face by her mother leaning forward beside her.