By Heart Read online

  LESS THAN an hour later, Vince and Dustin were pulling out of the hotel parking lot in Dustin’s dark-blue SUV crossover. It was almost exactly a year since he purchased it with his share of Vince’s winnings for being Xander’s groom at their first Winter Equestrian Festival, and Dustin still loved driving it whenever he got the chance. Since Vince drove to all the shows with the trailer, he was happy to let Dustin drive anytime they went anywhere else. It was a good system, especially because Vince’s heavy-duty truck tended to burn through gas like that was all it was built for. And because Jane had chosen to have the wedding halfway between where most of her and Scott’s respective families lived, he was happy to let Dustin take the two-hour drive.

  Vince spent most of the ride updating social media and answering emails. It was a perfect time to get some work done while still enjoying Dustin’s company. Otherwise he’d be shut up in the office at the house or the barn.

  “I really hope Jane got pictures of Scott dancing with each of us,” Dustin commented at one point.

  Vince laughed. “Oh God, he was so drunk.”

  “And so comfortable in his masculinity,” Dustin snickered.

  “He just wanted us to know we were all a family,” Vince added. “I hope Jane got him sobered up.”

  “She didn’t send you any texts all night about how pathetic her husband is, did she?”

  “Nope. You?”

  “Nope. Must have gotten him sober enough to not ruin things.”

  “I still can’t believe they postponed their honeymoon for the short list announcement,” Vince said with a sigh, once more sorting through his email on his phone.

  He saw Dustin shrug out of the corner of his eye. “There’s no stopping her when she wants to do something. I’ve learned that.”

  “Sadly so have I.” After a moment, he grumbled, “I wish I had brought my notebook.”

  “That many more emails?”

  Vince nodded. “I wasn’t expecting this big of a response.”

  “You told the world you planned to take on students next spring—of course people are jumping to sign up. Especially when you mentioned flexible payment options. People really want to learn from you. Do they all already own their own horses?”

  Vince shook his head. “Most said they were interested in helping to train former racehorses for jumping.”

  At Anderson Stables they were focused on retraining thoroughbreds retired from racing, but Vince had decided to start giving lessons to other equestrians who wanted to compete and help him train at the same time, or who wanted to train and compete with their own horses. The mutually beneficial retraining program was something Dustin had come up with, reasoning that more people who wanted to compete successfully at any level could have the coach and horses to ride if they didn’t have one of their own, and they would help give the horses experience to prepare them for sale.

  “It would be cool if you could train up a bunch of thoroughbreds for the show world. I know they used to be a popular breed in jumping.”

  “Very true,” Vince agreed. “It would be really great to bring them back into the spotlight.”

  “You’re the one to do it, that’s for sure.”

  ANDERSON STABLES had always been a quiet operation, so when they pulled up the gravel driveway, it certainly felt like there was a lot going on. It had taken some time for the permits to clear, but three new buildings were now being constructed on the property. Vince had met a contractor by the name of Jason Miller during his first year competing in the Winter Equestrian Festival, and they had become friends over the simple fact that they both competed on former racehorses. Jason, however, competed in the much more grueling sport of three-day eventing when he wasn’t building equestrian facilities.

  Not that he did much of the work himself. Vince had met Jason’s construction partner, Tony, the day he and Jason came to look at the Anderson property.

  The new barn was not much more than a skeletal frame and concrete foundation, but they were lucky it had gotten that far. The surprisingly mild winter had meant the ground thawed early, and a dry spring meant they could work without much trouble. For once New York weather was actually behaving for their benefit.

  Tony waved to them when they parked outside the main barn and hopped out. “Still isn’t much to look at,” he commented when Vince walked over to see the progress from the almost three days he had been gone.

  “It looks bigger than I imagined from the blueprints,” Vince observed. Even the foundation hadn’t seemed this large.

  Tony shrugged. He was a middle-aged man with a rough expression. His jeans, work boots, and Miller Construction jacket were coated with a thin layer of sawdust. He even had some in his short beard. His hair was graying, and his skin was very tan.

  “It happens,” Tony replied. “Picture doesn’t do much for scale even when you have the dimensions. This is the barn in front of us.” He pointed to the left of the barn, where another building joined the side. “That’s your arena.” Then he pointed farther off to the right, where another building was just starting to be framed. “That’s the place for your out-of-town students to stay. Now that we got the water sorted out, we should be chugging along. Providing Mother Nature cooperates.”

  “Let’s cross our fingers,” Vince replied. “It looks good so far. Thanks for all the work you’re doing.”

  Tony grinned. “Thanks for the job.”

  Vince chuckled. He wasn’t going to remind the guy that Jason had given him a huge deal on the project. “No problem.”

  Happy barking distracted him, and he turned to see Tally, their brown mixed-breed dog, bound over to Dustin, who had been talking to Joe, one of the stable hands. Laughing, Dustin crouched down and let the big dog lick his face. Her tail was wagging so fast that Vince wondered if she might dislocate it. Could dogs do that?

  He stepped closer to Dustin and crouched beside him. Tally greeted him with his own share of doggy kisses, but she kept going back to Dustin, jumping excitedly between the two of them before practically sitting in Dustin’s lap.

  There was no question whom she considered her favorite human.

  “Mine too,” Vince murmured as he reached over to ruffle Tally’s silky ears.

  Chapter Three

  VINCE SPENT some time that afternoon with Xander, his four-legged partner. He groomed him until his bay coat shone while Xander napped in the cross ties the whole time. Unlike most of the other horses, he wasn’t shedding too much. Vince had clipped his coat short while they were competing in Florida over the winter, so he still lacked much of the thick winter coat the other horses had developed. It had kept him comfortable in the Florida warmth.

  Vince then took him to the outdoor arena because Xander was one of the few horses on the property not bothered by the construction noises. Bareback and bridleless, Vince guided Xander around the arena just by the pressure from his legs and seat, and Xander behaved like the gentle, careful horse he was. Vince had worked hard to gain Xander’s trust when he first got him, and he knew Xander would not misbehave or freak out over loud noises or moving objects. Xander was definitely curious about those things, though, and tended to look around when Vince let him. That was how Vince knew they had an audience.

  “You know,” Anna, his co–barn manager, called from the fence, “if you get sick of jumping, you could always enter those thoroughbred makeover competitions.”

  Vince stopped Xander in front of her. “Might be fun,” he replied with a shrug. He patted Xander’s neck and added, “But Xane is made for ruling the world.”

  She grinned at him. “Oh, trust me, I know. The world is ready to be ruled.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Vince nudged Xander into a gentle trot and guided him over a series of poles on the ground, then a low crossrail jump. Xander completed the sequence easily, and Vince brought him back to a walk.

  “King of the world,” Vince murmured as he rubbed Xander’s neck. “Good boy.”

  OVER THE course of th
e week, Vince tried not to think too much about the upcoming announcement of those who might be selected for the Olympic team. He did everything he could to distract himself, and everyone around him seemed to be doing the same. They didn’t ask how he was doing or how he felt about his chances; they simply asked him for advice while they worked with the horses being retrained. Vince rode some of the horses too, checking to see if any of them could potentially be jumpers in his own program.

  He helped clean the entire barn one day as well. That included knocking down spiderwebs, sweeping old hay out of the loft, making sure the feed room was free of signs of mice—the barn cats were good for that, but not perfect—and cleaning everything in the tack room. Not for the first time, Vince realized he was going to need a new saddle someday in the future. His was getting old and worn, and he’d only be able to keep it going for so long. Dustin had suggested he get a new one for shows and keep this one for training, but Vince was reluctant to put himself and Xander through an adjustment period when their competitions mattered so much. He’d use the saddle until it fell apart. But, at this point, he had to admit it was all superstition keeping him from making the reasonable choice. Some people had lucky socks or lucky underwear. He had a lucky saddle. If it was lucky, what could go wrong?

  He also went on a few trail rides with Dustin. They worked on clearing the trails for the summer, a task that had to be done every spring. Dustin obviously enjoyed spending time with his own horse, Justin. Vince was glad he had been able to keep Justin around for Dustin when Wes had planned to sell the chestnut gelding.

  Jane brought Hunter over twice to ride Cody, and Vince enjoyed the simple pleasure of leading the pony around while encouraging Hunter to go through a series of balancing exercises so he could eventually ride on his own. Dustin kept pace beside them the whole time in case Hunter did start to lose his balance. Letting him fall off so soon wasn’t something Vince considered a good idea. He didn’t want to scare Hunter away from horses.

  He wasn’t even sure how he would know if he had made the short list or not. Would he have to check online? Would someone email him? Would he get a phone call? Would they even let him know before the list became public knowledge?

  Then, on Thursday evening, just when it was becoming almost impossible to not think about the announcement, Vince’s phone rang.

  “Hi, Vince. It’s Greg Dugan.”

  Vince felt his throat tighten at the name of the team’s coach, and he sat down at the kitchen table. “How are you?”

  “Great, now that I’m finally allowed to tell you that you made the short list.”

  Vince wasn’t completely sure he had heard that right. “I did?”

  Greg laughed. “Of course you did. Were you actually worried?”

  “Well, we have virtually no experience competing outside the US,” Vince reminded him.

  “You have killed it up in Canada multiple times.”

  Vince tried to hold back his rising excitement. “What’s the catch?”

  “Only that you need to compete in a few selection competitions to determine if you’ll be one of the four riders selected for the team or not. Or an alternate. You only have nine other competitors, but they are all just as good as you are.”

  “When do those start?”

  “I’ll send you an email tonight with all the details,” Greg assured him. “For now just celebrate making the short list. But don’t tell anyone until tomorrow.”

  Like he was going to keep something like this from Dustin, even if he could hide it from everyone else.

  “Sure thing. How long do I have to keep secluded so I don’t blurt it out before it’s public knowledge?”

  “The list will be posted tomorrow morning sometime, so not too long, I hope.”

  “All right. Thank you for letting me know.”

  “Of course. And congratulations.”

  “Thank you.”

  When he hung up, he wasn’t surprised to see Dustin standing in the doorway leading into the living room.

  “Who was that?” Dustin asked innocently.

  “Greg Dugan,” Vince replied, fighting his smile.

  “And?” Dustin practically demanded.

  “Well, he made me promise not to say anything to anyone until tomorrow,” Vince replied. He could feel himself losing the fight with his smile.

  Dustin noticed, and his expression changed. “Did he say you made it?”

  Vince finally stopped trying to hide his emotions, and his grin broke through. All he did was nod, though. He started to get up and had barely stood before Dustin threw himself at him for a fierce embrace.

  “I can’t believe this!” Dustin declared.

  “I haven’t made the team yet,” Vince reminded him. “I’m just on the list of people who could. I still have to compete in a few selection shows before we know if I’m on the team or not.”

  “Still,” Dustin replied, pulling away to smile at him, “you have a huge shot.”

  “Yeah, we do.” Vince grinned and kissed him.

  It was several long moments before Dustin broke the kiss to murmur, “Wanna go upstairs and celebrate?”

  Vince grinned again. “That would be one way to keep from accidentally telling everyone too soon. Let’s go.”

  VINCE LET Dustin go down to the barn before him the next morning with the promise that he wouldn’t speak about the call from Greg Dugan at all. And that he would say Vince was too anxious about the coming announcement to be at the barn until he knew if he was on the list or not.

  So Vince checked online constantly for the list to be posted and did some cleaning in the meantime. Then read. Then watched TV.

  It was almost lunchtime before the list finally got announced, and Vince ventured down to the barn.

  As soon as he walked into the building, he saw everyone who worked there huddled around Dustin with his phone in front of them.

  “Look! Right there at the top of the list!”

  “That’s because he’s the best.”

  “The list is in alphabetical order, duh.”

  Vince smiled at their excited clapping and jumping. He had never seen how they watched his livestreams of competitions, but he imagined it was something similar to this kind of reaction. He liked witnessing his personal cheerleaders in action.

  “I see you guys saw the news,” he called over to them.

  It was like being attacked by a pack of happy puppies. They all ran over the moment they saw him and started hugging and congratulating him. He laughed as he returned their hugs and thanked them all.

  “You already knew, didn’t you?” Cade questioned. He was one of the younger stable hands, and he used his journalism degree to help Dustin keep the world updated on the happenings at Anderson Stables and on Team Anderson—what Cade and Dustin had dubbed themselves and everyone who supported Vince in his competitive efforts.

  Vince couldn’t lie to the extended part of his family. “I only found out last night. Greg made me promise not to tell anyone, so I had to avoid the conversation.”

  “But I assume Dustin knew,” Anna said, narrowing her eyes at him.

  Vince shrugged. “He’s better at keeping secrets when needed than I am.”

  “All I did was avoid your questions, guys,” Dustin defended. “I never lied about it.”

  Anna crossed her arms and gave them each a mock glare. “Still, you’re both in trouble. Go sit in the office and plan out the rest of the summer before I smack you.”

  Vince laughed. “All right. But then I get to see Xander.”

  Anna nodded. “Fine.” She motioned to the barn office, and Vince chuckled as he went to the desk and sat down. Dustin followed and took a seat on the old couch.

  “I should probably call—” Vince stopped talking when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and saw the name on the screen. “Never mind, she’s calling me.”

  Dustin chuckled. “Jane, I assume.”

  Vince nodded and answered, only to get a shriek fro
m the other end of the line that made him pull the phone away from his face.

  “Oh my God!” Jane practically screamed. “You made the short list!”

  “I know,” he replied casually, carefully putting the phone back to his ear. “Greg Dugan called me last night.”

  “And you didn’t talk to me?” she demanded.

  “I’m lucky he didn’t threaten me to not tell Dustin,” he argued.

  “Oh well,” she sighed. “I’m just so happy for you! What’s the next step?”

  He explained all about the selection events he would have to compete in, but didn’t get to talk much more before she had to get to a meeting at work. Then he called his dad and had a very similar conversation.

  Wes, however, ended the conversation by assuring him, “Your mom would be so proud of you for making it this far.”

  That nearly brought tears to his eyes, and he started toying with the necklace he wore at all times—his mom’s wedding ring on a chain. “I hope so,” he murmured.

  After that call, he texted his sister, Mandy, though he was sure she didn’t really understand what this meant for him, as she never had. Though, if he did make the team, she might just be happy to be able to say she was related to an Olympian.

  He could only hope for so much.

  Chapter Four

  VINCE LEARNED that he and Xander would need to compete in three shows to determine if they could make the team. There would be one every two weeks, beginning on the first weekend of May. The official team announcement would be made at the end of June, when they would select four pairs and a few alternates who would only compete in the event of injury, illness, or other emergency before the start of competition that involved one of the four team members or their horses.

  So Vince spent the next few weeks training with Xander, working on the ground, on the flat, and jumping. They did a few more trail rides too, which Vince felt would help improve Xander’s stamina and endurance going up and down the hills on natural footing. And Xander always seemed happy and energetic on the trails, even more than he was in the arena.