Stacy Gregg - Fortune and the Golden Trophy

She remembered feeling as if her knees were going to buckle beneath her as she stood there that day. Now, when Aidan smiled at her, she felt herself going weak all over again. “Come on, Issie, what do you say? It’s just one horse. How much trouble can he be?”

Issie sighed. Aidan made it impossible to say no. Still, she had a feeling she was going to regret this.

“What exactly does Hester want me to do with him?”

“Compete on him,” said Aidan. “Right now that piebald isn’t worth a lot because he doesn’t have enough experience. But if you could ride him for the next few months and win a few ribbons or maybe even some trophies with him on the gymkhana circuit then he’d be worth a whole lot more.”

“You want me to take him on the show circuit and win championship ribbons?” Issie was stunned. “Aidan! Have you seen the state of him?”

Aidan gave her a cheeky grin. “What’s the matter, Issie? Are you saying that you’re only a good rider if you’ve got a fancy horse like Blaze underneath you to rely on? If the piebald is too tough for you to handle…”

“I didn’t mean that!” Issie cut him off. “All right,” she sighed, “I’ll do my best with him, but you’ve seen what he’s like—I’m not a miracle worker! I’ll try, but tell Aunty Hess that I’m not making her any promises.”

“Great!” Aidan said with obvious relief. Then he looked at his watch. “Listen, I hate to do this, but I have to go. I promised Tom I would help with the horses. And after that I need to head straight back to Blackthorn Farm.”

Issie’s heart sank. “Really? You can’t stay?”

Aidan shook his head. “No. I’m only here for the day. I can’t leave the horses and the other animals at Blackthorn overnight without anyone there to feed and check on them. I’ll try and make it back through soon though—maybe next week?”

“OK,” Issie said with an air of resignation. She had dreamt about seeing Aidan so often over the past month, but those dreams definitely didn’t involve him turning up with a nutty piebald pony to dump on her before racing off again.

As Aidan grabbed Avery’s car keys and headed for the door Issie walked with him. She was beginning to think Aidan was going to leave without giving her a kiss goodbye, but then at the last minute he leaned over and gave her a hasty peck on the cheek. The cheek! What sort of kiss was that? Aidan, meanwhile, was looking decidedly uncomfortable again. Something was definitely up.

“Is anything wrong?” asked Issie nervously.

“Yeah, well, I had something I wanted to say to you…” Aidan said.

“What is it?” Issie felt her pulse quickening. What was going on? Was he trying to break up with her? Was that it?

They stood there for a moment on the front step, both of them afraid to speak. And then, just as Aidan was about to open his mouth, Mrs Brown appeared beside them.

“You forgot your coat,” she said, handing Aidan a navy puffa jacket.

He froze with embarrassment, being caught in an awkward moment by Issie’s mum. “Thanks,” he mumbled, taking the jacket. Then he looked at Issie. “Anyway, I’ll talk to you later, OK?” he said. “I’ll give you a call.” And with that, he headed off down the front steps towards the gate.

Aidan was just opening the gate when Issie suddenly realised she’d forgotten to ask him a very important question.

“The piebald!” she called out after him. “What’s his name?”

Aidan turned to look at her. “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask that,” he said. “I’ve had no luck coming up with anything so far. I’m stuck, I’m afraid. I thought I’d leave it up to you.”

“How about Snoozy?” Issie suggested sarcastically.

“Up to you,” Aidan said. “He’s your horse for now.” He looked at his watch. “Oh, man, I’ve gotta go. Avery will be waiting!” He looked intently at Issie. “I’ll call you, OK? Good luck with the piebald.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Issie muttered under her breath as Aidan waved goodbye. “Thanks a whole bunch…”

The Coco mystery was solved not long after Aidan departed when there was a knock at the door.

“That’ll be Stella,” Mrs Brown said. “I told her you’d be home shortly. She said she was coming over as soon as you were back.”

When Issie opened the door Stella leapt through it and smothered her friend in a mammoth hug.

“You’re back!” she squealed. “Ohmygod! I missed you so much. Heaps of stuff has happened and it’s been awful not having you here…”

“I just went down to the River Paddock,” Issie interrupted her. “Where’s Coco?”

“That’s what I mean about it being awful,” Stella said. Her expression was grim beneath her red curly hair. “Coco is gone.”

“Gone? Where? What do you mean?”

“I sold her.”

“What?” Issie was stunned. “When? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Last week. I didn’t tell you because you weren’t here obviously,” Stella said glumly. “I was getting so big on her—I had to sell her really. Remember how you said my feet were almost dragging on the ground?”

“Did you have to do it while I was away?” said Issie. “I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to her!”

“I know, I’m sorry,” Stella said, “but they wanted to take her immediately.”

She looked really miserable. “I wish you’d been here when she left. It was so awful watching them load her on the horse float and drive away. I’ve been crying all week.”

“Who bought her?” Issie asked.

“Do you remember Kitty from the riding school at Blackthorn Farm?” Stella sniffed. “Well, her mum said she could finally have her own pony and so they came and tried Coco out, and Kitty totally fell in love with her.”

“Stella, that’s great!” said Issie. “Kitty is super-nice and she’s a really good rider.”

Stella didn’t seem at all cheered up by this. The idea of her precious Coco being ridden by anyone else, even Kitty, didn’t make her any happier. “She’s all right I suppose,” she agreed grudgingly.

“But what about pony club?” Issie pointed out. “The new season is just about to start. It’s only a week until our first rally. What will you do?”

“That’s my big news!” Stella perked up. “He arrives tomorrow, so I’ll have him in time for the first rally next weekend.”

“Who arrives tomorrow?” Issie was confused.

“My new horse!”

“You’ve got a new horse already?”

“Well, not exactly,” Stella admitted. “He’s just on trial. I had one ride on him to try him out and now they’ve let me take him for a week to see if we get on. His name is Misty and he’s a fleabitten grey.”

“Has Tom checked him over yet?”

Stella shook her head. “He said he’d have a look at him for me this week before the first rally day.”

“I can’t believe it’s the beginning of the season already!” Issie said. “I wish I only had one horse. Now I’m stuck with three of them at once.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “Issie! Just listen to yourself! Complaining because you have too many horses? Most riders would kill to have just one pony and you’re lucky enough to have three.”

“I know,” Issie checked herself. “I mean it’s amazing having three horses, but honestly, how will I cope? I was really looking forward to riding Blaze and Comet this season and now this great piebald lump from Blackthorn Farm has turned up and I have to train him too…”

“So Aidan just dropped him off and left him with you?” Stella said.

“Pretty much.” Issie nodded. She was still thinking about how odd Aidan had been when he’d turned up. Had he been trying to break up with her? If he was, she didn’t feel ready to tell Stella about it. Not yet anyway.