What it Takes

Luke swung off of Rambo and leaned against the wall behind him, running a hand through his hair. He remained that way for a few more minutes, and then began unsaddling Rambo, his thoughts drifting back to Haley. She improved so much when she had left the barn and left him. He slammed the saddle down onto the spot at that thought. He turned back to Rambo and untied him, leading him out into the sunlight. He glanced at Haley’s trailer, where she was just riding up on Taz, leading Jezebel from the saddle. He looked at her for a moment, and then led Rambo on to the pasture.
As he came back into the barn, Haley walked right in, looking like she was on a mission. Luke paused when he realized she was making a beeline right for him.
“Why do you do this to me?” He muttered, glancing his eyes upward just as Haley came storming up to him.
“Can we talk?” She asked. Luke took a startled step back when he heard her speak. Unlike the other times they had spoken, she had her emotions heavy in her voice and he found himself nodding soundlessly. He followed her out to the show grounds they had on the property that wasn’t allowed to be used except for shows. Haley plopped down on the benches and motioned for him to sit next to her. Luke reluctantly sat down next to her.
They say in silence for a few minutes, neither of them saying anything. Haley propped her feet up on the bench in front of her, resting her elbows on her knees and gripping her hands together.
“I’m sorry.” She said finally, looking down at her clasped fingers as if she was speaking to them and not him.
“For what?” Luke asked.
“For everything. For leaving, for coming back, for making your life miserable.” Haley said, looking up at him, her green eyes flashing.
“Well, you had reasoning’s I’m sure.” Luke said, biting back the words he actually wanted to say to her.
“Really? You want to tell me my reasoning’s? Because my mind has become so clouded that I don’t even remember them.”
“You know what Haley? You left, you walked out on me with no explanation. You didn’t say goodbye to me, you didn’t say goodbye to anybody. You showed up in the middle of the night and left. I don’t know why you did, and honestly, I really don’t care anymore. I can pretend that nothing has happened between us and that we never had anything, but you have to play along with it. Don’t speak to me about personal issues, don’t tell me about your past, or future or anything. Pretend we just met and then we can both move on with our lives.” He snapped, standing up and walking away from her. Haley rubbed her temples, remaining seated until Luke had vanished from sight before she stood up and walked back to her trailer.
She saddled Jezebel and swung on, allowing the horse to walk into the outdoor arena at her own pace, which was all speed. They walked around once before Haley eased Jezebel into a trot. Jezebel snapped her head up and lifted her legs into a speedy extended trot. Haley pulled back on a rein and got no response.
“Alrighty then.” She muttered to herself as Luke sped past in his truck and Jezebel continued to ignore her commands to slow down. “You want to run, go.” She clapped her feet to Jezebels side and she leapt forwards with a surprised snort, racing around the arena.
Haley counted the laps they did, and at lap twenty, she felt Jezebel start to slow down. She squeezed her heels into her sides, pushing her back into her lope, urging her to go faster. She ran her for another ten laps, then gently pulled on the outside rein and Jezebel eased back into a steady lope, then into an easy jog.
“There, that isn’t so bad isn’t it?” She asked, easing her into a stop and rubbing her neck.
“Nice method I suppose. What did you do, just snap?” Luke asked from the fence.
Haley startled a little, then looked up at him.
“She wanted to run and sometimes letting something run until they want to come back to listen to you is the best thing to do.” She answered, cueing Jezebel to walk.
“I guess that works. She does this every time. All this poor horse wants to do is run, and her owner can only think of herself and all the pleasure trophies she wants to line her shelf. Mommy and Daddy could buy her a new horse anytime, but she wants to keep Jezebel for one reason and that’s so she can say she trains her horse herself.”
“But she doesn’t.” Haley said, stopped her in front of Luke. He shrugged and stood upright.
“She doesn’t, but no one knows that but us. Plus, Jezebel is a champion horse, just not in pleasure.”
“What in?”
“Cowboy races.” Luke said, then turned and walked away.
“Wait, like Extreme Cowboy Race?” Haley hollered, halting Jezebel. “Luke!” She yelled, then grumbled something to herself about how deaf men are and went back to work on Jezebel.
After another hour of teaching Jezebel to respond to the slow-down cue that she had inherently forgot, Haley swung off and led her back over to her trailer, ready to end the day.
“Oh come on.” She sighed when she remembered she needed to start working Apollo tonight as well. Her leg was aching and her head was starting to pound from the amount of drama that was going on around her. Because of her, she corrected herself mentally. She unsaddled and untied her and led her into the barn, then took out Apollo, leading him out to her trailer second, her leg catching as she walked, causing her to grit her teeth in pain with every step.
She saddled Apollo and swung on, biting back a yelp of pain that was clawing its way up her throat. She settled into the saddle and moved her knee, trying to work the stiffness out. She clicked to Apollo and gathered his reins. He stretched into a fluid walk immediately, letting his strides lengthen with perfect ease.
“Good boy.” She told him as they reached the arena. Most of the work would be shoulder movements, lifting and moving the shoulder over, and responding to leg. She shifted him easily into the workload, and he responded lightly and fluidly, shifting his shoulders up and over as Haley worked him in spirals, weaving him into a tight circle, then back out.
Haley finally called it quits about forty five minutes in, when her leg had stopped responding to applying pressure to Apollo’s side and she swung off, staggering to grab onto his neck as she walked into the barn. She dumped her stuff off outside of the office, knowing that everyone was gone by eight and that Diane would know it was hers simply from recognition. She put Apollo away and limped to her trailer, where she flung open the door and threw herself onto the bed, reaching for the pain medicine that was on the side on her bed. She uncapped the bottle and dumped two into her mouth, then lay back, waiting for the pain to subside. She closed her eyes briefly.
Suddenly, there was a banging at her door and Haley sat up with a start. She winced when pain sliced through her leg.
“Door’s open.” She called, sitting upright as Luke pushed his way in.
“I thought we weren’t speaking.” Haley said to him as he shut the door.
“That’s why I’m here.”
“Did you want a restraining order for me to not talk to you? That’ll be hard since we work together and all.”
“Haley.” He said, a warning tone in his voice. “Be serious for a minute.”
“God, I’m sorry. What did you wanna talk about? Do you want something to drink?” she made to stand, and her knee gave out when she put weight on it. She looked at Luke from the floor, who was standing over her, ready to pull her up to her feet.
“My foot is asleep, just give me a second.”
“Right,” He said, wiggling his fingers in front of her. Haley sighed, then grabbed his hand, allowing him to pull her up.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Haley asked, limping over to the fridge and pulling out two beers. She popped one open and handed the other to Luke, who took it and sat down across from her.
“I’m sorry for coming across so mean earlier.” He told her, spinning his beer around in his hands. Haley said nothing, taking a long pull on her bottle.
“No, it’s my fault.” She said finally, looking up at him. “I really should have called. I should have explained. I just—”
“I don’t want to know. That’s in the past. I just want us to move past it, be friends.” He said. “I don’t want you to leave and feel like you can’t come back because of the bad blood between us.”
Haley smiled and raised her bottle, clinking it softly against his. “Consider this an apology from both of us for being assholes then.” She said, then tilted it back and finished hers off.
“Should you really be drinking with pain medication?” He asked her. Haley shrugged and reached behind her for another beer.
“I’ll be just fine. I took those three hours ago and they’re not working.”
“Maybe you should slow down.”
“I’m fine.” Haley said, popping the top off and motioning for him to drink. “Don’t let that go to waste, you already opened it.”
“When did you start drinking?”
“I’m celebrating, and besides, I’m 22 now and so are you so drink.” She ordered. Luke tilted the bottle and finished it off in a few drinks. He set it down and stood up.
“I gotta head home. I’ll see you tomorrow. Let me know if you need help with Jezebel. She can be a handful.” He said, then walked out the door. Haley sat in silence, staring down into her beer with a look of disdain. She heard his truck start up and leave the yard, then she clambered to her feet and grabbed two more bottles before stumbling to her bed. She tugged off her clothes and crawled in, turning on the small TV, realizing suddenly how alone she was.