Pathway to Tomorrow (8 page)

He laughed out loud. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?  I can already see my chances of winning the battle of the bridleway fading into the distance.”

“Do you really mean that?” From the sudden animation in her voice he knew she was smiling. He remembered how that looked. Her eyes would be shining and there would be a dimple at the corner of her mouth. He wanted to keep that expression on her face and suddenly he knew he wanted it a lot more than he wanted his privacy. 

“I’ll find a way to keep it open and protect Luke from nosy journalists,” he promised.  “Now tell me more about Buckmaster.  What happened once his leg healed? Did you start using him for lessons?”

“No. He’s much too temperamental. I wouldn’t trust him with just anyone. Bucky’s a one-person horse except for when he’s around disabled children.  Then it’s as if he remembers what it was like to be lame and has decided it’s payback time.  He’s so patient and gentle that all the children love him.”

Remembering how the big, handsome chestnut whickered a soft greeting whenever it saw Jodie approaching, and remembering, too, how delicately it had taken the apple from his hand, Marcus smiled.  Buckmaster and Jodie were two of a kind. Both feisty, both battle scarred, and both complete suckers when it came to the underdog. They were both in need of gentling too.  His heart bucked as his imagination kicked into overdrive and conjured up pictures of Jodie lying trustingly in his arms while he covered her eyelids with the softest of kisses before…with an effort he pulled himself together and searched for another question.

“How does that work?  He’s a big horse.”

“It just does.  He will stand still for hours while they make a fuss of him. He gets more apples and carrots than any other horse at the stables. All the children come with their pockets stuffed to bursting.”

“So what about this riding program?  Explain it to me.”

There was a pause and then she laughed.  “You don’t get away with it that easily Marcus Lewis. Come and find out for yourself when you get back.”

* * *

Marcus was thoughtful when they cut the call twenty minutes later.  Maybe he would check out the disabled riding program.  Not for Luke because that was never going to happen, but so he could see Jodie at work. It would give him a chance to get to know her better which was something he definitely wanted to do.

He stared out of the window, his cell phone halfway to his pocket.  Who had given her that horse?  She had said his name when she talked about a stable she had once worked in.  Stephen something?  Stephen…Robson…Roberts? That was it, Stephen Roberts.  Where had he heard that name before?

“The studio is waiting for you Mr. Lewis,” the girl who had been assigned to look after him for the whole of his stay pushed open the door and gave him an anxious smile.

“Sorry, I was on a call,” he apologized as he joined her in the doorway.  “I’ll get over there right away.”

Then he paused.  “Would you do me a favor? Would you go onto the Internet and see what you can find out about a Stephen Roberts?  He’s something to do with horses…probably a horse trainer in the UK or maybe he runs a riding school.  And while you’re at it, do a search on a Jodie Eriksson too. There will be some sort of connection between them.”

Chapter Eleven

“What happened to stop you competing?” Marcus didn’t waste time with small talk when he called Jodie the following day. He was too angry about whatever it was that had ended her career as a junior dressage rider just at the point s
he was about to make it into the big time.

When he’d returned to his hotel at the end of the studio session, a sheaf of papers was waiting for him; printouts about Stephen Roberts and Jodie. As he’d half suspected, Stephen Roberts was the owner of a highly successful livery stable. Jodie must have trained there in the days when she was the future of British dressage.  Amongst the papers he’d found articles detailing her successes with the British junior team and a lot of commentary about her prospects. There were also interviews with Jodie herself, and pictures of her as a teenager. In some she was holding a trophy high above her head, in others she had a medal around her neck, and in every single one of them she had an expression of absolute joy on her face.  Marcus had stared at them for a long time. Now he wanted to know where that joy had gone and why she was no longer competing. Given the dates of the articles he was sure it wasn’t just because she’d had to start taking care of Izzie.

“The money ran out,” Jodie’s voice was flat.  She didn’t seem to be surprised by his question. “When my step-father died he left a pile of debts and a failing business behind him, so the horses had to go along with everything else.”

“I’m so sorry Jodie.  I read all about you, about how you won the Pony European Dressage Championships when you were only fourteen. I read about the hopes you had for the future too, but then you disappeared.  No more news about you at all.”

“That’s because I became old news as soon as I stopped competing.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Marcus almost wished he hadn’t started the conversation because he had obviously stirred up painful memories.

“You don’t need to say anything.  It was all a very long time ago.  A lot has happened since then…too much for something like a career in dressage to matter very much.”

He didn’t believe her.  Nobody could be that good and just walk away without regrets.

“It must have been difficult.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he could hear the finality in her voice.

“Let’s talk about now then.  How long have you been running the riding school?”

“About six years. Before that I was an instructor, although I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

“You’re telling me because you know how I feel about you Jodie.”

She was silent for so long he began to think she’d cut the call. Then he heard her sigh.  “I don’t want to talk about that either Marcus,” she said.

He gave a wry smile, wondering if he had gone a step too far, too soon.  “What shall we talk about then?”

“Let’s talk about you.  What are you doing in America?  How is Luke coping without you?”

“Luke is fine. I already told you he just needs routine, and I pay people to supply that.  I’m nothing more than wallpaper in his life.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Sadly it’s true, but I’ve learned to live with it.”

‘I don’t believe that either.”

“Are you always this good at stopping conversations mid-flow?”

She surprised him with a sudden bubble of laughter.
“It depends on the conversation. Maybe if you told me about your work I would be so spellbound I would forget to interrupt.”

“Challenge accepted,” he said. “I’m in the middle of composing a film score for Patrice O’Brien.  The film is about a boy who travels across America in search of his father. I have to come up with music that has quite a bit of pathos as well as a lot of feel-good factor, and I have less than six weeks to do it. I’m working eighteen
-hour days out here Jodie.”

The silence was back but this time he knew she was teasing him. He chuckled.

“Okay. You’ve proved your point.  You’re spellbound! What else do you want to know?”

“How you do it?  Do you work with the actors on set, or with the film?”

“It varies. This time around I’m working with the film.  I spent most of today watching the rushes and then discussing the story with Patrice.”

* * *

By the time they ended the call Marcus had given Jodie a Master Class on how to compose a film score.  He smiled as he pushed his cell phone back into his pocket.  He could think of a number of people who would kill to hear what he had just told her about his work, whereas Jodie hadn’t been impressed at all.  Interested yes, but not impressed.  She hadn’t even cared that Patrice O’Brien was one of the most famous film directors around. It was just another job to her, the sort of job a musician did. Marcus Lewis the international star was an irrelevance. 

What was it she’d said…that she’d become old news as soon as she stopped competing?  Well he was old news too, as far as performance was concerned.  His
compositions and film scores were the only things that kept him in the public eye nowadays. Jodie had never even heard of him before he disrupted her life and he was surprised to discover how much it pleased him. After so long in the public eye it was a relief to be treated as a regular guy who was just doing his job. He also liked the fact she hadn’t protested when he said he would call her again the following day.

* * *

For the next two weeks he called her every evening at the same time, just as she was climbing into bed.  Although he didn’t have much choice due to the time difference as well as their busy work schedules, he still liked the thought of it.  Every time she answered the phone he wanted to ask her what she was wearing and whether her hair was loose. He wanted to ask her if she was sitting in a chair or lying on her bed. He wanted to know if she had waited anxiously for his call or whether she had forgotten about it until the phone rang. For his own self-preservation, however, he didn’t ask her any of those things.  Instead he talked about his day and asked her about hers, and slowly, with Jodie testing him every step of the way, they became friends. 

That he spent the whole time he was talking to her imagining her with her hair spread across her pillows and her body warm and rosy from a shower was the one thing he didn’t share with her.  Instead he told her about the view from the hotel window. He described Hollywood. He made her laugh with stories about some of the celebrities he had seen cruising the boulevards.   And he missed her the minute he cut the call. 

* * *

“I guess that’s lover boy again,” Izzie stuck her head around Jodie’s bedroom door with a grin.

Jodie scowled at her.  “Go to bed.”

“As if,” she climbed onto the bed, hugged her knees to her chest and waited with an expectant grin on her face.

“I’m not answering it,” Jodie told her.  “Not unless you go away.”

“Not a problem,” Izzie leaned forward, plucked the phone from her hand and pressed the call button.

“Hi Marcus.  How’s life in Hollywood?”

“It’s good.  What about your exams?”

Izzie sighed.  “And here I was thinking you might mistake me for Jodie and whisper some sweet nothings into my ear!”

Outraged, Jodie attempted to snatch the phone.  Izzie laughed as she held it out of reach.

“Gotta say goodbye now Marcus.  Jodie’s not happy. I’ll leave you to calm her down.” She tossed the phone onto the bed as she untangled her legs and made for the door. She was still chuckling as she slammed it shut behind her.

“Your sister needs to learn some respect,” Marcus told Jodie when she picked up the phone. He was laughing. Jodie wasn’t. Her face was scarlet with mortification and her lips were quivering.

How could Izzie have done that to her?  How did she even know Marcus kept calling?  Had she been listening at the bedroom door?

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “She had no right.”

“Hey, don’t let it upset you.  She’s just a kid.”

“She’s still old enough to know better.” Although the color had faded from her cheeks, Jodie’s voice was shaking.

“Maybe she does…know better I mean.  Maybe she’s just trying to push you in the direction I’m trying to lead you.  I want to whisper sweet nothings into your ear. You know I do. I want you Jodie.”

“Don’t Marcus.  And please don’t call me any more…I…I can’t do this.”

* * *

It was three days before Marcus managed to speak to her again. Three days of ignored calls. Three days where she deleted every single voice mail without listening to it.

Izzie cracked first.  She had spent every moment since that fatal phone call making silent atonement.  Her bedroom was so tidy she could actually find things.  She hadn’t demurred when Jodie suggested extra studying either. Nor had she complained when one of the stable girls went down with a stomach bug and she had to get up an hour earlier to help out with the horses before school.  She’d done all the washing up too, without being asked, but enough was enough.  If Jodie wouldn’t talk to her about it, then maybe Marcus would.

Removing her sister’s cell phone from the breakfast table when her back was turned, she found Marcus’ number and called him.  He answered straight away.

“Jodie?”

“No.  It’s Izzie. Marcus I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“You didn’t upset me.  It’s Jodie you need to apologize to.”

“I’ve tried, but she won’t talk about it.  Actually she’s not really talking about anything much right now. That’s why I’m calling. I don’t know what else to do.”