Chapter Thirty-Five #2
“No, we were both city kids until Allegra. She always loved animals, and she was having a tough time with all the virtual school stuff, so Léonie, my ex, enrolled her in riding lessons, and Allegra completely fell in love with it. Riding has given her a lot of confidence, but she’s still more anxious than she lets on. She’s a perfectionist.”
“I wonder where she gets that from.”
He smiled.
The trainer’s voice carried through the arena. “Change direction across the diagonal, sit a bounce, good…”
Jonathan kept his eyes on his daughter. “How happy are you at Candela?”
“I’ve been there nearly ten years, it’s almost a second home.”
“I’m sure you’ve grown a lot in that time.”
“Absolutely.” Mostly in the last month .
“But is Candela ‘sadly outgrown,’ do you think?”
Iris chuckled. “I’m certainly ready to move up there, that’s for sure. Frank has promised to promote me, and I think my work with you will go a long way toward making that a reality.”
“I should hope so. Iris, it was your pitch that won that bid, not Candela’s, not Frank’s.
I didn’t want to go with a boutique firm, generally I like to have pick of the litter at the bigger ones.
I normally think if someone is at a small firm for a long time, they’ve already found their tribe, and maybe their level.
But I don’t get that sense with you. There’s a restlessness in you. Am I off base?”
Tears filmed her eyes—with Gabe, the hormone injections, and exhaustion, her emotions were in overdrive—she hoped Jonathan didn’t notice.
“What you’re saying resonates, I have felt frustrated with the limited mobility at Candela.
But at the same time, it’s hard to think about leaving.
Frank feels more like a father than a boss. ”
“Kids grow up.” Jonathan looked back to his daughter, piloting the pony over ground poles.
“I’d like to offer you a permanent position at Wolff Development.
I prefer to work with my own in-house team and have as few changing contractors as possible, and I’m going to need to tighten focus as we take on this NYCHA rebuild, and I hope more like it.
I can offer you the type of opportunities Candela only sees once every five years, if that, whether Frank makes you a principal or not. ”
Iris was taken aback. “Wow, thank you. I’m honored you would consider me—”
“I’m not considering, I’m offering.”
“Can I think about it?”
Jonathan shrugged. “Admittedly, patience isn’t one of my virtues.
But I appreciate your respect for the relationships you’ve built over many years.
I value loyalty above all. But in contrast to Frank, I reward it.
So mull it over, let me know as soon as you can.
But know that this type of opportunity doesn’t come around often, and as the horse classifieds say, ‘Will go fast!’?”
Iris smiled. Then she noticed Allegra steering the pony toward some crossrails at the far end of the ring. “Is she gonna jump him?”
Jonathan frowned. “She only ever has in lessons with Cheryl, her instructor.”
Iris could see she was pitched too far forward on the approach, and her heels weren’t down, common beginner mistakes. But the trainer only called out, “Grab mane!”
As Allegra was riding around the corner to the jump, some birds flapped up from behind the rail, and the pony spooked, dropping a shoulder and ducking to the left of the jump.
It wasn’t a violent reaction, but the abrupt motion was enough to toss Allegra onto his neck, making her lose her stirrups.
She managed to hang on as the pony trotted to the center of the ring, where the trainer was already lunging for her dropped reins.
Jonathan ducked under the fence and ran to Allegra. And as soon as he’d established that his daughter was all right, he turned on the trainer. “You said he was safe, he almost threw my kid! You used the word bombproof. ”
“He is, he’s been a child’s pony—”
“If she’d been hurt, believe me, I’d fucking explode. Allegra, honey, get off, we’re leaving.”
Allegra’s face was bright red and her lip was quivering.
“Let her go around again,” Iris interjected.
Jonathan spun toward her. “What?”
Iris spoke carefully, knowing she was on thin ice.
“She’s shaken up, but she hung on. If she gets off now, her confidence will stay shot.
She’ll feel even worse on the next horse.
I don’t think he’s a dangerous pony, I wouldn’t suggest it if he was.
Give her a chance to show herself and the pony she can ride through it. ”
“I don’t know.” Jonathan crossed his arms. “I’d feel differently if her instructor were here.”
The seller’s trainer added, “If she were my student, I’d say the same thing.”
Jonathan remained skeptical. “It’s up to Allegra.” They walked back to where she and the pony were standing. “Al, do you want to keep riding or get off? There’s no wrong answer.”
Allegra looked embarrassed. “I messed up.”
“No,” Iris said, putting a hand on the pony’s shoulder and looking up at the girl. “You did great. The pony startled and you got taken by surprise. That happens to every rider. You know what, though? A horse can’t throw you if you keep him moving forward.”
Allegra’s blue eyes tilted dubiously down at Iris.
“To buck, to rear, even to spook, he has to stop. So as long as you press your legs on both sides of him and think forward, you can kick your way out of trouble.”
“He’s bigger than the pony I ride at my barn.”
“The smallest pony is bigger than any of us. A rider will never win a battle of brute strength. So we don’t ride by force, we ride by communicating confidence to the horse. You have to be the leader and convince him that you know best.”
“But what if I’m nervous?”
“That’s okay, that’s normal. Just, fake it till you make it.
You can be nervous in your head but still be confident with your riding.
Take a deep breath, sit up, shoulders back, leg on, and show him how sure you are about going over the jump.
You don’t have to ask for the canter, keep him at a nice even trot, but whatever you do, keep your leg on and keep him going forward . ”
“Only if you want to, Al,” her dad added.
Allegra took a deep breath, and the furrow in her brow eased. She nodded and turned Billy’s head back to the rail.
Jonathan walked back to the ring fence. “If she falls, you’re fired.”
Iris hoped he was joking.
Allegra and Billy picked up the trot at the opposite end of the arena.
Good girl, Iris thought; she’d have a nice long runway to let the pony settle before they reached his spooky corner.
Iris saw the pony’s head get higher and his strides shorter as they approached.
Allegra too let her shoulders inch up, and Iris began to worry.
But when Allegra reached the corner, she kicked her skinny legs like a marionette.
The pony’s ears swiveled back and forth, listening to his rider, as he quietly picked up the canter and gracefully popped over the low jump with Allegra perfectly balanced atop him.
All three adults breathed a sigh of relief.
Allegra and Billy rode by them, a wide grin on her face. “I got him through it! Did you see?”
“I sure did, you were brilliant, honey!”
“Well done!” Iris said.
“I’m gonna ask him for the canter again!”
“No, ah— Iris, ” Jonathan said, like she should do something.
But Iris could only smile as Allegra bopped along in a quick one-two posting rhythm to Billy’s smart trot and then confidently asked for the faster gait.
The pony picked up his proper canter lead perfectly, again passing the trouble spot where the birds had been, as steady as a rocking horse. Allegra was beaming.
—
“I want to change his name. How’d they get Billy from Piano Man anyway?” Allegra asked as they walked, or in Allegra’s case, skipped, back to the car.
Iris was holding her helmet. “It’s the name of a song by Billy Joel.”
Allegra scrunched her face. “Who’s Billy Joel?”
Jonathan put a hand around her shoulder. “Sweetie, there are lots of nice ponies out there. I think we should keep looking for one who isn’t so spooky.”
“But once I showed him he was just being silly, he listened to me. I really liked him. Everyone gets nervous sometimes.”
“Well, you rode him very well.” Jonathan shot Iris a look that said God help me . “We’ll have to come back and see what Cheryl thinks.”
“Oh-kay, but I think you should make your best offer.”