It didn’t take long to tidy up the horses. Milly went to the back of the ute again and took out the suit bag with her riding clothes, and the box with the long black boots.

“Back in a moment.” She disappeared into the back of the float.

Cole finished up, wiping off the last flecks of dust with a rag. Hunter gave a nicker. He was a good horse and much more settled than Wildfire.

All around them, in ones and twos, girls dressed to the nines in white jodhpurs, black boots and long black jackets were leading horses.

A bloody sexy look. Another jacket went past, on a girl almost as slim as Milly, the back-vent lifted in the breeze showing a flash of red satin and a perfect rear end.

Milly appeared out of the back of the float dressed like everyone else, from the black boots to her knees, to the white jodhpurs, the black jacket that fit into her waist, the white stock tied neatly and pinned at her throat with a gold horse shoe brooch, her hair pulled back under a net. Riding crop in one hand, her helmet in the other.

“Do I look all right?” She did that hands at her sides looking down at herself thing.

“You look great.” Not much else he could say.

“Thanks.” She nodded at the horses. “They are ready. Thanks for that too.”

Both horses passed the vet check without a problem. They took them back to the float and saddled up.

“We’ve got a twenty-minute wait until we have to be at the dressage arena.”

“Just time to have something to eat and drink.” Like her father said, she forgets.

She shook her head. “I’m too nervous. I’ll eat something when I’ve finished.

He went over to the chilly bin and pulled out a drink bottle.

“At least drink something. I don’t want you fainting from dehydration.”

She rolled her eyes but took the drink bottle. She perched on the side of the passenger seat, read from a piece of paper and sipped from the bottle while talking to herself and moving her hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Going through the test.”

“Don’t you know it yet?” He’d watched Milly practice the test a hundred times in her arena, on both Wildfire and Hunter. Surely, she knew it. He hadn’t seen her practice like this before though.

“I’m just making sure.” She went back to the whispering and hand movements. Then she looked at her phone again and stood up.

“Time to go.” She handed the drink bottle back. Not the flirting, laughing Milly he saw before, but the serious and concentrating Milly. She wasn’t even aware of him.

He held the bottle up. “I’ll take it with us.”

“Thanks,” said Milly, still distracted.

She went over to Wildfire, took off the halter and put on the mare’s bridle. He did the same for Hunter and they walked across to the dressage arena, past the other areas set up for the rest of the day’s events.

They stood well back from the arena and watched the girl there go through her test. It looked like the horse did the different movements by choice, effortlessly turning and stopping as she got to each point marked by letters of the alphabet. This girl let her horse dance and something beautiful happened with the rider and horse working together.

Milly nodded at the letters around the arena.

“The German cavalry used to have their dressage arenas in amongst the barracks and the letters are thought to be the letters above the doors of the huts.”

It seemed unlikely. The letters used in the arena looked completely random.

“She’s good,” said Milly after a while. “That’s a half-pass.” The horse moved on the diagonal, sideways and forward at the same time. “See how the horse is bent slightly in the direction of the movement.”

Milly put her helmet on and did it up. “She’s nearly finished, I need to warm up. One more rider and then it’s my turn.” Cole held Wildfire for her. She swung up onto the horse’s back.

“You’ll be right here when I finish, won’t you?” she asked once the horse settled.

He could see the tension in her. “Yeah, I’ll be here”

“There’s only one other rider and I’ll have to be ready to ride again. If I’m not in the ring within forty-five seconds of the bell ringing I get penalised.”

“I know. Good luck.”

Milly rode over to the small group of other riders warming up and started getting Wildfire to walk through a figure eight movement. He went back to watching the next girl riding. She didn’t look as good. Didn’t seem to be sitting up as well, and her horse worked against her.

When she finished the test, the bell rang, and the next girl and horse entered the arena. Behind him Milly still put Wildfire through a series of gentle exercises. Finally, Milly’s turn.

When the dressage test finished they wandered back to the ute with the horses.

“Did that go well?” Hunter followed behind him, relaxed like he was in the arena.

“I think so. It’s a pity Wildfire resisted, though it wasn’t for long enough to get me disqualified. But I will have lost points.”

“You won’t have lost any with Hunter though?”

“No, he went well.” She reached over and stroked the horse’s nose. “Lovely Hunter.”

“Morning tea time.”

Milly nodded. “I’m famished. Let’s see what Mrs Bennett has packed for us.”

“What’s next?” he asked.

“Cross-country then show jumping.” She looked at her watch. “We’ve got time to eat.”

And the day went on. Both horses went clear in the cross-country.

“Did you see that,” Milly said as she swung out of Wildfire’s saddle. “She did the water jump. She didn’t even hesitate.”

He took Wildfire’s reins and handed her Hunter’s.

“Yeah. I saw. She just went straight down the drop into the water.”

“I know.” Milly hugged Wildfire’s neck. “She isn’t usually keen on water jumps and she splashed through the lake, hopped out and then went neatly over the narrow brush. Wasn’t she brilliant?”

Milly sounded completely elated.

“Yeah, pretty good. You ready to go again?”

Milly nodded. She swung up onto Hunter.

“Wish me luck.”

“Luck.”

She laughed and rode off to the flags that marked the start of the course.

Hunter jumped clean, but so much slower and less showy than Wildfire and just made the time.

Only the show jumping to go.

Milly trotted back to him and slid off Hunter.

Cole handed her the drink bottle.

“Are you pleased with that?”

Milly took a swig, then wiped her lips with her hand and nodded.

“He did his best. He’s reliable.”

The show jumping kicked off. Wildfire tipped one rail.

“That’s another four on her dressage score.” Milly sounded disappointed as she switched from Wildfire to Hunter. “We’ll be way down the placings. Can you give me a boost?” She stood holding the reins and saddle.

He gave her a leg up. “Are you getting tired?” he asked.

She shrugged as she gathered up the reins. “A little.”

“Only one to go.”

“Yes. See you soon.”

He watched her carefully as she jumped Hunter around the course. Things could go wrong when you were tired. He could see the concentration on her face, and the way she moved her body as Hunter went over each. They looked like they were working well together.

Hunter jumped the course perfectly and finished the competition on his dressage score.

Cole led Wildfire over to Milly.

“He did well.”

She slid off Hunter. “Flawless.”

They wandered back to the parking area. From what he understood of how the scoring went Hunter would have done better than Wildfire, even if he wasn’t as flashy.

They drove back to Paeroa, the sun going down, and the sky getting darker. It had taken a lot longer to pack up and load the horses than he expected.

Cole glanced at Milly. She’d done well. Third on Hunter and tenth with Wildfire. She curled up in her seat. Her cheek rested on one hand and the other hand held onto the seatbelt. She fell asleep within minutes of them leaving the showgrounds.

She’d taken the hairnet off, and brushed her hair out, so now it rippled over her shoulders and arm like a blanket. She’d changed into the jeans, t-shirt and sneakers she usually wore.

She looked sweet curled up like that. Was she warm enough? Maybe he should pull up and get a rug out of the back to cover her.

No. She looked comfortable. Better to get home so she could get to bed.

He drove on. Now they were off the motorway and driving through the countryside, they met less traffic, but the road became a lot narrower with more bends. He changed gear and felt the ute accelerate up the hill.

Suddenly, he heard an almighty bang behind them, the ute lurched forward, then swung to the side.

He saw Milly thrown violently sideways then forward. She just missed hitting the dashboard, but the seatbelt held her, then the airbag inflated.

He slammed against the steering wheel, then against the door and back again. He couldn’t control the direction they were travelling. They were headed for a fence on the side of the road.

He could hear a loud dragging noise and the screaming of metal. He slammed on the brakes and they slid up the side of the fence stopping just before the strainer.

When they had stopped completely he looked over at Milly frantically trying to push the airbag out of her way.

“Are you, all right?” He felt like he’d been punched. He’d hit the steering wheel so hard. The rest of him hurt too. He’d crashed into the door as well. He knew how the wet sneakers in the dryer felt now.

“I think so.” He could see a welt on her neck. It must have been made by the seat belt. “What happened?” She pushed at the airbag again and tried to swivel around to see out the back window.

“I don’t know. Suddenly there was this hell of a noise and then the ute was out of control.”

“The horses!” She couldn’t turn enough to see, still struggling against the airbag. “How do you get rid of these things?”

He unclipped his seatbelt and then hers and turned to see if the float was still there. It was, but it was leaning to one side.

“What happened?”

“Don’t know, it’s too dark to see anything.” He tried his door handle. The door opened, but only a couple of centimetres. “Can you get out your side?” No cars had passed them, so no one had stopped to help.

Milly nodded, gave the airbag another shove, and opened her door. She struggled out under the airbag and studied the float while he slid out too.

The float leaned against the fence at a strange angle. He could hear the horses screaming and banging their hooves against the walls.