A friend. Jessica sighed. Trouble was, she seemed to want more from Skyler. Her mind ran wild, replaying images of Skyler. She couldn’t stop thinking about the sexy trainer, seeing Skyler on Rampage or rubbing oil into a saddle. She constantly fought not to notice her body or wonder how her touch would feel. Common sense told her she needed to keep Skyler at a distance, but she wasn’t sure if she could suppress her impulses indefinitely. She had to keep her mind on the prize, and most of the time she could, but seeing Skyler with that blonde made her want to cry.
“Jess, I’d have to be blind not to see the chemistry between you guys,” Kate said. “But you shouldn’t pressure Skyler for more. She has a lot of respect for you, and her leaving us today is her rather stumbling way of discouraging you. She knows her limits.”
“And I know mine,” Jessica said. God, if she started dreaming about her, too, what was she going to do?
Chapter Seven
Rampage made steady progress over the hot summer months that followed, but the pain in Jessica’s leg never let up.
“I don’t like the looks of this.” Richard, her physical therapist, flexed the leg again. “That graft should have healed long ago.”
“I’m too close to getting what I want,” Jessica said. “I’m not going to let a little pain stop me.”
“Pain is a message from your body that something isn’t right. If you push this injury, you could rip that whole knee up again. Then you may not be able to ride at all, much less jump.”
Jessica refused to meet his stern stare. “I’ll take my chances.”
“I’m telling you now that you are probably slowly shredding that ACL graft. You should get it scoped again to see what’s going on.”
“I can take a few months off to let it heal better after I make the Olympic team.”
With an impatient snort, Richard lowered her leg. “Your knee probably won’t last that long. I don’t know how you are jumping horses with the kind of pain you are in now.”
“It’s got to last that long. What about another steroid injection to take down the inflammation?”
“You just had one four weeks ago. Those shots are supposed to last at least eight weeks.”
Jessica stared out the window at the deepening shadows of late afternoon. “Can’t we make an exception this time?”
Richard mumbled something beneath his breath, then said, “If you won’t listen, I’ll go talk to your trainer.”
“You absolutely will not!”
Skyler had sat in on Jessica’s first appointment with Richard, but Jessica had conveniently forgotten to sign and return the form for access to her medical records. There was nothing Richard could do but back down, and they both knew it.
“I’ll keep quiet for now, but I can’t believe Skyler can’t see how much pain you are feeling,” Richard grumbled. “She should know better. I guess she’s only concerned about the horse’s legs.”
“That’s all I pay her to concern herself with,” Jessica shot back.
Richard fell silent, massaging and stretching her leg.
Jessica felt guilty about pressuring him to compromise his professional ethics. “I’m sorry,” she said after a few minutes. “I shouldn’t have asked for the extra shot, Richard. I know you are just looking out for me. Don’t blame Skyler, though. I’ve done a pretty good job of hiding it, and she’s been working Rampage herself on the cross-country course to give me a break.”
“I’m just asking you to slow down,” he said.
“Okay, I will.” Jessica hopped down from the table, careful to land with most of her weight on her good leg. “See you next Thursday?”
Richard frowned. “Hey, use that cane when you can.”
Jessica hobbled down to the barn a few hours later. Rampage was going to get only a short chapter tonight. After Richard’s manipulation, her knee was painful and she needed to pop some more pills for relief. The sky had begun to dim as twilight approached. The kids and other equestrians in training had all gone for the day. The only sound was Clint Black’s voice drifting softly from a barn radio and contented munching as the barn’s equine residents dined on a supper of sweet feed and orchard grass hay.