A Medallion

Chapter 6

Tessa's POV:  

I took my time responding to Vanessa's amazing offer.  It was the best one I'd ever heard for him.  The highest before now had been 8,500.  And she said she was willing to go higher.  

But it wasn't good enough.  

I'd seen how she rode.  And I knew the way she rode wouldn't work with him.  At best, she'd admit she was wrong and sell him back to me.  At worst, he'd be passed around from buyer to buyer, before finally being deemed useless.  And after that...  I didn't want to think about what could happen.  

It seems cliche to say that only I could ride him.  That wasn't true.  It was only I that knew the way to ride him.  And the funny thing was, the more he and I grew together, the more sensitive he became, the more it was that only I could ride him the way that he wanted to be ridden.  

He started out sensitive, and while the classical method had allowed me to ride him despite that, it'd also made it so that it was harder to ride him if you didn't know how.

At any rate, I knew Vanessa's way would not work with him.  I had a feeling patience and tact were farther down on her list of preferred training methods than what I would like.  Which was normal in the competitive world, sadly, but it would not work with Challenger.  

I pondered all of this as I went about my day after the show.  Finally, after riding two client horses,  I sat down at the table during lunchtime and read Vanessa's text all over again.  

I knew it had to be driving her crazy that I hadn't replied yet, but what excuse, or reason, could I give?  I did not want to offend her by saying what the real reason was, that she couldn't ride Challenger.  She'd take that the wrong way.

And even if I explained what I meant by that,  she'd still not like it.  

I sighed, and rubbed my forehead as I set the phone down and picked up the grilled cheese mom had made for lunch. 

"What's up?" Asked dad.  

"I don't know how to reply to Vanessa's offer."  I bit into the grilled cheese and the warm melted goodness made me feel slightly better.  

Dad gave me a shocked glance.  "You're not actually considering it, are you?"  

My eyes widened and I vigorously shook my head.  In my hurry to speak I nearly choked.  "No dad, not at all!"

"Well then, what's the problem? Just say no."  

"But what reason do I give?"  

"What reason do you have?"  

"Well, for one thing, they'd never work well together.  I just know Vanessa would be too harsh with him, and then he'd rebel, and a cycle would start.  Vantage Point would just become a gilded cage.

"But I don't want to tell her that.  It might offend her.  I'd prefer not to make an enemy out of her, or seem stuck up."  

I took a huge gulp of milk as dad asked, "Got any other reasons?"  

I set the glass down.  "Well, there's the other obvious one.  I love him too much to sell.  But I think that'd probably anger her to."  

"What're you guys talking about?" Asked mom as she walked in with three more grilled cheeses.  

"What reason I can give Vanessa when I tell her I'm not selling Challenger.  I don't want to tell her that she couldn't ride him, although that is true.  And the, "I love him to much," reason would probably make her mad."