Way Down We Go

Hitting the road

She groaned and rolled over, huffing lightly as her half mutt- half mop of a dog threw himself on top her.
Hot breath and wet tongue stealing her dreams of sleep from her.
It was with a start that she realized what day it was. She was not in fact, rising early for another day of work.
Izzie jolted upright, barely saving her laptop from hurtling off of the bed - she had fallen asleep watching some mindless Netflix show.

Today was the day - they were leaving for the show.

Manager and Head Instructor at a large Riding Centre. She had been selected by her boss to accompany him on a five day trip to the continent for a prestigious Showjumping Competition. Where he would carry two of their best horses to compete again some of the biggest names in showjumping.

She has cried when he asked her - not to his face obviously- but once he walked away after her thanking him profusely for several minutes.

They're relationship was slightly more than that of just Employee and employer - Izzie had known him for almost 6 years now, she had worked for him and his wife for four of those years, and watched their children grow.
They socialized outside of work hours, when she would mind the kids, or call down for drinks or dinner.

She supposed for the most part she had become a little immune to his classical good looks, and she laughed to herself as the mothers of the children she taught swooned over him. He was utterly oblivious to it, sometimes painfully so. 
Touching on 40 and almost 15 years her senior he was a strict boss. With high demands and wicked temper, but under it all she knew of his soft spot towards her.

He knew of her past and her personal life, and while he was hard on her, he never pushed her to breaking point like he often did to others.
He was a little more careful with Izzie, all along she had put it down to the fact that she was now a close family friend, and that was all.

He had a wickedly dry sense of humor that she was one of the privileged few to witness. She and her friends would often joke about his good looks, reveling in the fact that he looked rather like Jamie Dornan.
Izzie never complained, he was easy on the eye.
Izzie had thought about him in ways she shouldn't have - but if it was only thinking - what harm was in it?

She admittedly was a little surprised that he had asked her to go with him as sometimes she felt that she did little but irritate him.
Though all the girls at the yard called her "The Golden Girl."
Even in her training days she was tormented as they told her how she had him wrapped around her fingers. She always got the nicer lessons to teach and horses to ride.

Izzie never saw it that way, she used to babysit so she was sure it was just his way of paying her back.

Shaking her head and bringing herself back to the reality of the bouncing, barking dog at the end of her bed. Izzie stretched and threw her legs over the edge of the bed.

Time to go!