Let That Pony Run
~Written for the 'Endings, Beginnings and Starting Over' challenge at the Country Song Prompt Challenge Forum. The pairing I chose was JJ/Rossi and the song I was assigned was Let That Pony Run by Pam Tillis
David Rossi stood at the sidelines of the racetrack, gulping his scotch as he gripped his ticket. He'd been there for six hours and hadn't won a damn thing, not that it mattered. No, he had the advance for his newest book in his checking account and he didn't care if he burned through the entire thing…it was just money. Two weeks earlier his newest ex-wife had taken the only thing that had mattered to him…his heart.
After arriving home from a grisly murder scene in North Dakota, all Dave had wanted to do was climb into bed and hold his wife. Imagine his surprise when he found their handyman keeping his spot warm. The sad part was, his wife hadn't denied any of it, she'd just told him that she needed love and with him on the road 250 days per year, she realized she wasn't going to get it from him.
That had hurt; sure he wasn't around every day, but he'd sincerely loved her and he'd opened up to her in a way that he hadn't with anyone else before. For her to say he didn't love her enough felt like a kick to the teeth. She'd moved out the next day and had sent the divorce papers less than a month later. He'd just signed the papers two weeks ago and this was the first day he'd had off since.
He was pulled from his memories as the horses were led to the starting gate. He finished his drink and ordered another one just as the race started. He felt his heart race as his horse pulled into the lead. Could it be that his luck was finally changing? He began cheering with everyone else. "Let that pony run!" He yelled as he took a gulp of his refilled scotch glass. Things seemed to be looking up, but then suddenly the horse next to his began to pull into the lead. Slowly but surely the other horse passed his horse and eventually ran the race.
"Goddammit!" He yelled as he ripped his betting ticket to shreds. "Will my luck ever change?"
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Ten years later, Dave was watching a horse for a very different reason; this time his 6 year old daughter was seated atop the horse and even though she was riding a small pony, she looked tiny compared to the four-legged animal. As he watched, he felt his lips curl into a smile; his head-strong daughter was arguing with the handler and she was trying to get him to make the horse go faster. Since she took after him in her ability to never lose an argument, Dave wasn't surprised when the horse handler began to jog, pulling the horse along with him. As the horse began to slowly gallop, he heard his wife gasp beside him.
"He needs to slow down, Dave! What if Jessica falls off? What if she gets hurt?" JJ took a step forward, fully intending to put a stop to the pony ride when Dave gently grabbed her arm.
"Look at her Jen, she's having too much fun to stop things now. Besides, she's wearing a helmet and she isn't sitting more than three feet off of the ground."
"But she's too little for that!" JJ argued as she rubbed her pregnant belly.
"Sweetie, our little girl isn't a baby anymore, she's 6 years old; I say let that pony run!"
JJ watched as her daughter seemed to have the time of her life and finally smiled, "You're right, Dave."
He gave her hand a squeeze and looked from her and their future child, to their child perched atop the pony and realized his luck had indeed changed.