Two weeks after the accident, Kris woke up knowing that something was different. All of her injuries from the accident had healed. She was ready to get back on the track. Eagerly, she jumped out of bed and pulled on a blue tank top, her riding pants, and her riding boots. It briefly crossed her mind that she was pregnant, but then she remembered that jockeys rode during their first trimester all the time, so there was no reason to do anything different for the time being. Then she put it back out of her mind. She couldn't deal with her pregnancy just yet. She had barely finished dealing with Junior's death.

But she WAS finished with that. Right? Definitely, she told herself.

"Good morning, Jean," called Kris cheerfully.

"Hey, Kris," she said, somewhat surprised by Kris's happy demeanor so soon after her fiance had died. "I've made some hot oatmeal for the dudes. Want some?"

"Mmm, sounds delicious," said Kris. "But I've got to get down to the track to help Matt with the youngsters. You got some cereal bars or anything like that?"

"Are you sure you're ready to get back to work?" asked Jean.

"Yep," said Kris. "The doctors said two weeks, and plus, I feel great."

Jean looked hard at Kris. "I know that all your physical injuries from the accident have healed," she said carefully. "But are you sure you're ready to get back to work?"

"Yes," said Kris, a slight edge of irritation in her voice. It was the closest she had ever come to snapping at Jean.

Jean hesitated. "Well, okay," she said. "Take a granola bar to eat on the way."

"Sure, thanks," said Kris.

"Good morning, Kris," said Todd. "Want to play checkers?"

"Can't," said Kris. "Sorry. Maybe later." She dashed out the door and started jogging over to the practice track.

"Oh, hey Kris," said Matt. "You here to watch?"

Kris grinned. "Actually, I'm here to ride."

Matt raised his eyebrows in shock. "Really? That's great. But are you sure?"

"Yes," said Kris. "Why does everybody suddenly think I'm too weak or sick to ride today?"

"We don't," said Matt. "We just want to make sure."

"Well, I'm already sure," said Kris. "Who should I ride?"

"How about Flame?" said Matt. "The exercise girl is riding Miguel, and they need somebody to race against. Plus, Flame could use the workout."

"Sure," said Kris, barely having heard what Matt said. "Let's get started." She strapped on her riding helmet and went to go find Flame.

The morning got away from them as quickly as it had come. Kris galloped Flame around the track around five times, then she rode three of the other horses for the same amount of time. Matt sat at the rail keeping time and helping her figure out what went wrong whenever there was a problem and how to fix it.

Afterwards, Kris said, "Okay, who's next?"

Matt laughed. "Lunchtime's next. Mom's making fried chicken."

"Can't we just grab some sandwiches or something?" said Kris. "We've still got four more horses to work."

"Two, actually," said Matt. "Speak Now and Last Kiss have the day off."

"Well, Sparks Fly and Dear John don't," said Kris. "Which one should I ride first?"

"Okay, Kris," said Matt. "I get that you're dealing with Junior's death, but..."

"I am not," snapped Kris.

Matt was taken aback. "Kris, I haven't even recovered yet. There's no way that you have."

"Yes, Matt," said Kris. "I have." Matt looked into her eyes and suddenly realized how desperate they were, pleading him not to force the issue.

"Okay," he finally said. "Why don't you get Sparks Fly ready and warm her up? I'll go get us some sandwiches."

Kris smiled gratefully. "Will do." Then she left.

When Matt returned with their lunch, Pablo was there waiting at the rail. "I thought you might need some help today. But I can see you've already got some."

"Yep," said Matt. "She's been out here since six a.m.." He sighed and went to go stand next to Pablo. Together they watched Kris collect the horse's energy as she came down the short side, then open it up again for the home stretch. The horse's nostrils were flaring, so were Kris's. Both of them seemed to care about absoluetely nothing except for running faster and harder. Both Matt and Pablo almost said something about how hard they were working, but when they got down to the short side Kris collected him again and their gallop semed to calm down slightly. But Kris's expression remained hard and determined.

"How does she look to you?" said Pablo.

Matt sighed, and knowing that the other man was also one of Kris's best friends, decided to tell him. "I don't get it. All day long she's been doing everything to convince me that she's done dealing with Junior's death. She hasn't even started dealing with it."

Actually, Pablo had been talking about the horse. But he said, "Kris isn't trying to fool you. She's trying to fool herself."

"Really?" said Matt. Then he realized that it was obvious that Pablo was right. "I wonder how long she'll be able to keep it up."

"Probably not much longer," said Pablo. "One of these days, she'll just crash. And when that happens she'll need all of us there to pick her up." Then he hesitated slightly. "You more than anyone."