"Can we talk?" Woody leaned against the counter as Bo started clinking plates to prepare breakfast.
"Not right now." Bo still refused to look at him. "I'm having breakfast, so that means collecting the eggs, milking the cows and getting the cheese from the dairy."
"I'll get all those in a minute. Please Bo, its been weeks now. You wont look at me but please just lets talk." Woody insisted.
"Fine." Bo flung down the towel she was using to dry her hands, and looked him square in the eye. "Lets talk. You start." She folded her arms.
Woody looked taken aback. "Well." Every coherent word he knew flew out of his head.
"Is there anything to be said?" Bo asked, interrupting the silence. "The facts as I see them. Three weeks ago we had a eviction notice posted on mailbox. We owe four months on the mortgage and bills, Buzz and Jessie haven't seen a proper pay check in the last three, or so I hear. Our house, our home, your legacy is going to be sold in five months. Jessie and Buzz wont have jobs. You and I will be homeless. You want to talk? How about solving the problem you denied even existed in the first place?"
Woody's eyes widened. He knew Jessie had some kind of strong will, but his wife had never lost her temper with him in the year or so they had been married. And now, twice in three weeks she had surprised him.
"Its my fault Bo. Don't you think I know that?" He winced under her stare. "I know I haven't done the best for us, but I thought if I gave it more time things would improve. But they haven't, and didn't. And its too late….and…I really need your help."
Bo's gaze softened. "Seems like a good idea Buzz had," she conceded after a minutes pause.
"Buts it's a show jumping contest."
"So?"
"So you realise there is only one person out of the four of us that would even be any good at it to take part?" Woody made a face just as Buzz's face popped into view around the kitchen door.
"Sorry to interrupt…..but can someone come and talk sense into Jessie? Pleeease?" He wheedled, and Woody threw up his hands in frustration.
"Not again," he made to go after the stubborn redhead, but Bo stopped him.
"I've got this." She looked at Buzz, "Where did she go?"
"Not sure. The stables, probably, knowing her."
"Okay," Bo looked between her husband and Buzz. "You two start the breakfast. I wont be long."
"Did Buzz send you?" Jessie looked up from tending to Bullseye. The hot sun filtering through the slats of the stable wall picked out the colour of her hair, tinting it almost orange. It also made the hay warm, the fresh smell tingling in Bo's nostrils as she stood in front of Jessie.
"Not in the way you think. I came of my own accord because it seems like you and I never talk much these days."
"What is there to say? I work for you."
"You work for me, yes, but that's not to say you cant tell me if you have a problem, the way you would Woody. And more so because we're both women."
Jessie fidgeted. "I just don't want to take part in this contest."
"Why not? I thought you loved horses. I always see you with Bullseye."
"But its fun being with Bullseye. This job is my dream, its my living, but I cant do contests. Its too serious and competitive." Jessie argued.
"But you're so good with him…all of them," Bo said softly, gesturing to the other six stables that all held horses.
"Doesn't mean I'm good enough to win any contests." Jessie glanced at Bo. And even if I did, it's not enough money to cover what we need to pay back the creditors."
"Buts its something." Bo challenged her.
"You know why Buzz even picked up that flyer? Because he thought I'd be interested. Because he thought I'd say yes, and now you're here, trying to coerce me into something I don't want to do." Jessie's stubbornness was very apparent.
"And I suspect, also because he knows as well as I do, that you would be amazing." Bo smiled. Jessie hesitated.
"And if I lost? Who would think badly of me? You guys would all say I done really well, but it would be me that felt responsible for losing."
"But you don't feel responsible enough to try? To take part?" Bo knew she was treading on thin ice, but she wasn't going to give up that easily.
"Its not that – I just don't want to fail and let you down."
"Believe me; no one could let me down as badly as Woody has the last few months." Bo grimaced, "I'm just sorry it has to fall to you to try and get us out this mess."
"It sure seems that way," Jessie exhaled sharply.
"Talking of mess – how about we get back to the house? I left the boys to take care of breakfast."
"Jiminy!" Jessie gasped. "You sure there'll be a kitchen to go back to? You know Buzz can't cook, and Woody's burned toast on more than a few occasions!"
"How about we go find out?" Bo suggested, and Jessie shrugged, leading Bullseye back into his stable.
"Sure, but I'm not eating anything that even remotely resembles charcoal."