Chapter 163 – Girls Shopping Trip
The boys did some flat work with the horses. At this point, they all felt pretty comfortable on their mounts. Nathan was going to be riding Athena. Jack was hoping to ride Bandit, but also worked with Honey. Doug was working with Ghost and Aphrodite. He still wasn't sure which one that he wanted to ride. He had done well with Aphrodite at the Classic, but had also done well with Ghost in the past.
The three of them were going over cavaletti poles at about a foot and half. Nathan noticed immediately that even when just doing flat work, Athena was wanting to run.
"Jack." Nathan said.
"What?" Jack said riding over.
"She is so full of energy today." Nathan said. "She wants to gallop and I am having a hard time holding her back."
Jack looked around and saw the large grazing pen was empty.
"Take her over there." Jack said pointing at the pen. "Either ride her in a gallop around for a bit or unsaddle her and give her a r - u - n command."
Nathan nodded and headed over to the large pen. He stayed on Athena and when he gave her the command, she took off like a shot. Twice around the large pen and she naturally slowed to a canter and then came to a stop after the third trip. Nathan was amazing at her speed. He rode back over to the sand ring where Doug and Jack had been watching her.
"You looked like you were having fun." Doug said.
"I can't believe how fast she is." Nathan.
"Pure thoroughbred with great genes." Jack said. "The dam for her had won several graded stakes races. We were so excited to breed her. Athena here was her third and last foal unfortunately. She had two colts before that went on to do very well."
"Have you ever considered breeding Athena?" Nathan asked.
"I know Laura talked about it at one point." Jack said. "Just after everything, I wasn't sure."
"Did you have a sire picked out?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah." Jack said. "Laura had wanted to breed her with our Palomino stud – Captain's Brass. We have retired him from stud work, but we do have a few frozen straws of his that we were keeping."
"I would love to see a foal from those two." Nathan said. "Elizabeth showed me a picture of him she took yesterday."
"I might have to consider that." Jack said. "Maybe next year."
Rob and the ladies left the farm and the press that was outside immediately followed them. Katie was quickly on her phone and alerted the undercover teams as well as Marcus and the local police. When she looked back at Elizabeth she could see that she was nervous.
"Elizabeth." Katie said. "It will be okay. If for any reason, you get separated from Rob or myself. I want you to unclasp your watch and put it in your pocket. The moment that you do that, it will send out an alert to everyone on our team – Chris, Peter, Andrew, Rob and I as well as all the undercover teams. We will immediately rush to you. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Elizabeth said.
"Good." Katie said. "Relax, just like there was a team of unseen people protecting you on Saturday, there is one today. So where is our first stop."
"Lowe's." Gran said. "Then Walmart where we will not only get stuff for the other Katie and Opal, but groceries as well. We will need to stop at the dry cleaners and drop off stuff. We also need to stop at Primal."
"Got it." Rob said.
"Texting the undercover teams the plan." Katie said.
They got into town and stopped at Lowe's. Gran, Elizabeth and Katie went inside while Rob kept an eye out. They were quickly able to find the blocks of wood that Nathan wanted as well as the sandpaper and three items that Gran needed. She checked them off her list, they checked out and then headed to the truck. Katie placed the bag in the storage in the bed of the truck. Then they were off to Walmart.
After Gran and them left, Lee finished up the breakfast dishes, got the dishwasher running, started another pot of coffee and then headed downstairs. He grabbed both his and Jack's laptops. When he got back, John, Peter, Andrew and Chris were all working.
"Mind if I sit out here as well?" Lee asked.
"Go ahead." John said.
Lee sat down and opened both laptops. He went over everything that they had done already and checked the email to see if there were anymore people for the vendor show. He quickly emailed the needed pdf to Quad City Graphics. He then pulled up the event page and saw that there were more registered. He was glad. There were a few more in the upper levels and he knew that would make Jack happy. Finally he pulled out the list of potential vendors and started calling. After about his third call, Peter came over.
"What is with the calls?" Peter asked.
"I am trying to line up vendors for the show." Lee said. "Elizabeth and I had made a bunch of calls last week, but some needed follow up and Jack had a whole new list of vendors that he wanted to contact."
"Give me half the list." Peter said.
Lee just looked at him.
"I am not doing anything that can't wait." Peter said. "My time would be of better use helping to make this show a success for everyone."
"Okay." Lee said. "Here is the new list. I will continue with the follow ups."
"Good." Peter said."
Andrew opened his laptop and started looking at the event page. He then looked at the list of vendors and made a quick note. John saw what they were doing and pushed a list toward Andrew.
"Here are some business contacts I was going to let know about the show." John said. "Call and see if they want to be here."
Andrew nodded. While John worked on various other things, Lee, Peter and Andrew made phone calls for the vendor show.
As they pulled up to Walmart. Gran looked at Elizabeth and Katie.
"Let's get the stuff for Katie and Opal first, then we will get the list of groceries." Gran said.
"Sounds good." Katie said.
"I like that plan." Elizabeth said. "Especially if we are going to be getting cold stuff."
Once they were in Walmart, they headed over to the bedding first. They found a pink and purple tie dye set for Opal. It had sheets, a pillowcase and a comforter. They were also able to find another plain set of sheets and pillowcases in each pink and purple to match. They grabbed pillows for both beds and then started looking for a set for Katie. They didn't find anything that they wanted, so they headed over to the dishes. They found a white set with a light blue green border. They got a complete four place setting. They also got silverware. They got two sets so she had eight settings. They also picked up some dishcloths, dishtowels, potholders and tea towels. They also got a few sets of bath towels and washcloths, all in neutral colors.
"Don't forget we will have to wash all of this stuff this afternoon." Gran said.
"We can do that." Elizabeth said, looking at Katie who nodded.
Next they headed over to toys. Elizabeth immediately found a tea set that she liked and a set of horsey books and another one. She wasn't impressed with the selection of books. They didn't have what Elizabeth was looking for and Katie immediately picked up on Elizabeth's disappointment.
"We can order some." Katie said. "She doesn't need them all right away."
"Good point." Elizabeth said.
Next they headed over to get some crayons, color books and art supplies. They decided to also go back and look at some puzzles. Elizabeth found a game that she thought she and Jack would like; she had played it before but hadn't seen it in years. She wasn't sure about getting it, but Katie encouraged her to get it. They did find two different puzzle sets that Gran agreed to get and keep at the house if she was going to be watching Opal.
"Elizabeth, Katie." Gran said. "You are going to have to check and see what is in the closet downstairs for games and puzzles. I know we don't have anything you have picked, but I haven't looked in there for awhile."
"We can do that." Elizabeth said.
"Then if there is something more that you want." Katie said. "We can order it. Jack set up an account on Amazon so we could order books, games or whatever."
"Let's do that." Elizabeth said. "There are at least two sets of books that I want to order."
"Then let's head over to get groceries." Gran said. "We need to run through Target to get bedding for Katie."
"I agree." Katie said. "We should try to keep moving, we have plenty of errands to run."
The group headed over to start getting the groceries that would be needed for the next week or more. As they were walking across the store, Elizabeth stopped when she saw a blue long sleeve tie dye shirt.
"Do you like that?" Katie asked.
"I love the blues in it." Elizabeth said. "I used to have one like this until Julie took it and wouldn't give it back."
Katie looked through the rack and grabbed one in Elizabeth's size.
"No arguments." Katie said.
Elizabeth shook her head and they went to catch up to Gran. Rob was being nice and trying to give them room, but he wasn't about to let Elizabeth and Katie out of his sight. He knew that there was press lurking around.
By the time that Jack called John and let him know that they were heading to the house and so were Kevin and Brandon, everyone had gotten a lot of work done. The boys were feeling good about riding and knew that even though it was going to be a messed up week, they had time before the show. They had worked with their horses and were forming a bond with them and that was the most important. They knew the horses could jump, that wasn't the question. The question was who did they feel comfortable with.
It also firmed up in Jack's mind that Athena and Nathan belonged together. He knew that not everyone would agree with him, but the way that Athena responded to Nathan was like she was a completely different horse. When Jack watched Nathan and Athena, he had flashes of the horse that Athena used to be with Laura and he knew letting Nathan have her was the best thing for the horse. Jack also knew that Nathan would love her as much as Laura did.
Peter, Andrew and Lee had gotten through the entire list of potential vendors and when they looked at the list they realized that they had over thirty that had said yes. Peter looked at the map again, and knew that they were going to have to rearrange things. They also had five additional food vendors. When Jack walked in, he saw Lee, Peter and Andrew leaning over two laptops pointing at one screen and then the other.
"What is going on?" Jack asked.
Lee looked up.
"We are reworking the map you made." Lee said.
"Why?" Jack asked, walking to the kitchen.
"Because." Peter said. "As of twenty minutes ago. We have over thirty vendors, six vet centers and eleven different food stands for people to choose from."
"Wow, great job guys." Doug said.
Jack came back and handed each Doug and Nathan a Gatorade.
"We have been a little busy this morning." Lee said.
"Do we have any more jumpers?" Jack asked.
"Most of the lower classes are almost full." Lee said. "Most have fifteen to twenty people signed up."
"That is just the lower four classes." Peter said. "There are about ten riders in each of the upper three classes."
"Are you telling me we have almost ninety people signed up?" Jack asked.
"Actually we are over ninety." Lee said. "Counting you three, Maddie and Missy we are at ninety-four."
Jack let out a low whistle.
"Wow." Doug said.
"How many more potential vendors are there?" Jack asked.
"We have a 'maybe' from ten more." Peter said. "They said they would get back to us by Wednesday."
"There are also a couple who asked for a double spot." Andrew said. "We were trying to figure out fifty places."
"And everyone agreed to the set up fee?" Doug asked.
"Easily," Lee said. "Everyone was more than willing to pay the one hundred dollars to set up for the weekend. We have places down past Albany and over an hour North. Word has gotten out and everyone wants to be here."
"Good job." John said.
There was a knock at the door and Nathan jumped up to go get it. It was Kevin and Brandon.