Leap of Faith by Fiona McCallum Page A

pulled the throw rug over her.
    Soon she was seeing but not really watching the show and gave in, closing her heavy eyes. Just a short nap , she told herself, as she sank deeper into the cushions and pulled the blanket up to her chin. Before long the voices of the presenters became a far-off hum.

Chapter Seven
    Jessica’s eyes opened suddenly. It looked like The Morning Show was wrapping up. Soon the midday movie would be starting. She tried to remember the last thing she’d been listening to on the television with her eyes closed. Surely I can’t have slept that long? Though she hadn’t really been fully asleep; she’d been aware of the hum of the TV in the depths of her mind the whole time. Hadn’t she? She checked her watch. As she registered the time, the pain gnawing in her leg served as an additional reminder: she could have another lot of painkillers right about now with her lunch.
    As Jessica retrieved her crutches and hoisted herself up, she felt a little surge of satisfaction that she’d managed to while away three full hours. And she hadn’t even had a nightmare. That was the good thing about it. She made her way to the kitchen bench.
    Or had she? Slowly, snippets came back to her. She had been riding a cross-country course on Prince – the cross-country course, she realised with a sigh. But she’d woken just before the bend into the approach to the water jump, sparing her from reliving the fall and the drowning feeling. Hopefully it was a sign the bad dreams were behind her.
    Jessica opened the fridge to retrieve the ham and cheese sandwich in its zip-lock bag. There was a bright pink post-it note on top bearing the words, ‘Enjoy! Ring me if you need me. Lots of love, Steve.’ Tears welled unexpectedly in her eyes. Clearly overtired . She turned her head and wiped first one side of her face on her shoulder and then the other.
    As she sat slowly eating the sandwich, Jessica felt a wave of loneliness engulf her. No, it couldn’t be loneliness, she told herself; she was a strong, independent woman and she and Steve spent plenty of time apart. Anyway, he was only over at the yards. But telling herself that just added to the guilt and frustration already consuming her. She wouldn’t feel nearly so bad if it had been a car accident, or something unrelated to horses.
    Steve would say an accident is an accident and that what was done was done, and she might as well accept she was out of action for a bit and enjoy some rest. As would Tiffany. But Jessica just wasn’t cut out for sitting around – she missed her horses and her students already. It gave her such a thrill to work with them week after week and help them improve, no matter what level they were at. One of the younger ones, Katie, had started off as such a nervous rider and Jessica had been tempted to tell her parents that she didn’t think riding was the right sport for their daughter. But Katie had persevered and was now, in less than a year, starting to even tackle low jumps. A couple of her pupils were quite advanced competitors and keeping the training up was critical. Jessica didn’t like that she’d be letting them down, as much as she didn’t like the idea of not being able to work with her own horses.
    Perhaps when the pain subsided in a few days she’d be able to hobble about without crutches and do the feeds and rugging. Maybe she could even supervise some students. If she hadn’t been feeling so tired and out of it, she could have managed a bit of bookwork. She should probably force herself to do it, but couldn’t muster the required effort. She was already turning into a couch potato.
    Oh for goodness’ sake, it’s day two of six weeks. You’ve got a good man taking care of you and picking up the slack. You’re allowed to relax and take some time out. The words sounded very much like Tiffany’s. Jessica sighed. It wasn’t as if she had