Chapter 2

“Hello, sorry about the wait,” Amelia smiled as Ulrika rose to greet her.

“It wasn’t that long,” she smiled.

Her handshake was firm but light, and unlike her niece, Amelia’s accent was definitely English.

“And I see you’ve met my niece.”

“Joanne is hoping to follow in your footsteps,” she turned back to her, “let’s go to the office and chat some more. Would you like something to drink?”

Ulrika shook her head and Amelia led her through the other sitting room and into an office on the other side of the room. Three walls of the office were covered by bookshelves, most of the books looked impossibly old, a large mahogany desk stood in the middle with a leather executive chair on one side and two smaller office chairs facing it.

“Most of the books belong to my husband,” she followed Ulrika’s line of sight as she took off her jacket and hung it over the back of her chair, “he collects books the same way he collects women,” she sat down, “take a seat.”

Ulrika sat down suddenly, not knowing what to say about this casual throwaway line, she could be joking of course but Amelia wasn’t about to enlighten her as she leaned back in her chair. Her eyes were drawn to a photograph of a ten year old girl with a horse. She could see the resemblance almost straight away and this was confirmed by Amelia.

“My daughter, Nina,” she adjusted the frame slightly, “the pride and joy of my life.”

“She looks like you,” Ulrika ventured, “although you’ve probably heard that before.”

“I have indeed,” she leaned back in her seat.

“You’ve had quite a promising career so far, I remember watching your performances over the last few years with admiration,” she fiddled with her ruffled cuffs, “but you’ve recently dropped out of the team, why?”

Ulrika slid a lock of hair behind her ear as she replied.

“I’m planning on getting an IVF procedure done, and although I could have stayed on even after I fall pregnant, I’ve wanted to take a twelve month break to get some focus, but if the procedure is successful then I’ll be out of action for another year or so.”

“When is the procedure?”

“Six months,” she replied, “a clinic in Sweden can do it.”

“I see,” she shifted forward and leaned her elbows on the table, “and after the child is born? Will you still live here?”

“My parents are looking at buying a place in the area, but it depends on finances of course.”

Amelia studied the desk for a moment or two.

“The fringe benefits for this job do include the option to live on the premises, there’s a cottage that is being used to store my husband’s collection of tasteless art but we can review that option at a later date if you like,” she looked at her.

“And the job is fairly basic. We’re a riding school trying to teach people dressage, we’re a small school in a fairly remote location, so when I learned you’d moved into the area I thought I’d take a punt and offer you a position as a trainer. You’ll be working under my head trainer, Brian so you’re not being dropped in at the deep end,” she eyed a plastic folder at her side.

“Brian’s been with me for years, he used to live in the cottage but he moved in with his sister when her husband died some years ago. He’s a lovely man, very patient but he is getting on in years and he’d be grateful to have some of the weight lifted from his shoulders.”

“I’ve read the job description,” Ulrika replied, “and it’s certainly within my capabilities, although if this procedure is successful then there might be a few months where I’m out of action.”

“Of course,” she replied, “you’ll get maternity leave if you decide to stay on for longer that is, so the big question is, when can you start?”

“Tomorrow,” she replied.

“Make it the day after tomorrow,” she leaned back in her seat and stared at the window, Ulrika slid her cuff up to glance at her watch, certain that the interview was over and feeling relief that it had been such a short interview.

“On a more personal note,” Ulrika moved forward and slid her wedding ring back and forth, “can I ask your opinion on something of a more shall we say, intimate subject?”

Their eyes met as Ulrika tried to read the situation. Amelia’s businesslike persona seemed to recede as she kept playing with her ring.

“Intimate,” Ulrika finally came out of her trance, “you mean, sexual.”

“Yes,” she stopped fiddling with the ring, “I um, have this young lady who’s been coming to me for advice about lots of things over the years. She’s an old family friend so there’s no suggestion of any impropriety there but she looks on me as a role model I suppose you could say,” she pulled her cuff around a little and glanced down to fasten a button on the placket.

“She came to me the other week and said that she thought she might be gay,” she glanced up briefly, “I guess she thought because of my age that I might have some answers for her but I’m afraid that I’m all at sea on that subject. I do know gay women but whilst I’m not homophobic I don’t have any advice for her.”

Ulrika glanced down at the cuff, the ruffle extended the length of the placket, coming to a finish at the end in another ruffle.

“Has your friend got any gay friends?”

“Not as far as I know and I’ve encouraged her to reach out at clubs or other social settings but she’s in a relationship with a guy, it’s not a healthy one either. I find him an obnoxious little shit but my friend is still not willing to just drop him,” she shifted in her seat.

“I guess what I’m trying to understand is the mindset, I mean what did it for you? Was it something you grew into or was it a light bulb moment?”

Amelia looked past her.

“Look, if you think I’m being inappropriate, I understand but she was only asking me the other day, just after I’d sent that email to you and it kind of threw me because I wouldn’t have thought she was that way inclined.”

Ulrika leaned on the arm of her chair and fiddled with her collar.

“For me, I was never that interested in boys. I mean I dated boys in school but I was always too busy with my riding lessons and other things, homework assignments, going out with girlfriends or just staying at home. Boys were always like honeybees circling a flower and I was just too much my own person to be tied down. I saw my girlfriends hanging off a guy’s arm and felt almost sorry for them in a way,” she glanced up.

“Have you ever been with a guy?”

“Once,” she replied, “I was eighteen and he was nineteen,” she propped on her palm, “Gary was quite effeminate, I knew him in high school and he used to get teased in school because he was very sensitive. We met up one night in a pub and went home, it was difficult for both of us to be honest because we were both virgins but even accounting for that I knew the next day that I just wasn’t into guys. I liked hanging around them but not for the same reason as my girlfriends.”

“Oh,” Amelia leaned back slowly, “well that sounds like something out of a Hugh Grant film, so what happened with Gary?”

“The same thing that happened to me,” she replied, “it took him a few more months but he came out too and we had a laugh about it later.”

“I see,” she smiled crookedly, “so all’s well that ends well,” she glanced at her watch, “anyway, I have to duck down to Glasgow for a few hours, which is why I’m all dressed up but Joanne can take you on a tour just to get you orientated.”

She slid a plastic folder across the desk.

“These are our terms and conditions and a few other details, take them with you today and when you come back in two days, if you’re still on board then I’ll take you through the risk assessment and get you to sign the contract.”

“All right,” Ulrika picked the folder up, “thank you, it certainly sounds like just the sort of job I need to keep my hand in so to speak.”

“All right then,” she rose and stepped back from the desk, “I’ll take you through to Joanne and leave you in her capable hands,” she rounded the desk as Ulrika rose.

“And on the other matter,” she looked at her, “it really is a friend who’s questioning her sexuality, if you know what I mean.”

“No worries,” she nodded, “it was an unusual question but I’m not offended.”

“I’m an unusual woman,” she smiled.

Joanne was scrolling through something on her phone when they came back through and didn’t look up until Amelia coughed.

“When you’ve finished messaging can you please show our new trainer around? I don’t know where Brian is at the moment but when you find him introduce Ulrika to him.”

“No bother,” she rose, “when will you be back?”

“Hopefully before dinner but knowing Francine she’ll want to go for coffee and you know what happens afterwards.”

“Well if you’re going to be late back, text me and I’ll go back to mum’s place, otherwise I’ll just stay and have dinner here.”

“Now that’s a good excuse,” she glanced at Ulrika, “Francine manages one of my restaurants, she always wants to go shopping for clothes and I’m a sucker for a bit of retail therapy but sometimes I come home with something and wonder why I bought it.”

She held out her hand.

“Welcome to the bothy, hopefully.”

“I’ll see you the day after tomorrow,” Ulrika shook her hand.

“See you later, weasel,” Amelia stepped forward and kissed Joanne on the cheek and then turned and walked back to her office.

“So, you’re the new trainer,” Joanne smiled at her, “I knew you’d take the job.”

“It certainly looks promising,” she slipped the plastic folder into her handbag.

“Let’s go see if we can find Brian,” she nodded at the door, “if I know him he’s probably having a cuppa with the blacksmith, he’s only here once a month so they always have a blether. It’s a wonder he gets any work done at all.”

She led her outside and for the next half an hour gave her a pretty good guided tour of the property. The stables were quite a reasonable size with stalls for twenty horses, there was a small veterinary surgery located in a smaller building attached to the rear of the stables. Further along the path behind them was a large shed with a tractor and quad bike inside, and a smaller shed that served as the workshop and it was there they found Brian and John, the blacksmith who looked to be as old as Brian. After they’d chatted for a bit she led her to another large building filled with riding tack, old saddles that were apparently spares and other memorabilia. The last building they visited was an old cottage set some way back from the other buildings.

“This was the original bothy,” Joanne reached up and lifted a key from a hook, “but these days it’s just used to store Uncle David’s junk.”

“We don’t have to go in there,” she replied.

“Auntie Amelia said to give you the guided tour, so this is part of it,” she unlocked the door and turned the handle.

The smell of mould and old paint greeted her as they walked in and when Joanne pulled the light cord she noticed the paint tins on the floor near her feet. They were standing in a small hall and then Joanne led her into the small sitting room, there was an old couch with a dust cover over it, the rest of the room was filled with a variety of objects from old furniture and other knick knacks to paintings, exotic looking statues and even an old Apple computer.

“It hasn’t worked for years,” Joanne told her when she touched the keyboard, “the other computers are in another room.”

It was no understatement she mused a minute later as she stepped into the doorway of what must have been a bedroom. Computers had been arranged around the walls in neat piles, an old kitchen table was by the window and there were old milk crates full of hard drives, wires and other things on the floor. The second bedroom looked almost sparse in comparison, it actually had a bed and a bedside table and wardrobe.

“He sleeps here whenever he and Auntie Amelia aren’t talking,” she wrinkled her nose, “he comes home once a month to see her but the rest of the time he’s in London or his other home.”

“He’s a politician, his constituency is in Surrey,” she led her into the tiny kitchen, “I’d offer you something to drink or eat but I don’t think there’s much here that’s not past its use by date.”

“That’s fine, I’ve got plenty of food at home.”

“Have you eaten yet?”

“Just breakfast,” she replied, “although I’ll be grabbing something on the way home.”

“Why not stay here for lunch? Auntie Amelia wouldn’t mind.”

“I um, okay,” she shrugged, “at least I can read through the stuff in this folder.”

“And I can answer most of the questions,” she grinned, “even though that’s Auntie Amelia’s job,” she inclined her head, “are you a vegan?”

“That’s good, my boyfriend’s a vegan and he’s a pain in the arse to cook for,” she chuckled, “so you’ll be easy.”

Ulrika merely smiled as she followed her out of the cottage. What was the harm in staying for a quick bite to eat?

Nevertheless, it was some three hours later before Ulrika finally arrived home, the twenty minute drive to The Bothy notwithstanding, the lunch had lasted just over two hours and it wasn’t as if it had been a three course lunch. Joanne had given her a guided tour of the two storey house and then proceeded to probe her with questions about riding, dressage, the places she’d performed and other related subjects. Ulrika had answered the questions readily, conscious that this talkative twenty one year old woman might be Amelia’s scout looking for information.

Ulrika sank into the couch in her tiny flat and stared at the picture on the wall. It showed her as a twenty one year old about the time she was accepted into the national team, she was fresh-faced and trying to keep a straight face. She recalled the moment that photograph had been taken, she’d been taken by a fit of the giggles and had bitten her bottom lip to keep a straight face whilst her picture was being taken.