A Photo Finish

The other narrator and protagonist in A Photo Finish is Cole, whose point of view, like Violet’s, occurs in two timelines: In the flashback timeline, he struggles with extreme self-doubt, feeling unworthy of his online friendship with Violet. In the narrative present, Cole’s established relationship with a therapist helps him manage PTSD symptoms, which stem from multiple traumatic experiences in his past. As a teen, he saw his father, a jockey, die during a horse race. He attributes his most severe symptoms to this trauma and the grief it caused. Because of his father’s death, Cole has a complicated relationship with horse racing: He has fond memories of riding with his father but feels extreme dread whenever he returns to the racetrack where his father died. However, he’s also drawn to horse racing, since it helps him feel close to his father.

Cole’s anxiety about horse racing becomes more extreme during his growing relationship with Violet. Though he wants to support her career, he fears that a romantic relationship with a jockey may compromise his hard-won mental health progress, so he temporarily breaks up with Violet in the latter part of the novel after witnessing Pipsqueak throw her. Though she’s uninjured, Cole’s panic is overwhelming, since his trauma leads to the irrational fear that every fall will result in death. Cole ultimately works to mitigate his fear by becoming a pony horse rider, which lets him serve as an active helper when Violet races, as pony horses help calm racehorses after races. Feeling that he’s a useful and productive participant in Violet’s career reassures Cole that he’s caring for her without preventing her from pursuing the career she loves.

Cole’s past military service heightens his anxiety and trauma. He enlisted after his father’s death, seeking a sense of meaning while navigating his loss. Cole’s loss of friends in battle intensify his anxiety about Violet’s injury; after she fractures her leg, for example, carrying her inside reminds him of carrying deceased friends out of combat zones. These parallels upset him even though he’s conscious of the differences.

During Cole’s final tour in the military, he incurred an injury that led to a leg amputation. For much of the novel, he hides this injury; though it occurred years ago, he hasn’t even told his younger brother, Vaughn, about it. His ex-fiancée, Hilary, increased his insecurities about his leg through her cruel comments about his no longer being “whole” after he lost his balance during sex, which made him extremely anxious about starting a new sexual relationship; by the time he begins his online relationship with Violet, he believes that he’s incapable of a healthy, balanced romantic relationship. Violet’s matter-of-fact reaction to learning about his injury reassures Cole, helping him feel as though he doesn’t merit being an object of pity.

Learning to ride a horse again, with Billie’s assistance, at the novel’s end helps Cole manage these different points of insecurity and self-doubt. He can understand Violet more comfortably, which helps him feel he can be a better partner, and helps him manage his fear of horses, which he has been gradually overcoming through his relationship with Pipsqueak. Though Cole acknowledges that he doesn’t need to be “fixed” or “healed” to have a successful, happy romantic relationship, learning to ride again helps him feel as though his mental health is stronger, as it reminds him that he’s physically capable and emotionally capable of supporting Violet.

A trainer at Gold Rush Ranch and one of Violet’s closest friends, Billie is the protagonist of the first novel in the Gold Rush Ranch series, Off to the Races. In A Photo Finish, Billie plays a supporting role. She encourages Violet’s career as a jockey and instructs her to begin training Pipsqueak, demonstrating how she cares about Violet’s emotional state and professional development while she recovers from a broken leg, since training Pipsqueak gives Violet increased horse training experience.

Billie’s relationship with Violet is stable throughout A Photo Finish. Her relationship with Cole is more dynamic. Billie is engaged to Cole’s brother, Vaughn, and often jokingly refers to their future as siblings-in-law. Cole assumes that the intent of her comments is to annoy him, though when he asks Billie about it, she explains that she wants to foster a genuine, loving sibling relationship with him. Billie, whose role as a horse trainer has acutely attuned her to both human and equine body language, notices that Cole has a prosthetic leg before he tells her about it. Billie’s lack of concern about Cole’s keeping it a secret, which she feels is his business, and the fact that she doesn’t pity him for his injury help Cole embrace that being an amputee doesn’t inherently make him an object of pity. Billie encourages Cole to speak with Vaughn, which helps the brothers grow closer. In the Epilogue, Billie is a doting aunt to Cole and Violet’s daughter, Lilah.