Storm Called

by Susan Copperfield

  I’d guessed early on Valerie hadn’t expected her to come back from the operation at all, and had thought she’d be wasting her time teaching me how to ride. The first week had changed her opinion somewhat, but of everyone I worked with, I had the easiest time pulling the wool over the trainer’s eyes.

  She refused to see what was right in front of her, and I saw no need to correct her assumptions.

  “She’s been doing really well. I think it helps she follows the horses I ride around. She’s getting a lot of exercise.”

  “Exercise will help. Just don’t push her too hard too fast. A setback wouldn’t be good at this stage.”

  “On that, we’re agreed. I’m not sure my blood pressure could handle another setback.”

  “You’re not nearly old enough to have blood pressure problems yet, Pat. Anyway, you’ve been doing good work with her. Keep it up, and I think she’ll hold her own, as long as you can keep up with her.”

  “I’ll do my best,” I promised.

  I looked forward to the day I could show my little filly was something special that’d been hiding under the nose of those who refused to believe in her. And when my time came to ride her, I’d do my horse—and Jessica—justice.

  Chapter Eleven

  Thanks to the cancelled Friday night class, I arrived at work an hour early, and Elana hopped to her feet the instant I stepped out of the elevator. “Good. You’re here. Is your schedule correct for tomorrow? You have no solid plans beyond going to the stable?”

  I stopped and stared at her; ever since I’d started working, everyone had been very careful to keep my schedule stable. “Yes, that’s correct. Why? What’s going on?”

  “How about on Sunday? I didn’t see anything on your schedule on Sunday. Is that right?” Elana fluttered her hands, a sure sign something had happened to give her enough anxiety she’d lost her cool.

  “Nothing that can’t be rescheduled,” I replied. “What’s wrong?”

  “Monday? How about Monday? And Tuesday? You have classes, but we can take care of that; they’ll record the class for you. I already asked.”

  My eyes widened. “Monday is my grocery shopping day for the week. Do you know what’ll happen if I leave the office unattended for forty-eight hours?” My voice rose, and I swallowed to regain control of my fraying nerves. “It’ll be a disaster.”

  “Melody volunteered to take care of the trash cans. She works the floor below us. Mr. Darmill even promised he’d use his trashcan.”

  As I could think of three Mr. Darmills with insufficient trashcan habits, I narrowed my eyes. “Which one?”

  “All three.”

  “But who will feed them? If they try to feed themselves, they’ll destroy my kitchen, Elana. Between the three of them, I’ll come back to a charred husk of a kitchen. The one destroys coffee makers looking at them.”

  Elana giggled. “Melody will be feeding everyone coffee during the day shift, and one of the night security guys from the first floor volunteered to order them pizza and take care of their coffee needs. Your coffee maker will be fine. And if it isn’t, you can order the shiniest, newest model you can find to punish them for ruining your precious coffee maker. It’ll be okay. The gluttons will survive two nights without you.”

  “Tonight’ll be normal?”

  “Three nights, then. We’re going on a business trip.”

  “We are? Wait, we? You and me? Why?”

  “Because Mr. Darmill and Mr. Hemmington said so. Alexei has taken care of clothes for you and basic necessities for the trip. You have your identification card with you, right? Do you have Morning Glory’s ownership card?”

  At her recommendation, I’d gotten an officiated card proving ownership, complete with a data chip that could be scanned to prove I actually owned my filly. I hadn’t had a use for it since picking it up, but carrying it around put me at ease. “I have both.”

  “Excellent. Know how to drive?”

  I gaped at her. She thought I could drive? No one in my caste had a license; we took public transit or paid for a cab. The driver’s education courses cost even more than my cooking classes. “No, I don’t. I couldn’t afford a car or driving lessons.”

  I’d learned it was just better to cave and be honest about my finances no matter how uncomfortable it made me.

  “I’ll let Mr. Hemmington know. You might need to drive to one of the ranches or help with the trailers in the next few months. We always need extra hands able to help move the horses during show season.”

  “Doesn’t it take a year or more to get a license?”

  “Six months at most. You’re over eighteen. We’ll worry about it later. I’ll drive the trailer tonight. We’ll be taking two of my horses and your filly tonight. I wasn’t expecting to go anywhere this weekend, but Mr. Hemmington really wanted you to come out to the ranch this weekend. You were requested.”

  “I was? Me? But why?”

  “You make the best damned barbecue in Dallas, Pat. That’s why. Half the office will be at the ranch this weekend, and they begged. They whined. Then His Majesty heard we were the hosts for this weekend’s show, and he asked. At that point, Mr. Hemmington couldn’t tell him no without a good reason. You’ll get a bonus for putting up with this, I swear. Mr. Hemmington told me I could beg if needed. The entire Royal family will be there.”

  I sucked in a breath at the thought of seeing Jessica again—and Jessica having a chance to meet my filly. “Yams and chicken?”

  “And any other barbecue you feel like making. The queen asked for your cake.”

  I’d need to go to the store, and I’d stick to my same routine and cooking plan for the royal family; a good chef didn’t fix what wasn’t broken, and I’d cook what I cooked best how I cooked it best. “How many people will I be cooking for?”

  “Forty elites at current count, but Mr. Hemmington asked for you to also cook for the ranch staff and volunteers if possible. That puts the count to eighty-six.”

  Thanks to working on the executive floor during crunch time, I’d become accustomed to cooking for a lot of people at one time, and it’d gotten to the point I had needed to ask for two extra stoves and ovens in the kitchen to be able to feed everyone in a timely fashion. I’d gotten the extra appliances at the cost of counter space, which I hadn’t missed at all.

  “I’m going to need to get ingredients.”

  “I’ve got coolers already packed into the trunk, I’ve got enough cash on hand to cover everything, and if I don’t have enough cash, we’ll be paid back by Mr. Hemmington, so we just need to make sure we keep track of the receipts. He wasn’t sure how much it would cost, but he seemed to think you wouldn’t be going to your normal grocer for the acquisitions.”

  “That’s right; I always get the chicken and other meats for barbecue from stores that aren’t in his credit system. The company pays me back for those purchases. I can fill out the repayment request forms. I usually do them once a week.” I’d gotten used to the oddities of working at Sundale Reserves Industries, and I could handle a change of routine for a few days “Morning Glory is really coming with us?”

  “Nobody was willing to test taking her away from you for a few days, not when she’s been recovering so well. There’ll be a school horse you can ride over the weekend and on Monday, too. Some of the older horses will appreciate having someone to dote on them, and Morning Glory should like meeting some new friends. We’re preparing for sales season, too. Mr. Hemmington told me to tell you if you see a promising horse that’s to be put up on sale to tell me, and we’ll introduce the prospect to Morning Glory. If they hit it off, a second horse is an option as your year-end bonus. Everybody gets a year-end bonus, and he wasn’t sure what you’d like best, and Mr. Darmill suggested a second horse, one you could start riding immediately.”

  “Which one?” I asked, astonished they’d even consider offering me anything else. “But that’s crazy. Everyone’s already given me so much.”

  “Most of these horses won’
t sell for much; they haven’t sold in the first few auctions, so they’ll become family horses or pets. There are a few gems in the lot, if people are willing to work with them, but I have my doubts on that.”

  “You do? Why?”

  “Well, there’s an intractible black. He’s still a stallion, which astonishes me. He’s not bad tempered, especially for a stallion, but he has opinions. There are a lot of horses like that. The black’s good under the saddle, though, and he loves racing.”

  “Track racing?”

  “Steeplechasing. It’s like a type of jumping race. It’s pretty intense. Good steeplechasers are a mix of jump and endurance horses, which this fellow is. Steeplechasing isn’t as popular as regular rodeos here, but it’s popular enough. He won’t sell for much because of his temperament, but he’ll be a good horse for someone. A diamond in the rough.”

  “Aren’t stallions an issue in stables, though? There aren’t many stallions where Morning Glory is stabled.”

  “They can be, but this boy is an angel. He can’t be let loose with mares in season, but he gets on well with the geldings. He’d be a good investment for you, as I bet you’d get good stud offers for him if you can run him in a few good steeplechases. I’d try it. If he gets on with Morning Glory, of course. He might even make a nice suitor for her if you’re looking to add to your herd. Her deformity wasn’t genetic, so there’s no reason you can’t breed her down the road.”

  I needed a swift return to my normal but busy life, where I didn’t have to worry about whether or not I’d breed my filly. “What happens to the horses that aren’t sold at auction?”

  “They might be sold out of kingdom to a breeder, and if they hit the end of the road in a year or two, they might go to market. The black’s prospects aren’t that great, which is part of why I thought I’d mention him to you. You have a knack with the horses no one else thinks will shake out, and the black’s owner wants him gone by the end of the season.”

  I did the math in my head; if I kept my job for three full years, saving as much as possible, I’d be able to afford two horses for at least seven years if the boarding fees didn’t change dramatically. If I worked at the stable, I could trim down the bill long enough to care for both horses for at least ten years.

  A lot could change in ten years, and I suspected Jessica would be responsible for the majority of the changes.

  If I couldn’t handle two horses, I couldn’t handle a princess destined to become a queen. “I’d like to meet this black horse.”

  “I figured you would. Given half a chance, you’d save every horse in Texas. Should you and Morning Glory hit it off with that brute, I’ll make sure Mr. Hemmington limits his bonuses to things that help you care for your horses. Tack isn’t cheap, and the yearly vetting bills can be brutal. But, if you do well on one of your horses in competitions, you can make some really good money.”

  “You can actually make money competing?”

  “Sure. Some of the elites in our show circle make their living riding competitively. It’s tough, but it can be done. Montana has a lot of professional riders, but their horses are track horses. A lot of thoroughbreds come out of Montana, and their ranch horses are almost as good as ours. They have a higher meat market for horses there because of their winters. It can be harsh up there, but they have a lot of programs to make sure younger horses aren’t sent to the meat market. If you ever need something to read on a quiet shift, look into the economics of horses. It’ll help you understand why we do as we do. Nobody likes sending horses to the market, but we do.”

  “There’s not a lot of horse meat consumed in my caste,” I admitted.

  “That makes sense. It depends on the situation and time of year, but mostly sent to middle to upper caste markets or exported out of the kingdom. Sometimes, if the animal was really old, it becomes pet food. We try to make sure every part of the animal is used, especially since nobody wants to send a horse to the market in the first place. They haven’t taught you how to cook horse meat in classes?”

  “There are courses dedicated to it, but I haven’t taken any of them,” I admitted. “It hasn’t been a focus of any of my usual classes.”

  “It’s been a few good years, but if another drought hits, you’ll see it served a lot more. The cattle numbers have been really good, too. It won’t last. It never does, but enjoy it while it lasts.”

  I’d have to see how much extra it would cost to care for Morning Glory—and potentially a second horse—if a drought hit. “Good to know. When are we leaving?”

  “As soon as possible. The truck is in the parking garage, your clothing for the weekend is in the cab, and the trailer is at the stable waiting to be loaded. I called Branst and asked him to take care of preparing them for when we were ready to pick them up. How long do you think it’ll take to do the shopping? I need to give the stable an hour warning to make sure all the horses can be loaded.”

  “We’ll have to stop at a few stores to get everything. We’re going to need a lot of coolers.”

  “I’ve got five already loaded into the truck, and if we need more, we’ll hit a store on route. How long will you need to prep lunch for tomorrow?”

  “Six hours, give or take.”

  “There should be enough time for you to catch a nap if you want before you have to start cooking—or you can sleep on the way. It was a bit of a sudden request. The king really wanted something unusual for lunch tomorrow.”

  “I wouldn’t call it unusual, Elana.”

  “It’s unusually good. Anyway, Mr. Hemmington wants to make a good impression.”

  After cooking for a floor of chicken gluttons for months, I’d find the quantity a minor challenge and the work a comfort. All in all, I looked forward to the change of pace and the chance to meet a new horse, not that I had any idea what I’d do with a black stallion with a reputation for being difficult.

  Cracking my skull open trying to ride him seemed probable.

  Somehow, I’d become a horse-crazed Texan like everybody else, and I had no one but myself to blame.

  My regular grocery store shocked Elana into silence, which made her an excellent cart pusher while I cleaned the place out of chicken, every cut of beef suitable for the barbecue, enough pork ribs to feed an army, and every bag of yams I could get my hands on. As I doubted there’d be enough aluminum foil or baking pans where I’d be cooking, I went to town and bought as many as I could. As I already knew my badge wouldn’t work, I wiped out Elana’s stash of cash and put the rest on my card.

  I filled all five coolers and had enough for several more by the time I finished.

  I eyed my collection of meat, which lacked sufficient ribs for my liking. “We should get ribs.” While I took stock of the meat, I also examined the back of her truck. “Think we can fit a few more coolers in here?”

  “I know we can. There’s space for four horses in the trailer, and we’re only taking three. They stack.”

  “You know a store we can get coolers this time of night?”

  “Walmart.”

  It amused me the elites went to Walmart, too. “I’m going to need to hit another store for more meat. I want to get some more ribs and some larger roasts.”

  “Larger roasts? What for?”

  “Sandwiches.”

  “Everyone is going to gain ten pounds and skip dinner,” she predicted.

  “But they’ll be happy, Elana.” I flashed the woman a grin. “That’s what I do. I cook food to make people happy.”

  “Of that I have no doubt. What time do you usually crash out for the day?”

  “Nine or ten. Will anyone be having breakfast?”

  “The entire horde,” she confessed.

  Sleep wouldn’t be happening, not with that many mouths to feed. “I can help in the kitchen before I start lunch.”

  “The kitchen staff will appreciate another set of hands helping out, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to help you with the lunch preparations.”

  I chuckled, close
d all the coolers, and put the extra meat in the cab until we had a chance to put it properly away for the drive. “There’s a grocery store several blocks away that should have ribs.”

  “We’ll get the meat and get enough coolers and ice for everything after. It’ll be fine for forty minutes outside of a cooler?”

  “It’ll be fine,” I promised. “Just keep the AC blasting in the cab. That’ll work in the meantime. As for the kitchen staff helping with lunch, as long as I have enough ovens to work with, I can handle most everything, but I won’t say no to a little help right before it’s all finished.”

  My yams recipe was easy enough only an idiot could mess it up, so I’d recruit some help there, but as I wanted everything to be perfect for Jessica, I’d do the rest of the work on my own.

  “They’ll really appreciate that. Everyone’s been stressed about this weekend.”

  “Parties are tough. I used to cook for forty in one stove at the office until Mr. Hemmington renovated to give me a few extra stoves. As long as I have enough ovens to work with, I’ll be fine.”

  “There are ten ovens, two fire pits right outside of the kitchen, and five large barbecues for you to work with.”

  I wondered if I could wrangle future invitations to cook in a kitchen that large more often. “Anything special I need to know?”

  “There will be a lot of horses around, and Mr. Hemmington specifically asked me to make sure you get in some time meeting some new four-hooved friends. Try to only fall in love with one new one. It’d break his heart if he had to tell a budding horse empath he can only have one. Don’t tell him I said this, but he’s a softy.”

  Anyone with a functioning pair of eyes likely realized Mr. Hemmington had a heart of gold and a willingness to dip into his wallet to solve every problem he could. “I won’t say a word.”

  “I figured you wouldn’t. It’ll do you some good to see some spirited horses. You probably won’t get to ride many of the better horses, but the school horses at the ranch are spectacular, and I think you’ll enjoy seeing what a good horse can do.”