CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“You should stay away from Jake,” I told Mickey that evening.
We had both squished onto my bed and were watching a horse movie that Mickey rented. It wasn’t very good. The horse spent half the movie galloping around the wilderness while the girl trailed after it hopelessly. When she did eventually catch it, she rode in a big show the very next week and won. It was like people didn’t know how to make realistic horse movies at all. Still, there weren’t many out there so even if they were bad we watched them anyway because we were starved for horse drama. As if we didn’t have enough in our real lives.
“What do you mean, he’s mean?” she asked.
“He threatened me,” I said. “And he has a temper. I really thought that he was going to hit me.”
“Well you did ride his horse and make him look stupid,” she said.
“And that gives him the excuse to attack me?”
“He didn’t attack you. He just told you to stay away from his horse, which you should. You’d be mad if he rode Bluebird better than you, wouldn’t you?”
“No one can ride Bluebird better than me,” I said.
Although I guessed Mickey was right. It wasn’t exactly cool that I’d been able to ride his mare down the same line of jumps that he’d fallen off over, all while making it look easy. But I still didn’t think that gave him the right to try and intimidate me, even if I had stood up to him. He reminded me of Derek, all rage and fury bubbling beneath the surface and you never knew when it was going to burst out and consume you.
“He said he’d take me to the movies on Saturday night,” she said. “But I’m not sure if I want to go or not.”
“Playing hard to get?” I said.
“Something like that.”
“Look.” I sat up. “I not kidding. You should leave him alone. There are plenty of other guys out there, nice guys who won’t be mean if they don’t get their own way.”
“Lighten up Emily,” Mickey said. “Besides, he hasn’t been mean to me.”
“Not yet,” I mumbled under my breath.
We watched the movie in silence until I heard my mom slam the front door.
“Emily,” she called. “Come help me with the groceries.”
“Coming,” I groaned. “And you’re coming with me.” I pulled Mickey off the bed.
Mom was in the kitchen, piling bags onto the counter by the time we got down there. She was all hot and flustered since the air conditioning in her car was kind of dodgy in the summer. She looked up, obviously surprised to see Mickey. Usually I was the one who went to her house because she had more room, better food and a bigger TV but since the accident and the fall out with her mom, she’d been spending more time at my house instead.
“Oh, hello Mickey dear, I didn’t realize you were here,” Mom said.
“Hi Mrs. Dickenson,” she replied, which made me grin.
Derek had been mad for weeks that my mom refused to take his last name. It was the sort of thing which gave me hope that one day she’d change her mind and kick him out.
“Well don’t you look pretty today?” She pointed to Mickey’s skirt. It was bright blue with tiny yellow flowers on it. “Now why can’t you convince my daughter that wearing a skirt won’t kill her?”
I looked down at what I was wearing, denim shorts and a tank top with a unicorn on it. Mom said that only little kids wore clothes that had unicorns on them but I didn’t care. What did she know anyway? After all, she was the one wearing mom jeans.
“I think Emily would rather die than wear a skirt.” Mickey put the milk away and winked at me.
I grinned back. “You’ve got that right.”
Mom just sighed like she was disappointed that she didn’t have a daughter who would not even consider the remote possibility of a skirt.
“What’s all this for anyway?” I asked as I shoved another pack of meat into the freezer. “You’ve bought enough food to feed an army.”
“I thought it would be nice to have a barbeque,” she said. “And invite some of the neighbors. You can invite some friends from the barn if you like.”
“A barbeque?” I said. “Do we actually have one of those?”
“I think so.” Her face scrunched up like she was thinking. “Don’t we?”
“If you mean that disgusting old thing under the car port with about three years’ worth of old grease caked on it then yes, I guess you could say that technically we have one.”
“Oh dear.” She sighed. “Is it really in bad shape?”
“I think wasps were nesting in it the last time I looked,” I said.
“Extra fiber in your hamburger?” Mickey said and we all started to laugh.
But while Mickey was joking, I was wondering exactly how difficult it would be to put a wasp in Derek’s burger and what would happen if he actually ate one. I had visions of his head swelling to gigantic proportions and then popping like a giant zit. Even if it never happened, the thought was pretty satisfying.
We were still laughing when Cat slammed the front door and came through to the kitchen. Despite her best protests, she was going to summer school and making sure that we all knew she hated every minute of it.
“Hey Cat,” I said. “Want to help clean the barbeque?”
“I’d rather die.” She gave me a withering look.
“That can be arranged.” I smiled.
“Oh knock it off you two,” Mom said. “Can’t you even be in the same room together for five minutes?”
“No,” we both snapped at the same time.
“You know,” I told Mickey as we went back up to my room to avoid being roped into cleaning the gross barbeque. “Cat would be the perfect girlfriend for Jake.”
“Because they are both mean?” she said. “Two means make one nice?”
“Or maybe they’d just kill each other,” I said.
“That’s not funny. Leave Jake alone. I like him. I can’t help it. Okay?”
But it wasn’t okay. I was worried about my best friend going to the movies with someone who I was pretty sure was only minutes away from punching me in the face and boys punching girls was not cool. In fact, I was pretty sure it was some kind of crime and if he laid a hand on Mickey, I wasn’t afraid to call the police.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I was hoping that the whole barbeque idea would just go away. After all, Mom wasn’t exactly the type that liked to entertain or even cook for that matter but somehow she got the idea in her head that it would be fun and she just wouldn’t let it go.
“Do you think we should make coleslaw or potato salad or both?” she asked the next day.
I was rummaging in the refrigerator for the last carrot. Bluebird was not going to be impressed that I only had one to offer him.
“I don’t care.” I slammed the refrigerator door. “Mom, why are you doing this?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
She had on a sun dress and her hair had highlights that I hadn’t noticed before. She looked pretty and happy and I didn’t know why.
“Is this to impress Derek?” I asked her. “Because I don’t think he cares about things like barbeques and entertaining. I think he’d much prefer sitting in front of the TV with a cold beer and a bowl of chips.”
“Not everything I do is to impress your stepfather.” She looked hurt.
“He’s not my stepfather,” I groaned.
“Fine, Derek. My whole life doesn’t revolve around him you know.”
“Really?” I said. Suddenly the world looked a little bit brighter.
“You know I love you, right?” She pulled me into a bear hug.
“Yes,” I said, my voice muffled.
“Good.” She pushed me away and patted me on the head. “Now run along off to the barn.”
“Mom?” I said. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Of course, fine, why?” she said.
She was standing at the sink peeling potatoes. Did she really have to ask why? I’d never
seen her like this before but as long as she was encouraging me to go to the barn, I guess it didn’t matter.
“Never mind,” I said. “Can you get some more carrots next time you go to the store?”
“Sure,” she said. “Have a nice ride. And don’t forget to invite Esther to the barbeque.”
“If I ever see her again,” I mumbled under my breath.
As I rode my bike to the barn in the one hundred degree heat, I thought about Esther. How could she just abandon us like that? Shared barn time was shared barn time and she had just as much right to be there as Frank and his students. It was her barn after all, even if she had leased out half of it. I’d made my mind up that I was going to call her and tell her exactly what I thought of her abandoning us but when I got to the barn, her truck was there. Now I was going to have the chance to tell her what I thought of her face to face.
I stomped into the barn, committed to telling her how I really felt and not chickening out at the last minute like I usually did but there she was in the aisle, a big smile on her face as she looked up and saw me.
“Hey, Emily,” she said.
“Hey,” I snapped back.
“Want a lesson?”
“What?” I said, thrown off guard.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go down. I was going to yell at her. I was all ready and now she was ruining it. The rage I’d built up while cycling over to the barn now slowly fizzling out like the sweat running down my back.
“Do you want a lesson?” she asked again, still smiling.
“I thought lessons were cancelled?” I put my hands on my hips. “For the whole summer.”
“Who told you that?” she asked.
“Ethan,” I said. “He told us that you leased out Princess to Faith and that all lessons were cancelled and that we all might as well go and find somewhere else to ride because you don’t care about us anymore.”
She crossed her arms. “No, is that really what you think I’d do?”
“I don’t know. You disappeared. What were we supposed to think?”
“That I had some things to take care of and that I did and now I’m back.”
“If you say so,” I said.
“So do you want a lesson or not?”
“Maybe later,” I said. “It’s a million degrees out right now. I don’t want to get heat stroke or something.”
I went out to Bluebird’s field and found a shady spot to collapse in. There was only a slight breeze and it was so hot out that I felt like I was cooking alive. Bluebird came over and grazed around me, nudging my legs with his nose so that he could get to the grass underneath.
“You have a whole field to eat,” I told him. “Why do you have to try and get the one piece I’m lying on?”
But he made me smile. At least he was the one constant in my life. The thing I could count on. Everyone else was changing. Mickey going on dates, my mom cooking and entertaining and then there was Esther who disappeared and then came back like nothing had ever happened.
“Why do people have to be so complicated?” I asked Bluebird. “I swear I don’t understand them at all.”
He didn’t have an answer for me and eventually wandered off. I closed my eyes and put my hands behind my head, listening to the sound of birds off in the distance. I think that at some point I must have drifted off to sleep because I never heard anyone coming until a cup of ice cold water was dumped over my face.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Hey,” I yelled, jumping up.
It was Jake, standing there laughing at me.
“Frank wants you to ride my horse again.”
“No.” I shook the water out of my hair. “No way.”
“That’s what I told him but he made me come and get you anyway.” He grabbed my arm and squeezed it hard. “You step one foot in the stirrup and I’ll make sure you never ride again.”
“You know what?” I yanked my arm out of his grasp. “I don’t care about you or your horse or Frank for that matter. I only care about riding my pony and being left alone.”
I stormed off to the barn before he had a chance to say anything else. Frank was standing there talking to Esther. They both looked up and smiled when they saw me.
“There you are,” Esther said. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Frank wants you to take another spin on Viper.”
“No.” I shook my head.
“Emily?” Esther said. “Don’t be silly. Frank is offering you a really great opportunity.”
“I have a pony,” I said. “And I’m going to ride him. Jake needs to ride Viper. She is his horse, isn’t she?”
“The trouble is that Jake isn’t really interested in riding his horse.” Frank stood there looking at me like I was ridiculous for turning him down and I did feel kind of ridiculous but I also took Jake’s threats seriously.
I shrugged. “That’s not my problem.”
“Emily,” Esther said. “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” I said.
I walked away from them, wondering what I was doing. I was obviously insane because when Frank Coppell asked you to ride a horse, you rode it and when he said jump, you said how high? But why did people always want me to ride other people’s horses when all I wanted to do was ride my own?
“Emily.” Esther came up behind me. “I know that I don’t need to tell you how much of a big deal Frank Coppell is, and having him ask you to ride for him? That’s a really, really big opportunity. You know I can’t give you the kind of exposure that Frank can. You should take advantage of his generosity.”
I turned to face her. “Jake wants to ride his own horse and I don’t blame him. I’d be pretty mad if someone rode Bluebird better than I did. Remember what happened with Mickey when I rode Hampton? Well that’s what will happen with Jake only we’re not friends so instead of Jake being mad, he’ll probably do something worse.”
Esther looked worried. “Like what?”
“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
“No, I want you to tell me what he said. Did he threaten you?” she asked.
I looked at my feet, wondering how I always managed to make such a mess of things. I’d grown up with my mother telling me that violence was not the way to solve your problems and that I should tell someone if anyone ever hurt me. But then Derek came into our lives and it was like she forgot all about that. He yelled and threw things and I knew he’d been inches away from hitting any one of us. Now she didn’t have anything to say about it and I wondered if it was better to talk or stay silent.
“He just said that if I rode his horse, I’d be sorry,” I said.
“That’s ridiculous,” Esther snapped. “I’m telling Frank.”
“No, please don’t,” I called after her as she walked away. “You’ll just make everything worse.”
She turned around, still looking mad. “I will not have students threatened in my barn.”
She said something to Frank, who looked at me curiously. Then they both went into the office and shut the door. I grabbed Bluebird’s bridle from the hook in the tack room and ran out to his field, burying my face in his mane.
“It’s hit the fan now,” I told him.
He opened his mouth for the bit and I slipped the bridle on and then scrambled up onto his back. We walked past the ring where Melanie was lunging one of the horses. She waved but I didn’t wave back. Instead I kicked Bluebird on and we cantered up the trail.
Why did Frank and his students have to come here and ruin everything? Why couldn’t they just leave us alone? It wasn’t fair.
When we got to the top of the ridge, I lowered one of the planks in the fence and we slipped through, cantering down the hill. Some of the fallen logs were still marked out from the hunter pace, their red tape flapping sadly in the breeze. I pointed Bluebird at them and he hopped over. I slipped about on his sweaty back but my legs clung to him and I didn’t fall. When we got to the bottom of the hill, I slowed him to a walk.
Granny Mae�
�s old farmhouse was still empty. There was a sale sign out by the road but no one had done any work on it. Mold still clung to the old brick walls and the same chicken pecked about in the overgrown yard. It looked pretty fat so it had to be surviving on whatever bugs it found in the ground.
I wondered what kind of people would buy it. Would they fix it up to its former glory or bulldoze it to the ground to build a cookie cutter home like every other house on the street. And what would become of the barn? I could imagine it cleaned up and stalls inside, filled with horses. I would have given anything to live there in the old house and look out the window to see my horses and ponies grazing in the fields. Calling out of the window to them and watching as they picked their heads up and whinnied back. But that dream was about as far off as my Olympic dream and after the way I’d refused to ride for Frank, I wondered if I’d ever make it in this sport after all.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Back at the barn I gave Bluebird his one carrot and set him loose in his field. I was hoping that everyone would have left so that I could sneak back in unnoticed but now that the barn was full, there was always someone there to see what you were doing every second of every day.
Frank was out in the ring giving Mackenzie a lesson on Cupcake. Faith was hanging on the fence watching. Every now and then she would wave and Mackenzie would wave back. At least someone had made a friend. I couldn’t see Jake anywhere.
Esther was sitting in the office behind her desk. “Come here,” she said when she saw me.
“Why?” I hovered about in the doorway, not wanting to commit to coming in.
She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Don’t go getting all teenagery on me now. Get your butt in here and close the door.”
“Fine.” I said.
I sat across from her, the desk between us unusually clean. All the bills and invoices that used to be scattered across it now filed away and paid since Frank arrived. I knew that he was the only reason Esther still had the farm and that without him we wouldn’t just be sharing the barn, we’d be looking for a new one. But I couldn’t help thinking that since he’d arrived, everything had just gone from bad to worse.
Turf Wars (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 8) Page 5
