“You should see it,” Faith cried as she came bounding back to the stalls. “The shower is in the toilet.”
“Sounds gross,” I said as Socks spooked at the sound of her voice and almost knocked me off my stool.
“No,” she said. “It’s awesome. I want one. You could live in there by yourself and travel anywhere you wanted because your house comes with you.”
“And where is Macaroni going to fit? In the kitchen sink?” I said.
“No,” she groaned. “He’d be in the trailer.”
“I think you’d need a pretty big truck to haul a camper and a trailer,” I said, finishing the last braid.
“I will have a big truck,” she said, sticking her nose in the air.
“I think your sister has finally lost it,” I said to Ethan as I went past Wendell’s stall.
He’d seen me braiding and decided that he might as well get it over and done with too only his braids looked better than mine. Or Wendell’s mane was just easier to braid. His fell all nice and neat on one side while both my mounts had bits that flopped over to the wrong side and parts that just stuck straight up.
“You only just noticed?” he said.
“I think she’s up to something,” I said, leaning on the front of the stall. “You’d better keep an eye on her tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you keep an eye on her?” He sighed. “I have enough to do.”
“You’re only riding one horse,” I cried. “I have two and I have to worry about getting enough points in my Talent Scout class.”
“Boo hoo, poor you,” he said but he was laughing at me.
“That’s not very nice,” I said. “Wait until Mickey gets back and I tell her that you were mean to me.”
“I don’t think she’ll care,” he said. “Isn’t she over in Paris chatting up all the cute French guys?”
My face flushed red. “No.”
“It’s okay, you don’t have to lie to me. I know she is.”
I guess that both Faith and Ethan were smarter than I gave them credit for.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
Even though I knew that Henry was at the show grounds in his camper, I still didn’t sleep well. I kept waking up and wondering if fake smiling Jess was creeping through the shadows and doing something horrible to our horses. I hadn’t even had a chance to go over and see her new horse. Dad said it was better that we didn’t. He wanted me to just leave Jess alone. He said that the only time I needed to face her was when I was in the ring getting my blue ribbon and she was standing on the sidelines having not even placed. But he didn’t know Jess like I did. Underneath the bratty attitude there had always been some talent, she’d just been too lazy to use it.
Plus what if her new horse was really good? Despite her father’s shortcomings he kind of knew how to pick them. Almost all of Jess’s horses had been good until she’d ruined them. And I hated to think what she would do when she found out that my father had bought Hashtag. That fake smile would slide right off her face and the daggers would come out. Even nice Jess wouldn’t be able to survive that betrayal.
I was in the dark kitchen forcing myself to eat breakfast when Mickey texted to wish me good luck. I sent my thanks and a smiley face. I didn’t ask her how Jean-Paul was and I especially didn’t tell her that somehow Ethan knew she was up to no good over there. She could figure all that out for herself when she got back home. Just another reason why boys weren’t really worth the hassle.
“Nervous?” Missy asked, padding softly into the kitchen in bare feet and her pajamas. She looked around in the cupboards for a clean bottle for Owen.
“No,” I said. “Not really.”
“Good.”
“But Jess is there.”
“You don’t need to worry about her,” Missy said. “You know you can beat her blindfolded.”
“But she’s different,” I said. “Nicer almost.”
Missy turned to look at me. She had bags under her eyes that I never noticed during the day. She must have been using some really strong concealer.
“You know that a leopard can’t change its spots, right?”
I nodded.
“There is no way that girl is going to change and suddenly become nice. Her father has brought her up to be that way. He’s trained her to be aggressive and nasty just like he is.”
“But what if she has changed?” I said.
“What if she hasn’t?” Missy said. “Just focus on your Talent Scout class. That’s all you need to worry about today. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
“And make sure you give my horse a good ride too,” she said. “Don’t make me sorry for letting you take him in the first place.”
“I will, I promise,” I said.
I stood up and gave her a hug. It felt awkward. It was the first time we’d had any sort of physical contact. Usually we just smiled at each other. I think once she’d put her hand on my shoulder. It had been hard, trusting her, accepting that she was part of our family, especially after her failed comeback. But now that she’d put her riding on the back burner it was like things had gone back to normal. She was happy teaching and raising Owen and I was free to compete. I just hated to think what would happen if one day she changed her mind.
“Thanks Missy,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” she replied, her voice all muffled like she was trying not to cry. “Make us proud.”
“I will,” I said.
Later I stood in front of my closet wondering what to wear. Even nice Jess had me questioning and doubting myself. Usually I’d just toss on a pair of jeans or shorts and an old t-shirt but now I kept thinking that maybe I should dress better when I wasn’t in my show clothes. Take more pride in my appearance. Worry about things like mascara and eye shadow and whether or not I should curl or straighten my hair. I was lucky if I could even get a brush through mine in the mornings. Jess probably had some fancy conditioner that was freshly squeezed from bee’s bottoms or something. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d used any conditioner on mine and when I had, I was pretty sure it was the bargain brand from the dollar store.
And maybe this was all part of Jess’s plan. She knew if she was mean I’d have my guard up. Maybe she thought that being nice would totally confuse me and throw me off my game. And she’d be right. It was working.
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
Because our horses were already at the show grounds and Henry was there to feed them breakfast and muck out their stalls, we weren’t heading over to the show until later so I busied myself with the horses that had been left behind. Arion got a quick hack around the loop. He was fresh and hyper as usual and I was glad that he was going to be sitting this show out so that I could concentrate on Bluebird. Hashtag also got a quick ride. I took him in the jump field and let him sniff the fences.
“See boy?” I said. “They aren’t going to hurt you. I promise. And when you’re ready I’ll let you jump them again and this time it will be fun.”
I patted his thick neck and then leaned over and hugged him. Part of me almost wished that he was jumping again so that I could have taken him to the show. Jess would have stood there with her mouth open as I galloped her old horse around a jump off course to cheers from the crowd and when they pinned the blue ribbon on his bridle, she would have realized how wrong she was to throw him away.
“When you’re done being all soppy, we’re getting ready to head out to the show,” Dad called from the gate.
“Coming,” I said, trotting Hashtag in his direction.
“I told you that is a show horse not a puppy dog,” he said as he opened the gate for us.
“We were just having a moment,” I said. “Give us a break.”
“I’ve given him enough breaks,” Dad said, following beside us as we walked into the barn. “After the show he is going into serious work. Got it.”
I nodded, hoping that maybe it would be up for discussion later, like if I won all my classes.
“I’m gla
d I’m not taking you to the show,” I told Hashtag as I kissed his nose. “It’s like you are my little secret and every time I’m worried about Jess being mean to me, it helps to know that you are here at Fox Run and not in her stable.
“Come on,” Faith called as she ran down the aisle. “We’re going to be late.”
“We’re not going to be late,” I said as I slid Hashtag’s stall door closed. “Relax.”
But telling Faith to relax was like telling a bunny not to hop. She bounced up and down on her seat in the back of the truck so much that I wished they’d just gone in their own car. But their parents weren’t coming until the evening and Dad had offered so now we had Faith and Ethan, who had plugged in his headphones to block out the world and his little sister. In the end I did the same. I closed my eyes and imagined Bluebird and I soaring over the log cabin fence and the lake water jump.
I’d read an article that said if you visualized how your ride would be beforehand then when you were actually in the ring, your body would make it happen. Something about muscle memory and stuff. It had all sounded very technical, technical enough to make me believe in it just a little bit. At least I hoped it would work because in my visualization Bluebird and I won. They pinned the blue ribbon on his bridle and we did a victory gallop under the arena lights and the starry sky. If it happened that way it would be pretty awesome but I knew that life was too unpredictable for that.
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
As soon as we parked, I bolted out of the car and ran over to our stalls.
“Everything okay?” I asked Henry.
He was leaning on a pitchfork with a full tub of manure next to him.
“Same as normal,” he said. “All pooping up a storm.”
“Good,” I replied.
We all knew that horse poop was pretty much the best thing in the world because it meant that your horse’s digestive system was working just fine and that was always a concern in a strange environment like at a show. But Arion wasn’t here with his fussy ulcery stomach and we’d brought enough hay to last a week not just a weekend so the horses all had giant piles to substitute any grazing that they were missing out on.
“Hi boys,” I said, going over to my stalls.
Bluebird lifted his head and nickered. Socks just looked at me. One of them had his mane all neat and nicely braided from the night before. The other didn’t.
“Socks! How could you?” I cried.
He looked like he’d spent all night rubbing his braids out. There were strands of thread hanging down his neck and his mane was sticking straight up in places. Others were all frizzy where the braids had come out. Socks didn’t even look sorry. In fact he looked rather smug.
“Henry,” I said. “Couldn’t you have stopped him?”
“I have enough on my plate without babysitting horse braids,” he said. He sounded kind of huffy like he was mad. Perhaps sleeping in the amazing tiny camper wasn’t so great after all.
“Nice,” Ethan said as he looked into the stall. “Guess you’d better get busy.”
I looked at my watch. The speed class was one of the earlier classes. I’d wanted to hack him out before hand, let him get all his silly bucks and kicks out. I also really wanted to rebraid him. I didn’t have time to do both.
“Well you’re just going to have to go in there looking all ugly,” I told him as I pulled out the remaining braids. “And don’t blame me if the other horses and the judges all laugh at you.”
“If you don’t want to ride him because he’s not braided, I will,” Faith said.
“Nice try,” I told her.
“Why?” she said with a slight huff. “Don’t you think I could ride him?”
“No, Faith, I don’t,” I said.
I looked over and saw her mouth open and close a couple of times. Then she let out a strangled sob.
“Faith,” I said. “Don’t run off.”
But she’d already gone.
By the time I was done pulling out all the mangled braids I realized that I’d probably snapped at Faith without meaning to. I knew she was over eager and I also knew that she was here without her pony. I was supposed to have taken her under my wing. She looked up to me and I’d blown it. I’d have to find her and make sure she was okay. Only no one knew where she’d gone.
CHAPTER FORTY
I was supposed to be warming Socks up. I had a very specific routine that I put him through that allowed his muscles to loosen and his brain not to fry but I couldn’t concentrate on any of that because I had to ride around and ask everyone if they’d seen a ten year old girl with spiky hair and a sour attitude. No one had.
I finally stumbled across Jess and her little gang of friends over on the other side of the show grounds. They were sitting on deck chairs with their breeches rolled up to their knees and their feet bare, apparently working on their tans. They had a little kid’s paddling pool set up and a tiny little sausage dog was splashing around in it along with an assortment of rubber ducks.
“Have you guys seen Faith?” I asked.
They looked up at me like I was some kind of alien and then Jess smiled.
“I didn’t recognize you on that horse,” she said.
“I know, ha ha, I’m not on a pony. Funny me,” I said. “But really, have you seen her?”
“Why would we have seen her?” Becka said. “We don’t even know her.”
“Well if you do, can you tell her to please come back to our stalls?”
“Lose you’re little friend did you?” Becka said with a glare.
While Jess may have turned a new leaf it appeared that Becka had just taken up the slack. I couldn’t believe that I’d ever been friends with her. At least Jess had always been mean. She hadn’t been my friend once. Becka’s betrayal hurt more than anything that Jess had ever done.
“Of course we will,” Jess said. “I hope you find her soon. And good luck.”
“Same to you,” I said. And I wasn’t sure if I meant it or not.
In the end I couldn’t find Faith anywhere so I went in the warm up ring and schooled my horse like I was supposed to. Faith knew I had things to do. She was doing this on purpose. Causing a scene so that people would pay attention to her. She knew I had two horses to ride and she said she’d help me but instead she was just causing trouble. If that was how she wanted to be she was on her own. I wasn’t her mother and she wasn’t really my responsibility.
The warm up ring was busy and I had my hands full keeping Socks quiet but the work that we’d done together in the past had paid off and he seemed to settle for me much better than he had done for Missy at the last show. I patted his neck and told him he was a good boy as he got a nice flying change across the diagonal and then I got him out of there as a bunch of pre-teens came in on their crazy little jumper ponies. They would have been the kids that Faith would have been competing against and suddenly I felt sorry for her all over again and I knew I had to find her or Dad would be really mad at me.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
I couldn’t find Faith anywhere and eventually I had to tell my father.
“You had one job,” he said, putting his hands on his hips.
“Yes, I have one job, taking care of my two horses and winning my classes, not babysitting a kid who shouldn’t even need babysitting anyway.”
I’d just about lost all my patience. When did it suddenly become my job to take care of Faith anyway and wasn’t she old enough to take care of herself? Dad frowned like maybe I was right.
“Ethan,” he shouted. “Get out here.”
Ethan came out of Wendell’s stall looking a little scared. My dad didn’t usually raise his voice but when he did, you knew that you were in big trouble.
“Where is your sister?” he said.
“I dunno.” Ethan shrugged.
“Not good enough,” Dad said. “She is your family isn’t she?”
“Yes,” Ethan said sheepishly.
“And you are not actually paying my daughter to babys
it her, are you?”
Ethan looked at me and shook his head. “No.”
“Right, so you’d better get your butt out there and start looking for her, don’t you think? Emily has enough to do and her class starts in thirty minutes. She is supposed to be out there walking her course not running around doing your job.”
Dad strode off leaving Ethan standing there looking a little shell shocked.
“Sorry,” I said.
“Forget it,” he replied. “I guess I should have been looking out for her more. You really can’t find her anywhere?”
“I’ve looked everywhere. I even asked Jess and her evil friends but they said that they hadn’t seen her either.”
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Ethan said. “They could have buried her in the manure pile up to her neck and still lied to your face about it with their fake smiles.”
“True,” I said.
“So where should I start looking?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Trust me. I’ve looked everywhere. She’s not here.”
Ethan sighed. “My parents are going to kill me.”
I wanted to help Ethan look for Faith because I was sorry that I’d snapped at her and I was also worried about her but Dad was right. I was supposed to be walking my course so I high tailed it to the ring where I found Tara walking the course. I felt sorry for Encore. He was a good boy and a talented jumper but he wasn’t a speed horse. In this class you only had one chance to go clear. There was no jump off round. The fastest clear round won which meant you had to go all out. Encore was not into going all out and I wasn’t sure how Tara was going to make him. I made sure to walk the course well behind her so that she wouldn’t have the opportunity to hurl any insults my way.
Chasing Ribbons (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 19) Page 9