“He sounds great. He does. Have your parents met him?”
She looks down and shakes her head. When she looks up at me, she says, “He’s twenty-two.”
“Martina! Come on now. That is not, well, you know, it’s not legal.”
“But it’s hot.”
“Okay, maybe. But still. Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“How far have you gone with this guy?”
“I’m not having sex with him. Not yet. But . . .”
“But nothing. That’s statutory rape, and your dad would come unglued if he knew. And that is not hot!”
“You’re the only one who knows and you can’t tell a soul.”
“I don’t know if this is a good thing, Martina.”
“You sound like a mother.”
“It’s just with older guys like that, I don’t know . . . Why isn’t he going out with girls his own age?”
She doesn’t respond for a minute. She stands and grabs her purse off the dresser.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I’m going out to see Raul. We planned to meet up. I told you because I thought you would be happy for me. Instead, you sound like a parent. I shouldn’t have told you.”
“Wait. I’m sorry. You’re my friend and I’m just looking out for you.”
She’s at the door and turns around to say, “Don’t bother. I can look out for myself.”
She leaves and I’m speechless. I don’t know if I should go after her or not. Maybe she just needs time, but I really don’t like her going out with a guy that much older. I just find it kind of creepy, and definitely not quite as hot as she does. Yeah—it’s definitely creeper material.
I head to the door and out the hallway. I’m in my pajamas and bare feet. She’s already gone.
I shake my head and go back into our room, hoping I haven’t completely alienated Martina. She’s my friend and I really care about her.
I plop back down on the bed and continue to stuff my face. So far, tonight has been a complete disaster. Figuring it can’t get any worse, I put in my earbuds and turn on some music and hope that listening to Pink will distract me from my troubles.
CHAPTER thirteen
I wake up not feeling super refreshed due to the fact that I tossed and turned all night. I didn’t hear Martina come in, but as I pull on my breeches I see her asleep in her bed. I try to be as quiet as possible. I do plan to speak with her later today and make amends. I feel horrible about the way things went down last night.
I’m also not feeling great that I never received a call or text from Tristan or Riley, and I am dying to know what happened at the bonfire. My riding lesson with Christian is early this morning, and I doubt my favorite guy or my best friend is awake yet. Plus, I want to make my way to the barn before there are too many people around. I have a few things on my agenda. The first is to take another look at Harmony’s eye to see if anything is in there. I also want to ask her about the dead pony, and I am hoping to get in a few minutes with Sebastian. I feel a little guilty for wanting to do that because he isn’t my horse, and what he knows is obviously something Tristan is keeping private. However, Tristan is my boyfriend, and if something terrible is happening in his home, I feel like I have to find a way to help him. I also can’t help wondering how Lydia is involved. I just have so many questions, and I am hopeful that these quiet early morning hours will bring me some answers.
I grab a cup of coffee from the coffee hut and walk quickly to the barns. The air is crisp and the skies covered with dark clouds. Looks like rain to me. Smells like it, too. Being an Oregonian, I happen to be sort of an expert on rain. And there goes a big drop right on my head, and then another and another, and the sky opens up and pours down on me as I run to the barn for cover. I peer into Harmony’s stall. She’s definitely come in from the rain, as her gray coat is wet and sort of speckled looking. “You got wet, too?” I laugh.
Her kind brown eyes follow me as I enter her stall. I notice that Joel’s horse, Melody, is also inside and wet, like she just escaped the rain. The only one still standing out in the downpour is Sebastian. Like people, some horses really like the rain, and Sebastian seems to be one of those horses. I have grown up with rain coming down around me all of my life, so I am not super crazy about it. I revel in the sunshine of Southern California. As much as I want to continue my conversation with Sebastian, I do not want to walk back out there. I figure I’ll see if I can get any more information from Harmony.
I speak low and softly to her, and start by conjuring up the images she’d revealed to me with the dead pony and the little girl.
All I get back is a murky gray color, which to me indicates that Harmony is confused. So, I flash a picture of Melody first in my mind as I lean my forehead against Harmony’s head. Then, I try again with the pony. All I get back is that murky gray. “I know it’s raining and icky outside, but come on, we were just talking about this yesterday. Have you forgotten already? What gives?” I sense my own desperation, which I try and fight because the last thing I want is for Harmony to think I am frustrated with her. Then, the murky gray switches to a light pink that transitions into a darker pink and evolves into a heart. I laugh. “I love you, too.”
“Vivienne?”
I flip around to see Kayla Fairmont just outside the stall. I hadn’t heard her come up. “Kayla, hi. I was, um, just talking to Harmony.” I can hear my nervous giggle and want to cringe. Of course, people talk to their horses like they do their dogs and cats, but the thing is, whenever I’m caught doing it, I always wonder if I’m revealing something deeper about myself. I have to wonder if anyone might ever detect that I really do talk to horses, and that they talk back.
“I see that. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Oh. I’m fine. I came down to tack up for my lesson. I would imagine that it’ll be in the indoor arena . . . considering . . .” I point to the roof.
She smiles. “Actually we are going to have to cancel lessons today. The indoor arena is getting new footing, and it was supposed to be here last week before you all returned. But there was a holdup, and it won’t be here until tomorrow.”
“Oh. Bummer.”
“Yeah. But it’ll give you another day to settle in before classes start again tomorrow.”
“True,” I reply, but I am pretty disappointed. I wanted to ride, and I also wanted to see what I could learn from the horses. Maybe the rain will allow me to do that.
But then, Kayla says, “Hey, it’s supposed to really start coming down. You probably want to get inside. There is an extra umbrella in the office. Why don’t you get it and go back to your dorm. I’m just here to give Melody her Regu-Mate. We don’t allow students to give it.”
“Oh. Okay.” I figure, as much as I want to continue on my little fact-finding mission, that I’d better do as the headmistress suggests. I get the umbrella and start back to the dorms, feeling surprised that Joel’s horse needs to be on hormones. I didn’t know any of the horses here were on Regu-Mate, which is used to suppress estrus in mares and keep them from having “mareish” type behavior. In other words, Kayla is giving Melody a hormone shot to keep her from being a bitch. Melody hadn’t struck me as being one, but she isn’t my mare, so I really don’t know. What I do know is that my mom is not a huge fan of giving hormones to horses unless absolutely necessary. My mom tends to be a pretty conservative vet, and I respect that. Heck, I respect my mom completely. However, I don’t know Melody’s issues, and maybe her behavior merits being on the hormone. I tell myself that Kayla probably knows what she’s doing.
Instead of going straight to my room, I decide to see if Tristan and Riley are around. I rap on their door and wait a minute. Tristan opens it and I take a step back. “Oh my God! How did that happen?” I reach out and lightly touch the big black shiner he has.
“You don�
�t want to know,” he says and swings the door wider.
I immediately think of his dad and what I’ve now become aware of, thanks to Sebastian. But, I can’t see how Tristan’s black eye could have been caused by his dad. He’s hundreds of miles away at home.
“He’s your knight in shining armor,” Riley says, walking into the front room.
“Thank, Ri.” Tristan shoots him a look that tells me he’s thinking Riley is “dead meat.”
“Someone better start talking.” I plop down on the couch and cross my arms, looking up at Tristan.
Tristan sighs. “Harrison Gregory was saying crap that I didn’t like. So, I lit into him, and he got one punch in.” Tristan points to the eye.
“What the hell?” I ask, not liking the sound of any of this.
Riley sits down next to me. “It was like this. Harrison was making remarks that were about you and sex, and Tristan beat the crap out of him.”
“Is that true?” I ask.
Tristan nods.
I stand up. “I don’t care what some guy like Harrison Gregory thinks. He’s a total tool.”
“Well, I care,” Tristan replies. “No one is allowed to talk that way about you. Not if I am around to hear it. I think after last night that it won’t happen again.”
I sit back down, not sure if I should be elated that Tristan cares so much about me that he doesn’t want anyone to talk smack, or if I should be pissed off over the fact that he lost his temper so badly that he could have really gotten into trouble. I decide that being pissed off isn’t a good plan, but I do think that we should maybe talk about this a little more. Just not in front of Riley.
I sigh heavily. “I guess I should say thank you, but you really don’t need to protect me. I’m good at taking care of myself.”
Tristan shakes his head.
“Does it hurt?”
He shrugs. “I’m okay.”
I kiss his eye as gently as possible. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He takes my hand. “Besides, the night wasn’t all a bust. Riley did talk to Joel.”
I look over at Riley. “And?”
“And, I apologized for being an ass. Told him that I thought we should give our friendship a try again. No hard feelings and all of that.”
“And?” I ask, my curiosity piquing.
“He said that he would think about it.”
“That’s a start. Right? I mean, I think that is kind of the best-case scenario.”
Riley nods. “The best-case scenario would be if he’d said that we were cool, no issues, all good, blah, blah, blah, and meant it.”
“I agree. But you do have a jumping-off point now.”
“True,” Riley says. “Maybe your frenemy plan will work out after all, Vivvie.”
“Stranger things have happened.” I laugh.
“Right. Well, I’ll leave you two alone to make out, or whatever it is you do. I need a shower.” Riley smiles at me and winks at Tristan. I roll my eyes at him.
As soon as Riley is out of the room and the door is closed, I think about discussing what happened last night at the bonfire, because I am sure there is more to the story. But before I get a chance, Tristan pulls me in and kisses me, and as usual when this happens, I forget pretty much everything else on my mind and find myself kissing him back. “I’m sorry, Vivvie, about Harrison. But the guy was being really obnoxious and I couldn’t take it any longer.” He takes the loose strands of hair that have come out of my ponytail and tucks them behind my ears.
I lean him back on the couch and kiss him. For this once, I guess I am okay that he came to my defense.
CHAPTER fourteen
The weekend passes and school starts. Martina has been evasive and pretty much on a nonspeaking basis with me, and I have to say it does not feel good at all. I’ve tried apologizing, but she’s not having it. She changed over Christmas break. That much is for sure. I know this thing with her parents has her all wound up, but I thought we were the best of friends. I thought we had the kind of relationship that could easily survive stressful times.
Also, it’s not like I was trying to piss her off when I didn’t warm to the idea of her new older boyfriend. I was really just trying to be a good friend and look out for her best interests. She clearly didn’t see it that way, and she’s not forgiving or forgetting. It’s pretty uncomfortable to be rooming with her now that she really doesn’t want to give me the time of day, but all I can do is hope that she’ll come around. I’m just going to be patient and keep trying to be nice.
I also am a little frustrated that I haven’t found out more from the horses. Maybe there’s a full moon and it’s putting a curse on me or something. Over the weekend, I only got a few minutes with Sebastian, and just like Harmony did the other day, all he gave me was colors—starting with gray, which I think means he’s confused. Then, his color communication turns to red and then yellow. I think it’s feedback that he loves Tristan.
Harmony seems as happy as she can be and continues to be all sweet and loving. So, maybe I misread things with her eye. But part of me wonders if the horses are shutting down on me for some reason. It’s weird how they’ve stopped communicating images. The only time I’ve ever felt shut out before is when I first came to Fairmont and Harmony was not willing to share anything. This is different. These horses were communicating with me so well—and then they stopped all of a sudden. Or is it me? I have to wonder if I am losing my gift. I don’t know what to think. But I noticed there’s a full moon, and I plan to blame it on that.
I am happy, though, that I have not seen anything else in Harmony’s eye and her spooked behavior from last week hasn’t recurred. Holden and I did finally discuss it further, and since neither of us saw anything in her eye when we checked it, and her behavior is normal, we’ve decided to wait on having the vet out. It must have just been one of those things.
The other good thing I am happy about, other than my horse’s eye looking fine, is that classes have started. Yes, I admit that I am happy to be back at a desk. I’m sort of weird like that—I like school. What can I say? Maybe it’s because I come from a mother who values academics. But the truth is that the classes at Fairmont are better than what I had back at home. This place has such a different take on course work, and the teachers are interesting. There’s a lot of team building and hands-on learning. I like it.
Besides the honors English class I’m in, I think my favorite extracurricular class is going to be Intro to Equine Veterinary Medicine. I’m looking forward to it since my mom is a vet, and I’ve always loved going on vet calls with her. The first week out, we only attend our core classes—English, science, math, that sort of stuff. The second week, which we are now into, includes the extracurricular course.
I walk into class, and for the first time since returning to Fairmont, I spot Emily Davenport. There’s a seat open next to her. There’s another one by that jerk Harrison who got into the fight with Tristan.
I sit down next to Emily. She gives me a halfhearted smile. “Hey,” I say.
“Hey.”
“Did you just get back here? I haven’t seen you yet this week.”
“A day ago. Actually brought a horse back from Germany.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“That’s great,” I say.
She shrugs. “He’s a beautiful Holsteiner,” Emily says. “A lovely mover. Has to be, because he cost a couple hundred thousand dollars.” Emily shakes her head. “I don’t mean to sound like a spoiled, sarcastic bitch. I like the horse. He’s cool. My mom’s behind the purchase as usual. If I seriously have to hear the term lovely mover again from her, I might lose it. Like completely lose it. My mother thinks I’ll ride him to fame and stardom. I just hope I can live up to her expectations.”
“I know she’s hard on you, Emily. I’m sorry.”
&
nbsp; She nods. “Not much I can do about it. And, anyway, she’s not the only one. I am not having an easy time with a lot of people at school, either. Let’s just say certain girls on campus are making me feel less than welcome.”
“I was afraid that would happen,” I reply. I feel bad about it because if she hadn’t helped me last semester . . . But, it had been the right thing to do. “I want you around,” I say.
“Thanks.”
“No. Seriously. You should start having lunch with me—with us.”
She nods and is about to say something, but then Christian Albright walks into the room and introduces himself as our teacher. I glance at Emily and see that she looks as surprised as I feel. I didn’t realize he was the teacher. On my schedule it says that it’s supposed to be Dr. Billings, one of the local vets.
“Hi, gang, I’m Mr. Albright. You can call me Christian when we have riding lessons together, but I’ve been told by my bosses that, in the classroom, you’re supposed to call me Mr. Albright. I don’t care either way. I know Dr. Billings is scheduled to teach this course, but he was just hired on up at Davis and so I am filling in. I am not a vet, but I do have a lot of knowledge about treating various conditions that may affect your horse. However, we have decided to change the title of this course from Equine Veterinary Medicine to Equine Health Care.”
I shift uncomfortably in my chair. Not because of the change in the name of the course, but because of my ongoing suspicions about Christian—um, Mr. Albright—and Kayla.
Over the next fifty minutes, Christian goes over what we can expect to learn this semester in his class, and I have to say it doesn’t sound nearly as exciting as veterinary medicine, but I have no choice. I’m in the class. At least it sounds like I’ll come out of it with an A. Now I sound like the bitchy one, but the syllabus indicates that we will be going over some pretty basic fundamentals, like how to correctly wrap a horse’s leg and treat certain common ailments. It’s not that interesting for me, because my mom is a vet, who taught me how to do most of this stuff by the time I was about eight years old. Oh well.
Dark Harmony: A Vivienne Taylor Horse Lover's Mystery (Fairmont Riding Academy Book 2) Page 8
