CHAPTER ELEVEN
I ran to greet the truck and trailer, heart pounding in my chest. I couldn’t help wondering if the roan horse was in there and if he was, would he remember me?
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to get one of the horses?” I asked my father as he got out of the truck. “Which one is it? Is it the roan?”
Please let it be the roan, I added silently.
“No.” Dad shook his head. “It’s not the roan.”
“Really?,” I said, trying to hide my disappointment. “Which one is it then? The chestnut mare from yesterday?”
“No, it’s not her either.”
Dad went around to the back of the trailer and I followed him, standing there as he undid the door and let down the ramp and feeling horribly confused.
“So you went to get a horse that we didn’t even try out?” I said. “What was the point of the last two days then?”
“This one isn’t a sale horse,” he said. “It’s Wizard, Jordan’s horse. Well, technically he is Taylor’s horse but Jordan has run off and no one knows where he is. She’s going out of her mind and spending all her time looking for him so she can’t take care of Wizard as well. I told her that we would take him temporarily.”
“Okay,” I said.
I felt like my heart had just been deflated like a balloon that someone stuck a pin into. The horse hadn’t turned out to be the one I wanted. In fact hadn’t turned out to be a sale horse at all and to make matters worse he was Jordan’s horse and Jordan was still missing. I’d done my best to try and forget about him but it was going to be kind of hard to do that when his horse was right here in our barn.
Dad backed the bay out of the trailer. He stood there looking around then he looked at me and snorted.
“It’s okay,” I said, taking his lead rope with a sigh. “Don’t worry, you’ll like it here.”
We walked Wizard into his stall and I patted his neck. I felt kind of bad for him. He looked sad, like his best friend had just left him behind and I wondered if that was how Encore had felt when he got to Tara’s barn.
“Do you think Jordan is okay?” I asked Dad as we stood there watching Wizard settle in.
“He’s a teenage boy who’s had a taste of freedom for the first time. I’m sure he’s fine. He’s probably taken off for the beach on that motorbike of his and is having the time of his life.”
“You saw that then?” I asked.
I didn’t think that Dad had seen Jordan speeding down the drive at Easter on his shiny new bike but apparently my father was more all seeing than I’d thought.
“I saw,” Dad said. “But if you want to make a boy jealous, there is no better way than to ride his horse better than he does.”
“Who says I want to make him jealous?” I said.
“I thought you liked him,” Dad said.
“I don’t know what I like,” I replied because even though I did still kind of like Jordan, I wasn’t about to talk about that with my father who was old and couldn’t possibly understand what I was going through.
I stuck my hand through the bars and gave Wizard a piece of carrot. He took it gently and crunched it thoughtfully, looking at me with quizzical eyes.
“Do you want to be my friend?” I asked him.
He licked my fingers gently with his fat tongue. I took that to mean yes.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Wizard was no Encore but he was still a nice horse, a Thoroughbred with a sweet face and kind eye. The next day I tacked him up and took him out to the arena for a quick workout. He didn’t spook or act silly, even though he was in a new place and I thought that he was really trying hard to be good.
I worked him on the flat for a while and then pointed him at one of the cross rails that were still set up from the kids lessons. He hopped over it with ease and cantered away so I took him over a few more of the small jumps. I asked him to walk and then patted his neck, letting the reins fall loose. He tossed his head at the flies which were getting worse by the day but other than that, he’d been a perfect horse. Although I knew there really was no such thing.
“Do you know where Jordan is?” I asked him as I took him back to the barn.
I was starting to get worried and I knew that Taylor must be too if she didn’t even have time to take care of Wizard. I was starting to get a bad feeling about the whole thing. At first I’d thought that Jordan had just stood me up. Run off to the beach with some girl like my father said but as each day passed, I felt more and more like that wasn’t true at all and I knew Jordan. He wasn’t like that. He was kind and courteous and thoughtful. He would never just leave without telling anyone where he was going or when he was coming back.
“Do you think something bad has happened to Jordan?” I asked Mickey later that day.
She was in the tack room, rummaging around in her locker for something. She didn’t have a lesson so we were going to take the horses out on the trail.
“Why would you think that?” she said.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Just a feeling I guess but it’s just not like him, that’s all.”
“But you don’t really know him, do you?” Mickey said, putting her hands on her hips. “I mean you had a couple of not quite dates where you hung out and ate food and knowing you, probably talked about horses the whole time but you don’t really know him.”
“I know him,” I said sullenly.
“Do you?” she said. “Do you know his friends? Who he hangs out with? Do you know if they like to drink or party or do drugs?”
“No,” I said, feeling a little outraged at Mickey’s apparently low view of Jordan and the kind of people he hung out with. “But of course he doesn’t do any of that stuff.”
“How do you know?” Mickey said.
“I told you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she interrupted me. “He’s not like that.”
“You don’t understand,” I said.
“I think I do,” Mickey said. “I think I understand better than anyone because you’re doing what I used to do, thinking about a boy more than horses and it’s not like you. You should be focusing on your riding. Forget about Jordan. If he was worth it, he’d be here but he’s not so I know it’s harsh but you’re just going to have to get over it.”
“Wow,” I said, throwing down my bridle cleaning rag. “Thanks for being so supportive.”
“I’m just telling you the truth,” Mickey said.
“Well maybe I don’t want to hear the truth,” I snapped. “Maybe I thought my best friend would tell me that everything was going to be okay even if it wasn’t because that was what I needed to hear.”
“It’s just boy drama,” Mickey said. “It’s not the end of the world. Now are you going to tack up a horse or not?”
“Not,” I said.
I stormed out of the tack room, blinking back tears. It had been ages since Mickey and I had a fight. Usually we had each other’s backs. We knew what each other was going through and the right things to say to make each other feel better but Mickey hadn’t made me feel better at all. In fact, she’d made me feel worse. What kind of a friend did that? There was no way that I was going to go on a ride with her and have her spend the whole time telling me how I was better off without Jordan and she had the whole thing wrong anyway. He was just a friend and that was why I was worried about him. Just like I’d be worried about her if she was the one who had vanished. Couldn’t she understand that?
I hid in the office until I heard Hampton’s hoof beats going down the aisle. I peeked through the crack in the door and watched her take him out into the sunlight, then I threw myself onto the big leather chair. I didn’t want to be the annoying friend, the one who was all drama all the time. It was better just to give Mickey some space and cool off.
Maybe I was freaking out over nothing. There was a chance that Jordan had come back by now. I picked up the phone and dialed the number of the tack store but no one answered. Eventually the ringing stopped and clicked
over into a voicemail. It was Taylor’s voice sounding a little croaky like she’d been crying, saying that the tack store was closed due to a family emergency. I put the phone down, feeling sick. Mickey was wrong. I wasn’t blowing things out of proportion. Taylor wouldn’t just close her store if she thought that Jordan was living it up at the beach. She’d raised him. She was his mother. She wouldn’t have been crying if she thought he was off having a good time with his friends. Something was wrong. Something bad had happened to him but I didn’t know how to help. Mickey was right. I didn’t know Jordan’s friends. I didn’t know where he hung out or who he hung out with. I didn’t know anything about him except that I had his horse. I just didn’t know how that was going to help me find him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I was still stewing about things the next day when Mickey showed up with a new girl in tow. I didn’t recognize her. She wasn’t one of the Fox Run regulars so she must have been someone from Mickey’s school. I hung out in the office, peering through the door so that I could spy on them. I was still mad at Mickey. After her ride she’d just left the barn yesterday and she never even texted to say that she was sorry. Maybe she was waiting for me to say that I was sorry instead. Well she could just forget it because that was never going to happen. I hadn’t done anything wrong.
The new girl had long blonde hair that fell in soft waves down her back. She was wearing worn jeans and a tank top with a plaid shirt tied around her waist. She didn’t look like the normal girls we got who were dressed in pristine breeches and boots that were so new that they squeaked when they walked. This girl looked like she belonged at a rodeo. They went into the tack room talking and giggling and then I saw my father stop in the doorway to talk to them. He was nodding his head but I couldn’t hear what he was saying, which was completely infuriating. I knew I should just go out there but I couldn’t. I waited until my father finished and came walking towards the office, then I beckoned him madly over to me.
“Who is she?” I said.
Dad made a funny face. “Why don’t you go and find out for yourself?” he said.
“Dad,” I cried. “Come on, who is she?”
“Her name is Dakota, she just moved here from Texas and she is going to go for a ride with Mickey.” Dad sighed.
“A ride?” I said. “On who?”
“I told her she could ride Popcorn,” Dad replied.
“Popcorn?” I spluttered. “Popcorn will kill her.”
“Nonsense,” Dad said. “Popcorn has been doing very nicely since you put all that schooling on her and besides, the girl said she used to own her own horses and knows how to ride so I didn’t think it would be a problem. I was only doing her a favor because it seemed like she was a friend of Mickey’s and you are always going on about how I should be nicer to Mickey since she is your bestie.”
“Dad,” I groaned. “That’s not what I said.”
“Okay, BFF then or whatever slang it is you girls use now days.” He winked at me seeming suddenly very old and kind of uncool.
“Wait, Dakota?” I said. “That’s the girl. The one who had to sell her horses. The one Mickey told me she felt sorry for.”
“So?” Dad said.
“Nothing,” I said. “Never mind.”
But I did mind. Dakota was the girl Mickey had been going on about a few weeks ago. She felt sorry for her and now she’d brought her here to ride? Was Dakota her new best friend now because that would explain why she was so quick to dismiss my feelings yesterday?
I hung out of sight, watching them tack the horses up, waiting for Popcorn to bite Dakota or kick her or something but that never happened. When they went out to the ring, I watched her spring easily into the saddle. It wasn’t fair. I wanted her to fail but I also wasn’t sure why.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Mickey and Dakota rode around the ring, talking and laughing. Then they went out to the jump field. Popcorn had been allowed back into the lesson program thanks to my schooling but we’d been keeping her for the stronger riders since she still had a lot more attitude than was really safe for a beginners horse but that didn’t faze Dakota one bit. They trotted and cantered for a while and then she pointed the Appaloosa mare at one of the cross country jumps, a fallen log.
Popcorn pinned her ears. She didn’t like to jump if she didn’t have to. You really had to use your legs on her and I usually rode her with spurs or a crop. Dakota didn’t have either. She cantered Popcorn up to the jump but I could see from the way the mare was starting to balk that she wasn’t going to jump it and I was right. Popcorn slid to a stop at the last minute but Dakota didn’t collapse on her neck or tip to the side and fall off like I was expecting. Instead she gathered up the reins and circled the mare and this time when she rode her towards the log, she kicked the mare on so much that Popcorn jumped it with feet to spare, looking completely unsure of what had happened, just like I was.
Mickey had said that Dakota rode western. What that meant I wasn’t really sure. Had she run barrels? Chased cows? Done that reining thing where they made their horse spin in circles really fast and then galloped to a sliding stop? I had no idea but whatever she had done I was sure that jumping hadn’t been a part of it and yet here she was, jumping a difficult horse and having the time of her life.
I stood behind a tree like some kind of stalker, watching my best friend and her new friend ride together. If I hadn’t been so mad at Mickey then maybe we could have all ridden together. I would have been happy to meet Dakota, another girl who loved horses and riding as much as I did and clearly had a knack for jumping but all I could think about was how jealous I was that Dakota could ride Popcorn almost as well as me.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped out of my skin at the sound of Faith’s voice and spun around to look at her, feeling like I’d just been caught with my hand in the cookie jar.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Yes you are,” she said, looking over my shoulder. “Who are you spying on?”
“No one,” I said.
“But who is that out there with Mickey? Who is riding Popcorn?”
“Nobody,” I said. “Just forget it.”
“But don’t you usually jump Popcorn?” she asked as I ferried her back into the barn. “And you usually ride with Mickey. Oh, did you guys have a fight or something?”
“Of course not,” I said. “Mickey has other friends too, just like me.”
“What other friends do you have?” Faith said.
She looked up at me, her young face inquisitive. She hadn’t meant to sound mean. I knew she was just curious but her words stung because she was right. I didn’t have any other friends. Not really. I had people that I knew from the shows and the clinics that I went to but that was all they were, just people I vaguely knew and saw every once in a while. Those friendships never seemed to spill over into my day to day life.
“You can ride with me if you want,” Faith said.
“Thanks,” I said, feeling oddly grateful that a ten year old wanted to be my friend even if Mickey didn’t.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Faith tacked up Macaroni and I got Bluebird ready.
“Can we go on the trail?” she asked excitedly. “I’m never allowed to go because I can’t ride out there alone yet and none of the other girls in my group ever want to go with me because they are too scared.”
“Too scared to go on the trail?” I said with a laugh.
“You know how they are,” she said, rolling her eyes. “They only ride in the ring.”
“I’m sure Ethan would go with you,” I said. “If you asked him nicely.”
“Are you serious?” she said, tightening Macaroni’s girth. “He’d rather die than be seen with his little sister.”
“Well don’t worry,” I told her. “I’m not embarrassed to be seen with you.”
We mounted our ponies out on the grassy patch by the barn. Bluebird was fresh and bumped into Macaroni. The dun pony pinned his ears and threatene
d to kick.
“Don’t even think about it,” I told him. “Bluebird has a whole summer of shows ahead of him and if he gets injured again then I’ll be really mad.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Faith said, jamming her feet into the stirrups. “He’s just upset.”
“Why is he upset now?” I said as we rode down the drive.
“It’s his love life,” she said.
“What, Lady Gray again?” I said, trying to stifle a laugh.
The fact that Faith thought her pony was in love with his stable mate, a pretty Arabian mare, was a source of amusement but Faith was very serious about the whole thing so I daren’t laugh at her.
“Yes.” Faith sighed dramatically. “It’s not fair. She led him on.”
“What on earth do you know about girls leading boys on?” I said.
“I know,” she said indignantly. “She acted all sweet for a week. Pretending to like him and getting him to shove his hay through the bars for her and he did it too. She made all these cute noises like she was talking to him and everything and now she just stands in the back of her stall with her butt to him, completely ignoring him. She doesn’t even want his hay.”
“Maybe she’s not feeling well,” I said, thinking that I needed to check on the horse when we got back to the barn.
“Oh she’s okay,” Faith said. “She knows exactly what she is doing. Trust me. She’s playing him.”
I thought about telling Faith about Jordan and asking her advice. She seemed to know things that I had no clue about at her age. What would she think of Jordan standing me up? Would she side with Mickey and say that I was better off without him or would she agree that there was something fishy going on? That people who liked you didn’t just vanish without any explanation. But just as I was about to ask her what she thought, Bluebird spooked at a rustling noise in a bush and the fact that he was freaked out made Macaroni freak out too and by the time we got our reluctant ponies past the horse eating bush, I’d decided that it probably wasn’t the best idea to ask a ten year old for advise on my love life.
Beginner's Luck (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 18) Page 3
