Maple Dale ~ My Forever Home (Maple Dale Series)

by MaryAnn Myers

  “Really? What color?”

  “I… blue. No. Green.”

  She dialed up Mrs. Butchling from the barn phone. “Do you remember the color of that guy’s truck and trailer?”

  “Green. Ratty green. Why?”

  “Miguel said someone was here looking for me.”

  “In a green truck and trailer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did he see the horse?”

  “I don’t think so. I don’t know. He was turned out.”

  “How’s he doing?”

  “Good. He’s only jumped out of the pasture twice so far.”

  Mrs. Butchling laughed. “Never a dull moment. Huh!”

  Mindy sighed, wondering about whether or not to let her father know, and decided she’d better. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “For what it’s worth, Mindy, no-count guys like that are usually all bluff.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  “Hey. He didn’t see you. He only saw me. I wouldn’t worry about it. What’s he going to do?”

  ~ * ~

  The horses were all brought in and fed lunch. Mindy groomed Bijou and was getting ready to tack him when Bill arrived with one of his electricians. The man had done work at the barn before, and knew to be careful around the horses. He practically tiptoed.

  “I’m going to be installing cameras on all four sides of the barn. I’ll yell down when I’m going to drill.”

  “Cameras?”

  Bill nodded. “Your dad called me.”

  “Oh. I guess it’s not a bad idea, considering.”

  “No. It’s not. We probably should have done it long before now. Did you hear about the kids that stole a truck and led the police on a three-hour chase?”

  “No. But I think I saw them. I saw a truck up on the north end. They kept spooking the horses, one in particular.”

  “Guess they were firing rifle shots.”

  “Why?”

  “High on something. Who knows?”

  “Where did they catch them?”

  “Coming down the gas-line road off Pekin.”

  Mindy stared. “Then that was them. They were headed that way. I was going to go try and head them off.”

  Bill shook his head and sighed. “Mindy, Mindy, Mindy.”

  “What? I was just going to head them off. Like I said, they were spooking the horses. I’ll bet the horses heard them firing shots.”

  Bill shook his head again. “One thing to remember, little girl: the surveillance camera is going to be on you too.”

  Mindy laughed. “I come in peace.”

  Bill smiled. “I’m serious, Mindy. Can you just think twice before you go jumping off a cliff.” When he turned to walk out of the barn, he almost ran smack dab into Shane. “Sorry about that.”

  Mindy tried to act nonchalant and introduced them. “This is Bill Forbes, my godfather. And this is Shane Thornton.”

  The two men shook hands.

  “Nice to meet you,” Bill said. “Gotta go.”

  “You too.” When Bill walked away, Shane turned to Mindy. “I came to thank you again for the lunch. Where was the meat?”

  Mindy smiled. “I’m vegetarian.”

  “Yeah, but the sandwich was for me.”

  Mindy shrugged, lowered her eyes to the floor, and looked up grinning.

  Shane smiled. “Anyway, I wanted to tell you we’re done surveying this area. We’ll be going over to the next county. It’s been a pleasure to meet you. For the most part,” he added.

  Mindy studied his expression. “Do you live around here?”

  “No,” he said.

  Mindy nodded. “Well, it was nice meeting you too, Shane. Wish it had been under better circumstances.”

  Shane smiled. “That’s good to know, the under-better-circumstances part,” he said. “I’m wondering if like you said we can maybe start all over, you and me. I’m thinking maybe we can go out for something to eat. I think I’m going to be awfully hungry come dinner time. That wasn’t tofu on that sandwich, was it?”

  “As a matter of fact….” Mindy smiled.

  Shane held his stomach. “I feared as much. So what do you think? Dinner?”

  “Tonight?”

  “Tonight. Tomorrow night. The night after that.”

  Bijou fidgeted in the crossties. “All right, tonight. But I only have about an hour.”

  Shane glanced at the picnic table outside. “You want pizza?”

  “Veggie?”

  “Okay, I’ll bring two. One for me, one for you.”

  Mindy nodded. “Six-fifteen okay?”

  “Sure.” Shane walked to his truck and looked back. “You don’t have a boyfriend, do you?”

  “I did,” Mindy said, smiling. “I think.”

  Shane laughed. He didn’t know if she was kidding or not, or how it was that she wouldn’t have a boyfriend. Not someone as pretty as she was. “I’ll see you later.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mindy schooled Bijou, Tee Time, MacMillan and Easy To Do and was just about to tack Red Baron when she heard a familiar car pull up outside the barn and then a car door close. It was Bethann.

  “Hey!” Mindy smiled. “Look at you!”

  “It’s weird. Coming over here, it was like I’ve been gone forever.” When she started down the barn aisleway toward Easy To Do’s stall, Mindy followed along, hoping. The new horse was two stalls down from his. Maybe Bethann wouldn’t notice him.

  Fat chance. Even before she got to Easy To Do’s stall, her eyes fell upon the new horse who stood at the front of his stall, leaning out over the stall gate. Bethann glanced at Mindy.

  “I can explain,” she said.

  Bethann shook her head. How many times over the years had she heard her little sister say that? To her credit, she usually did have an explanation, but….

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it when you come back up to the front of the barn.”

  Bethann looked at her, just looked at her, and shaking her head again walked down to visit with Easy To Do. He’d nickered at the sound of her voice and stood sniffing her hair as she gave him a hug. “I’ve missed you….”

  “You’ve only been gone a day and half,” Mindy teased, while tacking Red Baron.

  “That’s a lifetime,” Bethann said. “Did he do well today?”

  “Yes. Very. We did your freestyle routine. His canter transitions were phenomenal.”

  “Good boy. Good boy,” Bethann said.

  “How’s little David?”

  “He’s amazing.”

  Mindy smiled, and then hurried down the aisleway to intercede. Bethann was walking toward the old blanket stall. She watched as her sister petted the new horse’s neck, watched as she ran a discerning eye over his legs, front and back, watched as she felt along his neck and back. “What’s his story? Why no top-line?”

  “Well, that’s um…can we go up front and talk? Um…Red Baron is….”

  “Red Baron is fine. I want to know why this horse is here and when he’s leaving?”

  “Shhh….” Mindy said, grabbing hold of her arm and tugging at her. “Don’t say anything about…”

  “Quit!” Bethann started laughing. “Let go of me. I mean it, Mindy. Let go of me. I’ve just had a baby. Remember? I can’t walk that fast.”

  “Oh God. Your stitches. Eew, I’m sorry. Just come up here. Okay. I’ll tell you everything.”

  Bethann walked alongside her little sister and could only imagine.

  “First of all, everything is under control. That horse, that lovely horse, is like a magnet.”

  Bethann just looked at her.

  “He senses so many things. Hillary said…”

  “Hillary?”

  “Yes. She and Mrs. Butchling and I went and got the horse yesterday. He was about to go to a killer and we saved him.”

  “Oh. So he’s just here for a while until you find him a home?”

  “Um, something like that. Yes. I guess.”

&nb
sp; Bethann looked at her long and hard. There was something Mindy wasn’t telling her, but. “Oh my.” She pressed her hands against her breasts. “My milk is running.”

  “Eew…” Again Mindy.

  Bethann laughed. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I’d better get home. David must be hungry.”

  Mindy heaved a sigh of relief. A full confession about the horse averted. “Don’t come back till your milk stops running. You’ll make a spectacle of yourself.”

  Bethann laughed again. “Making a spectacle of yourself,” was one of their mother’s favorite expressions, no matter what you were doing. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Mindy watched her drive away, then waved to the surveillance camera and went into the barn to get Red Baron. Whenever Mindy schooled this particular horse, she concentrated on getting him to bend. Sybil had bought him two years ago and was still in the “getting acquainted” stage of riding him.

  “You make him sing and I make him laugh,” she told Mindy. “Not laughing in a good way either.”

  “Nonsense,” Mindy said. “The key to Baron is to let him think he’s leading the dance. And a one, two, three. One, two, three.” On this particular day, the horse could do no wrong.

  “You be the man,” Mindy told him. “You be the man.”

  Kristin and Jamie, two of the boarders entered the arena. “Howdy, ya’ll,” Mindy said in passing.

  Both women laughed. Mindy was most always in a good mood and just plain fun to be around. The fact that she schooled their horses to perfection made her that much more lovable. For the most part, the equestrian students at Maple Dale, aside from Julia and Cathy, were adult women and all had privately-owned horses.

  Bethann hadn’t set out to have it that way, that’s just the way it worked out. Mindy rubbed Red Baron down, put him in his stall, and looked in on Rex. He was eating his hay. She had no desire to ride him, but in keeping with the ruse of his being a possible school horse or clinic horse, she decided she’d lunge him in the lower arena, or at least try. Without knowing anything about him, aside from that “godawful” shuffle-shuffle trot and slow motion canter, she chose to just try lunging him in his halter, no cavesson, no surcingle or side reins as usual.

  The horse walked along as if he hadn’t a care in the world, bumping her shoulder ever so often as if literally “feeling her out.”

  “Don’t worry, Rex. I don’t have any personal space demands. Don’t ever knock me over though. Okay?” She patted the horse on the neck as they walked along. With a glance at his withers, she estimated him to be about 16 hands and likely weighed around 1200 pounds. Once in the arena, gate closed, she was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did he lunge, he lunged well. He knew the voice commands walk, trot, and canter. He even reversed on command. An even more pleasant surprise: the horse had a somewhat normal head carriage when being lunged.

  “Well, look at you!”

  The horse pranced all proud-like.

  “Halt.”

  When the horse stopped immediately, Mindy walked up to him and fussed over him. “Such a good boy.” She wondered about his age and checked his teeth. Not being an expert on discerning age by any means, she estimated him to be around eight or nine. While checking his teeth, she inadvertently touched the top of his mouth and he flinched. “What’s the matter?” She pulled his tongue to the side of his jaw and looked up inside. “Oh my God.” He had a huge open sore in the roof of his mouth. “Those idiot assholes.”

  Not one to swear as a rule, she couldn’t help herself. “That’s got to be from one of those ridiculous testosterone-ass curb bits. Damn them!” She took a deep breath, tried controlling her anger, and gave up. “Come on, Rex.” She opened the gate, led the horse up the hill, and put him in his stall. She debated phoning Bethann. She debated calling the vet. She debated calling Hillary. Hillary phoned her.

  “What? Are we on the same wave length?”

  Hillary listened to Mindy rant and rave.

  “That’s amazing. He never said anything.”

  “He never said anything?”

  Hillary chuckled. “You know what I mean.”

  Mindy sighed. “I know. I just hate how this is such an accepted practice. I hate those bits. I hate them! I hate them! I hate them!”

  “Gee, Mindy. How do you really feel?”

  Mindy drew a deep breath and sighed. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” She drew another breath. “Those no-riding pieces of shit.”

  “So what are you going to do? I don’t know that we want to get the Shifting Gears vet involved. The more people that know about this….”

  “I know,” Mindy said, still reeling about the bit. “I know, I know, I know.”

  “So, uh…the reason I called.”

  Mindy sighed. “Yes.”

  “Can the horse stay there another day or so?”

  Mindy glanced down the aisleway to where Rex stood looking out over his stall gate, happy as could be. “Sure. I want to try to clear up his mouth anyway.” When she hung up and turned around, there stood Shane.

  She looked surprised to see him and quickly glanced at her watch. He was right on time. “Can I use your cellphone?” she asked.

  When he smiled and handed it to her, she dialed Bethann. She didn’t want to use the barn phone and be overheard. She walked outside with Shane and sat down at the picnic table. Benjamin answered. “Hello.”

  “Where’s Bethann?” Mindy asked.

  “Right here.”

  “Can I talk to her?”

  “Okay.” He handed Bethann the phone.

  Shane sat down across from her. While she waited for Bethann to get on the line, she motioned with her hand to her mouth. “Drinks?” When Shane shrugged, she pointed to the office. “There’s a fridge…never mind, I’ll get them. Bethann?”

  “Yes. What’s up?”

  “We have a horse with a sore in the top of his mouth.”

  “Which horse?”

  “Rex. The new one.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  Fire welled up in Mindy’s belly again. “Some friggin’ western curb bit.”

  Shane reached into one of the pizza boxes and took out a piece.

  “I’m debating whether to just flush it with some saline water, or….”

  “How bad is it?”

  “Well, it looks like there’s only one open area. The rest is just swollen, no pus or anything.”

  Shane put his piece of pizza back in the box.

  “Sorry,” she whispered to him.

  “I’ll come down and look,” Bethann said.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “No, that’s all right. I’ll be there in a little while.”

  “Don’t forget to cover up.”

  Bethann laughed. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  Mindy hung up the phone, handed it to Shane, and hurried inside for two sodas. “Orange okay?” she yelled out the door.

  “Fine.” He chuckled to himself. She was such a whirlwind.

  She returned, sat down for a second, then jumped up and went over to hose off her hands and walked back to the picnic table drying them on the back of her breeches. “No one’ll notice,” she said.

  Shane laughed. “Oh, I don’t know.” He leaned slightly. “I see it.”

  Mindy blushed as she sat down across from him. “I’m sorry about the pus reference. It’s been one of those days.” She looked in both boxes of pizza, pulled the vegetarian one close, and helped herself.

  Shane dished out a piece of his.

  “So, do you want to talk fracking?” Mindy asked, popping her soda top and taking a sip.

  “No. Not really. Like I said, it’s just a job. Do you want to talk about horses?”

  “Sure. It’s not only my job; it’s my life.”

  “So, you don’t just ride. You work here?”

  “Yes. Do you ride?

  “No. Why?

  Mindy took another bite of pizza, another sip of soda. “You look like you do
. Western.”

  “Let me guess. Because I eat meat?”

  Mindy shook her head and smiled. “No, because of your tool belt the other day. You wear it like a holster. Like a cowboy.”

  Shane smiled.

  “Actually my dad eats meat,” Mindy said, as if that had some kind of relevance. “He’s a conscientious omnivore.”

  “Conscientious? Meaning?”

  “Meaning it’s his choice, not just a habit. My mom and Bethann are vegetarian.”

  “Bethann?”

  “My sister. She manages Maple Dale. She’s the owner. Her husband Benjamin is vegetarian also and of course little David. ‘Course he’s only two days old. He’ll make his own choice some day too.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Nineteen. What about you?”

  “Twenty-two.”

  Mindy nodded. He looked older. “Show me your teeth,” she said.

  When Shane laughed and opened his mouth, Mindy pretended to look inside, touching his chin and tilting it one way, then the other and he laughed again. “You have pizza sauce on your face.”

  Shane wiped it with a napkin and shook his head. If he had sauce on his face, she put it there. Mindy finished off one piece of pizza and reached for another. “This is good.” She checked the box. No name. “Where’d you get it?”

  “Little Italy.”

  “Seriously?”

  He nodded.

  “Special for me?”

  “Special for both of us.”

  Mindy studied his eyes. They were blue. Sky blue. “Are you from Montana?”

  He shook his head. “West Virginia.”

  “Really?”

  “Just across the river.”

  “Near Piedmont?”

  “Not far. Why?”

  “We have friends there. They’re like kin.”

  “Are you making fun of me?”

  “Not unless you’re making fun of my kin.”

  Shane smiled. She was serious.

  When Mindy heard Bethann’s car coming down the hill, she turned and watched as her sister parked next to the barn and got out of her car. Shane stood up to be introduced. “Wow,” Mindy said. “I’m impressed.”

  Bethann shook her head at her little sister. “It’s nice to meet you, Shane, formally.”

  “It’s nice to meet you too.” He remembered her from the office the other day.