I was thinking about getting together a petition when school started back up to ban plastic bottles from the cafeteria when there was a splashing sound. I opened my eyes, worried that maybe something had beached itself on the sand but it wasn’t a whale or shark splashing about, it was a boy.
He came out of the water with his surf board in tow, shaking drops out of his dark hair.
I sat up, annoyed. “What are you doing here?”
He jumped back a couple of feet, shielding his eyes from the bright sun and looking around until he saw me.
“Oh,” he said. “I didn’t know anyone else was here.”
“Well I am,” I said. “And this is my cove so you can just go away.”
I knew I sounded mean and horrible and I hated myself for it but everywhere I went, I was never alone and I desperately needed space and time to myself. Why couldn’t anyone understand that?
“Do you own it?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“It’s not ridiculous. I’m just saying that it’s a public beach. You can’t exactly ask me to leave.”
“I can and I just did,” I said.
He walked over and sat next to me in the sand.
“What are you doing?” I said. “I told you, I want to be left alone.”
“Actually, you kind of look like you don’t want to be left alone,” he said. “In fact, you look exactly like the kind of person who needs a friend.”
“I have plenty of friends,” I said.
“I bet you don’t.” He raised an eyebrow and smiled. “I bet you only have one friend and I bet you don’t even spend that much time with her.”
“Well, you’re wrong.” I stood up, annoyed that this boy presumed to know me. “I have lots of friends and you don’t know anything about me.”
“If you say so.” He grinned. “But if I’m right, why are you so mad about it?”
“Because you’re bothering me, that’s why.”
I stomped off, mad that this stupid boy was making me leave my private beach. I scrambled up the rocks, annoyed and angry. Why was everything going all wrong? And just as I asked myself that question, I lost my footing and slipped.
CHAPTER FIVE
I could have fallen face down on the sharp rocks and bashed all my teeth out but a hand grabbed me, stopping me from falling head first. It was the annoying boy, right there saving me.
“Let go.” I shrugged his hand off.
He let go with a frown. “I’m sorry. Should I have just let you get a concussion?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Alright then.”
I climbed up the rest of the way, fully aware that I was being awful to the person who had just helped me. When we got to the top I turned to look at him. He was older than I was, probably by at least a year or two. He had dimples in his cheeks and his eyes sparkled when he smiled.
“Look,” I said. “It’s been kind of a bad day. I’m sorry I was mean to you.” I paused. “And thank you for not standing by and letting me fall.”
“So, maybe to repay me, you’ll let me buy you an ice-cream?” He grinned.
“What?” I said. “No.”
He was so sure of himself. Like he fully expected me to want to go out with him now that he’d saved my life.
“Too much?” He nodded. “How about a stick of gum then?” He pulled a pack out of his shorts. “They’re kind of wet and salty but once you get past that, it’s not bad gum.”
He held it out expectantly and I started to laugh.
“So you do know how to smile then?” he said.
“You’re funny,” I replied, the smile fading. “And I have to go home now.”
I picked my bike up and started to wheel it away. He followed, his surf board dripping water on the ground.
“Are you going to stalk me now or something?” I said.
“I might. Do you have a problem with that?”
“No,” I said. “You’ll be sorely disappointed by what you find. I’m boring and ordinary.”
“Oh, I highly doubt that,” he said.
We walked along in silence. It was actually nice to just be with someone and not have to try and think of things to say. Mickey usually talked enough for the both of us, which worked out fine for me but when I was with other people the silences were always awkward. But with him, they weren’t.
When we got to the end of the road, I turned to go right but he didn’t follow.
“Well,” he said. “I go left so I guess this is it.”
“I guess,” I said.
“Sure you don’t want the gum?”
“I’m sure.”
“Well, see you.”
And just like that, he walked away. If I was Mickey I would have already had his number by now or at least given him mine. I’d know his favorite color and what movies he liked. As it was, I didn’t even know his name. All I knew was that he exasperated me and yet I felt something when I was with him. A connection. But it was probably all in my head. Mickey told me so that night on the phone.
“I met a boy at the beach,” I told her.
“You went to the beach and you actually talked to a boy on your own without any prodding from me? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
“Very funny,” I said. “It was an accidental meeting. He kind of saved me from falling.”
“That’s super romantic,” Mickey cried. “What else?”
“That was it. He was kind of annoying but I don’t know. There was something about him.”
“So what’s his name? What school does he go to? Where does he live?” All Mickey’s questions ran into one another.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“I told you, I don’t know.”
“Not even his name?” Mickey sounded disgusted with me. “Does he at least know your name?”
“No,” I said.
“But you’ve arranged to meet again, right?”
“No.”
There was an awkward silence on the other end of the line. Even to me, it sounded ridiculous. This was how challenged I was when it came to boys. Other girls seemed to know what to do automatically while I just got mad at them for no reason and then pushed them away.
“Never mind,” Mickey finally said. “If he was really interested, he would have asked for your number and besides, there are plenty more fish in the sea.”
“And they can stay there,” I mumbled.
Boys were ten times the work of horses with none of the reward and I didn’t have time for them anyway so it was just as well that the cute, annoying boy didn’t know my name.
Mickey spent the rest of the phone call telling me about this big beach party that she’d been invited to. I’d already sort of promised to go with her and I was already regretting it. A bunch of kids in bathing suits all judging each other wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time but Mickey helped me get ready for the last show and in return, I’d told her that I would go. I couldn’t exactly back out now.
“How about taking the horses to the beach?” I interrupted her. “That would be fun. We haven’t done it in ages.”
“I’m not allowed,” she said. “The last time I tried to ride to the beach I ended up in a coma, remember?”
“Well we don’t have to ride there,” I said. “Esther could take us in the trailer. You could ride Daisy. You know how safe she is.”
“Why does everything always have to be about horses?” she said. “Can’t we do something that doesn’t involve them for a change?”
I didn’t bother and remind her that once upon a time, all she cared about was horses too.
CHAPTER SIX
Frank’s kids were back at the barn the next day but the mood seemed decidedly somber. Chloe was putting stuff in a tack trunk and Mackenzie was sitting outside Cupcake’s stall, looking at her feet.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“We’re going home
,” Chloe said sadly.
“What? No, you can’t,” I cried.
When Esther rented out half the barn to Frank and his students, I thought that the whole summer would be ruined. I thought they’d be rich and entitled and stomp all over us. I’d been half right. Peyton and Jake had been exactly like that but after the scene they made at my mother’s barbeque with Cat, they’d been shipped back up north and so had their horses. And with them out of the way, I was able to take some lessons with Frank and go to my first real show. It had been a dream come true and part of me hoped that maybe I’d be able to squeeze in another show before they left but now that wasn’t going to happen.
“When are you leaving?” I asked.
“Tomorrow,” Chloe said.
“But the summer is only half over. There is still plenty of time and lots of shows to go to.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Chloe shook her head. “Frank’s assistant trainer broke his leg. Now there is no one to teach or ride. He’s needed back up there and so is Melanie.”
“This sucks.” I slumped down onto an upturned muck tub.
“I know,” she said.
“I’m really going to miss you guys.”
“I’m going to miss you too,” she said.
“Me too,” Mackenzie chirped up, dropping her iPad and dashing over to hug me.
“It was fun while it lasted.” I pushed her off gently.
“Yeah, it was.” Chloe looked around. “You know, I’m going to miss this place.”
“It’s sure going to be empty without you,” I said.
Then the realization hit me like a ton of bricks landing in my stomach. Esther had been counting on Frank’s horses to stay the whole summer. Boarders had left and lesson horses had been sold to make room for him. If he wasn’t going to stay, what was going to happen to Sand Hill?
“Have you seen Esther around?” I tried not to sound panicked.
“I think she’s in the office,” Chloe said.
I walked down the barn aisle to the office where I found the door shut. The door was never shut. It was open all the time. It had to be a bad sign, like maybe Esther was in there crying or something. I knocked gently, wanting to give her time to compose herself before I burst right in.
“Come in,” she called out.
I opened the door slowly, expecting to find her hunched over her desk in a puddle of tears but instead she was laughing as she hung up the phone.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” she said.
“Chloe just told me that they are leaving,” I said. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”
“It’s certainly not very helpful,” Esther said.
“But you don’t seem very upset.” I sat on the couch, wondering if I was over reacting or something.
“Not much I can do about it.” She shrugged.
“But you said without them you might lose the farm. What happens if you have to close? Where will we go?” I felt tears pricking in the back of my eyes and wondered why Esther was taking it so well.
“You know, Emily, you have to learn to go with the flow.” She pulled her bandana off and let her hair flow down around her shoulders. I noticed that there were highlights in it that hadn’t been there before.
“That’s it?” I said. “Go with the flow? It’s not going to be very easy to flow when I have to hide Bluebird in my back yard because I have nowhere else to keep him.”
“Talking of Bluebird, why don’t you tack him up and I’ll give you a lesson?” she asked.
“You’ll give me a lesson?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”
“But what happened to the fact that I’d outgrown you and I needed to ride with other trainers and all that stuff you said before?”
“It never hurts to go over the basics, does it?” She smiled. “Oh and Emily,” she called out after me as I got up to leave. “Congratulations on your big win. I knew you could do it.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
I knew she was only trying to take my mind off the fact that the barn would soon be half empty by giving me a lesson and talking about the show. It was like when I was upset and my mother tried to distract me with a cookie. But Esther couldn’t pull the wool over my eyes. I knew how the world worked and I knew that her business was in trouble. What I didn’t know was why she didn’t seem to care.
And I didn’t have time to dwell on it because her idea of going over the basics actually meant riding for the whole lesson without stirrups. My legs burned as Bluebird trotted around the ring and I posted without them. I waited for Esther to take pity on me and tell me to take them back but she never did. Still, I took satisfaction in the fact that Cat would never be able to suck it up and ride without stirrups like I did. By the time the lesson was over, my legs were so weak that I actually crumpled to the ground in a heap when I dismounted.
“No pain, no gain,” Esther said cheerfully as she walked back to the barn.
I hobbled behind her, wondering why lately everything felt like a punishment.
CHAPTER SEVEN
At home things had settled down. There was no more yelling or screaming. In fact there was silence because Cat had stopped talking to everyone. She didn’t even leave her room. I stood in the hallway, wondering if she was still in there. If she was, why didn’t she just run away again or go and live with her real mother? She couldn’t be that bad and she certainly had to be better than Derek. I didn’t know what was making Cat stay here with us. It wasn’t like we were the perfect family or anything.
I tidied my room in the hopes that doing something good would cancel out all the bad things that I knew were brewing beneath the surface like a storm. Then I researched other boarding stables online incase Sand Hill was sold and I had to move Bluebird. But it wasn’t that simple. I didn’t have a car and I wasn’t old enough to drive which meant I was limited to barns that I could ride my bike to. I also had limited funds, unless they would let me work for them like Esther did. But it didn’t matter anyway because other than Fox Run, which was so far out of my price range that it wasn’t even funny, all the barns were too far away.
I wandered downstairs to the kitchen where Mom was making something. She’d started taking cooking classes and every week we were her guinea pigs as she practiced things like baking cakes and making quiche.
“That smells good,” I said.
She looked up and smiled. “Thanks. It’ll be ready soon if you want to wait and try it?”
“Alright.” I sat on a bar stool at the counter. “I cleaned my room.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
She put down her spatula. “I think I know you better than that.”
“If I had to move Bluebird, would you drive me to another barn?” I said, sticking my finger in a bowl of icing and licking it.
“Why would you have to move him?” Mom frowned. “Is Sand Hill closing down?”
“No,” I said. “But I just have a bad feeling.”
“All businesses go through rough patches,” she said. “Look at Derek. Things are bad for him right now but they’ll turn around.”
“That’s different,” I grumbled.
Derek had started up a taxi service with his collection of cars. They didn’t sit in our driveway anymore. Now they were parked outside the shiny new office he rented in town and he hired drivers who ferried all over, picking people up and dropping them off. Derek’s Destinations, that’s what he called the company. And the logo was his smiling face, winking like if you got into one of his cars, he’d tell you a secret. He’d sunk all my mother’s savings into his harebrained scheme and taken out a big fat loan. But I’d seen his cars all over town so he must have been doing okay, even if I did want to vomit every time I saw that fake smile stuck to the side of a car as it sped past.
“How is it different?” Mom said.
“It just is.” I paused. “So you won’t drive me then?”
“To this hypothetical barn that you haven’t even moved to yet?” She sighed. “No, I don’t have the time. Between work and my cooking classes I’m already stretched as it is. If Sand Hill closes, perhaps the best thing would be to sell your pony.”
“What?” I jumped off the stool, horrified.
She dried her hands on the towel and looked at me sadly. “It’s just that Esther has been such a big help and if she isn’t going to be around, maybe it’s time to stop all this horse nonsense.”
“It’s not nonsense,” I shouted. “It’s my life.”
“Don’t raise your voice at me,” Mom said. “I’ve had enough of that over the last few days.”
“Is that what this is?” I said. “Is this because of Cat? Because she was at the horse show and now she says she wants to ride? That’s crazy. She’s just doing it to annoy you guys and ruin my life. She doesn’t care about horses at all. They are my thing.”
“You don’t own all the horses in the world, Emily, and if Cat wants to ride then maybe it will be good for her. After she’s not grounded anymore, of course.” She put her hands on her hips. “Or, you could give it up.”
“So that’s it then? You want me to give up horses so that Cat won’t ride? You don’t even like her, you told me. You told me that you didn’t want her to come back. Now, you’re telling me that I should give up the one thing I love because of her?”
“Well, I hope that’s not the only thing you love. Don’t you love your family too?” Mom was starting to get mad.
“No,” I yelled. “I don’t.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening. Cat was ruining everything. I always knew I was riding on borrowed time, just one misstep away from having Mom change her mind about letting me ride but not like this. Not because of something my stupid stepsister said or did.
I stomped up the stairs and stood outside her door. I couldn’t hear anything but I knew she was in there.
“If you ruin my riding career,” I said to the door. “I’ll make you pay.”
I waited for her to answer. To tell me that she’d do whatever she wanted. And just when I was starting to think that she really wasn’t in there at all, I heard her laugh.
Beach Ride (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 9) Page 2
