Cut and Run

by Amy Elizabeth

Alec drummed his fingers on his desk. “What if I told you that today was her first time on a horse?”

  Tommy turned to Rebecca, his eyes filled with confusion. “It’s true, Tommy,” she said quietly. “I’ve been lying to everyone.”

  “But you know horses. I can tell that you do.”

  “Only from reading,” she said, feeling like a deflated balloon as she glanced at Alec again. As much as she wanted to fight for her job, she knew it was pointless. “You’re right. I have no business being here. I’ll go pack my things.”

  Tommy looked panicked as she stood from her chair. “Hold on a second, boss. Maybe she’s not as experienced as you’d like, but I can honestly say that I’ve never seen someone work as hard as she does. And I’ve never met anyone with such a genuine love for horses.”

  “I don’t need someone who’s infatuated with horses. I need someone who knows what they’re doing. This is a business, not a daycare center. Even with a summer’s worth of lessons, I wouldn’t trust her with my guests. And I hardly have the time to teach a complete novice how to ride.”

  “So I’ll do it,” Tommy volunteered. Both Rebecca and Alec stared at him in surprise. “I’ll work with her for a couple hours every night after our shift.”

  Rebecca stood frozen beside her chair, stunned by his unexpected boldness. She placed an appreciative hand on his shoulder, knowing his offer was futile.

  To her astonishment, though, Alec nodded. “Alright, Tommy. I’ll give you a week to make a decent rider out of her.” He turned to Rebecca, whose mouth had dropped open. “You’re not to handle any of the horses without supervision, understood? And no riding unless Tommy is there to instruct you.”

  “You’re giving me another chance?”

  “Yes. For the sole reason that I don’t think you can do it.”

  *

  Alec shooed Tommy and Rebecca out of his office and shut the door behind them. She stood flabbergasted in the barn aisle, unable to believe she’d mouthed off to him like that. Nor could she believe how quickly Tommy had offered to help her out.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” she said.

  “Sure I did,” Tommy replied, motioning her away from the office. “It’s obvious that you love it here. So you exaggerated your experience a little bit. So what?”

  “I didn’t exaggerate my experience. I completely made it up. Do you know the only horses I’d ever seen until I came here were police horses in the city?”

  He raised his brows. “Really?”

  “Really. Everything I’ve done in the past two days is just what I’ve gleaned from years of reading magazines. I’ve never once been to a country club or a riding academy.” She sighed. “He’s right, Tommy. Someone could get hurt because of me, and I don’t want to be responsible for that. I really have no business being here.”

  “Sure you do,” he said as they walked over to the corral. “You have what it takes. I didn’t just say that in there–I meant it. And I’ll help you. A couple hours in the saddle each day, and you’ll be good to go. I’ll show you everything you need to know. And honestly,” he said, lowering his voice and leaning closer, “I’d love a chance to prove Alec wrong for once. And I think you would, too.”

  At that, Rebecca managed a smile. “You have no idea.”

  Visions danced in her head of galloping past Alec next Sunday and running circles around him and Onyx. She could just see the look on his face as she proved to everybody that he was nothing but an egotistical jerk, after all.

  Tommy grinned, too, as if reading her mind. “So?” he asked, extending his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

  Chapter 5

  Rebecca’s crash course in all things equestrian commenced that evening after dinner. Tommy began their first lesson with her saddling and unsaddling Pumpkin three times in a row. Once he’d checked that she tightened the cinch to the proper degree, he led them into the floodlit corral. She mounted and dismounted half a dozen times, ignoring Pumpkin’s snorts of annoyance, until she could move fluidly from the ground to the saddle. A flood of adrenaline coursed through her veins as she settled into the saddle and gathered the reins.

  Just wait ‘til Sunday, Alec.

  “How do your stirrups feel?” Tommy asked.

  She glanced down at her feet and shrugged. “Alright, I guess. I wouldn’t know what they’re supposed to feel like.”

  “The bottom of the stirrup should line up with your ankle when your leg is straight,” he explained, taking her ankle and gently extending her leg. “See the problem? We forgot to drop your stirrups, so these are about four inches too short for you. It’s no wonder you were coming up out of the saddle today.”

  Rebecca felt the stirrup pushing against her calf instead of down by the ankle where it should have been. “That makes so much sense. How do I lengthen them?”

  She watched him adjust the straps before she repeated the process on the other side. “You’re a fast learner,” he said. “How do they feel now?”

  “Wonderful,” she answered, sitting up straighter and stretching her heels down. “So much more of my leg is around the horse.”

  Tommy showed her how to position her hands before explaining the concept of neck reining. Then he stepped into the center of the arena and called out commands while Rebecca circled Pumpkin around him. He asked her to walk, stop, back up, turn right, and turn left, forcing her to change direction every few seconds. Pumpkin obeyed beautifully, and Rebecca beamed. All those years of pouring through equitation books seemed to be paying off!

  Once she felt confident, Tommy attached a longe line to Pumpkin’s bridle and resumed his place in the center of the corral. He moved the horse into a slow, steady trot, skillfully controlling her from the ground and allowing Rebecca to focus on her balance. As soon as she was sitting comfortably through the bouncy gait, Tommy asked if she wanted to call it a night.

  “Are you kidding?” she replied. “We’re just getting started.”

  Her next obstacle was learning to post the trot, rhythmically rising and sinking in time with the horse’s strides. It looked simple until she tried it–she hadn’t wobbled so much since her first attempt to ride a bicycle. At last she began to get the one-two motion down, trotting in endless circles around Tommy. He had her hold her arms out to her sides, then in front of her, then over her head. She felt silly, like a kindergartener playing a game at recess, but she knew that it was all to help her gain her balance.

  Finally Tommy pulled Pumpkin to a halt. “You’re a natural, Bec. I mean that.”

  Despite her exhaustion, Rebecca felt elated as she swung out of the saddle. “You’re an amazing teacher. Thank–”

  Her words were lost when her feet connected with the ground and her knees buckled beneath her. She burst out laughing as she hit the dirt, her weary legs splaying in every direction. Tommy laughed until he doubled over, sinking to the ground beside her, while Pumpkin just stared at them like they’d lost their minds.

  *

  When Rebecca rolled over and looked at the clock, it was after nine. Still high from the thrill of her riding lesson, she stretched her arms over her head and gave a massive yawn. Then she limped into the bathroom and took a long, hot shower, letting the water beat against her sore muscles. And tonight I get to do it all again, she thought, wincing at the thought of her aching backside bouncing against the hard saddle.

  As she towel-dried her hair, for the first time in days her mind drifted back to Boston. She wondered how her mother was doing, if she was still drinking, and how Karl was treating her now that Rebecca was out of the house. It was such a sad state of affairs she’d left behind. A small part of her felt guilty for breaking free, making new friends, and doing work she loved. She still felt, deep down, that she didn’t really deserve it, that it was too good to be true.

  No, she corrected herself as she gingerly stepped into her jeans. If it were too good to be true, I wouldn’t be stuck with the most maddening boss on the planet.

  What was it about h
im, anyway? Alec seemed to know just how to push her buttons, precisely what to say in order to set her over the edge. Just the sight of him made her feel…what, exactly? Infuriated? Unhinged? Unable to form a complete sentence? She’d rarely felt as repulsed by a person as she did by him, and yet…

  Rebecca slammed the door on the idea before it even set foot in her mind.

  Since her riding was limited to nightly lessons, she spent the day with Roger while Tommy guided the trail rides. All afternoon she waited for him to bring up the fiasco from yesterday, but instead he picked up where Tommy left off, teaching her about different equine maladies and remedies. The old wrangler was a living, breathing encyclopedia–there was nothing Rebecca asked that he didn’t have an answer to.

  When they finished working in the barn, he took her over to the farrier shed to explain basic shoeing techniques. “Not that we expect you to do any farrier work, of course,” he said, leading a black gelding named Midnight behind them. “But the more you know about these horses, the better off you’ll be.”

  She watched intently as he took a large metal file and shaped Midnight’s hooves, similar to filing a fingernail. Then he pounded four horseshoes into shape to match each individual hoof and nailed them in place.

  “Doesn’t it hurt him?” she asked.

  “Nah. He doesn’t feel a thing.”

  When he finished with Midnight, Roger led Rebecca over to the staff barn to introduce her to his Appaloosa gelding, Apache. The white horse was tall and stocky and covered with brown spots.

  “A leopard Appaloosa,” she said as she patted his nose.

  Roger looked surprised. “That’s right.”

  After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat. “I’m not too good at this kind of talk, but there’s something I need to say.”

  Here we go, she thought, preparing herself for stern lecture number two. “Go ahead.”

  “I hope you’re not being too hard on yourself about what happened out there yesterday. If I know Alec, he probably wasn’t very kind to you. I’m apologizing for him, because I doubt he’ll ever do it himself. Unfortunately his mother wasn’t around long enough to teach him any manners.”

  Rebecca’s chin dropped to the floor. Roger was on her side and was bad-mouthing the boss? She wouldn’t have seen that coming in a million years!

  He grinned at her reaction. “You’re in good hands with Tommy. He’ll turn you into a pro in no time. And if there’s anything I can do to help, you know where my cabin is.” He paused and lowered his voice. “There’s nothing I’d like to see more than a woman who can stand up to Alec Westin.”

  *

  For the rest of the week, Rebecca buried herself in barn chores during the day and practiced her riding for hours each evening with Tommy. By Thursday night, she was confidently moving around the corral at all paces. For her final test, Tommy set up a pattern of barrels for her to weave through, first at a walk, then at a trot, then finally at a nerve-wracking canter.

  Friday was her day off, and her brother drove out to pick her up as soon as his morning classes were finished. “So?” he said. “How are the lessons going?”

  “Wicked good. Tommy’s been so terrific. Last night I even ran a barrel pattern at a canter!”

  Jeff chuckled. “I have no idea what that means, sis.”

  “Oh. Yeah.” She laughed, too, and continued rambling. “Well, it’s a good thing. It means I finally know what I’m doing in the saddle. Working around the ranch is awesome, too, and I like all of my co-workers. Oh, except for this one guy Kevin. He’s such a player. Everyone else is okay, though. Well, except for my boss.”

  “You really don’t like the guy, do you?”

  Rebecca let out a weary sigh. Every time she talked to Jeff, she spent at least five minutes complaining about Alec. Luckily for her, though, she’d managed to avoid him all week. She hadn’t even seen him since their argument on Monday afternoon. He was staying out of her way, and she was staying out of his. She hoped that trend would continue through the rest of the summer.

  They drove into Jackson and ate lunch at a cozy bistro, where Jeff brought her up to date on his summer school classes. “Every year the curriculum gets harder. I’m really proud of you for getting that scholarship. That’s no easy task, considering what you were going through at home and with Sean.”

  “Thanks. It wasn’t easy to stay focused, that’s for sure. I was glad to be so busy, though. Between my homework and all the research projects, I practically lived at the library when I wasn’t at work.”

  “Where were you working?”

  “All over. First at the diner with Mom, then that consignment shop by Andrew Station, then a few different catering companies. I took whatever I could get, especially over the summers. It gave me an excuse to get out of the house and away from Karl. And Sean, for that matter.”

  “But how did you manage everything? I mean, if Sean was that heavy into drugs and constantly getting into trouble, how were you able to avoid getting sucked into it?”

  “Well, I wasn’t exactly a saint,” she admitted, pausing to swirl a French fry through the pool of ketchup. “I think I just felt like I owed him something, since we’d been friends for so long. Do you know I had to bail him out of jail three times this past year?”

  “On whose dime?”

  “Guess.”

  “Unbelievable,” he muttered. “I can’t believe I once considered him to be my best friend. He did nothing but take advantage of you.”

  “Pretty much. But he always managed to convince me that he needed me.”

  Jeff gave a rueful grin. “I can see the headline now: National Merit Scholar Bails Loser Boyfriend Out of Jail–Again.”

  At that, they both laughed. It seemed strange to laugh about Sean, but she figured it was better than arguing about him or, even worse, dodging Jeff’s questions about the way he’d treated her.

  A few minutes of companionable silence passed as they shared a piece of apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. “I called Mom last night,” Jeff said.

  Rebecca looked at him in surprise. “Why?”

  “I wanted to see if she went to the funeral.”

  “And?”

  “And she barely knew who I was at first.”

  All the old anger flooded back into her veins. “Was she drinking?”

  “Actually, she sounded sober to me. Though I’ve been gone for so long, I probably couldn’t tell the difference. She asked how you were doing.”

  When she pursed her lips together, Jeff gave her a pointed look. “You should call her, sis. She worries about you.”

  She grunted. “Sounds like the only person doing any worrying in this family is you.”

  He shot her an icy glare. “You really don’t have any empathy for her at all, do you? I understand that you went through a lot back home but–”

  “Don’t you dare,” she interjected. “Don’t you dare pretend to know what went on in that house while you were on the other side of the country.”

  Their father left when Jeff was sixteen; Rebecca had just turned ten. Reeling from the divorce, their mother decided to self-medicate with pills, booze, and men. Her boyfriends ranged from bad to deplorable, usually with short fuses and chemical dependencies of their own. Rebecca was too young to realize it, but she understood now just how fiercely her brother had protected her during that time. He’d take her to the park whenever Susan had ‘visitors’ over during the day; then he’d sleep on the floor of Rebecca’s bedroom in case those same ‘visitors’ tried to wander in during the night.

  Looking back, though, some sort of confrontation was inevitable. Susan’s boyfriends became increasingly violent, while Jeff’s teenaged temper became increasingly fierce. Only a few days after he graduated, Jeff came home to find Susan’s latest fling pinning her to the floor. Rebecca wasn’t there to see it happen, but according to the police reports, Jeff came within an inch of killing the guy. The judge ruled self-defense and the charges against him were eventuall
y dropped, but it was clear that he needed to get out of Southie before the same thing happened again–or worse.

  Jeff had been gone for two years when their mother remarried a seemingly nice, stable man named Karl Finnegan. At first, Rebecca honestly believed that he was going to take care of them and bring peace back into the house. The illusion was short-lived. Karl turned out to be the worst of them all, slyly weaseling his way into their lives before showing his true colors. Rebecca never dared to tell Jeff how bad things were at home, because she knew he’d come back and confront Karl himself. She didn’t want to be responsible for that–no matter how justified it would have been.

  As if reading her mind, Jeff gave a quiet sigh. “Talk to me, Bec. I know you didn’t tell me everything because you didn’t want me to worry about you, but you’re not at home now, and you’re not a little kid anymore. Whatever it is that happened, you know you can trust me.”

  Rebecca stared at her brother for a long time. “I do trust you,” she finally said, dropping her gaze to the table. “I’m just not ready to talk about it yet.”

  *

  Allison looked up from her magazine as Rebecca stepped onto their porch. “Have a good time with your brother?”

  “Yeah,” she said, settling into the empty rocking chair. “It was nice to have a little break.”

  “Amen to that.” She set the magazine aside. “So how are the lessons going?”

  Allison, of course, wasn’t the only one following the Rebecca-and-Alec saga. She figured the whole ranch knew the story at this point, and everyone was probably taking bets on whether or not she’d pass his expectations. She brought her roommate up to date, describing with pride the barrel pattern she’d completed last night.

  “That’s awesome, Bec. If I didn’t have to wake up so early, I would totally be out there cheering you on.”

  “It’s okay. An audience would just make me nervous.”

  Allison grinned. “Doesn’t Tommy make you nervous?”