Fan Girl

by Brandace Morrow

  I tense and Deklan leans down to me to say quietly, “This is part of the show. Mickey will give him commands. Usually they use little whips or crops to get the horses to rear up, but he doesn’t have one.”

  Sean leans over Jonny to tell us, “He doesn’t need one. They both know what needs to be done. They’re old hats at this.”

  Sean explains, “This is a liberty class, so it’s all about showing off and looking fabulous until Mickey calls him to stop. Then you see the training. Even the fact that he doesn’t have to run after him is pretty darn amazin' to me.”

  “Aye,” Jonny says quietly, still watching Sonny.

  Mickey never moves. He just holds his arms out wide, and Sonny keeps moving, trotting, cantering, and a full gallop. The boys are teaching me all the words as we go. Mickey raises one of his hands, and Sonny turns on a dime to run straight at Mickey. He skids to a halt ten feet away and rears up again. Mickey lowers his arm, and Sonny takes off again. After a final loop around the ring, Mickey lowers his hands to his sides and Sonny goes directly to him, lining their heads together to face the same direction. It’s as if he’s heeling like a dog. Incredible. They walk back to the waiting line outside the gate and another person takes his place. I can see this one has a little whip and has to snap it in the air to get the horse to move at all, much less rear up. Often there are two people in the ring to keep the horses moving.

  Hettie is fifth in line, and she doesn’t have anything in her hands either. Cher watches her quietly until Hettie makes the same noise in her mouth as Mickey did. Cher doesn’t hop like Sonny, though. She just launches her head back and picks up her front hooves. When she comes down, Hettie puts her hands out and Cher takes off bucking and kicking with her back legs. Hettie sends her around the ring with a hand gesture until she makes a clicking noise then puts her hands down. Cher immediately comes to her and lines up shoulders.

  I lean back and take a deep breath. I think I was holding it the whole time.

  Deklan turns to Sean and Jonny and says, “You need to work for them. Have them teach you everything they know.”

  Sean nods his head slowly, still watching the ring. “Aye that we do.”

  Hettie winds up winning first place and Mickey second. Not surprising. The other horses had nothing on those guys. We move back to the stables and see them hanging the ribbons on their stalls.

  I come up to them saying, “Congratulations!” and they pull us all into a hug.

  “Oh aye, it’s good to go out on top. Wish we could still do the halter class, but we can’t be running to and fro anymore.”

  Jonny steps up. “Well, Mrs. O’Brien. Sean and I would love to work with you. Train under you and learn from you. We could do the chores with the horses and take some of the sweat off your brow, if you’d let us.”

  Mickey slaps him on the shoulder. “Oh, we’d right love to teach you, lad! God knows we’ve tried with our Donald, but he’s too hoy paloy for all that. Both of you are welcome to come back with us, please.”

  Hettie smiles huge and holds her hands up together like she’s praying. “Oh, to have young’uns in the house again! Sounds perfect to me!”

  We all smile at each other and then Sean and Jonny jump up to start braiding the horses’ hair again since they’re done with the show. Deklan asks me for a pen and paper, so I dig in my purse until I find the little pad I always keep in there and hand it to him.

  He writes for a second, then walks over to Mickey. “I know you just got two hands to help you with your horses, and we don’t have land yet, but I’ll be calling a realtor tomorrow. If you ever decide to sell, please call me first. Price isn’t an issue. We could even take on Sean and Jonny.”

  Mickey takes his wallet out and folds the paper to put it inside. “It was right good to meet you, Deklan. That’s an Irish name, if I ever heard it. I suppose we’ll try to get our Donny to take a liking to it one last time, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll give you a call. We would want them to go where they’re wanted.”

  I hug Hettie and tell her that Mickey has our number, if there’s anything they ever need. We wave goodbye to Sean and Jonny who are securing the horses' hair in zip ties.

  Deklan takes my hand and I sigh. “I know, babe. It’s sad isn’t it?”

  “So sad! They’re so good with the horses. The horses love them. I don’t want to think about them not being able to do it anymore.”

  “Well at least they have the boys, now. That will lighten their load so they can keep them around a little bit longer. We need some land, though.”

  “We?”

  Deklan pulls me over to the side of traffic, right outside the doors of the barn and says, “This house that I’m buying, it’s for my family. The three of us. If you don’t want horses, then tell me now, and we can pick something closer to the city. Or not. Whichever. I don’t care. We can move into your condo if that’s what you really want. But I want us together.”

  My body flashes hot, and my stomach gets butterflies. “You’re my best friend, Dek. And that’s saying a lot because Stacie has held the title for a long ass time. And you’re hot as sin, so there’s chemistry. I just worry. You don’t think it’s moving too fast?”

  He takes my head in his hands and says, “Baby, do you want anybody else? Can you think of anyone you want to be raising our baby with, to be in your bed?”

  Immediately I say no, because I can’t picture anybody else but him there.

  “Then what are we waiting for? I damn sure don’t want anyone else. I can’t even picture another girl in my head.”

  I smile and he smiles back at me. “I liked those horses. I don’t know about any other ones. But let’s go look around and see what we see. If you want them, then you should have them. You’ve been living in that God awful house for a long time.”

  He throws back his head and laughs, making people turn to us. “You’re gonna get me recognized, Ali Dawson.”

  “Me? You’re the one laughing your fool head off. Keep it down!”

  He wraps his arms around my head and pulls me into his chest. He says into my hair, “I- mmm, I think you’re pretty amazing, you know that, right?”

  I nod my head, speechless. What was he going to say before he cut himself off?

  Chapter 29

  Thursday we drive to Los Rancheros. We meet the realtor that looks like a Pastor’s daughter. Her name is Holly, and she wants Deklan in a bad way. From the get-go she ignores me and comes on hard to him. He ignores it and defers to me, which doesn’t make her happy at all. She’s bleach blonde, and fake boobed but all wrapped up like she’s going to church. Her hair is huge. Her cardigan starts out buttoned to the neck which is adorned with pearls. She’s wearing two inch heels and dress pants.

  I ask her, “Have you been doing this long, Holly?”

  She reluctantly looks away from Deklan and says, “No, my daddy owns the firm and I just started working for him a few months back.”

  Ah, that explains it. She didn’t do her homework on who she was meeting. Her outfit is not what I would expect from a realtor showing to celebrities either.

  Deklan is leafing through sheets of paper she gave him with the listings available. He holds one out “Let’s see this one.”

  She nods her head like a bobble head doll and suggests we take her car, which is a truck. No way am I sitting in the middle next to Barbie. Deklan catches my look and says we’ll ride separate, but her face falls in a mocking way.

  “As the realtor, I have to be in the car with you. They don’t allow nonresidents to drive through if you aren’t going to an established resident’s house,” she says, delighted with our conundrum.

  Deklan sighs. “Well, let’s go then. You can ride with us.”

  When we get to the car, she puts her hand on the passenger side door. I had seen where her eyes were so I was right behind her with my hand on the glass holding it shut, my silver ring slapping sharply against it. She turns hateful eyes to me.

  “Shotgun,” I say si
mply.

  Holly huffs and turns to the back door. I look over at Deklan as I get in and his jaw is tight. He takes my hand and kisses it before giving me the print out about the house.

  As we get through the gate, I notice how Holly puts her hand on Deklan’s shoulder while talking to the guard letting us in. When he shrugs her off I read:

  $3.5million 9 bedroom 6 bath 8,023 sq. ft. 11.5 acres

  Privately gated 5 bedroom 4 bath home with 2 bedroom in-law suite and built-in kitchen. Library, spacious living room and formal dining room. Finished basement, butler’s pantry and brand new energy saving windows throughout. 6 car garage with another 6 toy garage on the back of the property. Pool, spa, and basketball court on grounds. 8 stall barn with 2 bedroom live-in quarters above.

  Obviously she wrote this. No wonder it’s not selling online.

  We pull up to the black wrought iron and brick gate. Holly has to get out to put in the code. The gates open and the driveway is a tan color. It goes off to the left with bright green grass in front of a huge brick and stucco house. There are shrubs along the road and great big trees shading where there’s overflow parking to the left. That butts against four panel fencing that makes up the pasture. To the right is an L-shaped walkway that leads to the front door on the other side of the house. We park next to the garage that has three sets of double garage doors and get out.

  “Well this is it. As you can see the gate is automatic. There are pastures to the left, right, and back. If you’ll follow me to the front door we can start there,” Holly says in her overly bright voice. Talking to Deklan of course.

  Deklan and I get out and hold hands up the walkway. Holly turns back and glances at our hands then scrunches her nose up before turning back around to unlock the front door. At the bottom of the steps there are brick pillars holding giant glass orbs that I imagine look fantastic at night. There’s a big tree in the middle of the walkway that looks like a weeping willow. Up the steps and there are two white doors that lead to the foyer. Holly throws them open dramatically.

  We walk in and the first thing I see is beige carpet, everywhere. Deklan makes a noise in his throat. I squeeze his hand in agreement. We look up, there’s a huge gold chandelier hanging above us. We both turn in a circle to see mirrors above on all five sides of the room.

  Holly says excitedly, “The mirrors are great for catching all the light from the chandelier. It’s brilliant.”

  Deklan turns to her. “We’re going to check things out. We’ll meet you in the kitchen after we’re through.”

  She starts, “Oh, but I can—“

  ‘‘No, we’ll meet you there,” he cuts her off firmly.

  She gathers her papers in her hands and huffs to the back of the house in her sturdy heels.

  Deklan takes a deep breath. “Now, carpet’s got to go.”

  I agree, “Mmm, hardwood floors.”

  “Chandelier?”

  “Stays, mirrors go.”

  He nods. “Definitely.” The staircase is to the left and is a pine wood color from the eighties. “New staircase,” Deklan adds.

  We walk to the right and there’s a step down into what must be the living room. Everything is dated. Every room has more pine wood and the fireplaces are red brick.

  When we get to the back of the house Dek states the obvious. “No deck. Have to change that.” I smile at him, and he shrugs. “There’s nowhere for a grill. Sue me.” I laugh and we go back inside. The whole first floor is dated with more mirrors, pine everywhere and beige carpet.

  “What is it with the mirrors?” I ask him. Deklan snickers.

  I open the door, and there’s Holly in a kitchen that has blond hardwood floors and pine cabinets. She straightens from messing with her phone. “Oh how do you like it? This kitchen is huge huh?”

  “Hate it,” I say shortly. Deklan chuckles and Holly sneers. On the wall of the door we just came through is another huge fireplace. The kitchen is dated and there is an island but it’s white linoleum counter tops and pine wood make it look it’s age.

  “We’ll be back,” Deklan says then opens the garage doors. There is a huge amount of space with storage cabinets along the back wall going the whole length of the house.

  “Well, it would hold our cars,” I say optimistically. He nods and we go to the other side of the garage where there’s a door. It’s a mud room of sorts and has stairs up.

  At the top is a living room with royal blue carpet, and we can see the kitchen. “In-law suite,” Deklan murmurs. There are two bedrooms with a shared bathroom. At the end of the living room there’s a door that opens into the rest of the house.

  First doors from the suite at that end of the hall is a bedroom on either side leading to two more bedrooms with bathrooms between. We come to the stairs and there’s a railing overlooking the foyer that’s the same wood. That room is all windows to the back of the house and pine glass cabinets on the sides. At the end of the hall there’s double doors. “Master bedroom,” I say.

  Deklan opens the doors grandly like Holly did, and I laugh. He smiles back, and we walk inside. It’s a sitting room first then a step up into the master bedroom. Huge windows face the front yard. We both turn to the back of the house where there’s another set of French doors. I pull them open.

  There are doors to the right and left, but straight ahead is a huge window with a raised Jacuzzi tub in the middle.

  “His and her walk-ins. Nice,” he says.

  We go back down and search for the basement door under the main staircase. The room is finished open space. Deklan is running his eyes over the room envisioning something. “What do you see here?” I ask.

  He answers immediately, “Recording studio.” I gasp. Of course. That would be perfect!

  Holly is still messing with her phone when we get back to the kitchen. “All set?” she chirps.

  “With the house. We’re going out back. You can stay if you want.” She looks disappointed, like we would not want to see anything else. Does she not want to sell the house? I don’t get her.

  We walk the path to the left under some trees to shrubs that are hiding the pool and spa. Its wrought iron fencing is waist high and has a gate.

  Deklan says quietly, “Keep the kids out, that’s good.”

  Holly gasps. I turn to her, and she tries to straighten out her shocked look.

  Deklan sighs and keeps walking to the barn. I can see on the far end opposite the pool is a basketball court hidden with more shrubs. Holly has to unlock a padlock on the massive barn doors, and Deklan slides them open. The barn is done like the house in brick with stucco on the top half.

  He finds a light switch. and fluorescent light brightens up the room. To the right are open stairs that lead up to a door. Down the long walkway are eight stables. There’s another set of stairs on that side of the building so we take them up to the apartment on top. It’s a big room with a bedroom on each side of the large living space with a kitchen in the middle along one wall and bathroom in the back.

  To the back of the barn is a building with five regular sized garage doors and a huge oversized one. “Horse trailer goes there. The others are for ATVs, tractors, or whatever.”

  There’s a building along the two huge pastures on the left that’s divided by the fence separating them. Deklan points to it. “That’s for when it rains or is too hot. They have protection from the elements.”

  I hug his arm to me. “Plenty of room out here for what we want.”

  He looks down at me and wraps his arms around my waist. “We?”

  I shrug. “It would take a lot of work,” I say.

  He nods. “The remodel would probably be half as much as the house.”

  “Plus furniture,” I add. We look into each other’s eyes and slowly smile.

  He pulls me to him and whispers in my ear, “You wanna buy a house with me, Ali Dawson?”

  I pull back. “It’s your money, Dek. I’m just living there.”

  He shakes his head. “It’s my mon
ey, but your name is going on the deed. I’m not doing this half-ass.”

  I squeeze him tight, take a deep breath, and take the plunge with a nod of my head.

  He turns his head to Holly. “We’ll take it.”

  After Holly scraped her jaw off the ground, Deklan puts in an offer for less than asking. On the way home, we talk about all the things we want to change with the house. “I’m going to have to call that television guy to remodel after all. Dean something. Della gave me his number,” I tell him.

  “Yeah, you’re gonna have to call him, like, today. We have to have it ready before the baby comes. That’s not that long.”

  “You’re trying to freak me out again, stop it.”

  He laughs and pats my leg. “Did you notice that big backyard that would be perfect for kid’s toys and swing sets?” he asks me.

  I sigh. “Yeah, I did.” That backyard was made for a swing set.

  “Some of the trees on the side of the garage could probably hold a pretty bad ass tree house too.”

  ”Let me have the baby first, before I envision them falling out of trees.”

  “Call Dean and see if we can meet him for dinner tonight. If we get the offer accepted by this weekend, we can go up there on Sunday so he can look at the house.”

  I pull up the number on my phone and leave a message on his assistant’s voicemail giving Deklan’s name and phone number as well as my own. “We’re going to have to enlist your assistant for the remodel. I don’t have a lot of free time.”

  He nods. “I’ll give you her phone number so you can get in touch with her when you need to.”

  “Sounds good,” I agree.

  We’re almost back to L.A. when I say, “Hey, how bout Holly, huh?”

  Deklan rolls his eyes. “She’s a twit.”

  “She liked you, though,” I tease.

  “Yeah well, she better learn quick, or she isn’t going to make it. She’s going to get a huge commission, and she was completely unprofessional, treating you like shit. She's lucky I don't ask for another realtor.” Yikes. I didn’t like Holly at all, but she was obviously young and inexperienced.