by Sarah Barrie
Mia thought about that. ‘And say what? We heard a scream but we don’t know where it came from or how far away it was? That we’re not sure it was human?’ They continued to listen but heard nothing else. ‘It could have been anything. There’re heaps of animals out here, right?’
Ally scanned the darkness again. ‘I think I’m ready to go inside.’
‘Yep, call your pup.’
She did, and they followed Luna into the house. ‘You want to try and sleep?’
A thump upstairs had them jumping again and looking up at the ceiling. Mia didn’t look impressed.
‘Here we go again.’
Ally summoned a grin. ‘What’s it going to be this time, an axe murderer or a poltergeist?’
‘I don’t know, but you can go first, smartarse.’
‘Fine, but when it’s just the cat, I’m going to bed.’
‘I’ve got a better idea.’
CHAPTER
13
When the phone rang, Ally rolled over awkwardly on the small lounge chair and shoved the pillow over her head, just grateful it didn’t ring for very long.
‘Ally, it’s for you.’
She groaned in protest. Why was Mia even awake yet? ‘Tell them to call back later.’
‘But it’s superhunk.’
Ally lifted the pillow and frowned as a very dishevelled Mia held out the phone. ‘Superhunk? Seriously? Were you even covering the phone when you said that?’
Her eyes sparkled. ‘No, so now he knows you’re awake.’ She yawned and shoved the phone at Ally.
‘Fine!’ She took the handset. ‘Cam?’
‘Just call me superhunk.’
‘Isn’t hearing it from one sister enough for you?’
He laughed. ‘You’re still in bed, aren’t you?’
‘Sorry, I’m not legally sane until after seven in the morning.’
‘It is after eight.’
‘Huh?’ She squinted at the window to see the sun well and truly up, groaned again. ‘Then I’m deteriorating. Better give me another hour.’
‘Ebony says to hurry up.’
‘Ebony? Oh … painting. Right. Soon.’
He chuckled. ‘The cornice is in. Get moving.’
‘But –’ He’d already gone so she sat up, felt the world spin as a light throbbing intensified behind her temples.
Mia flopped on her bed. ‘What’s up?’
‘You are a very bad influence. And you look way, way too pain free.’
‘You’ve gone soft. What did superhunk want?’
‘I hate you for that. I only called him superhunk last night because you got me drunk. There was no need to pass that on.’
‘And he wanted?’
‘I told Ebony I’d help her paint today. Cam and Lee are there too, working on her reno.’
‘How long will you be?’
‘We will probably be most of the morning.’
Mia yawned again. ‘If I really must. On the condition we do some shopping for the house while we’re in town.’
Ally smiled as a thought occurred to her. ‘I didn’t have to take my sedatives to sleep again.’
‘Oh, and you slept. And you didn’t wake me up. Did you dream?’
She frowned. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Must have been the wine. Make sure you take your other pills this morning. I don’t think you can mess around with those things.’
‘You mean like mixing copious amounts of alcohol with them?’
‘So I’m a bad influence. I mean well. Besides – you didn’t, so all good.’
‘Get dressed. Find Panadol.’
‘Right. Where are you going?’
Ally staggered to the doorway, leant on it. ‘To feed the animals. Also make coffee. Strong coffee.’
‘On it.’
It was well over an hour before they got to Ebony’s, and when they pulled up, Ebony’s car was nowhere to be seen. Cam and Lee were cleaning up.
‘Morning, ladies.’ Lee winked at them and grinned as Ally walked in ahead of Mia, still yawning.
‘Morning. Where’s Ebony?’ Ally asked, looking around.
‘Change of plans. Ebs has been called out to the Spring Show. Some problem with a lame horse. She wants us to meet her out there for food.’
‘It’s only just after nine.’
‘Some of us have been here since six.’
Ally shot Mia a grin. ‘Some of us weren’t allowed to go to bed until six.’
‘Four, it was four,’ Mia said, hands on hips. ‘Old woman.’
‘What were you doing until four in the morning?’ Cam asked.
‘Secret girl stuff,’ Mia replied.
‘Because she freaked out over the noises in the house. Then she made me – me – go upstairs first to make sure no one was there.’
‘What did you find?’
‘Absolutely nothing.’
‘It sounded like footsteps,’ Mia said.
Ally sighed. ‘Draughts and old hinges.’
‘You believe that after the sound we heard earlier in the evening?’
‘Less and less by the second.’
‘What sound?’ Lee asked.
Cam pointed to the door. ‘Come on, we’ll all load into the Ranger and you can tell us about it. Ebs will be waiting.’
The showground was a buzz of activity. Stalls and a scattering of carnival rides surrounded a large central arena where livestock events were underway. Ebony met them by the gate and waved them through, and Cam parked beside her.
‘Hi guys! Anything you want to see first?’
‘You’ve got the program,’ Lee reminded her. ‘What’s happening?’
She made a show of consulting it. ‘We currently have steers, wood chopping, kids’ ponies or showjumping.’
Mia cast a quick look in Ally’s direction. ‘I want to go with wood chopping. Anyone else?’
‘Sounds good to me.’
‘I thought we were eating first,’ Lee complained.
‘Soon,’ Ebony promised. ‘Because the wood chopping’s right over here.’
They found a bench in the stands and sat down. A couple of rows in front of them, four big, burly young men in singlet tops were preparing for the next chop. As they readied themselves, the results of one of the showjumping events came over the loudspeaker. Ally didn’t recognise any of the competitors’ names, but her stomach rolled as memories engulfed her. She tried to ignore it.
‘You look sick, are you all right?’ Cam asked quietly.
Was she? Not really. She was trying to keep up appearances because Mia had been watching her closely since they arrived. Apparently Cam was watching too. She only had to say the word and one of them would no doubt take her home. And she didn’t want to ruin the day. Didn’t want to be crazy. So she swallowed down the lump in her throat. Tried not to get lost in the smells, the images, the feelings of the show. And most importantly, she pushed the memories firmly to the back of her mind.
As Cam was waiting for a response, she raised an eyebrow, attempted a careless smile. ‘Some people would be offended by that observation. Look, they’re starting. I’m going for the first guy.’ She kept her eyes firmly on the ring, but knew he was studying her.
‘Nah, the one in the green singlet’s got it for sure.’
‘Cam! Lee!’
Two women hurried over, the first jubilant to see Cam. He stood and received a kiss on the cheek.
‘Hi, Vicki, hi, Fiona.’
Ally tried not to pay attention, but couldn’t quite help herself. Vicki of the short and chic raven hair, expensive riding clothes, gorgeous figure and pretty face was staring into Cam’s eyes like a lovestruck puppy.
‘Ally, Mia, this is Victoria. Works at the council and makes our lives easier.’
‘How’s your horse feeling, Vicki?’ Ebony asked.
‘Much better. He’s resting in the stables while the other one’s waiting for his turn in the ring.’
‘Vicki takes on ex-racehorses and re-ed
ucates them for the show ring,’ Ebony told Ally and Mia.
Vicki swept her gaze over Ally, stalled on Mia, then, with a slight frown, she swished down on the other side of Cam and wrapped fingers around his arm, chatting almost nonstop. Her friend sat nearby and struck up a conversation with Lee.
Bits and pieces of Vicki and Cam’s conversation floated over to Ally. ‘… So I’ve added this divine full-length mirror to my bathroom, and remember how my bedroom looks out onto the dam? Next time you’re over, I can’t wait for you to see …’
Next time he’s over … in her bedroom? Ally wished she could close her ears as easily as she could close her eyes. Of course there were women like Vicki interested in Cam. No doubt there were many, many women interested in him. A man like Cam would have women falling all over him; he could pick and choose. She rubbed it in hard to show herself how foolish she was to think she might have had any chance.
They watched for an hour, until Lee decided it was past time to eat, and Vicki and Fiona headed off to prepare Vicki’s horse for its next event. Ally wasn’t hungry and as they walked, she wondered how much longer they’d need to be there. Meeting Vicki had put a definite dampener on her already fragile mood.
A commotion caught her attention. The crowds parted as a horse and its young rider came barrelling through, the rider pulling uselessly at the reins, a terrified look on her face.
Instinctively, Ally and Mia stepped out. ‘Whoa!’ Holding their arms up, they caught the horse’s attention. As it propped and snorted, considering which way to go next, they grabbed hold of a rein each. The little girl on board slid bonelessly from the saddle.
While Mia walked the horse around to calm it down, Ally turned her attention to the rider.
‘Are you okay?’
The girl nodded, breathing hard and visibly shaking. ‘He does that sometimes. I thought he was going to run someone over.’
She noted the small stick in the girl’s hand. ‘What’s with the crop?’
‘He won’t go.’
Ally raised an eyebrow at the girl in disbelief. ‘From what I’ve seen, he seems to go just fine.’
‘Only when he wants to. Then he won’t stop.’
A middle-aged man strode towards them, scowling and clenching his hands into fists. One shot out and snatched the reins from Mia’s hand, causing the horse to toss its head and attempt another run for it. ‘Thanks.’ He spared Mia a polite nod, then glowered at the horse. ‘This thing needs a boot over the head.’
Ally’s expression tightened. ‘What it needs is training.’
‘It’s supposed to be broken in. Got no money to spend on fancy training.’
Mia stepped forwards. ‘Well, at least get a stronger bit. This is a thick rubber snaffle – the horse is just laughing at you. A noseband wouldn’t hurt either. Know how to use one?’
‘A bullet wouldn’t hurt either. I know how to use one of those. Thanks again. Lucy?’
‘Um, I’d better go with Dad. Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome,’ Ally replied. ‘Be careful, okay?’
Lucy gave her a watery smile and a nod, then jogged after her father.
As Ally watched them leave, she caught sight of a couple of women talking quietly and staring at her with interest. She quickly turned away.
‘Lucky you caught that horse,’ Ebony commented. ‘He was heading right for the cake stall.’
‘Hmm.’
‘You all right?’ Mia murmured as they followed the others.
‘Think so.’ She’d acted without thinking, and now she was feeling about as shaky as the little girl had looked. ‘Yeah. Yeah I’m fine.’
They reached the arena and, after buying some food, sat with the others at an outdoor table near a takeaway food van.
‘So you’re both pretty good with horses?’ Ebony asked. Ally shrugged, uncomfortable. ‘I guess.’
‘Ally and I spent most of our time with horses when we were younger. Ally kept it up, started training and competing professionally. She’s the best,’ Mia replied quietly, with a gentle look for Ally. ‘Ally can look at a horse and see what it’s thinking, what it’s feeling. She’s a beautiful dressage rider, but her real talent is in communicating with horses with problems.’
‘Like that one? You said it was laughing at them.’
‘Yeah, Ally could fix that.’
‘The horse isn’t laughing at them, Mia,’ Ally said casually. ‘It just doesn’t get what they want it to do.’
Mia shrugged. ‘I know that, but the whole horse psychology thing is your deal. I was just trying to stop the kid dying.’ She took a sip of her lemonade. ‘At least in the short term.’
Ally poked her fork into a chip and pointed it at her. ‘You tell someone like that he needs a stronger bit, he’ll go out and get the longest shanked contraption he can find. Sure the horse won’t go forwards but it’ll go backwards – in somersaults – and you don’t want that either.’
Mia shrugged. ‘So you should help them with the horse.’
‘I’m not helping them with the horse, Mia.’
‘It couldn’t hurt. The guy thinks giving it a whack over the head is the answer.’ Ebony rolled her eyes.
‘In his defence, it appears he may have copped one too many himself.’
Mia’s lips twitched. ‘Come on, Ally, you can’t tell me that doesn’t annoy you.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘And you can’t lie to your sister. You can’t stand people punishing horses out of their own ignorance.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘That kid’s going to end up hurt. Or worse.’
Ally dropped her fork on the plate and clamped her jaw down hard, sending Mia a look. ‘I’m not getting involved.’
‘Think of it as therapy.’
‘You’ll be the one needing therapy if you don’t drop it.’
‘Ah, sisterly love.’ Lee smirked as he took a swallow of his drink.
Ally smiled, but her memory slid back to the little girl with the nervous horse. She knew what was lacking, what was needed. And it did irk her. She was tempted to help. And that surprised her.
‘Anyone want to go on that terrible-looking ride over there?’ Mia asked, finishing her lunch.
‘Why not?’ Ebony said. ‘Ally?’
‘No, I’m hopeless. My stomach doesn’t go in all those directions at that speed and come out intact. Especially straight after lunch.’
‘Okay. Guys?’
‘You go,’ Cam said to Lee. ‘I’ll hang with Ally.’
‘Two beautiful ladies, one scary ride.’ Lee put an arm around each of them. ‘That’s worth the price of a ticket or three, let’s go.’
They disappeared and Cam chuckled. ‘He’s in his element.’
‘I’m sure he is. He may as well enjoy the consequences of Mia’s little outburst.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Just now Ebony was on the verge of asking questions about the therapy comment. I’d say Mia wanted to hurry her along without her screwed-up sister getting embarrassed.’
Cam’s expression darkened. ‘She worries about you, but I can’t see any evidence she thinks you’re screwed up. You said you’re petrified being around horses will trigger your PTSD, then you put yourself in front of one and you’re fine.’
She smiled thinly. ‘I’ve been practising with Violet, and besides, I didn’t have to think about it. I might just grab a bottle of water.’
‘I’ll get it, stay there.’
He walked back to the line. While he waited, Ebony’s part-time vet nurse approached him at speed – she obviously had something on her mind.
‘Cam, how lovely to see you.’
‘Hi, Carla. How’s it going?’
‘Good, good,’ she said quickly. ‘My daughter’s here competing in the dressage. Won her first test.’
‘That’s great.’
‘Yes. Now tell me – is that or is that not Alissa Morgan-Jones you’re talking to?’
Cam
lifted an eyebrow. ‘Ally? Yeah. You know her?’
‘I want to. Desperately. Every time I’ve been to Ebony’s I’ve just missed her. Introduce me, will you? Please?’
‘Huh?’ Cam’s brow dropped into a confused frown. ‘Carla, she’s right there. Go say hi.’
‘But – I can’t just walk up and say hi to Alissa Morgan-Jones! She’s equestrian royalty! Wait until Rebecca finds out, she’ll go berserk!’ She looked around, then madly waved and nodded at a group of women standing off to the side. They began to approach.
Cam flicked a concerned look at Ally. ‘Look, I’m not sure Ally would appreciate everyone making a fuss.’
‘Fuss? Alissa and her husband David were the sweethearts of the equestrian scene. The handsome showjumper and his beautiful young dressage star. Both so successful and popular. They were in every magazine, on every girl’s wall, sponsored by all the coolest companies. This is a big deal! These are my friends,’ she said as the other women joined them. ‘You have to introduce us.’
‘Er.’ He reached the front of the queue and ordered and paid for the water. Left with little choice he returned to Ally, Carla and company in tow.
‘Ally?’
Ally looked up with a polite smile.
‘Ally this is –’
‘Carla Chambers.’ Carla stepped forwards and pumped Ally’s hand. ‘It’s so nice to meet you.’
Ally spared Cam a questioning glance, then ‘Ah, okay, well … it’s lovely to meet you too, Carla.’
‘We’re all big fans of yours,’ Carla replied.
Cam watched a veil slide over Ally’s smile as she took in the small group. ‘Oh, that’s nice.’
‘My daughter, Rebecca, has a pin-up of you on that big chestnut mare on her wall. Now, who was that horse? Mag … Magna …’
Cam watched the colour leach from Ally’s face and heard the strain in her voice. ‘Magnetic Storm.’
‘That’s right! She was sensational. Horrible tragedy that fire. I don’t know how you coped, losing a mare like that. And of course, poor David! Are you out this way long? Do you think you’ll be doing any teaching?’
Cam put a hand on Ally’s shoulder, felt the tremor that reflected the whiteness of her skin. ‘Carla, maybe we can organise this later?’
‘That would be great. I’d love to organise something for Rebecca, she’s here today, she’d just kill to meet you.’