Ocean's Fire

by Stacey Tucker

  “I’m sure you won’t be anywhere near Joshua if you stay for the show,” Suki said. “He has all those handlers now.”

  “I’m not taking any chances,” Skylar said.

  Suki left to start her preparations for the night’s events, and Skylar went to see if Ronnie needed help before she left for the day. She turned a corner, and there was Milicent Grayer, standing three feet from Ronnie in the aisle. Skylar froze.

  “Hello, Veronica. You are looking . . . well.” Milicent’s tone was icy.

  Ronnie let out a long exhale. “Hello, Milicent. You and Devlin have been busy.”

  “You know us, finding our next conquest.” Milicent walked the barn aisle in her stilettos as if they were meant to be worn there. Skylar noticed the effect her presence had on the horses. Many of them snorted and shook their heads as she walked by. “How is your precious daughter?”

  “She is excellent.” Ronnie remained cold. “I heard you bought the old Goldberg place,” she said.

  “Yes. It will be the perfect home for us during the campaign.”

  “You swore you would never come back here.”

  “Oh, the things we say in heated moments,” Milicent said in a saccharine tone. “That was a lifetime ago. I’ve matured since then, and I’m willing to put things behind us. I hope you have as well and that we’ll have your support next fall.” Milicent hugged Ronnie with one slightly bent arm and gave her cheek an air kiss. Ronnie didn’t reciprocate.

  Milicent continued down the aisle and stopped at Cheveyo’s stall. She reached out and touched his mane. The stallion froze. He held his breath and stared into Milicent’s eyes. It quickly became a test of wills between them, neither looking away. It was Milicent who finally broke their stare first—and when she did, she saw Skylar, still paralyzed in place at the end of the aisle, hidden in the shadows.

  Feeling caught, Skylar came into full view.

  “What a magnificent creature,” Milicent said sweetly. “What is his name?”

  Skylar’s voice cracked. “Cheveyo. He’s a—”

  “Mustang. I can tell. And you are?” Milicent asked, still looking at the horse.

  “Skylar Southmartin, ma’am.” No one had ever made her so nervous.

  Milicent pushed a smile onto her face. “Pleasure,” she said.

  Skylar moved closer to Ronnie, feeling the need for protection. Milicent closed the distance between them. “Well, Skylar, you’ll be needing to make room here at the livery yard. I’m bringing a few of my stock here for boarding. Until we get the paddock at the house ready, they can’t stay at Neshoba.”

  “Neshoba?” Ronnie asked.

  “Yes, I’ve renamed the farm. It can’t remain Goldberg. They’re all dead anyway.” Milicent said, waving her hand.

  “Not all of them,” Ronnie said coldly.

  “How many, ma’am? Horses, I mean.” Skylar still felt awkward. “There are quite a few open stalls right now.”

  “Five,” Milicent said.

  “We don’t have the capacity to take care of five extra horses,” Ronnie objected. “That’s why many stalls are empty.”

  Milicent was not interested in being challenged. “You’ll figure something out. I can’t be here without my horses,” Milicent said. “Skylar, you will see that this gets done, right? I can count on you?” She handed Skylar her business card. Skylar’s eyes lingered on her long violet fingernails, each one filed into a point.

  “Don’t put her in the middle of this,” Ronnie said.

  “There is no middle. This needs to happen. She seems like the type of gal that can get things done. Am I right, Skylar?” Milicent rested her hand on Skylar’s shoulder, sending a wave of fear rippling through her body. Now Skylar understood why the woman had made Cheveyo freeze.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Skylar whispered, staring at the business card.

  Ronnie shook her head in disagreement but said nothing.

  “Settled, then. I must get back to Devlin. He hates when I’m gone too long. See you both tonight? I hear Joshua Rider is quite something.”

  “I’ll have to check my schedule,” Ronnie said.

  Milicent gave her an icy glare but didn’t respond. “It was very nice to meet you, Skylar,” she said.

  “Mrs. Grayer,” Skylar managed to choke out.

  Milicent strolled out of the barn, aware all eyes were on her.

  When she was out of earshot, Ronnie turned to Skylar. “This is bad news. Milicent is a headache on a good day.”

  “Why didn’t you mention you knew her?” Skylar asked.

  “Honestly, I had hoped it would never come up,” Ronnie said. “We were friends for a while. And then we weren’t.”

  Skylar wasn’t satisfied. “That’s all you’re gonna tell me?”

  Ronnie sighed. “Fine. This is mushrooming into something beyond my control, so what the hell. Follow me.” Skylar followed Ronnie into the office. Suki was sitting at the desk, updating some records on the computer.

  “Suki, I need the key,” Ronnie said.

  Suki stared at Ronnie with wide eyes. “No way. What got up your skirt?”

  “Milicent Grayer. And she’s not coming out any time soon,” Ronnie said.

  Suki opened a desk drawer and produced a key. She handed it to Ronnie. Ronnie walked the three feet to the back wall and threw off a tarp that had been covering a cabinet. She unlocked it and pulled out a full bottle of whiskey. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  From the office, Ronnie led Skylar on a twenty-minute walk, past the paddock and up the birch-covered mountain just beyond the school grounds. There they sat on a rock covered in a carpet of moss and watched a team of workers dismantle the podium. Peonies flew through the air, only to be squished underfoot moments later. On the other side of the paddock, another team made last-minute tweaks to the makeshift concert venue.

  “It’s so beautiful up here,” Skylar said. “You can see the whole campus. And town.”

  “Everything is clearer from a distance, isn’t it?” Ronnie opened the bottle. “Want some?”

  “I’m a Toasted Almond kind of girl,” Skylar said. “But thanks.”

  Ronnie took a swig from the bottle and stared at the busyness below. “It’s certainly a lot of effort.”

  “Well, I guess it’s good they’re bringing jobs to the area,” Skylar said, knowing it was a ridiculous statement the second it came out.

  Ronnie gave her a look. She took another sip of the whiskey and started her story. “Milicent and I met at Silverwood. It’s an . . . alternative type of boarding school. Parents’ last hope kind of thing.” Ronnie took another sip.

  Skylar was surprised. “Neither of you seem to be a parent’s worst nightmare, Ronnie.”

  “Sure, all these years later. I found my calling, and Milicent found Devlin’s money. We’ve gotten our acts together. But the teen years are hard in the best of situations. Add in an alcoholic mother with a stream of touchy boyfriends and it becomes a nightmare pretty quick.”

  Skylar sat still, unsure if it was impolite to breathe during such a revelation.

  “Growing up, Milicent had it all—the perfect family, wealth, beauty. At least that’s what it looked like from the outside. But everything changed when her sister died. Diana was four years older. The Cannons had a driver, but this one night Diana had a huge fight with her parents and drove off in her convertible, still angry. A few hours later, the police showed up. Their perfect lives were shattered.”

  Skylar sucked in a ragged breath. “That’s terrible.”

  Ronnie stared out across the landscape. The clouds burned orange from the setting sun. She took a larger sip of the whiskey.

  “After Diana’s death, Milicent became a hellion. She was sure her mother was more worried about appearances than about her. She ended up at Silverwood as a last resort. We were roommates. She kept to herself for a while but gradually opened up. We were both lonely, without solid family support. We grew to lean on each other.”

  “That sounds
like a good ending,” Skylar said.

  Ronnie snorted and her demeanor shifted. It seemed the whiskey was taking hold. “That’s not the end. One night, I came back from group, and Milicent was waiting for me . . . romantically speaking.”

  “What? No!” Skylar’s mouth hung open.

  “Yeah. It was a disaster, actually. All the time we had been getting close, she’d had these . . . other feelings for me, and I was too naive to pick up on them. When she made her move, I handled it like a stupid teenager. I lashed out with a combination of rejection and anger. Embarrassment was in there too. For both of us.”

  “Wow, Ronnie, Milicent Grayer.” Skylar was dumbfounded.

  “She transferred rooms and kept her distance until graduation. We ran into each other only one more time, and after that we didn’t cross paths again. Not until today.”

  “That’s quite a story, Ronnie,” Skylar said. She looked down at the campus. The concert was general admission, and a new crowd was already forming in front of the paddock. “I should go,” she said. “I don’t want to be anywhere near here when this starts.”

  “You can’t hide from all of this forever,” Ronnie said.

  “True,” Skylar said. She got up from the mossy rock and dusted off her rear end. “But I can tonight.”

  “See you.” Ronnie took one last swig of whiskey and got up to leave. The alcohol hit her hard, and she sat back down. “Neshoba,” she said out loud, shaking her head to the orange clouds. “Christ, only you, Milicent.”

  The eighty-degree days didn’t let up as December began. The team had to continue their daily protocol to keep the horses cool. Skylar knew she was doing a great job at the barn, but she had fallen way behind in her thesis work. She should have been deep into a draft by now; instead, she had barely a handful of pages written. Ocean still had the Book of Akasha, so Skylar couldn’t even see if she would live to see her graduation day or if she’d succumb to the pressure before then.

  She had gotten used to the flip phone. Now, when she thought of all the time she’d wasted with her smartphone, she felt embarrassed. She considered keeping the flip phone permanently but then laughed at the notion.

  Argan returned from yet another trip and called her right away. “When can I see you?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, Argan,” she said. “I need to shift some of my time to school work or I’ll never get my thesis done.”

  “I understand,” he said, sounding deflated. “Can we make plans for Christmas break?”

  “Maybe . . .”

  “Is something wrong?” he asked. “You sound off.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “The reality of how behind I am on this paper has sunk in. I’m in crisis mode.”

  “I can help you. I’m very smart.”

  “Yes, you are. But I won’t be very good company tonight. I just need time to have my panic attack in private and then come up with a plan. I’ll be better tomorrow.”

  “Okay, I get it,” he said. “I’ll miss you.”

  Skylar rested her forehead against the barn wall after they hung up. The excuse she’d given Argan was only partially true. Yes, she was very behind on her paper, but most of her reluctance to see him had to do with Joshua. The concert had been such a close call. What would she have done if Argan were there? She wasn’t cut out for this type of treachery.

  The grounds surrounding the barn had quickly become a maze of construction equipment. Digging had commenced the day after Devlin’s announcement, and since then at least two dozen machines had taken over the four acres adjacent to the paddock. The equine facility was to be built to completion, and then the current barn would be taken down. That was the part that upset Skylar the most. She loved the current barn. Her happy place was being snuffed out by progress.

  She turned the corner of the stalls and smacked right into Joshua. Skylar was aghast.

  “What are you doing here?” She felt the familiar burn spread across her face.

  He was dressed in a T-shirt and long shorts. It was odd seeing him out of his rocker garb, but she supposed even he wasn’t impervious to the heat.

  “I left a few things here after the concert,” he said. “I finally got around to getting over here. Speaking of which, you weren’t there.”

  “Yeah, I had too much going on. I heard it was great.” Skylar waited for the familiar feeling of attraction to stir inside her. But nothing happened. Instead she felt slightly violated. Her happy place was marred by his presence.

  Joshua’s intense stare returned. His programming seemed to flip a switch. “Skylar, why are you avoiding me?” he asked. “I thought we had a little thing going here. You know, I tell you how adorable you are, you blush; I try to take you home, you say no.” He leaned in and propped his arm against the barn wall, effectively trapping her.

  “Sky?” a voice called from down the aisle.

  Skylar’s head shot up. “Argan.” She swallowed hard on his name. She ducked under Joshua’s arm and walked quickly toward Argan.

  “What’s going on?” Argan asked. “I thought you were leaving to work on your paper.”

  “I was just heading out,” she said, shooting a look back at Joshua.

  He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching the couple with mild interest.

  Argan motioned in his direction. “That didn’t look like you were heading out.”

  “What? No, Argan. It’s not what it looks like.”

  Joshua laughed under his breath.

  She turned back to him. “Shut up!”

  “You told me you didn’t go to the concert,” Argan said.

  “I didn’t,” Skylar said, running her hands through her hair.

  “So, he’s the reason you weren’t at my show?” Joshua asked. “Too bad.”

  “I’m confused, Sky,” Argan said. “Do you know him? Are you involved with him?”

  “No. I mean, yes, I know him, but I’m not involved with him.” Skylar stumbled over her words, her head spinning.

  “You’re making me feel bad, Skylar,” Joshua said. “Our moment at Garage? I would call that involved.”

  Argan’s eyes widened in horror. “Wow, I didn’t see this coming.” He backed away from Skylar. “I gotta go.”

  Skylar stood there in shock. Everything had happened so fast. She couldn’t go after him. She was guilty. She had let Joshua touch her.

  She spun to face Joshua. “Why did you do that?”

  “Bored, I guess,” he said. “Doesn’t matter. He was holding you back. Now you’re free to be with me.”

  “I hurt him,” she whispered.

  “He’s a big boy. He’ll get over it.”

  “Joshua, darling! What a nice surprise!” Milicent cooed. She was a vision in her head-to-toe riding ensemble, from her royal-purple hat to her custom-made violet riding boots.

  “Mrs. Grayer.” Joshua was the picture of politeness with Milicent. “I left a few things here after the concert.”

  “We could have had them couriered. But it’s wonderful to see you. Let’s have a meal.” She looked at Skylar. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” she asked coldly.

  Skylar was fighting back tears from all that had just happened, but she pulled herself together. “It’s my day off, ma’am. But I’ll see if Ronnie needs anything before I go.”

  “Ronnie has been let go,” Milicent said.

  “What?” Skylar asked, alarmed.

  “Not that you require an explanation, but we are taking things in a different direction and she wasn’t on board,” Milicent said. “It was a mutual decision. I suggest you take the day to accept it and come in tomorrow ready to work.”

  Skylar felt like she had been punched in the face. Knowing what she did from Ronnie, she was convinced Milicent was inflicting revenge for old grudges. But the woman scared the hell out of her, and there was little she could do to help Ronnie now. “Yes, ma’am,” she said.

  Milicent snaked her arm around Joshua’s and led him away from the bar
n.

  An hour later, Skylar still hadn’t left. Suki found her in Cheveyo’s stall, mindlessly brushing him with a grooming mitt.

  “What happened to you?” Suki asked. “I thought you went home hours ago.”

  Skylar looked up blankly, continuing her mindless brushing. “Everything just blew up, Suki,” she said, making circles in Cheveyo’s hair. She recounted her story, including what happened the night at Garage. She spilled it all.

  Suki’s mouth was hanging open by the end of it. “Wow, that’s a lot. You have to talk to Argan,” she chided. The cool demeanor of the girl Skylar had first met returned. “You need to own this. He deserves an apology.”

  Skylar knew Suki was right. Before she could respond, Kyle came around the corner.

  “Hey, I saw Rider here earlier. He said he’s hitting the road on tour with Grayer,” he said with a look of envy in his eyes.

  Skylar couldn’t process any more information at the moment. “Have either of you heard from Ronnie?”

  “No,” they both said.

  “The barn is going to be a dismal place to work for a while,” Kyle said, shoulders slumped.

  “I’ve got to get my book back,” Skylar said. Without another word, she dropped her mitts and left Suki and Kyle standing in Cheveyo’s stall.

  Ocean hadn’t been returning Skylar’s calls, and when Skylar went to her studio there was a closed sign on the yoga studio door. She realized she didn’t know where Ocean lived. With no other option to delay her, she headed for Argan’s.

  She paced in front of his apartment for ten minutes. She couldn’t bring herself to knock. All she could do was stare at the keyhole in the middle of the faded dark-green paint. Then the door opened of its own volition, and Argan was standing in the doorway.

  When he saw Skylar, his face fell. “Now’s not a good time.”

  “There won’t be a good time, Argan. Please, can I come in?”

  He stepped aside and she entered his apartment. A suitcase lay open on his bed. “Are you going away again?” she asked quietly.

  “Yeah. Things here have fallen in the shitter,” he said as he tossed a shirt into his suitcase. “I’m leaving.”