“Yes,” I said grumpily, afraid I was going to have to tell the story all over again for someone else’s amusement.
“So, do you guys need a ride home?”
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
“I’m Victoria,” she said, taking the cooler and shaking my hand, which was weird. I’d never had my hand shaken before by someone who was my own age. Usually it was just old people who did that. “But you can call me Vicky,” she carried on. “I think it was really brave of you to be able to still ride and win after having that horrible thing happen to you. I’d never have been able to do it.”
“Thanks,” I said awkwardly.
I stared at the girl who was sort of coming to my rescue. She had long red hair that was pulled back into a pony tail and a really pale complexion with freckles dotted all over her nose. She also talked with a weird accent.
“You’re not from around here, are you?” I said.
“I was born in England. But I moved here when I was ten so my accent kind of went all wonky and now I don’t speak British or American. I’m some weird mash up and nobody can ever tell where I’m from. Mostly people just think I’m Australian.”
“Really? I like your accent,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to go to England.”
“It rains a lot.” She bundled the cooler up into a messy pile. “But there are so many more places to ride and everyone in the country is into horses so it’s easy to grow up having one in your back yard.”
“That must have been fun,” I said, wanting to know more about England and horses and everything else.
“It was but I had to leave my pony behind because it costs a lot to fly one over here.”
“Oh no,” I said, feeling bad for her.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I got over it. Besides, I have Batty now.”
“Batty?”
“Rechargeable Batteries.” She held up the cooler.
“Right,” I said. “Neat name. This is Bluebird.” I pointed to my pony who was standing there looking cold now that his fancy cooler had been taken away.
“I know,” she said. “I know all about him. Jess told me.”
My face fell. “Well then she probably told you that we are both horrible.”
“Partly but mostly I think she’s just jealous of you.”
“I don’t know why,” I said. “I have an auction pony and no barn of my own.” I didn’t add that I now had a father who was a horse trainer because I didn’t really want people to know. I didn’t know what their reaction would be and I didn’t want to find out because I didn’t even know what my own reaction was.
“So, you ready to go?” Vicky asked.
“Most definitely.” I nodded.
We loaded the ponies into her trailer. Rechargeable Batteries was a flashy chestnut with a flaxen mane and tail. He sniffed noses with Bluebird before letting out a little squeal and stomping his foot.
“Sorry.” Vicky pulled his head away. “Sometimes he thinks he’s a mare.”
“That’s okay,” I said, laughing.
Vicky’s mom was wearing rubber boots and a wax coat. She had a scarf tied over her hair and librarian glasses but she seemed nice, even though I couldn’t understand half of what she was saying because her accent hadn’t worn off like Vicky’s had. She shuffled us into the truck after closing up the back of the trailer.
“Where did you say your barn was?” Vicky said after her mom asked a couple of times and I’d just shrugged and smiled because that was what I usually did when I couldn’t understand what someone said.
“Sand Hill,” I said. “It’s not that far away from Fox Run. I’ll point out the way.”
“How come you board there?” Vicky asked, scooping an overweight Corgi that had been sleeping on the back seat into her arms.
“I work off my board,” I said. “But the barn is being sold so I don’t know what is going to happen.”
“You should come and board at Fox Run,” she said. “It’s pretty fun, once you get used to all the snobby rich girls like Jess. And you have to put your foot down sometimes. Like for instance they usually make everyone go in the big trailer so that they can charge you a fortune for taking your horse to the show but we have our own trailer and so we just tell them to butt out but they don’t like it very much.”
“That’s why I’m not sure I can go and board there. My mom doesn’t like to have anything to do with horses and I have to figure out how to pay for things myself.”
“It looks like you’re doing a pretty good job so far,” she said.
“Not really. Look what happened today. I had to ride my pony to the show and he got shot in the butt.”
“True,” Vicky said. “Butt it is kind of funny when you think about it.”
“He’ll be the butt of every joke,” I groaned.
We both collapsed into giggles in the back of the car and it felt good to be laughing about something, even though your pony being shot wasn’t exactly funny, because it had been a really stressful day and sometimes when everything went wrong, the only thing you could do was laugh.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Vicky and her mom pulled into Sand Hill just as it was starting to get dark. We unloaded Bluebird and I stood there holding his lead rope and waving goodbye as they disappeared. Bluebird let out a mournful whinny, calling after his new friend and Batty answered.
“See, there are nice people at Fox Run,” I told Bluebird, thinking of Vicky and Fern and how Ethan and Faith were there now. And soon Mickey would be there too.
We walked into the barn and I put Bluebird in his stall. I was in the tack room getting his sheet when I heard a noise. I looked up to see Esther standing there in the doorway.
“I was getting worried about you,” she said.
“It’s a long story.” I sighed, not really wanting to relive the whole ordeal again. “How did the showing go? Did they like the place?”
“They did,” Esther said. “Even with all the work that needs to be done. They are going to put in an offer. If it goes through then the closing could be in a few weeks.”
My heart sank. I was hoping that I’d at least have one last Christmas at Sand Hill. Decorating the stalls with tinsel and hanging stockings for the carrots that Santa would bring all the horses. The only bright spot was at least Esther was getting what she wanted.
“But that is good, right?” I said. “You’ll get to have one last Christmas with your dad.”
“But I don’t want to leave you and the horses and the farm,” Esther said, her voice all wobbly.
She started to cry. Big, fat tears rolling down her face and after the day I’d had, I couldn’t take it. I started to cry too and we ended up in this big, squishy hug so I knew that Esther must have been feeling really bad because she wasn’t the touchy, feely type.
“What is going to happen to you and Bluebird?” she wailed.
“Well,” I said, pulling a ragged tissue out of my pocket and blowing my nose. “My mom does want to move to Wisconsin.”
“Wisconsin?” Esther said, her voice all gravelly from crying. “Have you ever been up north before?”
“No,” I said.
“Ridden in the snow? Broken ice off water buckets day after day?”
I shook my head.
“In Sweden that was my life. It’s not easy. You won’t like it.”
“Well maybe I might,” I said, suddenly feeling stubborn. “For one thing there won’t be giant mosquitos or alligators lurking in the lakes. No horrible muggy weather that makes it too hot to ride or awful hurricanes.”
“You just end up trading those bad things in for other bad things,” Esther blew her nose.
“Well what am I supposed to do then?” I sat down on a tack trunk feeling all depressed. “If my family moves to Wisconsin then I have to go with them, don’t I?”
“Or,” Esther said, sitting down next to me, “You could stay with your father.”
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
“How did you know?” I
glared at her.
“I have my ways.” She grinned slyly. “And what is wrong with you? Why don’t you want to talk to him?”
“It’s complicated,” I said.
“All family is complicated, that doesn’t mean you should just give up. You should try and work things out.”
“I am trying,” I said.
“Are you?”
I shrugged, thinking about how I’d acted since I found out my father was back.
“I’m doing the best I can,” I said.
“Well if you don’t want to end up out in the street with your pony or stuck in some snow drift in Wisconsin, you’d better try harder. You’ve been given a second chance. It would be pretty dumb to blow it just to get back at your dad.”
“I don’t know him.” I stood up. “It’s going to take time.”
“Honey,” she said gently. “You don’t have any time left.”
“I have to go and put this on Bluebird.” I backed out of the tack room. “He got shot in the butt.”
“He got what?” Esther said.
She followed me to Bluebird’s stall where I showed her his wound and she completely flipped out until I told her that my dad had taken care of everything, calling the vet and the cops and making sure that I was still able to ride.
“See,” she said. “I told you, you need him.”
But I didn’t want to need him. I wanted to be able to take care of myself and do things on my own. But I was starting to realize that being on your own only got you so far.
I stayed at the barn longer than I should, until the night sky was velvet black and the first stars were shining brightly. I didn’t want to leave Bluebird alone but I knew I couldn’t stay all night with him. I’d had five text messages from my mom, wondering what on earth had happened to me by the time I finally realized I should go home before I got in even more trouble than I already was.
The light on the front of my bike lit the way. It flashed on trees and bushes and the shining eyes of cats that lurked in them. The air was cold again. I shivered in my sweater, wishing I’d brought an extra layer so I rode my bike as fast as I could, hoping the exercise would keep me warm. By the time I got home I was sweaty and panting, which wasn’t such a good idea as now I’d probably catch a chill. All I wanted was a hot shower and some junk food and then I’d crawl into bed and forget the day ever happened but as I put my bike in the garage, I saw my mom standing there in the lit doorway with her arms crossed. She looked mad. It was probably because I hadn’t replied to her texts. I didn’t need her yelling at me right now. I was too tired. I couldn’t take it.
“Sorry I’m late,” I said. “And sorry I didn’t reply to you but I’m back now so can we just forget it?” I looked up at her hopefully but not only did she look mad, she also looked like she’d been crying.
“The police were here,” she said. “They wanted to check up on you. Make sure you were okay after your ordeal.”
“Oh no,” I said.
“Oh yes,” she snapped. “What on earth is going on?”
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
So much for trying to keep my traumatic adventure a secret. I should have known better than that. Mom was furious. In fact, I’d never seen her so mad before. She pulled me inside the house before I even had a chance to explain myself and sat me down at the kitchen table. I half expected Derek to be there, ready to join in because my punishment was exactly the sort of thing he would enjoy but he was nowhere to be seen.
“I want you to explain yourself,” Mom said.
She was so mad that she was actually shaking. I sat there trying to think up an excuse. Some way to make the whole thing seen less horrific than it actually was but everything I came up with sounded just as bad and since I didn’t know exactly how much the cops had told her, it was hard to know which parts to lie about so in the end I just sat there saying nothing.
“They left this.” Mom shoved a piece of paper across the table. “It has your father’s signature on it.”
I looked at the police report. She was right. It had Dad’s rough, slanted writing at the bottom where he had signed the report because I was a minor. I couldn’t exactly explain that away even though I wanted to.
“I went to a horse show,” I said. “Dad was there.”
“And you didn’t tell me? This sort of thing can’t happen,” she said, her voice shaking. “And what is this about some boys shooting your pony?”
“It was just a pellet gun,” I said, trying to downplay how bad it had really been.
“A pellet gun?” She was shouting now. Her words loud and angry although deep down I knew it was only because she was worried about me. “How did you know it was a pellet gun? It could have just as easily been a real gun and pellet guns can still be dangerous you know. What if they’d shot you in the eye and the bullet had been lodged in your brain?”
“But they didn’t, Mom,” I said. “And Bluebird is okay. He’s fine really. We are all fine. Everything is fine.”
“Stop keep saying fine,” she yelled. “Everything is not fine.”
I sat there staring at the table, wishing that the yelling was over already. Mom never yelled. She must have picked it up from Derek. Or maybe she just yelled when she was mad with my father. I seemed to have some distant memories of them fighting with each other. Voices raised long after we’d gone to bed and were supposed to be asleep but I didn’t know why.
“This is why your father can’t be trusted,” she said. “He should have called me. Let me know what was going on.”
“Does he even have your number?”
“Of course he does,” she snapped. “And he should have brought you straight home. Not made you stay all day at the horse thing when you couldn’t even ride.”
I thought of how weird the whole day had been. It didn’t even seem real that Dad had shoved me on Missy’s horse and let me ride him and the fact that I’d won the class? That didn’t seem real either. I put my hand in my pocket, feeling the soft satin of the blue ribbon. It had happened. I had proof but I was going to keep that fact to myself. Mom didn’t need any more ammunition than she already had.
“I knew something like this would happen.” She paused for a moment then said, “I was wrong about this whole thing. You getting to know him is a mistake. I don’t want you to see him anymore.”
“What?” I cried.
“You heard me. This is the sort of thing that happens when he is around. Pellet guns and police reports and you staying out all hours of the night. I won’t stand for it. I won’t let him ruin another daughter.”
“But he’s my father,” I shouted at her.
“I don’t care,” she yelled back.
We stood there glaring at each other. It was a standoff. I didn’t even really know if I wanted to win. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see my dad. Nothing had happened like I’d imagined it would if I ever saw him again. I thought about Missy and the baby she was carrying and what it would do to my mother if she ever found out. It would destroy her just like it was destroying me.
“I’m tired,” I said. “Can I go to my room now?”
The anger faded from Mom’s face when she realized I wasn’t going to fight her on this. I think she thought that she had won because she reached out to touch my arm but I pulled away.
“Let’s talk about this tomorrow. Okay?” she said.
“Whatever.”
I went up to my room and left her in the kitchen. I was so mad at her but I was too exhausted to spend half the night fighting a battle I knew she wouldn’t let me win. And I didn’t know if I really wanted a relationship with my father but I knew for sure that I didn’t want her telling me that I couldn’t have one. I wanted to make that decision for myself.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
I never found out if Mom actually did call Dad or not because we didn’t speak about it again. I think she thought that my silence was me agreeing with her. After all, she didn’t know that he was a trainer at Fox Run or that I was likely to
run into him again so I let it go. Besides, I had bigger things on my mind, like the fact that now that Esther had an offer on Sand Hill, Mickey’s mom was making the arrangements to move Hampton.
“But the sale could fall through,” I said. “Those sorts of things happen all the time.”
It was the following weekend and we were sitting in the tack room. It was one of those November days in Florida where we were in-between cold fronts and it was a balmy eighty two degrees. We both had on t-shirts and breeches because we were supposed to be riding but Mickey was also supposed to be packing up her stuff because this was going to be our last ride together. I was putting it off and trying to talk her out of going all at the same time.
“Trust me.” She tossed a pink brush into her grooming kit. “I’ve tried everything. Nothing is going to change her mind and besides, don’t be mad but I kind of want to move. I’m looking forward to riding with the dressage trainer. Hampton and I are ready for new things. This is going to be good for us.”
“I know,” I said. “But I’ll be the only one left here.”
“If you talked to your dad, I’m sure he could get you a stall at Fox Run. He probably gets a discount and everything.”
“I could,” I said. “If we were actually talking but we’re not. At least not really. It’s more like he’s trying to be a trainer and forget about the fact that we’re actually related.”
“That could work too,” she said. “You don’t really need a dad but you definitely need a new trainer.”
“I know.” I sighed. “But as far as my mom is concerned, we are all moving to Wisconsin anyway and I think she is especially keen on the idea because it will mean getting me away from my father.”
“You’re not really going to Wisconsin, are you?” Mickey said.
“Maybe. I don’t know.”
“But I want you to come to Fox Run. We’re all there. It’s going to be so much fun. Wouldn’t it be nice to ride at a really great facility for a change? Can’t you just forgive your dad and move on?”
Off Course (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 12) Page 8