“Are you serious? Seems to me you’ve got it pretty cushy, and you’re being paid to stay put for three months, so lie low and stay the course.”
Easy for you to say. Austin wanted to push back, but how did he confess that his feelings for Kenzie were becoming a problem? Being with her every day, talking, joking, touching, and learning of her deep sorrow, was threatening his ability to remain detached.
“It’s necessary, and you know why.” The man’s raspy tone went kinder. “And remember, you agreed to remain in place before you left the city. So just do it. And call me if there’s something I need to know.”
Austin punched off, mulled his lack of options in the dark. The tightrope he walked had grown tauter, trapping him between what he had sworn to do, and what he wanted to do.
“Here they come,” Kenzie said to Austin. They stood outside the stable watching Lani and a family of four walking toward them: Mom, Dad, and kids David and Cami. Oro and Mamie were bareback, wearing halters and lead lines looped around the hitching post.
Lani waved. “Hey! I’ve got two excited kids here.”
“The little girl looks excited, the boy not so much.” Austin spoke into Kenzie’s ear from the corner of his mouth.
“Horses are big animals and kids are small. Seeing a horse up close can be intimidating, so smile and look enthusiastic.” Kenzie was nervous, hoping Mamie wouldn’t act up with strangers. Today was important to her. She wanted to help jump-start the Trailblazer program for Lani and Ciana.
At the sound of Lani’s voice, Oro’s ears pricked forward and he turned his neck toward the newcomers. Mamie flipped one ear toward the approaching people but otherwise showed no interest. The little girl shouted “Horsey!” then broke free of her mother’s handhold and ran full speed toward the horses with arms wide open.
“Cami!” her mother yelled. “Stop!”
Austin stepped forward and scooped up the child. “Whoa, little one! Where you going so fast?”
Kenzie’s heart wedged in her throat as the child gave Austin a brilliant smile and a hug. “Cami ride horsey!”
Just then, the mother caught up, looking frantic. “Sorry! She’s so quick!”
“I got her.” He carried Cami closer and let the child lean in and hug Mamie’s neck. “No riding today, but you can pet her.”
“Cami love horsey.” The child planted a wet smear of a kiss on Mamie’s sleek well-groomed neck.
Lani hurried over, shaking her head. “I should have seen that coming. All Cami talked about in the car was hugging the horsey.”
Relieved that Mamie had remained calm during the commotion, Kenzie gave the Gray Lady a treat. “If this didn’t spook her, she’ll likely be perfect for Trailblazers.”
After rounds of introductions, Austin eased Cami into her mother’s arms. Both parents chattered enthusiastically, and slowly, David, the eleven-year-old, began to warm to the animals. He stroked Oro, whose coat gleamed golden in the sunlight. “Shiny,” Cami said, and combed her fingers through Oro’s thick white mane.
“Why don’t I show you folks around?” Austin offered. The group tagged after him and entered the stable, leaving Kenzie and Lani at the hitching post.
“How did he figure I wanted to talk to you alone?” Lani asked, amused.
“He reads minds,” Kenzie said, thinking of the many times over the past weeks of their working together when he’d walked into the stable and instantly picked up on her mood. “Probably got a merit badge in it,” she added drily.
Although she wasn’t privy to the inside joke, Lani laughed. “Well, he was spot-on today. I wanted a few minutes of privacy to give you this.” She pulled a thick ivory envelope from her purse with Kenzie’s and Austin’s names calligraphed in black ink. “A wedding invitation. Dawson and I want both of you to come. Please.”
“Oh, you don’t have to—”
“I know I don’t have to, but I want to. This is going to be the best day of my life, and I want to share every minute of it surrounded by people I care about. Casual dressy for the ceremony, a big reception at a fabulous venue, great food, cake, and a special DJ! Believe me, my mother and sister have made sure Daddy spares no expense.”
Kenzie snickered. “I’d like to come, but I shouldn’t speak for Austin.” Ever since she’d told Austin about Caroline, she’d felt lighter, more at ease. But although Austin had been kind to her, recently he’d been less talkative, less playful. She read his behavior as creating distance.
“I want both of you to come, so ask him as soon as we leave and have him text me. Ciana and Jon and everyone from the pool party will be there. It’s not like you won’t know anybody. Besides, it’s going to be a fabulous wedding!” Lani’s brown eyes sparkled.
“I’ll talk to him.”
“Do you think Mamie will be ready for riding by the end of July?” Lani shifted the subject. “If so, I’d like to begin working with Cami and David when Dawson and I return from our honeymoon. We’ll be gone two heavenly weeks.”
“It all depends on her body weight and how she takes to a saddle and rider. I’ll talk to the vet next time he visits.”
When the group left, Austin untied the palomino, telling Kenzie, “I’ll walk Oro to the big barn, leave Mamie with you. I think the meet-and-greet went well.” Kenzie stood with arms crossed, chewing her bottom lip, the envelope sticking up from her hand. He pointed. “I see my name on that envelope you’re holding.”
“It’s an invite to Lani and Dawson’s July wedding.”
“Do you want to go?”
She recalled how he’d jumped all over Lani’s invitation to the pool party. Not so fast this time. “Yes. I…um…I’ve never been to a wedding before.”
“I guess the bigger question is, do you want me to come along?”
She studied both their names, so beautifully scripted on the outer envelope, and knew that she’d rather have him with her than go alone. “Yes, but only if you want to.”
He felt his balance on the tightrope sway as he struggled with how to best answer. A wedding was certainly no good way to keep distance between them, but when she looked up, her amazing blue eyes melted his resolve. “Then let’s do it.”
* * *
—
Kenzie rarely opened her laptop, but a glance at the calendar hanging on her kitchen wall one evening reminded her that she needed to boot it up. June 17 was fast approaching. She sighed and set the laptop on the kitchen table. When the machine booted, she pushed the tab to bring up her email account. The screen quickly filled with a plethora of messages, mostly junk, but the ones she’d expected to see—five all together—had been sent over the last two weeks. All from her father. She opened the one sent that morning, punctuated by an urgent tag.
Kenzie…Please stop ignoring me! You know what’s coming up next week. You MUST come home. Please. I can’t stress enough how necessary it is for you to be present for this one single day. Your mother isn’t doing well, and NEEDS to see her daughter. I know you hate me, but stop punishing her for my sins. Please come home. I’m not asking for me, but for her.
Dad
Tears welled in Kenzie’s eyes. She kept seeing Pamela Caine on the cold February day of Caroline’s funeral, crumpled and sobbing in her husband’s arms. Kenzie had held in her own grief, refusing to break apart at the graveside. She had been driven back to Vanderbilt that night by a friend of her mother’s, where she’d thrown herself into classes. Her father had asked for privacy from the media about Caroline, but the request had been ignored, and Kenzie spent days dodging such stupid reporter questions as How do you feel about the social media aspects of your sister’s death?
Cloistered in her dorm room, she’d called her mother’s cell phone and discovered it had been shut down. Likewise, her email account. Avery had erected a protective shield around his wife so that callers would have to go through him
with questions. Kenzie was relieved that her mother had a safety net, but it had cut her off, too, and at the time, she didn’t want to go through her father to reach her mother. Forcing herself to concentrate on her college classes helped shutter her mind from what had happened, and when the job at Bellmeade was offered, she’d jumped on it. But now she had no recourse except to go home for the one day her father asked of her.
Kenzie felt the dam break as hot tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. She missed her mother terribly, felt guilty because locking Avery out of her life had meant locking out her mother too. And now there was no Caro serving as intermediary. Kenzie buried her face in her hands and wept.
* * *
—
Austin knew something was troubling Kenzie. He could read her moods easily these days, but he also knew that he had to wait for her to open up, because, like Blue, she had to come to him. They were outside under a hot sunlight, bathing Blue—something the big horse liked; plus, Austin’s weeks of working in the round pen were paying off. Blue was a whole lot calmer. While Austin had saddled Blue, he had yet to ride the big horse.
Water trickled from the hose on the ground, and Austin kept the soapy sponge moving over Blue’s flank. No playfulness today, Austin told himself. Just get the job done.
Kenzie stepped around the hind end of the big horse. Austin glanced at her but kept silent. She took a shallow breath, said, “I need a favor.”
“Sure. What do you need me to do?”
“I want you to come someplace with me on June seventeenth.”
“That’s day after tomorrow.”
She nodded.
“Not a bridal shower, I hope.”
The faint edge of her smile showed. “No. I want you to come home with me to Nashville, to the house where I grew up.”
An internal alarm went off. “What’s up?”
“It’s my mother’s birthday. Mine too. My father is begging me to come, and…and I told him I would. For Mom.”
“Wait! You and your mother have birthdays on the same day?”
“Yes. Our birthdays used to be a huge celebration, big parties with family and friends, but now…after Caroline…” He watched Kenzie’s blue eyes shimmer. “I know I have to go see her, be with her on our birthday, and I don’t want to go by myself.”
“I don’t know, Kenzie….It doesn’t seem like somewhere I belong. I’m a stranger, and it’s a family thing.”
“Just me, Mom, and my father. No one else is invited. And I don’t want to face the whole day with only the three of us staring at each other. I don’t know what I’m walking into. He says Mom’s in a bad way. Please, come with me?”
“I’m your shield? Seriously?”
She nodded. “If you don’t mind. Dad and I’ve had problems for a couple of years. About his horses and a trainer,” she added quickly, unsure of what Austin might have heard. After all, he was from Virginia, and news of the feud likely hadn’t been national news. “I’ll tell you all about it anytime you want to listen. So, you will come with me?”
He picked up the hose, ran a stream of water over Blue’s withers, flank, and hindquarters. He hesitated, fluctuating between holding back and not wanting to disappoint her.
“I’ve got your back, Kenzie, but you should tell your dad that I’m coming along. Not everybody likes unexpected company showing up.”
* * *
—
Austin took the passenger’s seat in Kenzie’s high-end SUV, and she got behind the wheel. “Nice ride.”
“My high school graduation gift,” she said, putting the car in gear and heading down the Bellmeade driveway. The day had turned gray and cloudy, and the air was heavy with the smell of ozone. Rain was coming. On the drive along the winding back roads through low rolling hills toward her family’s horse farm, Kenzie explained about the break between herself and her father. Austin saw by the way she gripped the steering wheel that she was dreading the visit. So was he.
When she finished her story, he summed it up. “So you’ve stayed away from home for almost two years knowing that your father was willing to let this trainer sore his horses in order to win the top prize in Shelbyville. When he fired the trainer, things turned ugly. Is that about right?”
She nodded. “Once Bill’s training methods became public knowledge in that news documentary, my father was forced to fire him. Bill blamed the leak on my dad, and when he started making threats against our family, their feud hit the front-page news. Dad had to take out a restraining order.” Kenzie paused, taking a breath. “People took sides. Some horse breeders sided with my father, who saw no harm in ‘proper’ soring, as if there is such a thing, but animal rights people believed Bill and Dad were devils. Bill swore he only did what Dad wanted doing, and Dad swore he didn’t know about Bill’s abusive methods. I believe both are lying.”
“I would think your father would have taken most of the hits, since it was his and the trainer’s feud, but were you threatened?”
“Believe me, the whole family was guilty by association. The Internet was on fire with hate toward all of us. I mostly ignored the meanness at the time, but after Caroline, I dumped every type of social media you can think of.” Kenzie slowed the car.
From his passenger window, Austin saw picturesque white fences stretching along acres of rich green pastureland. She braked and turned into an entranceway between the fencing. Tires crunched on gravel that smoothed into concrete. Atop the crest of a hill he saw a colonial-style white-brick mansion trimmed with black shutters, and a black front door. His jaw dropped. “Home?”
Kenzie parked and turned off the engine. “Home.”
Austin exited the car, staring up at the mammoth house. “When you told me you grew up on a horse farm, I was thinking more Old McDonald’s.”
“E-I-E-I-O. This is it.”
“And all this land is your family’s?” He gestured to a checkerboard of green pastures fenced in white, where horses and foals grazed. In the distance, he saw rooflines of several stables.
“Dad breeds Tennessee walkers. It’s a business.” She remembered standing beside her father watching the new foals frolic and hearing him claim, “All champions.” She had been so proud of him as a child. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
They walked to the oversized shiny black front door, decorated with a large wreath of summer flowers. She pushed the bell, and Austin heard it chime musically from somewhere inside. “No key?”
“I left it behind in February.”
“You didn’t mention I’d be coming with you, did you?” He experienced a sinking sensation.
“Didn’t want an argument.” Kenzie took hold of Austin’s hand just as Avery Caine swung open the door in front of them.
Avery’s gaze took her in like a thirsty desert crawler. “Happy birthday, honey-girl.” He opened his arms.
She ignored his overture. “Hello, Dad. Where’s Mom?”
Avery was a big and handsome man, slimmer and older-looking than when she’d last seen him in February. His hair was steel gray, his eyes the same blue shade as hers. When he saw Austin, his eyes widened, then narrowed. “What’s this?”
“Not a what, a who,” Kenzie said. “Meet Austin Boyd, the man who helps me with the rescue horses at Bellmeade.” Kenzie shoved her and Austin’s way past Avery and into the cavernous foyer.
Austin stole a quick glance around. Twin elegant staircases covered with ivory carpet curved upward on either side of the foyer to a landing where the cloudy gray sky showed through a massive round window. A glittering chandelier of cut crystal hung dramatically from a high ceiling painted a pale rose.
“Pleased to meet you, sir.” Austin held out his hand.
Avery reluctantly shook hands, his expression as cold as the marble floor of the foyer. “This is a family event. No one else has been invited.”
“Austin’s my guest. Please treat him like one,” Kenzie insisted. “It’s my birthday too, you know.”
“I can wait in the car,” Austin offered.
“No, you won’t.” Her eyes challenged Avery’s as she spoke. “We stay together. Now can we please see Mom?”
“She’s in the sunroom.” Avery turned on his heel and Kenzie followed, fighting to steady her thudding heart. Coming here was much more stressful than she’d expected. Happy childhood memories faded into the darkness of February, blurring into a grief-edged montage: The coldness of the day she’d arrived home, the sounds of weeping, sobbing, and questions from police detectives that faded into footfalls of mortuary attendants across Persian rugs as Caroline’s body left the house on a wheeled cart. Later, the cloying smell of countless floral arrangements and sounds of classical music melting into darkened corners of a house without light.
Becoming dizzy, Kenzie clutched Austin’s arm. He looped his arm around her waist, steadied her. Avery never glanced back, but stopping at the house’s spacious sunroom, he told Austin, “Please, family only.”
Austin slipped Kenzie’s arm over her father’s and stepped away. Because Kenzie’s knees felt weak, she made no objection. Her mother sat in the heirloom slipper chair of her great-grandmother, its fabric faded by time. Avery walked Kenzie over and stooped. “Darlin’, Kenzie’s home.”
Pamela Caine was impeccably dressed in white linen slacks, white silk blouse, and simple white sandals. Her hair and makeup were beautifully done, but Kenzie clearly saw that since February, her mother—always trim and fit—had lost too much weight. Pamela’s smile was soft and welcoming, but seemed somehow disconnected and muddled, her eyes unfocused. Drugs? The thought was startling.
Kenzie kissed her mother’s cheeks, knelt, and took her hand. “Happy birthday, Mom.”
“It’s been so long! Why didn’t you come home sooner?” Her mother’s eyes teared and Kenzie felt a knot in her throat. “Let me look at you. Oh my! You look so pretty.”
The Girl with the Broken Heart Page 7