Shy Girl & Shy Guy (Quartz Creek Ranch)

by Amber J. Keyser

  “Did it throw you or something?”

  Hanna slowly shook her head. “No. We walked around in a circle for twenty minutes. That’s it. But it felt like forever, Izz. I wanted down more than anything, but Mom kept saying, ‘Hanna! You love horses. Come on, I bought this ride for you. Why can’t you have fun? Why are you making a scene?’ And I kept crying and crying, but I didn’t want my mom to get mad at me, so I stayed on the horse.”

  Izzy let out a breath. “And I thought my mom was a piece of work.”

  “Sometimes I think she wishes I was somebody else. Like, wishes she’d had a different daughter.”

  “I feel that,” Izzy said, sighing. “Me too. I still don’t understand what that has to do with stealing or how you, of all people, ended up at QCR. You’re scared of ponies walking around in a circle. Nice white girls like you don’t get sent to rehab camp just for stealing a candy bar.”

  Hanna didn’t know how to put it into words.

  “I guess I wanted to stick it to her,” Hanna said finally. “Show her I could be horrible too. Make her miss the old me.”

  “Still don’t get what that has to do with stealing,” said Izzy.

  “She’s always getting on my case about everything!” The venom in Hanna’s voice surprised even her. “If I get an A instead of an A-plus, she flips out. She says my friends talk too loud or I eat too fast or my piano should be better, but I’ve only been playing for a year! I practiced every single day. But nothing is ever enough for her.” Something dark crept into her tone. “So I decided to do something she’d hate.”

  Izzy looked genuinely worried.

  “At first, I took stuff right where Mom could see. Then, when I got away with it, whenever I could. But . . . it was impossible to stop.” She collapsed back in the ripped leather seat. “She finally figured it out when she cleaned under my bed and found everything.”

  “Everything?” prompted Izzy.

  “Candy, lipstick, an iPod . . .”

  “Dude,” said Izzy, whistling. “You were hard-core.”

  “I guess.” That unsettled Hanna. She didn’t want to be good at stealing. After a moment of quiet, she said, “We should go back, in case Brad Pitt is looking for us.”

  “Good call,” said Izzy.

  Together they climbed out of the car and shut the doors, leaving their puddle of spilled secrets behind. But when Hanna glanced past the feed store lot fence, she spotted a familiar gray horse trotting past.

  Her entire body went white-hot.

  “Izzy,” she hissed, pointing. “Look, Shy Guy!”

  Elena Baxter, dressed in high leather riding boots, rode Shy Guy past on a little black English saddle. He performed a long, canter-like gait along the perimeter of the fence. He was lathered in sweat. Elena hit him with the whip every time he slowed down or missed a step, and Shy Guy pressed his ears back but obeyed nevertheless.

  “Come on,” she growled. “Stop messing up that lead change!” Angrily she yanked on the reins, and Shy Guy stumbled over his own feet.

  Hanna’s face burned. She wanted to strangle that woman. Shy Guy worked and worked, and Elena Baxter didn’t appreciate an ounce of it. Hanna had never hated someone so much in her life.

  As if he knew Hanna was nearby, Shy Guy ground to a halt. Elena tried to make him trot, but he wouldn’t budge. His ears flicked forward, searching for something.

  “Come on, you dumb horse,” she said, hitting him again with the switch. “We’re not even close to done yet.” But it had no effect. When she jerked the reins to the side, Shy Guy threw his head up, clocking her right in the chin.

  “Oooh,” Izzy said, wincing but smiling a little. “That looks like it hurt.”

  Elena, startled, put a hand to her damaged face. Her shoulders trembled. Then she climbed off Shy Guy’s back, grabbed the reins, and hit him.

  He tossed his head to the side, trying to get away, but she held the reins fast—and Shy Guy was too gentle to try to hurt her in his effort to escape.

  He was a prisoner.

  Rage filled Hanna to the brim. “Hey!” she shouted. Izzy grabbed her by the arm, but Hanna was already crawling over the old Chevy toward the fence. Shy Guy’s ears perked forward. “HEY!”

  Elena looked up, eyes wide, thinking she’d been caught. But when she saw Hanna and Izzy, the fear evaporated.

  “Why, hello,” she said, holding Shy Guy back when he tried to walk toward the fence to greet Hanna. He tossed his head again, but she tugged the reins down. “You really did a number on my horse. He refuses to collect on his canter.”

  “You messed up your own horse,” said Hanna.

  “He’d probably listen to you if you didn’t hit him all the time,” said Izzy.

  Elena’s face reddened. “The problem is you, not me. Bad behavior warrants punishment. It worked for my mom, and it works for me. He wouldn’t be acting this way if you hadn’t gotten your delinquent paws all over him. ”

  “We’re not delinquents,” snapped Izzy. Now she was mad.

  “Oh, aren’t you?” said Elena as she got back on Shy Guy. “Then how did you end up at a place like Quartz Creek Ranch?”

  “You . . . you . . . !” Izzy probably would have climbed over the fence if it weren’t for the barbed wire.

  “Now, thanks to your distraction, he gets no dinner tonight,” said Elena.

  “That’s messed up,” said Hanna. “Not feeding him won’t make him respond to you better.”

  “Bad behavior,” Elena repeated, “warrants punishment.”

  Hanna’s eyes turned blurry as angry tears started squeezing out of the corners of her eyes. “Give him back!” she cried. “You didn’t even want him. You abandoned him.”

  Elena nudged Shy Guy with her knee and obediently, he turned around. “A temporary flaw in judgment,” she said. “But a mistake is a mistake. Everyone makes them.”

  “You’re the worst,” said Hanna.

  “Another thing you have wrong,” she said. “With Star Dancer’s help, I’m going to qualify for the Grand Prix this year. Because I am, in fact, the best.” She glanced up at the sky. “And unlike my mother, when I get to the Olympics, I’m not going to mess up on the piaffe. I’m going to bring home the gold.”

  “Fat chance,” said Izzy. “You haven’t been an Olympic hopeful in five years.”

  Elena huffed. “How dare you. I really ought to press charges against those Bridles for how you horrible kids kidnapped Star Dancer.” She clicked to Shy Guy and nudged him with her heels, and reluctantly he started walking away. “But it’s not worth my time.”

  Hanna and Izzy stood, speechless, as Elena rode off. Shy Guy twisted his neck around to look back at Hanna, but Elena yanked his head back again. Soon he was nothing more than a vague gray shape disappearing into the trees.

  When he was gone, Hanna broke down.

  “She can’t do that!”

  “I think she just did,” said Izzy.

  Hanna furiously wiped her face with her arm as they walked back to meet Paul. They found the ranch manager ogling a new pair of Wranglers. He dropped the jeans when he saw the tears running down Hanna’s face.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “Elena Baxter,” she said, sniffling.

  Paul took off his hat and pressed it to his chest. “You should stay away from that woman,” he said. “She’s disturbed.”

  “Evil is more like it,” said Izzy.

  He shook his head. “I talked to a few folks in town after she took Shy Guy,” he said, nodding at the feed store owner. “Her mother, Juliet Baxter? As an old lady, she was no walk in the park either—an even worse woman than her daughter, or so Mark told me. Real hard on her animals and real hard on her family. Elena Baxter maybe hasn’t had the easiest life.”

  “So what?” demanded Hanna between hiccups. “That’s no excuse for what she’s doing to Shy Guy.”

  “Not saying it is,” agreed Paul. “But I wouldn’t doubt that the late Mrs. Baxter treated Elena much the way
Elena treats her horses.”

  In the back of the truck on the way home, as Paul blared country music from the stereo and the girls ate their ice cream, Izzy leaned over.

  “At least we know where she lives now,” she said, just quiet enough that Paul couldn’t hear. Hanna’s eyes widened. She was about to say something when, in the front seat, Paul turned the music down.

  “How’s the ice cream, ladies?” he called back to them.

  “Hooo grrd!” replied Izzy, her mouth suddenly full of ice cream. How she’d done that, Hanna couldn’t guess.

  Paul laughed at Izzy’s answer. “Okay, I’ll take that as an excellent.”

  So Izzy was pretty sneaky too? Hanna filed that information away for later.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  After dinner that night, when Madison left them alone to go for her biweekly swim, Izzy and Hanna filled in Rae Ann on what they’d seen near the feed store that day.

  “Poor Shy Guy!” she said, covering her mouth. “That woman’s so horrible. You have to tell Ma Etty what you saw.”

  “And then what?” said Izzy. “Ma Etty already tried everything she could.”

  “Elena Baxter is smart. Too smart.” Hanna flopped on her bunk bed, arms spread-eagle to keep the heat off her sides. “We have to outsmart her.”

  “How?” asked Rae Ann. She crossed her legs on her bed and stared down at her toes. “I can’t outsmart anyone, even my folks—and they usually have their noses buried in Bibles. The only thing I can do is sound like someone’s mom on the phone. Need me to pretend to be anyone?”

  No one had an answer to that. Izzy suddenly sat up.

  “I think we need some fresh ideas. We’re spinning our wheels in here. Why don’t we ask the guys?”

  “It’s late,” said Rae Ann.

  “So? Let’s say we’re bored with Madison gone and challenge them to a game of dice. Fletch won’t care. Josh says he’s always in his room reading anyway.”

  Hanna agreed, and the three of them got up and left the girls’ bunkhouse. They knocked on the door to the boys’ cabin, and Cade answered.

  “Whoa, hey. What’s up?”

  “Hey. We’re, uh, bored. And thought you guys might want to play dice.”

  Fletch came out of his room, and sure enough, he was holding a book in his hand. He was in sweatpants and still had his cowboy hat on. It had partially slipped down over his face.

  “Dice?” he said, peering out the door looking for Madison. “Oh, I guess Maddie went swimming. Well, okay. Come on in. But only for half an hour, okay?”

  “Okay,” the kids agreed.

  Fletch, yawning, went back into his room but left the door cracked. When they were all set up for dice on the little table, Josh lowered his head and narrowed his eyes at the three girls.

  “What’s really going on?” he whispered.

  “We found out where Elena Baxter lives,” Izzy whispered back. Cade and Josh exchanged a surprised look.

  “How?”

  “We saw her near the feed store today,” said Hanna. “She was abusing Shy Guy again.”

  “No!” Cade bared his teeth. “So it’s all true. And the Bridles let her take him?”

  “What could they have done?” demanded Josh.

  “Shh,” said Rae Ann, glancing around fearfully. “Fletch.”

  “Right, sorry.”

  “That’s why we need your help,” said Izzy.

  “How can we possibly help?” said Cade. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to. But . . .”

  “But nothing,” interrupted Josh. “We’ll help however we can.”

  “We need a plan,” Hanna said. “We know where she lives. We know what she’s doing. But how do we prove it?”

  “The sheriff has to see it,” said Josh, with total certainty. Everyone at the table turned to him. “What? Seriously. That’s it. That’s all you have to do.”

  “How do you suggest we do that?” said Rae Ann, voice dripping with sarcasm. Everyone looked surprised at that.

  “I don’t know, Little Debbie,” said Josh, rising to her tone. “He needs to catch her in the act. Maybe we can get a recording of it, something you can show to him.”

  But before Josh could say anything else, Hanna glanced at Izzy knowingly.

  The phone.

  “No way,” said Izzy. “If they find out I brought it . . .”

  “So what?” said Hanna. “This is bigger than that.”

  Now the others looked confused. “Brought what?” asked Cade.

  “Hanna . . .” Izzy trailed off, looking frightened for the first time. “That was our secret!”

  But Hanna plowed on. “Izzy brought a phone to camp,” she said. “Sorry, Izzy.” Rae Ann gasped, but the boys didn’t look surprised.

  “Big whoop,” said Josh. “Cade snuck in an MP3 player.” Then understanding dawned on him. “The camera in the phone!”

  “Shh!” said Rae Ann again. She grabbed the dice and threw them just as Fletch opened the door to check on them.

  Cade pretended to write down a score. Josh said, “Dang it! I should have cashed out while I was ahead.”

  When the door was closed again, Hanna leaned forward, feeling a rush now that they finally had an idea.

  “So we sneak in,” said Izzy, “and wait until we see what we’re looking for, then film it?”

  “Sneak in?” squeaked Rae Ann, sinking back in her chair as if the physical distance would keep her from getting involved—and getting in trouble.

  Hanna agreed. “We can’t. If we break the law, we’re as bad as she is.”

  Izzy arched an eyebrow at her. “Oh, all about not breaking laws now?”

  Josh and Cade watched them curiously.

  “Yeah,” said Hanna, narrowing her eyes. “I am. This is trespassing, Izzy. That’s kind of a big deal.”

  “But if we can get video, Hanna—if we can prove that Elena is mistreating Shy Guy, it won’t matter. We can sneak in and sneak out without her seeing us. I know we can.” She shot Hanna a look. “And I know you definitely can.”

  Rae Ann covered her ears. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

  “Then stay out of it,” snapped Izzy.

  “Whoa, whoa,” said Josh. “Okay now, take it easy. We’re all in this together to save Shy Guy. At least we have a plan, even if it bends a few rules.”

  He was right. It would have to do.

  “All right,” said Hanna, shoring up her resolve. “Let’s do it. But how?”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Over the next few days, the five of them put the finishing touches on their plan. Hanna was glad they’d brought in Josh and Cade, because it was easier to plug up the holes with everyone involved.

  On the day they’d picked, they waited until after lunchtime to put their plan in motion.

  “Free time starts at two today,” Madison told them over lunch. “Everyone know what they want to do?”

  Izzy’s hand shot in the air. “Free ride,” she said.

  “Me too,” chimed in Hanna.

  Madison looked surprised. “Okay, sure,” she said. “I can work with you two.”

  “Actually,” said Rae Ann, “Madison, I was hoping we could go swimming this afternoon and you could show me some things. I know you’re really good at it, and I was thinking I’d join my school’s swim team next year.”

  Madison’s eyes lit up. “Well, yeah! Of course, Rae Ann. Ma Etty will need to coordinate getting you a temporary gym pass, but . . .”

  “Not a problem,” said Ma Etty, putting a fresh bowl of salad on the table. “Rae Ann expressed interest the other day, so I made sure we had some.”

  “Ma Etty,” piped up Cade, “are you still planning to pick up baby chicks this afternoon?”

  She glanced up. “Yes, I think so. Paul already set up a spot for them in the cattle barn.”

  “Can I go with you during free time? They’re so cute. I want to help pick them out.”

  “I don’t see why not,” she said, then gla
nced at Fletch. “Weren’t you and Josh going to go help Paul brand some new cattle? No one will be around to watch Hanna and Izzy.”

  “That’s still the plan,” said Fletch. “Since Josh says he wants to get into cattle ranching someday.”

  Mr. Bridle, who’d kept quiet until now, shrugged. “I think Izzy and Hanna will be fine, as long as they stay in the arena. They’ve both become excellent horsewomen. And I’ll be in the house doing paperwork anyway, if something comes up.” He smiled at both of them, and Hanna felt a pang of guilt. But it was quickly swept away by the memory of Elena working Shy Guy to the bone.

  “All right then,” said Madison. “It’s settled.”

  And the plan was under way.

  \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

  Once Fettucini and Lacey were tacked up, Hanna and Izzy made a point of making a few circuits around the arena. Madison and Rae Ann left for the pool, and Ma Etty and Cade drove off in her truck. When they were alone, Hanna took Lacey back inside and put her away. They’d already doubled once, and hiding one horse was easier than hiding two.

  “Plus,” Hanna said, “Fettucini’s a faster getaway vehicle.”

  Izzy beamed proudly at that.

  They pulled out the copy of the town map they’d drawn, based off the one tacked up in the barn, and Hanna opened the arena gate.

  The hardest part would be getting all the way down Bridlemile Road, down to the spot where the trail diverged from the road, without anyone seeing them. They decided to walk Fettucini instead of riding him, to appear less conspicuous if Mr. Bridle happened to glance out the window.

  According to the map, the trail split before it joined Main Street, its upper fork curving northeast behind the feed store lot. They weren’t sure of the exact location of Elena’s property, but it would get them close enough.

  Hopefully.

  They took the north fork and encountered no one besides a farmer driving his tractor through a field. Soon the skeletal remains of cars and tractors appeared to their right, behind a barbed wire fence.

  At the edge of the feed store lot’s scrapyard, a new fence started that had to be Elena’s. Hanna’s stomach turned over. It was a lot to hope that Elena Baxter would be on the same schedule today as before, but hope was all they had. There was a spot in the fence that had been broken and recently, it looked like, repaired.