Sapphire: New Horizons

by Heather Brooks

  “See for yourself.” Emily’s dad turned a corner, and Emily sucked in her breath. It was gigantic and sprawling, twenty times the size of their house in New Jersey, and it looked like it had once been gorgeous, but now…yikes. It might have been white originally, but there was no way to tell because most of the paint had peeled off. There was some wood propping up one end of the porch, and half the windows didn’t even have screens. Really tall fir trees loomed over the house, which was sort of neat, and she liked the huge windows, but…“It’s…um…falling down.” Their house in New Jersey was brand-new, in a community of identical houses with perfect yards and flawless paint. “It has personality, I guess.”

  “Don’t worry about it falling down. It’ll last another two hundred years at least.” Her dad tooted the horn and stopped the car as a swayback gray horse wandered in front of them. He was so old he was almost white, but there was a defiance in his eyes that made him look much younger. He paused to give the car a long look, as if ordering them not to run him over. Her dad grinned and leaned on the steering wheel to watch the horse. “That’s Max. He was Pa’s best friend, and he gets the run of the farm. Goes wherever he wants. I’d forgotten about him.”

  “Seriously? He wanders around?” Emily felt a flicker of excitement as she watched Max mosey around behind the house. “That’s so cool.”

  The front door of the house swung open, the screen door banging back into the frame with a crash. Emily jerked her gaze up as a woman wearing jeans, a faded red T-shirt, and paddock boots came out on the porch, waving. “Scott! Welcome!”

  Her dad tensed, and for a long moment, he didn’t respond. He simply stared at the woman as if he’d never seen her before.

  Emily shot him a wary look. “Dad? Aren’t you going to answer her?”

  “Yeah.” He took a breath, and a slow smile finally curved over his face. “That’s your aunt Debby. I can’t believe how long it’s been.” He opened his door and stood up. “Deb. It’s been forever.”

  There was a slight hesitation, and then her dad hugged his sister hard, as if they both had missed each other so much.

  “I’m so sorry about Pa,” her dad said. “I wish I’d been here for him.”

  Aunt Debby hugged him tighter, and Emily felt a little awkward that they were both so sad about their dad, and she’d never met him. Emily never thought of her dad as missing anyone, let alone his family out here, whom he’d barely talked about. She certainly had never thought much about his having a dad, or any family besides herself. She wasn’t sure how she felt about sharing him, now that she saw him hugging his sister.

  Emily stepped out of the car. The air was fresh and damp, and it felt so clean when she breathed it into her lungs. She had just shut the car door when her dad and Aunt Debby turned to face her.

  Aunt Debby had brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail; she had little laugh lines around her eyes and mouth. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. Her eyes were dark brown, and her eyebrows were a little bit frownish.

  Then she smiled, and her eyes lit up. “Emily. It’s so wonderful to meet you.”

  “Yeah, you too—” Emily grunted as Aunt Debby threw her arms around her and squashed her in a giant hug. At first Emily froze, then lightly hugged her back, not quite sure what to do.

  Aunt Debby pulled away and patted her cheek. “You look just like your mom. Same nose.”

  Emily’s eyebrows shot up at the unexpected reference, touching her fingers to her nose. She didn’t remember anything about her mom. She’d peeked every once in a while at her dad’s wedding album, but that was more to laugh at her dad’s goofy moustache than to look at her mom. She’d never met anyone before who knew her mom, and it felt a little weird. The whole place was feeling a little uncomfortable, actually, with her dad being sad and stressed out, the place being a little more rundown than she expected, and being hugged by family that she didn’t know. She shifted, just wanting to go see the horses, where she’d feel comfortable again, to recapture the moment she’d had by the side of the road when she felt so connected to this place where horses belonged. Maybe she could find Sapphire again and let him lick more chocolate off her jeans. “So, um, where’s the barn?”

  Aunt Debby laughed, a soul deep sound that reverberated in her chest, a sound so contagious it almost made Emily want to laugh out loud with her. Her dad did. “Of course you’d want to see the barn. Scott told me how you’re horse crazy.” She pointed to her right. “Behind the house and off that way. Your cousins should be around there somewhere. Have fun!”

  “Um, okay, thanks.” She glanced at her dad. “Okay if I check it out?”

  He nodded. “Just for a few minutes, then come back and unpack.”

  “Sure.” She whirled around and broke into a jog, her tennies crunching on the gravel driveway as she rounded the corner, caught the first sight of the barn, and then stopped right where she was.

  3

  Like the rest of the farm, the barn was gray and old. Not only were there no polished mahogany doors with brass fixtures, but the doors that were there were nailed together with plywood to keep them from falling apart. But the barn was huge, with a pointed roof that clearly held a hayloft. It reminded her of a barn from the olden days, a true barn, unlike her dressage barn in New Jersey. With its wrought iron chandeliers, glistening paint, and fancy windows, it felt more like a mansion. But this…This was a barn in the truest sense of the word.

  A big horse van was sitting next to it, and RUNNING HORSE RIDGE was painted on the side in dark green letters that were the same color as the pine trees looming high above the barn. There were paddocks on either side, where horses were turned out, grazing on the grass that was a deeper, more brilliant shade of green than anything Emily had ever seen. It was thick and lush, practically bursting with moisture and life.

  The horse nearest her was a dark bay, almost black, with a white face. He snorted once and his tailed swished to clear off invisible bugs, and she felt her heart squeeze as she caught the scent of fresh shavings and hay then drank in the sounds of the horses snuffling for grass. This was home.

  Her stomach settled and she knew she’d be okay as long as she had the horses. She thought of Sapphire somewhere in that barn, thought of his beautiful face and warm brown eyes, and started walking toward the barn again.

  She was running by the time she reached the doors.

  Emily ducked inside the barn, taking a moment to let her eyes adjust to the dim light. She inhaled deeply, basking in the scent of horses, of pine shavings, of fresh hay, and felt her insides relax even more. This was her world. Maybe it wasn’t as fancy as her barn back home, but it was still where she belonged.

  There were stalls along both walls, and she could see several aisles of more stalls off to the sides. There were no bars on the stall doors, and some of the horses’ heads were hanging out; others she couldn’t see, and she assumed they were back inside.

  The floor was cement and cracked, but it was swept. The barn smelled like lemon and pine, and she knew that someone had just cleaned. The wood, like the rest of the place, looked weathered. But it didn’t seem neglected. It felt lived in and comfortable, like it would be okay if the horses wanted to be themselves and kick up some dirt or chew on the door.

  Emily wandered over to a liver chestnut with his head hanging out and peeked into his stall. The shavings were fresh, the water was clean, and the horse was brushed. Yeah, the stall door was half chewed and the wall was peppered with divots from a horse kicking it, but it was clean. No automatic watering system that she could see, but it was a good place, she could tell.

  She started humming to herself as she strolled down the aisle, peeking in at the stalls, looking for Sapphire. Many of the stalls were empty, and three of the horses tried to bite her as she walked past, making her giggle. “You’re not as scary as you think you are,” she told a gray horse with his teeth bared. The moment she spoke, he let his lip go back down, and his ears cocked forward to listen to her. “See? I knew
it.”

  One horse she passed had a big shaved patch on his hip and a huge scar, and another had a bandage totally covering his right eye. Most were dozing, one hind leg cocked with their heads hanging contentedly in sleep. There were open doors on the far side of the stalls, leading to the pasture. She could see a few horses out there, and could practically touch the happiness in the air.

  Some looked fat and well fed, and others…not so much. On one horse in a stall, she could even see his ribs, and she gave him a few moments of scratching time while he munched on the big pile of hay. He might be thin, but he was getting food now. She realized that it was cool, actually, what Aunt Debby did. Saving horses that needed help. She’d never thought about it before, but there was something about seeing those needy horses in clean stalls that just made her feel good.

  She heard the murmur of voices as she passed the tack room and peeked inside to check it out. There were no brass saddle racks and glistening white saddle pads, but the saddles were clean and the red saddle racks wouldn’t look so bad if the paint wasn’t half peeled off. There were a couple kids in there, cleaning tack, and she grinned, thinking about the hours she spent in the tack room at her own barn, hanging out. Not so different here.

  She reached the end of the aisle and stepped outside past a heavy door that had been propped open with a dinged-up, gray wheelbarrow loaded with three big bags of shavings.

  She heard the thud of hooves and glanced to her right. A riding arena! Brightly colored jumps were set up, and the girl she’d met out on the road was racing over them on the dapple gray she’d been riding in the field.

  But Sapphire was nowhere to be seen. Was someone taking care of his cuts? She headed over to the ring to ask the girl.

  Emily reached the ring and leaned on the fence, waiting for the girl to take a break so she could ask about Sapphire. The girl’s hair was flying, her elbows were sticking out and flailing, her heels were up, and she was shouting encouragement to the horse as they sprang over a red and white striped jump that looked huge. At least three feet high. The girl was wild and all over the place and clearly didn’t care one bit about her form, but her horse seemed to be doing things right, so maybe she was a good rider even if she didn’t look like one.

  Emily spent hours working on her form with Rhapsody. They could have one lesson just on walking because the little details were that important.

  This girl obviously didn’t bother with the details.

  Dirt sprayed up from the horse’s hooves as he flew around a corner and sprang over a jump. The horse was fit and she was flying over the huge jumps with no problem. It actually looked sort of fun, and Emily felt a trickle of jealousy that she wasn’t the one riding…Not that she was into jumping, of course.

  She was all about dressage…She did another check of the ring. No dressage letters on the sides, even as a backup for when they took the jumps out of the ring.

  There had to be a dressage ring around somewhere, didn’t there?

  She saw a boy about ten years old squatting next to a bucket. One of her cousins? She walked over to him. “Hi. Is there a dressage ring here?”

  He looked up at her, his bright red hair a total mess and his cheeks sunburned. “You’re my cousin Emily?”

  She nodded. “What’s your name?” Her dad had mentioned a boy, but she’d been too busy fantasizing about the horses to pay attention.

  “Kyle.” He pulled a squirt gun out of the bucket and popped the plug in and started pumping the chamber. “Nice clothes.”

  She looked down at her new jeans and top and her white tennis shoes that were now muddy. “Thanks. I got them for the trip here—Hey!”

  She was hit in the chest with a flood of water, and then he cackled with laughter and sprinted around the corner of the barn before she could stop him. “You little jerk!”

  “He’s always like that. Ignore him.”

  Emily looked up to see the girl on the horse had reined in to a walk and was cruising along the rail, watching her. She was wearing no makeup and there was dirt on her cheek, but Emily thought she was beautiful. She had a little nose, perfect mouth, and gorgeous green eyes.

  Emily suddenly felt a little plain. And wet.

  “I’m Alison. You’re Emily?”

  Emily squeezed out her shirt and water droplets landed in the dirt. “Yeah. Do you, um, have a dressage ring around here?”

  “Dressage?” Alison snorted as her horse cruised past, still breathing heavily. “No way. We’re all about hunter/jumper here.”

  Emily stiffened. “You say it like dressage is a bad thing.”

  “It’s not bad. It’s just boring.”

  “It’s not boring! It’s incredibly difficult. It’s…it’s ballet for horses, a classic training program that’s, like, two thousand years old. Do you even have any idea how many different things you have to think about when the horse is walking?”

  “Yeah, one. How to get him to go faster.”

  “Faster? That’s it?” Emily hooked her arms tighter around the fence rail, starting to get a little upset. She could tell Alison didn’t think much of dressage, and it was making her feel like she didn’t belong—like because she was a dressage rider, she wouldn’t fit in at their barn, wouldn’t be good enough to be a part of things here. “Dressage is about so much more than speed. It’s beautiful and precise and—”

  “Well, we don’t do dressage around here,” Alison interrupted. “Is that all you do? Mom said you’d be able to help with the horses, but if all you do is dressage, I’m not sure how much you’re going to be able to do with them. We rehab the horses and retrain them for hunter/jumper competition.”

  Emily felt her stomach tighten at the implication that she wouldn’t be good enough to ride their horses. “I’m a good rider, actually. Rhapsody and I were the favorites at the Norfolk Open this weekend in the Level III test—” She stopped at Alison’s blank look. “Never mind,” she mumbled.

  At her barn everyone knew how well she and Rhapsody did together. Every Monday after a show, everyone congratulated her. She didn’t have to prove herself, but here…It had never even crossed her mind she wouldn’t fit in at this barn. Family she didn’t know was one thing, but the barn? She lifted her chin. “I’m good enough to ride the horses here. I’ll be helpful.”

  Alison raised an eyebrow and shrugged. “You’ll have to take it up with my mom. She’s the boss. It would be nice to have help, though, so I hope you’re right.”

  “I’m right. I’ll be fine.”

  “That would be good.” Alison gathered up the reins. “I’ll see you later, I guess. I’m going to go cool her down with a run through a stream.” Alison turned her horse away, trotted over to the gate, and unhooked the latch with her foot.

  “Wait!” Emily scrambled off the fence and jogged over to the gate needing more than ever to see Sapphire. He liked her, she knew it, and she needed to be around him, even if it was just long enough for her to give him a hug. “Where’s Sapphire? I wanted to visit him.”

  “Last stall in the south aisle.” Alison rode her horse out the gate, then paused to look at Emily. “But be careful. My mom’s superprotective of Sapphire. She has high hopes for him.” Then she whirled around and took off in a thud of hoofbeats along a grassy path that headed back toward a patch of trees. Dirt sprayed against Emily’s legs as Alison took off, releasing the scent of fresh, wet earth into the air.

  Emily stared after her, watching with envy as she disappeared in the woods. Not that she wanted to be reckless and crazy like Alison…but to be able to ride off by herself like that? Too cool. “This is so different from home,” she said.

  “Where’s home?”

  She spun around to see a little girl standing next to her, chewing on a piece of hay. The girl looked about seven and was wearing filthy cutoff jeans and a T-shirt that had mud all over it. “Where’s your home?” she asked again.

  Emily smiled at the thought of the place where she knew how to fit in. “New Jersey.”


  “Why is that home?”

  “Because that’s where my friends are.”

  “Oh.” The girl thought about this for a moment. “Well, I’m Caitlyn. I’ll share my friends with you. They’re nice.”

  Emily couldn’t help but laugh, and some of her tension eased. “Well, thanks. I appreciate that.”

  “My friend Tanya and I are building a fort in the hay barn right now. I came out to get some horse blankets to sit on. Want to come?”

  Emily glanced at the barn, toward Sapphire’s stall. “I can’t right now. I have to go check on a horse.”

  “Oh…” Caitlyn nodded. “You’re Emily, then? You’re going to live with us now?”

  “For a little bit.”

  “Mommy says she hopes you’ll never leave. That you’ll stay forever.”

  “Forever? No. We’re just here for the funeral….” Then she frowned. Unless her dad hadn’t told her something…Was that why he hadn’t talked to Alice about buying Rhapsody yet, even though his owner had been dropping hints that she would be willing to sell him?

  Granted it was completely awesome to be on a horse farm and all, but this wasn’t home. This wasn’t her world. She didn’t want to stay here. There wasn’t even a dressage ring!

  Not that her dad would do that…or would he? What if he got here and realized he’d missed it too much ever to leave again?

  “Emily? You need to unpack! Come back to the house.” Her dad’s voice echoed across the farm.

  “Okay, so I’ll see you, then.” Caitlyn wheeled around and skipped her way into the barn.

  “Em!”

  “I’ll be there in a second!” Not ready to question her dad in case he had answers she didn’t want to hear, answers that meant she’d be staying in a world where she didn’t quite fit, Emily squeezed out her shirt again from the squirt gun attack then jogged back into the barn to find Sapphire.

  Then she stopped, realizing she had no idea which way was south. What kind of information was that? South? In New Jersey, it was “take a left” not “south aisle.”