by L. M. Reed
~ * * ~
“CeeCee,” Mom’s voice cut through the fogginess in my brain.
“Mom…?” I forced my eyes open. “What time is it?”
“Six, almost time for supper.”
“How did it go?” I asked hesitantly, sitting up, not sure if I wanted to know.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Mom hedged as she walked to the door. “Come on downstairs when you’re ready.”
That can’t be good.
I was beginning to recognize when something was seriously bothering her; something was. I decided to wait and ask Mark. Mom in that type of mood, I was certain, would not be very forthcoming.
Hurriedly, I rushed through my ablutions and made my way downstairs, anxious to talk to Mark.
David and Josh rushed me as soon as I hit the bottom of the stairs and led me to the kitchen, chatting the whole way. They were disappointed that I’d slept so long, but were valiantly trying to hide it. I promised them I would go see their horses after supper, telling them I had already met Tex.
“That’s Daniel’s horse,” David said dismissively. “Ours are much cooler.”
“Much cooler,” Josh echoed.
I nodded in agreement—although they had all, with the exception of the black one, looked alike to me—not wanting to hurt their feelings.
Mrs. Barrett, with Mom’s help, already had supper ready. We were eating in the dining room, but the food was all in the kitchen, buffet style. I was apparently the last arrival, which of course caused guilt feelings, but no one seemed to mind.
“Allison you and CeeCee go first since you’re our guests,” Mrs. Barrett urged us toward the plates. “Mark has been here so many times he’s learned to fight his way through like the rest of the boys.”
“I certainly want to be out of their way,” Mom agreed teasingly, “they look hungry.”
Putting her hand behind my back, Mom urged me forward. Not wanting to hold up the line, I grabbed a plate and started piling it with food. I knew better than to argue with anyone about eating.
Mrs. Barrett handed me a glass of ice water, and directed me to a chair in the dining room. The table had already been set with the silverware and napkins.
Mom sat down beside me, and the rest of the table gradually filled up. I was hoping Mark would sit on my other side so I could quietly ask him some questions while everyone was talking, but to my surprise, Daniel pulled out the chair next to me and sat down.
“You look much better than the last time I saw you,” he teased. “Must have needed that long nap you took. David and Josh have been antsy all afternoon waiting for you to wake up.”
“Speaking of the last time you saw me,” I whispered, “what was that stunt you pulled with the hand kissing?”
Laughing quietly, he whispered back, “A little competition is a healthy thing.”
“Well, I’m so glad we got that all cleared up,” I hissed at him in irritation.
What was it with Barrett males? All of them were so frustrating.
Except for the dad, I qualified silently.
“Don’t look now but big brother is watching,” he murmured in my ear.
Nick was indeed watching from across the table with an extremely grim look on his face. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but I knew Daniel was egging Nick on, so I whispered back furiously, “Behave your self.”
“Aw, don’t spoil my fun,” he whispered pleadingly. “I’ve never been able to get under Nick’s skin before, I’m rather enjoying it.”
That I could understand, but I still hated to see Nick so angry. We were friends after all and it was in his nature to be bossy and overprotective, so I couldn’t find it in my heart to fault him for that.
“You’ll have to do it alone,” I muttered, “because I’m not playing.”
The rest of the evening, I tried to avoid Daniel’s persistent badgering, but at times, he was so hilarious I burst out laughing; I couldn’t help it. Nick hardly said a word all night.
When supper was over, Mom insisted on helping Mrs. Barrett with the dishes while David and Josh drug me out the door to meet their horses, which had been stabled in the barn for the night.
Three gorgeous border collies greeted us as soon as we opened the doors. I fell in love with them immediately. Sam was the normal black and white type of collie, but Missy had gold and white coloring.
The third dog, however, was the most gorgeous dog I’d ever met in my life. David told me her name was Daisy. She had the most beautiful orange-red coloring and was so adorable I couldn’t resist burying my hands in her fur.
The twins explained that Nick had mentioned to their parents about Mom’s fear of dogs, and so the poor things had been installed in the barn for the duration of our visit. That was considerate of them, but I felt sorry for the dogs.
David and Josh were impatiently waiting for me to meet their horses, but seeing how hesitant I was to leave the dogs, said the ‘mutts’ could come with us.
I hid a smile. Obviously, the dogs didn’t rank nearly as high in their affections as their horses, because I’d never seen any dogs that looked less like mutts.
I had never seen the inside of a real barn and I was amazed at the cleanliness. The horses were in stalls and I spent time with each of them. Both of the twin’s horses were Quarter horses like Daniel’s, whatever that meant. I knew I’d never be able to tell one type of horse from another.
David’s was named Honey and Josh’s was named Lady, and the two were determined to tell me everything about them.
I had to admit, I felt more comfortable petting them because Daniel had introduced me to his horse Tex earlier. The twins even let me feed them a treat, which scared me to death, afraid the horses would take my hand off, but I was proud of myself for going through with it.
The black horse, my favorite though I wouldn’t have told the twins that, was Nick’s and David told me offhandedly that he was named Diablo. He was apparently a thoroughbred and was more ‘high strung’ than the other horses, although he was apparently mellowing a bit in his old age.
“Wish Nick was,” David grumbled.
“Yeah,” Josh agreed. “He’s no fun when he’s being an old mother hen like today.”
I must have grown up a lot in the past few months because I found myself totally disagreeing with the twins when not too long ago I would have agreed whole-heartedly.
By the time we got back to the house, it was already dark and Mom and Mark were ready to go. The Barrett family stood on the front porch to see us off…everyone except for Nick. I casually glanced around trying to locate him without seeming to, but he was nowhere to be seen. Everyone else hugged and kissed me goodbye.
“You can stop pretending you’re not looking for him,” Daniel murmured in my ear as he hugged me with unnecessary force.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I said haughtily pushing at him ineffectually, still unsure what he was up to, but not about to participate willingly.
Chuckling he kissed me on the forehead.
“I’m sure he’s watching, though,” he said as he finally allowed me to push him away. “See you tomorrow at church.”
He sauntered away whistling, his hands in his front pants pockets while I shook my head in confusion.
I was glad it was dark in the car and that I was sitting in the back seat alone as we drove away. Nick never showed up to say goodbye and I was so upset the tears flowed freely down my cheeks.
Knowing I only had thirty minutes to pull myself together, I closed my eyes and frantically searched for something to take my mind off Nick. I had nothing.
I let the tears flow and managed to get them mopped up as we arrived back at the apartment.