Chapter Thirty-Two
Monday, October 28th, 5:05 p.m.
I’d finished the last of the red Mustangs and moved onto the black one when Brenna came out of the office trailer. I flicked a quick glance at her and kept soaping the hood. “So do I still have a job? Or are you firing my butt for watering down the jerk?”
A smile trickled across her lips, up to her eyes and then she burst out laughing. “Honey, you have a job for life if you want it.” She grabbed me in a hug. “Nobody has ever stood up for me the way you did. I admire your guts.”
“Hey, I admire yours. I couldn’t go to war.”
“Sweetheart, I think you just did.” Brenna stepped back and grinned at me. “You deserve to know that he came to see me because he broke things off with the fiancée as soon as he got home. He just wouldn’t do it from a war zone when she was waiting for him. I don’t know what comes next—”
“What took him so long to get here?” I asked. “Haven’t you been home for months?”
“He’s a career soldier, and it took a while for him to get leave.” She shrugged. “So, we wait and see. He has a lot to do to convince me he can be trusted.”
At least she was thinking. She wasn’t just falling at his feet. I glanced at my watch. “Okay if I finish this car and head out today? I have to do chores. My horse attacked Jack over the weekend, and he can’t do barns for a while.”
“That’s fine. When is your next meet?”
“Oh, I forgot,” I said. “It’s been moved to Wednesday because everybody complains so much when we have one on Halloween. I don’t mind washing cars on Thursday if that’s all right.”
“It’s fine. I’ll see you then.” With a wave, she headed back to the office.
When Dad and I arrived home, Rocky’s pickup was in the drive. I changed and headed to the barn. Rocky was feeding carrots to Twaziem when I arrived. She’d already groomed him and had started teaching him to work on a longe line. She waved to me, and I walked over to her to stand in the middle of her circle.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Some things you need to know about him.” She flipped the end of the rope at him and Twaz eyed her warily before he took a step. “Never use a whip on him, not even a long one to get him going. He sees it as a threat and wants to attack.”
I nodded, turning with her. “Okay, I hadn’t thought about it, but I won’t take chances with a whip. How do I deal with his gender bias?”
“Start by teaching him that all guys aren’t the same,” Rocky said. “Dani and I did a little bit earlier this afternoon. She and her boyfriend groomed Twaziem while I held him. He’s coming back tomorrow. Are there any other guys this horse likes?”
“Bill, but I haven’t seen him since I got angry at him last week.”
“You may want to consider apologizing to him if he can help with training.”
“He totally pissed me off when he let a guy steal a video off his phone.”
Rocky just gave me her ‘drop dead’ stare before she said, “With a crappy attitude like that, Robin, it’s a good thing you don’t work in law enforcement. Why aren’t you blaming your horse for almost dying of starvation?”
“It’s not his fault that he didn’t get fed.” I stopped to think. Okay, she had a point. “I have to go muck stalls, and maybe I was too hard on Bill.”
“Then, I’ll let you figure out how to make amends.” She gave a little wave of her hand. “Go shovel poop. It’ll be good for you.”
After I finished the rest of the chores, I came back to the arena. Rocky had me longe Twaziem for a few minutes before I led him to his stall for supper. “How often are you going to come train him?”
“Either Sierra or I will be here every day to work with him. Groom him at least an hour a day and clean his feet several times during the process. Many young horses hate having their hooves done, and you don’t want to have new problems start.”
“I hate picking hooves,” I said, “and today I had to do everybody else’s feet.”
“Poor baby.” Rocky didn’t sound like she meant it. She patted my shoulder as if I were my horse. “Actually, you’ve done a good job training Twaziem so far. I’ll need you to keep helping me and Sierra. He trusts you, and it’ll be easier for him if you spend time with us.”
I nodded. “Okay. I think I’ll probably keep him longer than I originally planned. He needs to bond with people, and so far I’m one of the few that he actually likes.”
“What are your plans for him?” Rocky asked. “You’ll be riding him next summer.”
“I’d like to show him the way that Dani shows Lady.”
“Then, we’ll concentrate on training him for western pleasure.”
I was in the middle of my algebra assignment that night when Jack limped into my room. “What?”
“Vicky’s on the landline. We’re done talking, and she wants to connect with you.” He gave me an older brother look. “This is the last time I’m going to ask you to stop being mean to Bill. He’s taking it hard. I had to tell him that punching out Caine wasn’t an answer, and that’s pretty touchy-feely for me.”
“Yeah, well, Rocky jumped on my case about it today too.” I got up and headed for the door, stopping to give him a baby hug on the way. I didn’t want to hurt his ribs. “I guess I wanted to be mad at someone about that video, and Bill was handy. I sure couldn’t go kick Caine’s butt.”
“Life will kick him in the teeth for us.” Jack hugged me back. “Glad you’re not mad at me anymore.”
“Likewise.” Mom was in her craft room and Dad was in his study, so I nabbed the living room extension to talk to Vicky. “Hey, what’s up? Jack and I aren’t fighting anymore. Are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m fine. I finished whining at him about my family, and he sniveled at me about having to help cook supper and then do dishes. So, we decided it’s your turn to listen.”
“Yeah, well how do I tell Bill I’m sorry I was a jerk?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Send him flowers?”
We both laughed, but actually it wasn’t a bad idea. I could have them delivered to him at school. We threw around a few other ideas, like a card or candy or just walking up and saying what I had to say.
After a few minutes, Vicky cut to the subject on her mind. “Anyway, I was talking to my mom about helping you out in the barns because I’d be off the cheer squad if you hadn’t stepped up to help me. She says the only days I could come would be Fridays and Saturdays since that’s when my dad has the kids and I don’t. Will it be any help?”
“It’d be a lot of help,” I said. “Friday, we could take you to the game after chores, and if you spent the night here, then we could go straight to Shamrock Stable. When I finish my lesson, I go to work down at the Mustang Corral.”
“How do you like it? Washing cars seems like a stupid job to me.”
“I love it.” I giggled. Then I told her all about cutting loose with the hose on Brenna’s heartthrob. We talked for another half-hour before I went back to my algebra and knocked the problems into submission. I didn’t have a hose, but then again, I didn’t need one.
Afterwards, I went online and found a cool arrangement of ten long-stemmed blue iris and ten yellow roses. School colors. Awesome! They’d be perfect to send to Bill. I didn’t talk to Dad about it. He was such a guy, and he wouldn’t believe I wanted to give flowers to Bill. I headed for Mom’s sewing room. She listened to everything. She totally understood how I felt. And she loaned me her credit card. Yippee! I’d have to pay her back from my first check at the Mustang Corral. That was cool. Now, the flower arrangement would truly be from me.
* * * *
Wednesday, October 30th, 3:30 p.m.
The meet was back in Snohomish this week. I spotted my parents and Jack in the grandstand with Mrs. Bartlett. Leaving Harry to run the lot, Brenna had shown up with her guy who wore camouflage, another beret, and more combat boots. They sat next to the rest of my personal cheering squad. I popped up to show Mrs. B. the latest pics of Twaziem. Rocky had saddled and bridled him for the first time yesterday, so he looked almost like a horse.
“Is it my imagination or is he a bit thin?” Sergeant Dawson gave me a wary look. “Just a question, not an accusation.”
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “They don’t allow me to have a hose at the meets. And he’s gained a lot of weight in the last six weeks. The vet says he’s put on almost two hundred pounds.”
“Do I want to know what you did with a hose, Robbie?” Dad asked.
“I handled it since it happened at the Corral,” Brenna told him, “And now Kyle knows to stay out of the way when we’re washing cars.”
“What she said.” Kyle Dawson glanced past me. “Some old guy’s waving at you, Robin. Is that important?”
“Yes.” I looked over my shoulder. “It’s my coach. Got to go. Mrs. B., you need to come see Twaz more often. He misses you.”
She straightened her wig. “I will. Go win, honey.”
“Are you sure about that? Your grandkids are running, too.”
“You work a lot harder at things than they do, so go show them what happens when people do their best.”
Good advice. I hurried down the steps and ran over to join my team. Olivia high-fived me. “We’re ready to rock and roll today. Isn’t that the Bartlett beasts’ grandma?”
“Yeah, but she’s a nice lady,” I said. “And we choose our friends, not our relatives.”
Coach Norris came up and gave the usual pep talk. “I know you think it’s going to be easy because we’re down to the end of the season and you’ve won all the other meets. People are going to try harder so you need to do the same. Remember—”
“Winners never quit,” I started up and the rest of the team joined in, “and quitters never win!”
The long distance runners headed over to line up. Once again, we took the lead and held it. The trail was a bit cooler today. We’d had a few rains, although none of the regular storms had hit yet. Once that happened, we ran through the mud and creeks. A breeze ruffled the trees. Gold, red, and green leaves from the alders and maples scattered across the paths. We hit the groves of cedars, up and down the hills, around curves and then along the lakeshore.
The rest of my team was with me as we came down the last slope and hit the track again, running full out for the finish line. I was the first through the tunnel, followed by the rest of the Lincoln High team. I heard Jack yelling. He sounded really loud. When I looked up, I saw Bill next to him. I waved at them and kept going.
Bill wound his way through the audience and came toward me, a huge grin on his face. I was so forgiven. I ran into his arms. He scooped me up and kissed me. He wasn’t mad at me anymore, and I wasn’t mad at him either.
When he lifted his head, he said. “So next time you make a mistake, do I have to send flowers if I yell at you?”
“Possibly,” I said, “but only if you yell at me for something that’s truly not my fault.”
“Okay. It’s a deal.” And he kissed me again.