High Hurdles Collection Two (26 page)

“Baby-sitting.”

“We's not babies.” Four fists clamped on two sets of hips. They sent DJ and Tony equal glares.

“Sorry.” DJ realized she was saying that a lot today.

“Have fun.” Tony winked at her and ambled off toward his horse's stall.

At least he gets to ride—and train—and—
DJ cut off that line of thinking. One thing for sure, she was getting good training in thought control. Now if she could learn to control her mouth, as well.

She knelt in front of the boys. “Okay now. I have work to do, and the best way you can help me is to stay out of the way.”

“Good idea. Put 'em to work,” Tony called over his shoulder.

“Grandpa Joe lets us clean out Major's and Ranger's stalls.”

“Okay, I'll put the horses out on the hot walker and you can clean out their stalls. I'm sure GJ did that already this morning, but you can clean out the dirty shavings.”

“And the 'nure.”

DJ got them set up with the wheelbarrow and shovels. She didn't dare give them pitchforks. All she needed right now was a stabbed and bleeding brother. “Now, when you've got that loaded, what are you going to do?”

“Ask someone to dump it for us.”

“Right. And then what?”

“Put clean shavings in the wheelbarrow.”

“And?”

“Ask someone to bring it back.”

“Good. Now, you work here and don't go anywhere else. Stay out of everyone's way. Got that?”

They both nodded up at her, then shot each other matching grins. “We get to clean Major's stall.”

“That's right, DJ. Start 'em young,” another student worker said with a wave.

“DJ?” one of the twins asked.

The other finished, “Can we ride Major when we's done?”

DJ nodded. “Sounds fair to me.”

She forced herself to take her time with Patches and keep him calm. Doing so took all her concentration. When he acted up with his usual side steps and crow hops, she forgot about the boys until she rode back to the barn. She put Patches away with an extra horse cookie for good behavior and walked out the rear door and up to Major's stall.

The dirty bedding was gone, and so were the boys.

Chapter • 4

Panic struck like a rap on the head with a two-by-four.

DJ headed down the aisle toward the dump pile. Where were the twins?

She had just turned the corner when she saw them. The wheelbarrow lay on its side in the middle of the aisle, with the two of them trying to clean up the mess and fill it again. She sucked in a deep breath. They were safe; that was all that mattered, right? Then why did she feel like yanking them up by their jackets and shaking them till their teeth rattled?

“What happened, guys?” Keeping her voice calm took about as much strength as keeping Patches from a dead run.

“It dumped over.”

“Why didn't you ask for help like I told you?”

The two boys shook their heads in perfect sync. “No one to ask.”

“Come on, Carlos was in the other aisle.”

“You said not to leave the stall, but then we couldn't get help and you said you was in a hurry and—”

DJ held up a hand to stop the flood of words. Yelling at them wouldn't do any good or be fair. “Let's get this dumped so you can load fresh shavings while I feed the horses.”

“You gonna help us?”

“Yup, I'll wheel the barrow.”

When the mess was cleaned up and dumped, she left them loading the wheelbarrow with fresh shavings. “Now stay here. You got that?”

“Yes, but we—”

“No, fill this and then stay.” She felt as though she were giving a dog instructions. Sit. Stay. Down, boy.

She filled the water buckets with fresh water, measured the grain, and refilled both horses' hay slings. When she returned to the shavings mound, the twins had filled the wheelbarrow and were now rolling in the fresh shavings, scattering them out to get wet and trampled when it rained again.

Another sigh. “Okay, now sweep those shavings back up in the pile. We don't want to waste any.” They did as told, glancing at her out of the corners of their eyes. Flushed red cheeks told of their fun. A shavings curl clung to one blue stocking cap. Bits of shavings decorated their jackets, pants, and boots. She needed a broom to sweep them off.

“How would you like a ride back?” She almost looked around to see who had said that. Here she was trying to be firm with them, and her mouth played tricks on her.

At the delight on their faces, let alone their squeals, she was glad her mouth sometimes did things on its own. Only problem was that too often it got her in trouble.

She lifted the boys to the top of the wheelbarrow and with a grunt got the thing going and trundled back to the stalls. She dumped the boys out with the shavings, making them laugh and shout again.

“You spread that around and I'll go get Major and Ranger. Put some in Ranger's stall, too.” Both horses nickered for her when she approached the hot walker. Was there any better sound than a horse nickering a greeting?

Halfway home, thoughts of Robert made her slow, then stop pedaling. What if he got all bent out of shape because she took the boys to the Academy? But he hadn't said she couldn't. But then, she hadn't asked. Now what should she do?

“Why we stopping?” one of the Bs asked, looking up at her.

“Uh, you know what? How about not telling your dad about going to the Academy on the bikes until I have a chance to talk to him.”

The boys looked at each other and shrugged.

“Okay?”

“ 'Kay.”

Later, just as she was serving the tacos, DJ heard tires screeching and the Bronco roaring into the drive.

“Daddy's home!” The boys bailed off their chairs and raced to the front door.

“Bobby, Billy, thank God you are all right.” Robert came into the dining room with a boy under each arm. “DJ, where were you?”

She looked up from putting cheese into a taco shell. “Here, why?”
Uh-oh, trouble in town
. His face looked like a thunderstorm had taken up residence.

“I called and called here, and no one answered. I thought something had happened to all of you.”

The boys squirmed until he set them down. They looked up at him, then to DJ. “We's fine, Daddy.”

“I see that. Darla Jean?”

“We rode over to the Academy to take care of the horses. I asked Amy to do it, but she had to go to her grandma's and there wasn't anyone else.”

“Why didn't you call me?”

“You said you had an important meeting. I didn't want to bother you.” DJ wanted to stamp her feet and yell right back at him. “If I'd known in advance, I could have made other arrangements, but …”

Robert swept his hair back with the palm of his hand. “DJ, don't you understand that you and the boys are more important to me than any meeting?” He took in a deep breath and lowered his voice. “Thank God the traffic was light on the San Mateo bridge, or I'd have run right up and over the cars. I almost called the police to come by here and check on the house to see if it was still standing.” He swiped his hand over his hair again. “I even called your mother to see if she knew anything.”

DJ felt like a huge fist socked her in the gut.
Now I'm in for it
. “I … I'm sorry. I did what I thought best.”

“We helped DJ at the barn.”

“We cleaned Major's stall. …”

“And Ranger's, and we …”

“Spilled the 'nure and …”

“Played in the shavings …”

“And rode the bikes …”

“And how come …

“You yelled at DJ?” The two advanced on their father like miniature bulldogs.

“Whoa.” Robert took a step backward. He held up his hands, palms out to ward them off.

“DJ gave us a ride in the barrel. …”

“And Major snuffed my hair—”

“Barrel?” Robert looked at the boys, then DJ.

“Wheelbarrow?” DJ asked.

They nodded … hard.

“Can we have a barrel, Daddy?”

Robert nodded, his lips reluctantly curving in a grin. “I think we have three or four of them on my jobs. We'll have one at the new house.”

“And the barn and a pony and Major and—” The boys danced around the room.

“Hey, guys, your dinner is ready. Come and eat.” DJ set their plates at their places. “You want tacos?” She looked up at Robert.

“Sure. I was supposed to have dinner with the client but …”

DJ flinched. “Sorry.”

After he'd taken his place and was dishing up his meal, he looked up at her. “You know, if something like this happens again and you can't get hold of me, leave a message on the answering machine here and I'll check for that. Also, you can leave a message on my cell phone, and when I turn it on again, I'll get it.”

“Okay. I guess I'm just not used to all that fancy phone stuff.”

As they finished eating, DJ said, “The boys need to get used to being at the barns, though, if they're going to show their horses someday.”

“Horses?” One eyebrow cocked.

“Sure, two boys, two horses. Otherwise we can't all ride up in Briones together.”

“Two horses. Two horses.” Two voices chanted as one.

The phone rang and Robert answered it. The tone of his voice immediately told DJ it was her mother on the other end. She nodded over her shoulder, and she and the boys picked up their plates and tiptoed out of the room.

“You guys go watch TV or a video so I can get my homework done.” She motioned them toward their room. “Your dad'll come for you later.”

“But, DJ—”

“No buts.”
There they go with their whipped-puppy looks again
. DJ kept a stern look on her face. “Come on, guys. If I don't get my homework done, I'll never get to ride Major again.”

“We could ride him for you.”

“Thanks anyway.”

“When we gonna dye Easter eggs?”

“Tomorrow.”

They looked at her again over their shoulders, as if hoping she had relented.

She shook her head. Would they never give up? When they finally went in their room, she did the same. The stack of books on her desk hadn't moved. She threw herself across her bed and let her eyelids drift closed.

She woke sometime later to Robert shaking her shoulder.

“You better get in bed, DJ. It's nearly midnight.”

She groaned and rolled over. “I only wanted to rest my eyes a few minutes. Now I've wasted the whole evening.”

“You must have needed the sleep. Your mom will be home about noon. I think I'll take the boys to meet her at the airport. You can come with us or get your stuff done at the Academy so we can dye eggs later in the afternoon.”

DJ shook her head, trying to wake up enough to be able to answer. “Thought I'd get all my homework done tonight so I wouldn't have to think about it this weekend. Guess I better get right home from chores and do that.”

“Okay. I have one favor, though. I forgot to buy eggs tonight, so could you wait until I get back from the grocery store before you leave in the morning?”

“Sure.”

“I'll go real early.” He scrubbed a hand across his eyes. “I'd go now, but I'm beat.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Night, daughter. Sorry I yelled at you.”

“That's okay.” DJ yawned so big she feared her jaw would break. After Robert left the room, she shucked her clothes and, with her eyes refusing to stay open, pulled on her nightshirt and crawled under the covers. She was asleep before she could even turn out her lamp.

She woke to the phone ringing. When no one answered, she leaped out of bed and dashed into her mother's empty room. At the same time as she wondered,
Where's Robert?
she remembered he was going for eggs. Or at least she thought she remembered him talking about that.

“Hello.”

“DJ, this is Bridget. Do not panic. There is nothing wrong.”