Nothing But Horses (18 page)

“He’s an idiot,” Olivia said. “You’d think
he’d have learned better when the cross-country team won District
after he challenged Robin.”

“Maybe, that’s why he said it.”

Patricia and Olivia looked at each other,
then me.

“No way,” Patricia said. “He doesn’t have the
brains for that.”

* * * *

I had my first puppy obedience class that
afternoon. Charlie and I arrived at Salmon Pond Stable about the
same time everyone else did. I put on his new harness and followed
the other people with their young dogs. When Charlie fell down, I
scooped him up and carried him to the indoor arena. It was my
fault. We hadn’t done a lot on his new leash. A tall redhead stood
in the middle of the ring. She nodded and then came across to
me.

“Hi,” I said, “I’m Sierra McElroy.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m Aspen Watson.” She swept
me up and down with cold blue eyes. “You’re the basketball player.
Six rebounds, five assists, and eighteen points last night.”

“Interesting.” I held Charlie tight against
my chest. “Do you keep track of everyone’s stats?”

“No. I’m the point guard for Centennial
Mid-High.”

“Really?” I shrugged one shoulder. “Why
should I care?”

“Don’t you remember me from last year?”

I pasted on what I hoped was an innocent,
sweet look. “There were so many losers back then.”

“M.P. only beat us by one point, that last
three-pointer you shot.” A faint smile edged her mouth. “We’ll see
who the loser is this year.”

“Bring it!”

“Oh, I will.” She watched Charlie swipe my
cheek with his raspy tongue. “He won’t learn anything unless you
let him walk on his own paws.”

Chapter
Sixteen

Shamrock Stable, Washington

Saturday, January
11
^th
, 6:15 pm

Grandma and I spent the day together. We did
the movie, shopping and lunch thing, our tradition before she and
Grandpa left on the road trip back to Arizona. She didn’t have much
to say beyond talking to me about school and Tom. It wasn’t her
style. Generally, she told me stories about my mom or the family or
her teaching experiences. If that failed, Grandma always had
opinions about what improvements local and national politicians
should make, but they probably wouldn’t. Who actually listens to
teachers?

While the rest of the family finished the
barn chores, Grandma and I put our last dinner together. I sliced
tomatoes for the salad and glanced at her. “What’s bugging you? I
said I’d be nice to Tom. I’m not taking Nevada into pony club so I
won’t break my neck going over a jump.”

“Oh, I’m just stressing about your mom,”
Grandma forked the baked potatoes into a bowl. “I’m afraid she’s
rushing into this relationship with Dave.”

“He’s a decent guy.” I began cleaning the
green pepper. “Totally different from her previous cowboys. I can’t
see any of them standing by a woman with cancer, or raising their
three kids to be decent adults after his wife passed away. He tries
to make the world a better place. They never did. Talk about guys
who were a total waste of time, space and oxygen. I don’t know why
Mom chose them.”

Grandma gave me a long look, and then said,
“You’re old enough to know. When she was about your age, she snuck
around to see a boy who was exciting and encouraged her to disobey
our rules. Your grandpa and I warned her that he was bad news which
only made him more attractive.”

“What happened?” I asked. “Did she marry
him?”

“No, she broke up with him during her senior
year. We didn’t know why. We were just glad she started seeing your
dad when she got to college.”

I rinsed out the pepper, put it on the
cutting board and began to slice it into green strips. “So, did you
ever find out why she dumped the high school guy?”

“Yes. She finally told us that he was a bully
and he pushed her around. She blamed herself. She thought she was
asking for it.”

“Oh come on,” I said. “You can’t own what
other people do. You have to take responsibility for your choices
and your actions. It wasn’t her fault the guy was a major jerk. She
did the right thing when she walked away. So, why has she been
picking other morons?”

“Because she thought she deserved him and the
way he treated her,” Grandma repeated. “That judge really helped
when he sent your mom to counseling. She’s making some serious
changes in her life. Dating Dave is good for her.”

“Yeah. He’s majorly nice.” I chopped up the
pepper and added it to my salad. Then, I began cleaning green
onions. “I like him.”

“What if he proposes to her?” Grandma asked.
“If she marries him, what will you do?”

“I guess I’d try to be glad she isn’t with
another guy who should be called, Passing Through or P.T. for
short.” I ran the onions under the sprayer at the sink. “Actually,
I hope she doesn’t marry him. He’s way too kind for her. She’ll
break his heart.”

“Like she’s broken yours?” Grandma asked
softly.

“Get serious.” I laughed, but it wasn’t a
happy sound. “Nobody breaks me.”

A long silence ensued. I turned and saw
Grandma staring at me. “What?”

She put down the fork and left the pan of
oven-baked chicken to fend for itself. She came over and grabbed me
in a tight hug. “We’ve really done a number on you, Sierra. I’m
sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.”

“What are you talking about?” I wasn’t much
for the touchy-feely stuff, but she seemed to need it tonight, so I
didn’t pull free. “Grandma, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.” She stepped back, framed my
face with her hands. “I tried to remember the last time you asked
me for help.”

“Hey, I’m not needy. I don’t ask anyone for
anything.”

“No, even when you complained about your
school a couple months ago, you didn’t expect me to come through
for you.” Grandma stroked my hair. “We failed you. It’s not a
weakness to ask for help, Sierra. Promise you’ll think about
it.”

“As long as I don’t actually have to do
it.”

Grandma smiled and then kissed my cheek. “I
love you. Your mom loves you.”

“I got that. So does Autumn and Grandpa. I’ll
bet even the horses in the barn love me at least three times a day.
Charlie does because he snuggles with me at night.”

Another smile and then a big sigh before
Grandma let me go back to my salad. I didn’t know what other kind
of conversations she had with my mother during this last visit, but
I’d bet they were in-depth. We normally didn’t do a lot of
emotional bonding stuff in the McElroy household. Mom never had
treated me like I was a kid. I was always her partner, the other
adult who helped raise Autumn, ran the business and did my share in
the barns.

Dave made things easier, not harder on me
which was a major difference. It didn’t mean I’d abdicated my
responsibilities. I knew better. If I eased up, things would be
much harder when he left. And he would leave. It was just a case of
when
not
if
, but I didn’t blame him. Despite all of
Ingrid’s words of wisdom, I knew my mother would get tired of being
an adult. Dave wasn’t the kind of guy who wanted to be
Peter
Pan
to her
Tinkerbell
.

That night Autumn and I had curled up on my
bed to watch TV when Mom came into my room. She stepped around
Queenie who snoozed on the doggie blanket that Vicky made me for
Christmas. Mom sat down next to Charlie who paddled his feet in
puppy dreams. She wanted something because she didn’t say a word
about having the puppy on the comforter. On the next commercial
break, I muted the volume and looked at her. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the riding
club,” Mom said.

“Is it a go?” I asked.

She nodded. Autumn and I high-fived each
other. Mom grinned at us. “There will be conditions. Autumn, I get
to be the boss and no sassy comments. Got it?”

My little sister beamed. “Got it. Me and
Dream are just happy to be in it. We’re going to the fair this year
and she’s winning the champion ribbons.”

“Okay. Good to know.” Mom eyed me. “Sierra,
this is going to be tough for you.”

“Hey, you’re the boss,” I said. “I’m good
with it.”

“Yes, but I need you to be patient and
tolerant when the beginners have issues.”

“Got it.” I held up my hand. “I promise I
won’t tell someone when he is a waste of time, space, and oxygen.
Or when she is, for that matter.”

“You can’t give that person, the
stupid
human
look either.”

“That’s fair,” I said. “We won’t make any
money on the club if I let my ego get involved. Can I start
announcing it to the students tomorrow? And put it on the
website?”

“I’m counting on it.” Mom got up. She hugged
Autumn and kissed my forehead. “Dave and I are going out for a
little bit with Grandma and Grandpa. Are you two okay with
that?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Do you want me to come lock
the door after you?”

“No. We’ll do it.”

Once Mom left, Autumn about strangled me with
her hug. “We got it. Our own club! I’m so glad. That Tanya lady
said I couldn’t be in the Silver Spurs till I was nine and that’s
forever away.”

“We’re going to have fun.” I grabbed my cell,
not discussing my sister’s view of two years before she could join
my old club. At seven, it probably had felt like she’d never get in
the group. Of course, I hadn’t wanted her exposed to the Jamisons,
but I wasn’t about to say that. “I’m going to text Vicky, Robin and
Dani and let them know the great news.”

“Yippee. They’ll be so happy.”

“You know it.”

* * * *

Marysville, Washington

Monday, January
13
^th
, 7:15 am

Grandma and Grandpa had left for Arizona
after church on Sunday. I was glad they’d stuck around to see me
sing in the teen choir. Granted, I really couldn’t mess up on a
bunch of “Halleluiahs,” but it was still singing in public. Once I
learned their material, I’d get my shot at a solo. The choir
director asked me when I thought I’d be ready and I said I’d like
to do it during the summer when my grandparents would return. That
made most of the other kids happy, since I obviously wasn’t trying
to upstage them. I figured it was also fitting into Mom’s goal of
changing me into the new, better, saintly Sierra who practiced
patience and tolerance.

I carried a tray of espressos across to
Robin’s table and handed them out. “Your Coach Norris is going to
drive me crazy. How do I get along with the guy? I’m really not a
horrible diva.”

“You are, but it isn’t your fault.” Robin
stirred her mocha with the straw. “You’re sixteen going on forty
because you’ve been an adult since you were in diapers. I’m a
princess because my parents and sibs totally spoil me. So, I can
play the “you’re big and I’m little” card with Coach Norris and
mean it. You can’t.”

I pulled out a chair and sat down. “Well,
what do I do?”

“Play the game his way at school,” Robin
said.

“Hey, I told him that he was the boss.”

“Yeah and I bet you gave him that look.”

“What look?” I sipped chocolate and coffee.
Wow, I so needed it while I waited. “I don’t get it.”

“You have this look like the person hassling
you is a total worm and you’re just trying to humor him. Adults
hate that.”

“So, what do I do?”

“Practice my princess smile and play the
“dumb blonde” like I do. Or Vicky’s plastic cheerleader routine,
when she does her
rah, rah, sis, boom-bah
bit. Or Dani when
she does her
last word
thing.”

“What’s the
last word
?” I turned to
Dani as she approached. “Hi. I guess I need to borrow your survival
skill.” I handed her the third cup. “What is it?”

“Last word
?” Dani put down her
backpack and sat next to me. She dove into the coffee, heaved a
huge sigh. “Robin’s boss, Brianna taught it to me. I’ve begun using
it on my parents and it totally works. They agreed I could have one
of Robin’s puppies.”

“Whoa. No way. They were adamant that you
couldn’t a couple weeks ago.”

“That was before I did
last word
on
them.” Dani beamed around the pink straw and sucked up more coffee.
“Can Louise and I come over tonight to get my dog, Robin?”

“Definitely. Now, tell her how to play the
game.” Robin paused and held up her hand. “Oops, forgot the caveat.
It doesn’t work on some adults. If they were non-coms in the Army,
don’t do it. They view it as an insult.”

Dani nodded in total agreement. “It’s simple,
but remember to make eye contact and put on a subservient attitude
like when you play the maid in a skit in Drama.”

“And say what? Yes, m’lady? Yes, m’lord?
Coach will know I’m faking it.”

“Well, substitute “ma’am” and “sir” for those
titles and you got it.” Dani grinned at me. “Okay, so it’s majorly
bogus, but it works. Adults think you’re being respectful and
polite. Oh and you have to give them what Brianna calls,
the
attitude of attention
at the same time. It’s where the eye
contact comes in and not interrupting and gazing at them like you
do the preacher at church.”

“So, if I do all that, I’ll be point
guard?”

“I don’t know.” Dani shrugged. “All I know is
it got me a puppy and Mom said I couldn’t have one before. Dad
agreed with her. And they totally changed their minds. I can have
someone to love 24/7 now. My parents were so impressed by
last
word
, they even promised Louise a raise for teaching me ‘old
world’ manners.”

I nodded and took the last cup from the
holder as Vicky joined us. I passed her the peppermint latte. “All
right. I’ll try it. I don’t have anything to lose and I’m sick of
running lines. Besides if Coach was ticked about last week’s game,
he’ll send me out to run laps on the track after we play Centennial
since Aspen Watson accepted my challenge.”