Trouble Me: A Rosewood Novel (6 page)

“You considered attaching a longe line to Will?” she asked Travis, passing him his giggling son and snagging a second bagel. Last night’s marathon of sex had entitled her to a few hundred extra calories.

“Only a couple hundred times.” Travis plucked the knife Will had grabbed from his plate and gave him a coffee spoon instead, which Will immediately began banging on the picnic table. Jade made a mental note to buy him a set of bongo drums for Christmas. And earplugs for everyone else.

“Actually, Owen and I have a new idea,” Travis said. “Once Will begins walking, we’re going to put him and Neddy in harnesses and a trace. That way, when they take off, it’ll be in one direction.”

Jade nodded approvingly. “Good thinking.”

Travis smiled, picked up his coffee, and managed to get the cup to his lips for a slow sip in spite of his son’s waving arms. “Glad to have you back, Jade, so you can do your share of wind sprints. Georgie’s gotten pretty darned quick on her feet.”

“That’s cool. Riding herd on these munchkins will have me in tip-top shape for September. I can’t see how any of those second-graders at the elementary school could be faster on their feet than this lot.” She slipped in the news that she’d gotten the substitute-teaching job casually, which made Margot and Jordan’s immediate exclamations of delight all the sweeter.

Margot’s smile was brilliant. “You’ve been hired to teach second grade? That is so great!”

“Oh, Jade, congratulations!” Jordan hurried around the table to give her a hug.

After years of being pretty much the quintessential screwup sister, it was nice to feel as if she’d taken a step closer to joining the ranks of her dynamo sisters. “Well, it’s only a substitute position, but the salary’s decent. And if I do a good job this fall, I think I’ll have a fair
shot at a permanent position next year. And get this: Full-time teachers in the district get paid to pursue a master’s degree. And the benefits include both health
and
dental insurance. Pretty sweet, huh?”

“Supporting the advancement of the teachers is certainly very nice and farsighted of the school district,” Ellie said with approval.

“Though it’s doubtful you’ll ever use the health insurance, Jade. You have the constitution of an ox. And you have to be dragged to the dentist’s for anything other than a cleaning,” Andy said teasingly. One of Rosewood Farm’s trainers, Andy was only six years older than she, but sometimes he forgot that fact.

“That’s because dentists are scary people.” Jade personally considered dentists right up there on the super-scary meter with cops decked out in uniform and mirrored aviator sunglasses.

“Remember when you had to get that cavity filled?” Miriam grinned across the table at her. She was sitting next to Andy, who was now her fiancé. They’d gotten engaged on this past New Year’s and, as they’d found true love at Rosewood, Jordan, Margot, and Jade had offered to hold the wedding celebration for them here, on New Year’s Eve. The wedding promised to be a blast—a beautiful blast, if she knew her sisters.

From the proximity of their bodies, Jade had a hunch that Miriam and Andy were indulging in some serious footsie underneath the picnic table.

Ah, true love
.

For her part, Jade was happy with true lust. A memory from the night before flashed vividly bright in her mind, of her straddling her dark-haired lover and slowly sinking down his shaft until she was impaled, filled to bursting, and trembling from the exquisite sensation of him thick and pulsing inside her. Mmm-hmm, yes, she was more than happy with true lust.

“It’s good to see you’re embarrassed by that episode, Jade,” Miriam said, catching her eye. “All that carrying on for one teeny cavity. I had to cover Olivia’s ears for fear she’d freak when it came time to go to the dentist herself.” Miriam had babysat for Jordan’s kids while pursuing her graduate degree in physical therapy.

Jade could only be thankful her friend didn’t know the actual memory that had caused the heat wave to sweep over her. The conversation would have caused her sisters—and perhaps her brothers-in-law—to have heart failures. So when Jordan returned to the topic of Jade’s new substitute-teaching job, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well, I’m sure that when they see how great you are with the students, they’ll give you a class of your own.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Owen stood, drawing everyone’s attention, and raised his mug of coffee in salute. “I propose a toast to Jade, who’s brave enough to take on a classroom of seven-year-olds.”

When the
hear, hear
s and laughter died down, Jordan asked, “So when did you get the offer, Jade? Did Ted call you?”

Ted … It took a second, and then Jade realized that Jordan was referring to Ted Guerra, or
Mr
. Guerra, as Jade called him. But with Kate, Max, and Olivia enrolled at Warburg Elementary, Jordan was on a first-name basis with most of the staff, teachers, and apparently the principal. “Yeah, Ted Guerra contacted me last week. I already knew he’d placed me on the list of substitutes, but then he called to ask whether I’d take over for one of the second-grade teachers who’s preggers—”

“That would be Sandy Riley.”

Jade nodded. “I think that’s her name. Apparently her obstetrician ordered bed rest for her until she delivers.
Guerra asked if I’d take her class for the fall semester. Cool, huh?”

“Fantastic. I hope Sandy’s okay,” Jordan said. “I’ll write her a note.”

“Do you know who’s going to be in your class? We might know some of the kids,” Margot asked.

“No, not yet. But I have a meeting with Guerra tomorrow. I guess he’ll give me the roster and the kids’ files then. I hope I get some horsey kids, so I can recruit them for my riding program.”

Margot paused in the midst of stacking the now-empty plates. “You sure it won’t be too much, teaching school and giving riding lessons in addition to your own training and riding? You won’t have a moment to yourself.”

“This from the woman who’s juggling two demanding careers, raising two kids, and evidently still has enough energy to keep her husband looking real happy?”

“But, Jade—”

“And don’t you start in on me either, Jordan,” Jade warned. “You’re as much of an overachiever as Margot. Your interior-design company is going gangbusters, you help out at Gage and Associates, you’ve got four—count ’em—four kids, serve on countless committees, and you’re still at the barns every day, helping Ned with the foals and riding whoever needs exercising.”

“But—” Jordan tried again.

“But what? I’m supposed to be a slacker-girl and sit around playing video games and updating my Facebook status or maxing out my credit card at the mall after I’ve finished working with the horses Travis and Ned assign me?”

“No, but teaching school is exhausting, and then there’s all the prep work that goes into it—”

“Reality check, sis. It’s second grade I’m teaching. I think I can handle the rigors of the curriculum.”

“You can’t expect modesty from the girl who’s never met a test she didn’t ace,” Miriam said, laughing.

Jade grinned at her friend. “I’m trying not to make you all feel bad. I know how tricky those multiplication tables can be.”

“It’s the sevens that always stumped me,” Andy said.

“I’ll lend Miriam some flash cards you can practice with,” Jade replied with a wink. “As for lesson planning and grading, I figure I’ll do them at night. Might have to sacrifice watching
American Idol
, but that’s getting old anyway. And I’m only going to offer riding lessons three days a week in the beginning—think I’ll be able to fill the classes, Ned?”

“Write up a flyer and I’ll drop it off at Steadman’s tomorrow—I need to pick up some bell boots for Night Watch. They can stick it in their binder. Adam and Sara Steadman think the world of you. You can be sure they’ll spread the word that you’re offering lessons.”

“Thanks, Ned, I’ll write one up tonight.” Returning her attention to her sisters, she said, “It’ll be fun teaching riding. It’s important to instill good riding fundamentals early on.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Ned chimed in. “Some of the kids entering horse shows have no business sitting in the saddle. Sloppy riding at such a young age becomes a real hard habit to break. Who better to teach what hunt seat equitation’s about than Miss Jade? After all, she has plenty of experience. I still remember her coaching Kate over her first crossbar jump.”

“And have you guys considered that when these kids get older, their parents are going to be buying them horses? Where do you suppose they’ll shop for that first gorgeous hunter?” Jade asked with an arch of her brows.

“Are you thinking Rosewood Farm?” Andy asked with a grin.

“Excellent deduction, Andy.”

Travis laughed. “I gotta say, Jade’s plan is scarily brilliant. Kind of like the kid herself.”

Jade blew him a kiss. “Have I told you lately how much you rock as a bro-in-law?”

“Hold it right there,” Owen said. “I refuse to be cast as the bro-in-law who does not rock. It’s time we show Jade her graduation present.”

“You mean you’ve finished the pony barn?” she asked. “I was so hungry—I decided I needed my sleep more than breakfast at the hotel—that I drove straight up to the house. This I gotta check out.” Brimming with excitement, she jumped up from the table.

Ned, who was carrying his namesake, stood up and shifted the toddler to his chino-covered hip. “It’s awful good to have you back, Miss Jade.” His pale-blue eyes twinkled beneath his shaggy silver brows.

“Isn’t it, though?”

As the other adults hastily downed the last dregs of coffee and rose to their feet, Jade cupped her hands and gave a shout to her four older nieces and nephew gamboling on the lawn. “Come on, kids. We’re going to inspect the new barn. Here, Georgie, you can ride piggyback and tell me everything Mommy’s been teaching you on Doc Holliday.”

Owen had pulled off the new construction beautifully, Jade thought. Nestled between the main barn and the broodmares’s barn, and painted the same soft weathered white with a matching gray roof and squared cupola, the pony barn blended seamlessly.

While she drank in the details of the barn, her heart did funny things inside her chest. Seeing the first part of her idea for a riding program at Rosewood Farm become a physical reality meant so much, not simply because her dream was being realized but because it
represented the wholehearted support of her family. When she’d proposed the idea of opening the farm to teach the local kids to ride, she hadn’t expected their enthusiastic response. As one, they’d urged her to go for it. And now they’d done even more.

They’d gone and built a
barn
for her. Her very own barn.

She swallowed to make sure her voice sounded normal. “It looks perfect, Owen. Even better, it looks like it’s always been here. Dad would be happy.”

“Yup. RJ would be real pleased. Your mom too,” Ned added. “She was always proud of your riding, Miss Jade.”

Bless Ned for saying that. Most likely Ned would have choked on the words if he’d ever read a page from her mother’s diary. Thank God Margot and Jordan had never shown it to him, for then he’d know what her mom had really thought about her—
Stop it. Do not go there
, she counseled herself.
Don’t let her spoil this moment for you
.

With a bright smile, she turned to Owen. “You most definitely rock with the best of all brothers-in-law. The barn’s great, just fantastic. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, kid.” Owen smiled. He had a killer smile. It was the thing she’d first liked about him. That he was perceptive enough to recognize that Jordan was an amazing woman was the second.

“Don’t rush your fences, Jade,” Travis warned. “You can’t pronounce Owen’s latest equine accommodation fantastic until you’ve inspected it from bottom to top—though it is,” he added with a grin.

“Well, then,” she said, hitching Georgie higher up on her back. “I want the deluxe tour.”

“We put in six box stalls, as requested.”

“So now there’ll be room for Doc and Archer to come live here with the other ponies, right, Aunt Jade?” Max,
her eldest nephew, was marching alongside her like an army soldier. She was pretty sure his footsteps were ringing louder than anyone else’s.

“Right, Max, because you and Kate and Olivia are being really terrific about letting me use Doc and Archer when I teach the other kids.”

“And we’re gonna get to ride the other ponies too,” Olivia piped up.

“That’s a fact. I’ll need a lot of help exercising them, and you guys are already good riders.”

“Fortunately we have a steady supply of child labor here,” Margot said wryly.

The group had come to a stop in the center of the immaculate barn, and Jade looked about her. “Nice. Very nice.”

Owen smiled. “Travis, Ned, and I decided on standard-size box stalls in case you ever want to put horses in here. But I went for the same sliding-door design that we have at Hawk Hill.” Owen and Jordan used their barn and fields to house Rosewood’s retired broodmares. “I figured sliding doors would be easier to negotiate when the kids are leading the ponies in and out of the stalls. I realize it’s a different design than Rosewood’s other barns—”

“But it works better with a barn this size.” She glanced around, taking in the pristine concrete floor, the pine-wood box stalls gleaming gold in the daylight. It looked wonderful and was going to look even more wonderful when she bought four barn mates for Doc Holliday and Archer. She could already imagine the space filled with kids learning how to pick hooves and pull manes and use a currycomb. She nodded happily. “This is perfect. Really. Thanks, guys.”

“The tack room’s down here, opposite the club room.”

She turned to stare at Margot. “Club room?” she asked blankly.

“That’s Jordan’s and my contribution to the barn. We thought the kids would need a place to sit and stow their school stuff without it cluttering up the aisles.”

Margot and Jordan led the way down the wide aisle. Pushing open a door, Margot waved Jade inside a room that was roughly the size of two box stalls. A pair of windows gave the room a bright, airy feel. On the far wall stood a line of cubbies with hooks for coats and backpacks, and in the center of the room two sofas faced each other, with armchairs at either end.