Nova (13 page)

But after twenty minutes
, Sam just parked her mount at the side of the arena and had me ride Joker on my own.
She
talked me through the session
and Joker responded perfectly
to everything I did
. I was actually having fun, especially because the horse was so well behaved and easy to manage. I didn’t like trotting on
her
—it wasn’t very comfortable for me—but when the other two riders exited the arena and we had the whole thing to ourselves, Sam brought
Ridley
out and we
loped
around the entire loop together. After I got my riding rhythm down it felt pretty fluid, and I would take
loping
over trotting any day.

“You look good on a horse
!” Sam hollered at me. “We’re going to do this every
Saturday
, okay?”

I wasn’t going to argue; I loved it. But I’m sure being in an arena riding laps was probably pretty easy.

We continued with the
loping
, even switching to form a figure eight the length of the arena. After that we cooled the horses down with a walk, and then returned them to the waiting pen. By then a woman and a little girl entered the building, and Sam told me it was her next riding student.

“Well, thank you so much,” I told her as we both dismounted. “What do I owe you?”

She laughed and said, “Nada. We all serve each other; we’re just a big family here. When I need a favor I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, that sounds fair.”

“Sure. Now go humor my brother for a bit,” she said, nodding toward the
arena
office.

I saw Austin standing there leaning against the wall, and I honestly didn’t even know if he’d been there the entire time or not. Of course I was immediately embarrassed, and when Sam said, “Hey,
Daisy
!” to the little girl that approached, I made a quick exit. I almost wanted to walk right by Austin, but I think he seemed to sense that and got in step with me right away.

“Hey, what’s the rush?” he smiled as he followed me to the tack room.

I sat on a bench to put my shoes back on, and then returned Sam’s boots where they belonged.

“I think you’ve ridden more than you claim,” he finally said when I didn’t answer. “You looked pretty good out there.”

“And how long were you watching?”

“Just the last ten minutes.”

“Then you didn’t see the bloopers session the
twenty
minutes before that.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Nah, I doubt it. Not on Joker.”

“You’re right; she’s pretty easy. I’m sure that’s why a
five-year-old
can ride her, too.”

He laughed again and said, “You’ve taken offense to my compliment.”
I eyed him carefully but didn’t respond, and he kind of shrugged.
“Sorry, Nova. I thought you did well. I said you looked good riding a horse. How does that offend you?”

“It doesn’t,” I said quietly. “Sorry, it just…”

“It just what?”

“It makes me feel self-conscious.”

“What does? Riding? Compliments?”

“People watching
me
,” I growled quietly.

He took a moment to think about it
and said, “Oh
. I’m sorry, I’m just…I’m used to
seeing
my sister
s
ride
all the time and…I guess I didn’t think about that. I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.”

I tried to shake it off like it wasn’t a big deal and said, “It’
s okay
.”

He studied me for a few seconds
,
but it made me feel even more insecure so I left the tack room. He followed me and
said
, “I have to head into town for about an hour… You wanna come with me?”

I slowed my pace and said, “Uh, no
,
probably not. I actually have some things to go over with Jack if he has a chance yet. Lunch and riding kind of set me back a little bit.”

He smiled and said, “Ah, Jack doesn’t
stick to
a schedule anyway. He’s used to just going with the flow.
He won’t mind if I steal you for another hour.
”

And there I was again, stuck in the middle of my two new obsessions. I wanted to go with Austin because I liked being with him, but I knew it was distracting me from the other thing that was supposed to be my main focus that weekend.

“Uh, sorry,” I told him. “I really should just stick to the reason why I’m here. I’ll, uh, I’ll see you later,” I waved, leaving him standing there.

I quickly made it to Jack’
s office and thanked the heaven
s above that he was there, ready
to
go over some of his daily routines with me.

Chapter Seven

“So you didn’t even stay for dinner?” Gramps asked.

With a sigh I replied, “I just…couldn’t.”

“But they invited you.”

“I know but…Jack was done for the day, and there was still
two hours
until dinner… I just decided to leave.”

My grandpa took a bite of his lunch and didn’t reply. I could tell he had something to say, but he was giving himself some time to soften it up.

It was Wednesday, a workday for me at
the diner
and Grandpa’s weekly visit. My break was
over
though, and I decided to cut out while I had the chance, so I gave him a kiss goodbye and returned to
my tables
. Meryl spent some time with him after that, and then she took him back to Brookside Gardens.

My shift was over
two
hour
s
later.
I went home and worked on some schoolwork, and then I sat at my computer to
spend time
on my application essay. I’d had the stinking thing for almost two years now and I was always reading it over to see if I could make it better. I did make a couple of minor changes, and then I
stretched
across my bed to study.

“
Quantitative comparison
,” I murmured. “
Determine a relation
ship between the two quantities
…”

Relationships. Quantity A… Quantity B… A is greater than B… A for Austin…
Relationships…

“Ugh! Are you kidding me?”

I slammed the book shut and rolled onto my back. Why couldn’t I get him out of my head? It didn’t matter where I was—school, the diner, with friends, or home—he was always there.

Maybe I just felt a little bad that I’d kind of blown him off that Saturday, but what was I supposed to do? I was there to do a job and that’s what I needed to focus on. And yes, I did skip out on dinner, asking Jack to relay the message that I needed to get home. I guess I left things with Austin a little unfinished, but why did I have to feel that way? I wasn’t there at the ranch for
him
; I was there to be accepted by a stupid vet school in the future.

Speaking of schools, I pulled out
inf
ormation on a few universities that I had
and laid them out on the bed
. Jack suggested applying for several
when the time came
—I could be rejected by nine b
ut be accepted by one. I looked over
those for an hour and then decided I needed a bigger distraction than that, so I called up
Autumn
. Of course she was shocked that I was calling her to do something on a weekday, but she didn’t say anything further when I told her I just needed some time away from books.

When Friday roll
ed around I felt as nervous as I would if I were going to take a
huge exam. I arrived in Bakersfield at nine and met Jack in his office. With him was another vet that the Gaines’ also used, a woman that wa
s probably in her late fifties.
Jack thought it was a good idea for me to get to know her
,
as well.

Lori was p
leasant enough
at first
, but she didn’t have that sense of humor and fun personality like Jack did. She also seemed more hesitant to let me do anything, whereas Jack would just
ask if it was something I was familiar with,
have me do
it
, and if I had a question or a problem,
I would ask. Lori also seemed
put off that I didn’t know to
o much about horses in general.
I was just fine with the
anatomy and biology of a horse, but she seemed to think I was at a disadvantage by not knowing the species well.

I agreed with her, but I also felt reassured by Jack, who told me I’d learn what I needed to soon enough.

I was glad that
he
was
the main
vet
at Harmony Acres.

Later on Jack passed me off to Clara in the guesthouse. She sh
owed me my room for the weekend
and the ins and outs of the home. Rule number one: clean up after yourself. Clara managed the home, but she made it clear that she was not the maid. She did all of the cooking and general cleaning, but she refused to pick up after other people.

There were eight bedrooms in the guesthouse, and four of them were occupied full time by Harmony Acres employees. The other rooms were for guests that came and went (like me for now), and Clara said there would always be a new face or two for me to say hello
to
.

After dinner I took a walk outside. I purposely walked past the far end of the stables so I could see the garage side of the main house. I knew I was being ridiculous, and I was even more upset with myself for being disappointed that his car wasn’t there.

I stopped at the fence by Field One and watched its occupants. I tried my luck at remembering names, but I was pretty sure it was a different group of horses. I did recognize Sam’s horse, Sadie Liz, and I
thought
the gray one was Nellie.
Then something caught my eye in Field Two. It was Austin’s racehorse, Need for Speed. And he had the entire field to himself.

“What a bratty horse,” I said to myself as I walked over. I stood at the fence and clicked my tongue at him, but he barely gave me the time of day. “I bet you’re not even very fast,” I sneered at him. He pretty much turned his butt to me and continued to graze, so I
decided to leav
e the stuck up thing to
himself
and
headed toward the guesthouse for the evening.

I did remember the horses in Field Four, though:
Bad Whiskey,
Okey
Dokey
, Down a
nd Dirty, Happy
Appy
, and Inky Black. Inky was the first one to come over to me since he was closest to the fence.

Then I tried Austin’
s little whistle tune and Down a
nd
Dirty
lifted
her
head u
p at the far end of the field. Sh
e looked my way for a few seconds, but I decided that I probably wasn’t the handsome man
s
he was hoping to see. However,
s
he started walking my way, and when
s
he reached the fence,
brought
her
head over so I could pet
her
.

“Hey, there. You’re a much friendlier c
hoice. I’d pick you over Stuck-on-
Himself any day.” I rubbed
her
face and behind
her
ears, and then Inky was there to remind me of his presence too. “Oh yes, I like you also,” I told him, patting him at the same time.

I remembered I had dog biscuits in my pocket so I reached inside to give them each one. I’d seen Jack do the same thing to his horse, so I didn’t think it would hurt. They both gobbled the treats up and s
eemed to beg me for more. Down a
nd
Dirty
stuck
her
head through the fence at my waist and nudged my pocket.

“Hey, watch it
,
chica
. You get out of my pants.”

I heard a chuckle from behind and it scared me. I turned around to meet an unfamiliar
face approaching from the guesthouse
. He was maybe my age, and
because of the dark hair,
I instantly assumed he was Austin’s brother.

He came up to the fence and stood next to me, giving Bad Whiskey (who had just met him there) a rough pat on the neck. “You must be Nova?” he asked.