Home for Christmas (6 page)

I typed another message to them.

Lauren:

See u v soon!

I looked up from my phone, and Dad was pulling
in front of the stable. The girls chattered about the grounds and I listened, not saying a word. Having my Canterwood friends here felt surreal. Briar Creek had been the place where I had made the decision to ride again after my accident. It had been the stable where I had gone through a rehab of sorts—helping me with my fears of jumping and slowing the flood of memories from my fall at Red Oak.

Briar Creek was the place where I had met Kim. She had been encouraging, tough, kind—everything I'd needed to get to a place to apply to Canterwood.

More important than anything, Briar Creek was where I'd brought Whisper after I'd found her. This stable was the first place we had really bonded, and I'd never forget it. Nor would I forget that it had been Kim and her contacts who had led me to Whisper. I couldn't imagine my life without my sweet gray mare. If I never got another Christmas present again, I could honestly say I would be happy. Even though I was excited to start volunteering tomorrow, I was glad to have a Sunday afternoon with Whisper.

Dad was speaking, but it sounded garbled. The SUV doors opened, cold air flooding inside, and I sat frozen in my seat. The girls piled onto the driveway and gravel
crunched as Taylor's driver pulled an Escalade up next to us.

I flicked my eyes to the rearview mirror and caught Dad staring back at me. His look reassured me that I'd made the right choice in bringing everyone here.

“You've got this, LaurBell,” Dad said. “Go show everyone who and what made you the girl you are.”

“Thank you, Dad.” I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned over the driver's seat to hug him. “I love you and I'll call you when we're ready.”

An hour later
my friends and I had reunited with our horses, and I was leading them to Kim's office for the last part of the stable tour. I'd introduced Ana to everyone, and she fit right in. I didn't know if it was because of the Christmassy feeling in the air, but everyone was getting along. Even Taylor and Drew had zero weirdness between them. Or none that I could see, anyway.

Kim's office door was ajar and the light was on.

“Come on in,” I said. “Kim won't mind.”

For all of the renovations Kim
had
done, one thing that remained the same was her office. The walls were still reddish brown and covered with photos and clippings of Briar Creek's riders, past and present. Her desk
was a mess of papers and files. A long shelf held dozens of trophies.

“Wow,” Lexa said. She stood in front of a giant trophy—one taller than the rest. I knew who it belonged to.

Lexa brushed a cocoa-colored finger over the plaque and the inscription:
SASHA SILVER
.

“Sasha's trophy gave me a lot of motivation,” I said. Then I giggled. “And it also intimidated me like crazy!”

At the end of the shelf, Taylor was peering closely at a photo in a silver frame. “You see this, Laur?” he asked.

I shook my head and walked over to him.

Inside the frame was a photo of
Whisper and me.
Whisper was trotting in a twenty-meter circle in Kim's arena.

“Oh my gosh,” I said. “I'm on the shelf with
Sasha
!”

Everyone crowded behind me to see the photograph.

“This was the first week that I had Whisper,” I said. “I didn't even know someone took this.”

“Kim put that up when you left,” Ana said. She pushed her wavy light-brown hair behind her shoulders. “She talks about you at lessons all the time.”

I shot a look at Bri, wondering how she felt that there wasn't a trophy or photo of her on Kim's wall. But Bri's smile suggested she was okay.

“Seems like Kim's proud of
both
of her Canterwood students,” Cole said, smiling.

I started to correct Cole that there were three BC-turned-Canterwood students—Sasha, me,
and
Brielle. Before I could, footsteps stopped in the doorway.

“I most certainly am.”

The twelve of us turned toward the door. A blonde with her hair in its usual haphazardly-styled ponytail, clad in fawn breeches, a thick sweater, and paddock boots, smiled at us.

“Kim!” I squealed. I weaved through my friends and hugged my old instructor in the doorway. My friends and I filled up the small office, and there wasn't much more room for another body. “It's so good to see you! I missed you and Briar Creek.”

“We've missed you, Lauren,” Kim said, her hazel eyes warm. “I take it these are your friends. Or ‘elves,' I guess.”

Laughing, I nodded. “These are my friends. You might already know Bri and Ana.”

Kim scrunched her nose. “Hmm. You girls don't look familiar.”

Ana stuck out her tongue, and everyone laughed.

“It's great to see you, Bri,” Kim said, hugging her. “Things haven't been the same since you left.”

Bri raised an eyebrow, an amused look on her face. “You have to miss me bringing you a caramel macchiato from the Bean every day.”

Kim grinned. “Well, yes, but classes are a bit more . . .
quiet
without you.”

Bri gasped, pretending to be surprised, while the rest of us giggled.

“Kim, you remember Taylor, right?” I asked.

Taylor held up his hand from the back of the room.

“Of course. It's nice to see you again, Taylor.”

I made all of the introductions, and we chatted with Kim for a few minutes.

“I want all you to make yourselves at home here,” Kim said. “Please let me know if you need anything.”

My eye caught on Sasha's trophy. “Do you know if Sasha's going to stop by?”

Kim blinked, then nodded. “I'm sure you'll see her around. She texted me something about coming over during break.”

Excitement rippled through the room. Sasha and I weren't BFFs or anything, but we were friends. I wanted to wish her happy holidays. I crossed my fingers that we would see her.

“We're headed out to trail ride,” I said to Kim. “See you later!”

A strange expression flickered across Kim's face, then vanished. It was so fast—I couldn't even be sure what I'd seen. “Have fun and be safe!” Kim told us. We emptied out of Kim's office and headed to the tack room. I couldn't wait to hit the trails!

7

Sasha

“I KNOW I KEEP SAYING
it, but this trail is beautiful, Sash,” Callie said. She walked Black Jack on a loose rein beside Charm and me.

“I picked my fave one,” I said. “I'm so glad you like it!”

I looked to my right at Jacob. He looked at ease on Bliss—a bay mare that Kim used for beginner riding lessons. Paige also looked comfy on a paint quarter horse—Belle—that Kim had suggested.

We were deep in the Connecticut woods, walking across a meadow. Heather and Aristocrat were near Alison and Sunstruck as they chatted. Brit and Eric were on the opposite side, walking their horses near the frozen creek.

Beneath me, Charm couldn't have been more relaxed. He seemed to remember this trail too. The open meadow
often had deer grazing during the spring. A creek snaked through the meadow, and on the opposite side of the field, a stone wall with browned-from-the-cold ivy separated Kim's property from the neighbors.

“There's one super-old farmer who has property over there,” I said, pointing. “He actually came to Kim's office and told her none of us were allowed to ever ride on his land.” I rolled my eyes.

“Like, because the horses might ruin the crops or something?” Brit asked.

“That would be a legit reason,” I said. “Except he hasn't planted anything in a zillion years! The only thing the horses would ‘ruin' would be weeds.”

The group laughed.

“Wouldn't he owe the riders if the horses trampled the weeds?” Alison asked. “What a nut job.”

“I think we need to add a little, oh, excitement to this ride,” Heather said. She met my eyes, and I saw
that
gleam in her blue eyes.

“No. No. No,” I said. “No way. Did I mention ‘no'?”

“Silver, come on,” Heather said. “You
must
know of a way onto the property, or we could jump the wall. We could take a quick little ride and get right back to the trail.”

“I can't,” I said. “We all promised Kim we wouldn't, so she'd never have trouble with him.”

Heather cocked her head. “This dude is old, right? Do you even see his house? I highly doubt his eyesight is good enough to spot a few horses all the way out here on the edge of his property. We won't get caught.”

“I—”

“I dare you,” Heather said, grinning and flashing white teeth. “All of you.” She looked at each rider.

Silence. My friends' eyes shifted from Heather to me.

“Well,” Callie said. “What if we jump the wall and jump right back?”

“Works for me,” Heather said.

“Callie!” I turned to my friend. “What are you doing?”

“There's no way we'll get caught, Sash,” Callie said. “Come on. Pleeease?”

Callie's competitive side had taken her over. She never backed down from a challenge. Especially not one from Heather.

“I'm in,” Eric said. “As long as we
all
jump right back over. I don't want to get Sasha in trouble.”

“Agreed,” Brit said.

“I'll do it,” Alison said.

All eyes were on me. Excitement at Heather's dare
pumped through me. I'd wanted to jump that wall
so
bad forever. No one would find out.

“Okay, okay!” I said.

“Yay!” Heather cheered.

I held up a finger. “One condition: Jacob and Paige stay on this side. They can't jump that wall.”

The group nodded.

“Of course,” Heather said. “I never said I wanted to do anything dangerous. You can be like our lookouts, Paige and Jacob.”

“For birds who might go tell on you guys?” Jacob joked.

“For anyone else who might have come to the stable since we got here and decided to trail ride,” I said.

“Got it covered,” Paige said.

Jacob smiled at me.

I leaned closer to him, not wanting to embarrass him in front of our friends. “Are you sure you're confident enough on Bliss to be on one side of the wall while we're on the other?”

“Absolutely,” Jacob said, stroking Bliss's neck. “She's a sweetheart. I feel totally safe.”

“I promise the next dare will include you,” I said.

Jacob grinned and winked at me.

“All right! I think Miss Fox should go first,” I said.

Heather dropped her knotted reins on Aristocrat's neck and rubbed her hands together. She beamed. “I'd be honored. I'm going to canter Aristocrat in a few circles to warm him up first.”

Heather tapped her heels against her gelding's side, and the chestnut broke away from the herd and moved from a trot to a smooth canter. Heather sat effortlessly to Aristocrat's smooth gait, and they made a giant, sweeping circle in the flat meadow.