Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness (5 page)

 

“Trust me, man, if I ever come to your office, I’m not gonna start helping you with… paperwork, or whatever the hell it is you do.”

Evan grins. “Yeah, that’s right, man, just… paperwork. Filling out forms all day long.” He unbuttons his shirt and pulls it off, hanging it on a hook on the wall, and his thin white undershirt doesn’t do much to hide the fact that Evan clearly does something more physical than paperwork at some point in the day. Dan has the sudden urge to suggest that they bathe the horses. Or wash the barn. Or any damn thing with some splashable water.

Evan pulls out the rubber curry comb. “This one first, right?” Dan nods, and watches as Evan goes to work, glancing over at Dan to make sure that his technique is correct. Once Evan is done with Winston’s neck, Dan comes along behind him with the dandy brush, flicking off all the hair and dirt loosened by Evan’s efforts.

They work companionably for a few minutes, and then both look up when they hear a voice in the doorway. “Oh no! Is
Evan
going to replace me? Because he’s way too big—he’ll crush the poor babies under his totally excessive weight!”

Evan shakes his head. “I’m not the one eating all the ice cream, Tat.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Give me an eating disorder, why don’t you?” Tat comes over and rubs Winston’s face, then goes and gets a carrot for him.

Jeff has come in behind her, and he takes advantage of her brief absence to look from Evan to Dan. “So everything got worked out here? We’re all good?”

“Yeah, we’re good. I told Dan I was an asshole, and he didn’t really argue with me, so….”

 

Jeff nods. “All right, so long as we all agree on that.”

“There’s some other stuff we need to agree on too,” Evan adds. “We got a little sidetracked last night, but there’s still some details we need to work out.”

Tat returns then, feeding the carrot to Winston. Dan’s watching Evan and sees him sigh a little, as if he’s about to do something he’s not sure about.

“So, Tat… the other day I mentioned to Dan that I wanted to learn to ride. And he said maybe you could teach me.” He pauses and seems to be bracing himself. Judging from the look of glee on Tat’s face, Dan thinks that’s a wise thing to be doing.

“Really?” She looks from Evan to Dan and then over to Jeff, as if inviting him to share her amusement. “You want
me
to teach you? Because, you know, Evan, there are safety issues to be considered—if you’re going to be riding a horse, then in order to be safe, you’ll have to agree that my word is law. If Dan or Jeff tell me something when I’m on a horse, I have to do it, even if I don’t like it or if I don’t think it makes sense. Because otherwise, it wouldn’t be
safe
, you know?” Dan thinks back to the strained, crying girl he’d carried to the truck only a few hours ago, and is amazed by just how quickly Kaminskis seem to recover from things.

Tat’s not quite done torturing her brother. “Can you commit to that level of obedience, Evan?” She stares at him intently.

“Careful, Tat.” Dan finishes brushing Winston’s rump. “I was also trying to talk him into letting you start looking for some new horses to buy—if you want him to go along with that, you’d better treat him right with the lessons.”

It’s lucky that Winston is a fairly calm horse, because Tat isn’t able to fully contain her squeal of delight. “Really?” She stares at Dan and then Evan, and Dan thinks that if he didn’t know the context he’d think she was mentally unstable. “What can we buy? How many? Oh my God, oh my God… could we get a mare with a foal? Or a pregnant mare? Or even just a broodmare, and then we could
choose
the daddy….”

Evan holds up a hand to calm her down, and it seems remarkably effective. Dan tries to study the posture so he can add it to his own repertoire. “Well, there’s another thing we need to talk about… business wise.” He glances over at Jeff and nods a little, and Jeff smiles his congratulations to Dan. “We’re going to restructure things a little, set this up as a partnership instead of just being owned by the Kaminski family, which means owned by
me
, for another five and a half years, Brat, and don’t you forget it.” He grins. “Dan’s one partner, and I was thinking you should be the other one—in trust, and all that, but I’d want you in the meetings where we discuss business, and you’d have to look at the numbers and try to figure things out. Sound like something you’d be interested in?”

Tat looks a little confused. “So… it’d be just mine and Dan’s? Not yours at all?”

“Well, in six years not mine at all… until then, yours in name, but I’d still be in charge. Just like I control every other aspect of your tiny little life, minion!”

Tat sticks her tongue out at him, but then grins. “That sounds excellent. But… is this all a plan to make me start caring more about business? ’Cause—okay, I’ll care about
this
business, but I still don’t think I’m gonna want to learn about how we could improve the efficiency of our carton-manufacturing factory if we moved it from Albany to Albuquerque.”

“Well, yeah, moving the factory away from our suppliers
and
our markets—I don’t want to hear about that plan, either! But… honestly, it’s mostly a plan to keep Dan caring about the business. You getting involved is just a little perk for you. One of many benefits of having the best big brother ever.”

“The
biggest
brother ever, maybe.” She pauses for thought. “So this would mean that it would be me and Dan who would decide what horses to buy?”

Evan sighs. “Within reason. And by that I mean—what Dan says goes. But I think he’d be interested in hearing your opinions as long as you manage to express them with a little more thought and a little less screaming.” Evan sees her energy building, and adds, “And no hopping whatsoever, especially when you’ve got a broken wing. And random dances are to be kept to an absolute minimum.”

Tat beams at him. “What about hugging? Am I still allowed to hug?”

“Only carefully. And only if you start with me.” She does and then almost breaks the “no hopping” rule as she moves over to Jeff, who seems surprised but not upset to be included. Then it’s Dan’s turn, but instead of hugging him she thrusts out her right hand.

“Howdy, partner.”

 

Dan grins and shakes her hand back. “Glad to be in business with you, Ms. Kaminski.”

 

She widens her eyes in excitement and then says, “I’m gonna go inspect my domain now.”

 

Evan can’t let that go. “The facility is still Kaminski family property. It’s just the horses that you’re going to own more than me.”

Tat tents her hands in the “evil mastermind” gesture and says, “For now, perhaps.” Then she’s turning and scurrying outside, presumably to look at her new acquisitions.

Jeff shakes his head. “She’s still pretty hopped up on painkillers. It’ll be interesting to see how sore she is when she comes down.”

Evan waves his hand. “Eh, let’s keep her stoned. Maybe she’ll develop an addiction, and then I can get her to pay attention to our pharmaceutical branch.”

“Nice parenting technique, man.” Dan looks at the other two. “I was just gonna do some flat work on Winston, but if we’re all here—do you guys want to talk now, or…?”

Jeff glances at Evan for confirmation. “I’m free for the rest of the day, and it looks like Evan’s given up on working. Why don’t you ride, we’ll wrangle Tat, and then you can come up to the house for dinner, maybe? The kid’s gotta crash early, I would think… we could talk then.”

Evan grins. “We could do more than talk….”

 

“At the house? With Tat home?” Dan is not at all comfortable with that idea.

 

“Her room’s a long way away from mine, Dan.”

 

“Yeah, okay, and what if her shoulder acts up or something and she needs to come get you?”

Evan shrugs but then looks more closely at the tension on Dan’s face. “Shit, okay. Location—one more thing to talk about. We should be making a damn list.”

Dan still can’t get over Evan’s attitude. “Do you bring people home normally? I don’t mean Jeff, I mean… just casual fucks? I assumed you’d keep that out of the house.”

Evan looks a bit offended. “I do!” Then his expression softens, and he ducks under the crosstie to get closer to Dan. “You’re not a casual fuck, Dan. I thought we established that.”

Jeff sees that this does nothing to calm Dan down. “But we are in the early stages, and we are taking it slow. So Dan’s probably right, Evan. It’s confusing enough as it is; we don’t need to give Tat any expectations.”

Evan nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. I just….” He smiles. “Damn, now I’ve got
two
people slowing me down when I get carried away. How am I ever gonna do stupid things at this rate?”

Jeff smiles warmly at him. “I’m sure you’ll find a way.” He grabs the back of Evan’s neck and gives a little shake to show that he’s joking. “Why don’t you have dinner with Tat tonight, put her to bed, and then come meet me and Dan somewhere. My place, or his, or….”

“What about the guest house?” Dan suggests. “I’m all moved out of it now. I mean, I just got it all clean, so I’d kind of like it to be preserved as a museum or something, but it might be okay… close to Tat if she calls you, but still private… neutral ground.”

“Fuck, yeah!” Evan seems pretty excited by the idea. “That’s brilliant. Convenient for everybody… well, mostly for me, but for Dan, too, if you come from work, and it’s not that far for you, Jeff….”

Dan looks warily at Jeff. “Why do I get the feeling he wants to turn it into a clubhouse?”

 

“Or a tree fort,” Jeff agrees.

“Yeah, it’ll be awesome! We’ll have a secret knock, and no girls allowed!” Evan’s smile gets a little dirty. “And we can have an initiation ritual. Hmmm… I wonder what we could do for that….”

Dan tightens Winston’s girth and grabs his bridle. If he’s going to get any work done, he needs to get away from Evan pretty soon. “Okay, you guys work that out, get back to me.”

“But you guys should come up for dinner anyways,” Evan insists. “We can hang out at the house until Tat goes to bed, and then take an expedition to the fort.” Dan nods in weary agreement as he finishes tacking Winston up and heads for the door.

It’s good to get back on a horse. Dan enjoys spending time with Jeff and Evan and finds himself thinking about them all the time, but… it’s pretty intense. Pretty complicated. He remembers this feeling from the early days with Justin, the sensation that things are happening too fast, that he’s being caught up in events beyond his control. He envies the way some people seem to be able to just sit back and let things happen; he doesn’t seem to have that gift.

But with a horse, especially doing dressage, things are easier. Dan’s the one in control, and if he isn’t, then his first job is to change things until he is. And once he’s established his authority, it’s just a question of making the horse understand what’s needed and helping the animal to be able to perform the required tasks. There’s nothing subjective, nothing external, really. Just Dan and a horse. It’s peaceful.

He warms Winston up then works him for five minutes, then lets the animal take a break physically and mentally. He’s still young, and he needs some time to think things through and understand what he’s being asked to do. Michelle and Robyn bring horses out, too, and when Winston’s getting a break, Dan can look at the other two and offer suggestions as needed. He knows that Jeff and Evan are sitting with Tat, watching the riders and entertaining each other, but they aren’t a distraction. Dan thinks about how the day started and where he is now, and it doesn’t really make sense. He thought things were supposed to happen more slowly in California.

Winston is working really well, responsive and yielding to his rider’s requests, and Dan feels the familiar conflict. As a trainer, he wants to quit on a high note, let Winston’s final memory of the lesson be of what it’s like when things are going well, but as a rider, Dan wants to enjoy this for as long as he can. His trainer side wins out, and he brings Winston down to a walk and lets him stretch his neck out and relax.

It’s only then that he becomes aware that the audience on the grass has grown a little. They all seem to be talking to each other fairly animatedly, so Dan can take a good look without being caught staring. The newcomers are two women and a man, probably closer to Evan’s age than Jeff’s. The man is blondish and thin, and both women are quite small with dark hair; they look like they could be sisters. They’re all talking to Evan but seem to be including Jeff and Tat in the conversation, so Dan really has no rational explanation for the surge of dislike that runs through him. He’s just being territorial where he has no right to be, he tells himself, and leans over to check if Winston is still hot. He is, but Michelle and Robyn are done working, too, so Dan rides over near them.

“Do you guys want to take them back through the pines to cool them out? I wouldn’t mind getting out of the damn sun.”

 

Michelle shakes her head. “You and your delicate complexion, Dan. How are we ever gonna make a Californian out of you?”

“Lots of sunblock, I guess.” Winston is perfectly behaved as Dan opens the gate to allow the horses out of the ring, and Dan thinks, not for the first time, that he’s going to be a solid eventer in a couple of years. He might not have the same fire and courage that Monty has, but he’s got a damn sight more common sense.

They leave the ring from the gate opposite the barn, so they don’t go near the new arrivals, but of course Robyn has theories about them and Michelle is happy to join in the speculation. Dan tunes them out almost entirely, closing his eyes and letting himself melt into Winston, trying to use the horse’s senses instead of his own. He feels Winston’s neck twitch a little and guesses that he saw a squirrel or a blown leaf, something surprising but not scary. Winston’s muscles tense and he swishes his tail, and Dan can tell that one of the other horses is challenging him somehow, either getting too close or not showing respect in some other way. Then peace is restored, and they walk along the path calmly. Winston’s feeling good, all four legs moving like they should, his spine loose and relaxed, and he’s enjoying the fresh new smells of the woods. Even Robyn has stopped talking long enough to soak up the almost eerie silence of the forest. The pine needles don’t whisper in the wind the way regular leaves would, and they’ve fallen all along the path, creating a cushion that totally muffles the horses’ footsteps.