“Sure. Fifteen minutes?”
Dad nods and, mercifully, doesn't say anything else. Even when we're in the truck he keeps the conversation to horse supplements and whether or not the track will increase the size of the purse in the Fiddler Stakes. It's only when we're climbing out of the truck and I'm thinking I've escaped without a lecture that he puts his hand on my shoulder and says, “Just be careful, son.”
Then he heads for his barn, and I head for mine. To be honest, I'm not thinking so much about being careful. I'm wondering when I might be able to find a few quiet minutes with Sassy. Now that I'm getting used to it, having a girlfriend who turns heads is great. Who wouldn't want a girl like Sassy?
I take the long way, zigzagging through the other barns, I don't see Sassy anywhere. Maybe she's waiting for me at our barn? When I arrive, Ryan is whisking a stiff brush over Dusty's back. “You're late,” he says.
I try to sound casual. “Have you seen Sassy by any chance?”
“No.” Ryan keeps brushing, whisking away dust and shavings and hay.
“Where's Jasper?”
“Went to get coffee. He slept here again last night.”
“Any more tails missing?”
Ryan shakes his head. A dark thought pushes into my mind. If someone wanted to steal tails, staying at the barn would be a great way to throw people off the trail. Sleeping here would make it easy to help yourself to stuff. To be really tricky, you'd only steal tails sometimes. It would be too obvious otherwise.
I wish there was some way to prove Jasper is innocent. He isn't really helping his case by staying here alone. Maybe if Ryan could stay with him during the week, then I could camp out on the weekend.
“Do you thinkâ?” I start to ask Ryan what he thinks of the idea.
Jasper strides around the corner, holding a tray of take-out coffees and a box of donuts. The words freeze on my tongue.
“Do I think what?” Ryan asks. “Hey! Donutsâthanks!” Ryan reads the scribbles on the sides of the cups. “This one must be yours, Travisâdouble cream, triple sugar. What were you about to say?”
“Nothing.” How can I say anything about keeping an eye on Jasper without sounding like I don't trust him? I sure don't want to repeat the stuff Sassy said.
Both Ryan and Jasper take sips of their coffees. “Ah, good stuff,” Jasper says. “Did I interrupt something? Were you going to talk about your new girlfriend? How did you wind up with such a hot girl anyway?”
“And where is she?” Ryan asks.
“What do you mean, where is she?”
Ryan grins. “I told her that if she showed up this morning I'd pay her to do stalls.”
“What! We're broke.”
“Yeah, but seeing the look on your face would have been worth it.”
“You're like a puppy dog whenever she's around,” Jasper says, grinning. “Yes, Sassy. No, Sassy. You want to go for a walk? Right now? Sure, Sassy.”
“It's not like that,” I say.
“Woof!” Jasper replies. “Good boy, Travis.”
“Shut up!” We've always joked around, but this morning, Jasper's good-natured ribbing makes me furious. Here I am trying to figure out how to prove he's innocent, and all he can do is give me a hard time!
“Ooohhh,” Jasper says. “Truth a little hard to handle? Face it, manâshe's leading you around by yourâ”
“You jerk!” I shove Jasper a little harder than I mean to. His coffee goes flying.
“What's your problem?” he says.
“For your information, I was about to ask Ryan how we could prove you aren't involved.”
“Involved with what?”
“Yeah, Travis. Involved with what?” Ryan adds. They're both glaring at me now.
I get the weirdest sensation, like an icy wind is blowing through a hole in my gut. “Never mind. Forget it.”
Jasper's eyes narrow. “This is about the tails, isn't it?”
I hold my hands out, palms up. “Hey, lookâsome people might think it's, you know, convenient that you're here by yourself all night. I was just going to sayâ”
I don't even get a chance to explain.
The punch comes out of nowhere and rams my cheekbone. I spin around, staggering sideways. Then Ryan is on top of me, pounding me. I swing wildly and feel my fist connect.
“You stupid jerk!” Ryan spits the words at me. Blood streams from a cut above his eye. He pulls his arm back, fist beside his ear. Ryan is breathing hard, but he's ready to come after me again.
Jasper grabs his elbow from behind. “Stop!” he says. “That's enough.” Then he looks straight at me. “I thought we were friends.”
“JasperâIâ” But he's not listening.
A look I can't read passes over his face. Fury. Pain. Sadness. Disbelief. Then his face closes, and I see him take a deep breath. He turns and walks away.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Ryan says, holding a towel to his nose. After Jasper left, we moved into the tack room to patch ourselves up. I'm holding an ice pack to my cheek, and Ryan is trying to get his cut to stop bleeding. The gush has slowed down, but he's still dripping.
“I'm just saying the facts don't look good. Think about it. He needs the money. His grandma could use some of the stuff he takes. He's hanging out here every night. It doesn't look good for him.”
“You are out of your mind! Jasper wouldn't do something like that.”
“I'm not saying I believe it!” I really don't want to think that Jasper has anything to do with the thefts. But then again, my dad says the people who have the most to hide are the ones who protest loudest when they get confronted. Jasper was pretty mad when he stormed off.
I take off the ice and gently poke at the swelling on my cheek. “Ow.” I press the ice back to my face, wincing.
I sit down heavily on the tack trunk. I still have the ice pressed to my cheek and misjudge how much room I have. Jasper's red duffel bag goes flying. He hasn't bothered to zip it up. When I reach down to grab the handle, his stuff spills out.
“You owe Jasper an apology,” Ryan says.
“I didn't mean to knock it over.”
“That's not what I mean.”
I start to scoop Jasper's stuff back into his bag. There's a box of cookies, a binder of some kind from school, and a skin mag. I hold it up for Ryan to see and he shrugs. “Big deal. Leave the guy alone.”
I toss the magazine in and reach for several large, clear plastic bags, the kind you use to freeze leftovers.
“Look at this,” I say, holding out the bags.
The smallest contains several razor blades. The other contains long strands of horse hair.
“Hmm.”
“Is that all you have to say?” I ask.
Ryan looks from me to the razor blades to the hair and then back at me again. Finally he says, “I'm not turning him in. The reward isn't worth that much to me.”
He doesn't ask me what I'm going to do, but the unasked question hangs in the air between us. I shove the plastic bags under the cookies and the magazine and put the duffel bag into the corner with Jasper's sleeping bag.
What I want now is for Jasper to come back, so I can ask him what's going on. He's been my friend for years. He's my business partner. He's the guy who makes me laugh and brings coffee and donuts just because. I owe him that much, to hear his side of the story.
I take a sip of coffee. Even with all the cream and sugar, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Ryan and I don't get a chance to say anything more. Someone is singing out in the aisle.
“Hi, guys!” Pippa says from the doorway. “Got any work for me?”
“Isn't it a school day for you?” Ryan asks.
“Isn't it a school day for you?” she shoots back.
“We have hours to go before normal humans start their days,” Ryan says.
“Exactly. The sale's coming up soon. May third. My dad and my uncle are both going to match however much I have saved by May second. Donuts!”
“Help yourself,” I say. My appetite for donuts has disappeared.
“Mmmâ¦chocolate glazed. My favorite.” She takes a huge bite and while she's chewing she looks us over. “What happened to you guys?” she asks, still chewing.
The cut over Ryan's eye has finally stopped bleeding, but there's a big lump. A bruise is already forming around his eye. I shudder to think what my face looks like.
“We had a little argument,” Ryan says, “over who has to muck stalls.”
“Really?” Pippa asks, her eyes huge.
“Something like that,” I say.
She looks out into the aisle. “Where's Jasper?”
“Not feeling well,” Ryan says quickly. “So, yeah, we could use your help.”
“Great!” Pippa says with a big grin.
“If you can do stalls and water, Travis and I will get the horses jogged.”
Pippa nods and shoves the rest of the donut into her mouth. She licks her fingers and wipes them on her jeans. The three of us head out into the barn and get to work.
Ryan
and I take Romeo and Dusty out together. We keep the horses side by side and give them a long, slow workout. We aren't going to ask for speed today. Usually workouts like these are relaxed. We chat about school and girls and horses, and the time flies. But today there's an uneasy silence. We each concentrate on the horse we're driving and don't say too much. We watch the other horses training, sometimes giving the other drivers a wave or a nod. I wonder if anyone else can tell how much tension there is between us.
We hear the yelling before we're even inside the barn. “I told you to get lost!” Pippa's voice carries a long way. At first I can't think who she'd be screaming at. Jasper? When I hear the other voice answer it's like someone has dumped a bucket of ice water over me. It's Sassy.
“You're stealing my job, you little jerk!” she screams.
“I am not! They hired me this morning!”
“Yesterday Ryan told me to come in!”
“Liar!”
We hop off the carts and head inside, the horses walking in front of us. “Ladies!” Ryan shouts.
The two girls turn toward us. They both hold manure rakes. It's hard to say who is angrier.
“What's
she
doing here?” Sassy demands to know.
“Where were you this morning?” Ryan asks.
“It's still morning, last time I checked,” Sassy says, eyes blazing.
“Give me a hand. Hold on to him, would you?” Ryan says calmly.
Sassy moves to Romeo's head while Ryan unsnaps the jog cart.
“I was on my way.”
“You were way late. Pippa needs the work.”
“I need the work too!”
“Then you should show up on time.”
Sassy turns toward me. I recognize the look. She's going to start crying.
“Ryan,” I say. “If you promised herâ”
“Stay out of this, Travis. When I say six I don't mean”âhe checks his watchâ“seven fifteen.”
“My mom's car broke down again. So I had to take the bus. I missed the first one and had to wait thirty-five minutes.”
“Whatever,” Ryan says, pushing the cart backward down the aisle and outside.
“Travis?” Sassy has switched Romeo's driving bridle for his halter and is snapping the horse into the crossties.
Ryan is back, standing at Dusty's head while I start unhitching.
“Travisâyou're an owner here, aren't you?” Sassy asks.
Why does she do this? Pit me against my friends?
“We make decisions together,” Ryan says.
Sassy turns on me. “So you made this decision? To go back on your word?”
“Sassy, I neverâ”
Ryan glares at me. Sassy glares at me. Pippa ducks back into the stall with her manure fork.
“Do you want me to work or not?”
“Yes,” I say.
“No,” Ryan says at the same time.
Ryan throws up his hands.
“Well?” Sassy asks.
I look at Ryan. “Whatever.” My head hurts. I don't want to deal with any of this.
“Do I have to leave?” Pippa asks from the stall.
“No, you aren't going anywhere,” Ryan says. “You're the only one doing any work around here!”
In the end, Sassy and Pippa split the work and the money. Neither of them is happy about it. Neither am I, for that matter. It would have been a whole lot simpler if I'd just kept my mouth shut and we'd split the chores the way we always do.
Things get even messier after I'm done for the morning. My hand is on the door handle of my truck when I hear footsteps coming up behind me in the parking lot.
“Where are you going?” Sassy says.
“School.”
“Let me rephrase that. Where are you going without me?”
She slings her arms around my waist and gives me a hug. “What happened to your face anyway?” She reaches up to touch my cheek, but I catch her hand by the wrist and stop her.
“Looks like it hurts.”
“I'm fine. Do you want a ride to school?”
“Thought you'd never ask.”
In the truck, Sassy slides across the seat and glues herself to my side. She keeps squirming against me until I put my arm around her. “That's better. So, where was Jasper this morning?”
I don't answer at first. “He left early.”
“After he beat you up?”
“He didn't mean toâ” I am about to say he didn't mean to cause the fight, but Sassy jumps in before I can finish.
“He's an Indi anâv iol ent and unpredictable.”
I don't bother challenging her on that. She has said a lot of mean things about Jasper, but until just now, she hasn't mentioned anything about violence. I doubt she'd believe that he was the one who walked away, even though he thought I was accusing him of being the thief. And, apparently, I don't need to feel bad about that. That razor blade and the hair in his bag don't look good. My pulse speeds up. Stupid Jasper. What is he thinking? If he needs money for some reason, he should have asked. Not that I have any to give him, but I'm sure Ryan and I could have come up with some kind of plan. Some way to help.