Authors: Kate Pavelle
Attila and Kai eyed the younger woman with sympathy; they, too, expected her to follow. Instead, she walked up to them, tears in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, holding back a sob. “I don’t want to go somewhere else. I’m staying here, and so’s Zorro. He’s my horse, not hers.”
“Legally?” Attila raised his eyebrows.
Lindsey nodded, her long hair bobbing in its ponytail. “Yeah. When Daddy gave me Zorro, he registered the papers in my name. And I’m an adult now. I can’t pay much right away, but….”
“Nobody will remove Zorro without your expressed permission,” Attila assured her. “We’ll take good care of him.”
Mona made her way back to the group. “What are you talking about? I’m in charge of your things, young lady. That includes your horse, no matter where it came from. He’s coming.”
“I’ll call Daddy.”
Mona’s face twisted into a victorious smirk. “Your precious Daddy is still in China and won’t be back for another week. Good luck with that. Now, come along.” Mona dug her crimson talons into Lindsey’s arm and tugged. “You’ll come if you know what’s good for you. I’m still paying for all this, so don’t get any fresh ideas.”
Kai saw Lindsey swallow, her eyes wide as she put up token resistance on her way to her mother’s red Mercedes. The sound of tires crushing gravel announced the arrival of Tibor’s Mazda. He and his boys eased out of the car just as Mona opened the door for Lindsey.
“Get in,” she hissed.
“You don’t have to hover over me,” Lindsey bit back.
“You ungrateful little bitch!” Mona’s whole body vibrated with violent energy. She trembled, kicking the tire of her car and spitting a curse as she stubbed her toe. She got in and slammed the car door with all the force she could muster. Lindsey closed her door with hesitation, her eyes flashing Hal an imploring look from within her luxurious prison. They all jumped aside as Mona backed into the crowd, unheeding, roaring down the driveway and out of sight.
S
ALLY
and May showed up soon. The stables were cleaned and the horses saddled and exercised as though nothing had happened. The word made its way, though, and by the time the advanced jump class cooled off their mounts and took care of them, everyone who worked at the barn that day knew Attila and Kai were together, Attila gave Cayenne away in a fit of passion, and Mona Putney disowned her daughter and tried to steal her horse.
“Hey, Attila,” Kai whispered to him in the tack room. “We better order pizza and do some damage control. Have you heard the rumors yet?”
Attila’s face looked pinched and his shoulders appeared to be tight. “I hate this part.”
“What—setting people straight?”
“The politics. We are obviously taking a side here. I feel terrible for Lindsey, but I have no idea what we can do to help, other than take care of her horse.” Attila’s stomach churned at the thought of further discord. “I think we should just turn our phones off and sleep in the hayloft tonight.”
Kai chuckled. “Maybe later, if you still want to. I hate to intrude on your family business, but… d’you think we should invite Tibor and Rita for the big powwow?” Kai hesitated, and when Attila did not object immediately, he followed up with an innocent, “What do you want on your pizza? I’ll call it in.”
“Onion, peppers, olives, and anchovies.”
Kai shuddered. “Anchovies? I’ll get you a whole separate pie.”
R
ITA
pulled another beer out of the case she brought over, popped the cap, and poured the foaming liquid against the side of her tilted glass in a careful stream. “So… what do you want to do?” she asked Attila.
He sat with his bare feet in Kai’s lap, leaning back in the wicker chair, his eyes halfway closed. “Under ideal circumstances, I would like to keep Lindsey around and have her mother depart.”
“The circumstances not being ideal, what is your priority right now?” Tibor’s baritone cut through the quiet evening air.
“Well… her presence has been disruptive in many ways. Mona Putney will have to find some other place for her horses, and her riding privileges here are revoked as of today. I shall reduce her invoice to reflect that—she will be charged only for boarding her horses from today until they leave.”
“Except for Zorro,” Hal interjected, beer in hand.
“Yes. Except for Zorro, and to do that, I need to verify his ownership.”
“You may want to get a set of written instructions from Lindsey, too. With her mother bailing, how do you think Lindsey will pay her boarding fees?” Rita said, frowning. “She will be off to college in two weeks at the latest and her father won’t be back from China for a while. We can’t wait for him to show up before we make our own decisions.”
“Can Zorro be used for lessons?” Kai asked. There had to be a way. He would be sorry to see Zorro go, both for Lindsey’s sake and because he had grown to like the lazy gelding.
In a similar vein, he was less than thrilled to see Effie leave the stables as well. She was the younger half sister of Bubbles, but her champagne coloring was so pale, it was almost ivory, and her chest and rump were decorated with a smattering of grey, perfectly circular spots. “Effervescent” was a fitting name for her appearance as well as her personality, and Kai had begun to ride her only once Attila fell ill. She was a sweet, intelligent animal, and he wondered how much Mona would sell her for, if she didn’t know who was doing the buying.
T
WO
days passed, filled with telephone calls and paperwork. Zorro was a quarter horse; he was registered with the American Quarter Horse Association and the owner of record was Lindsey Putney. The secretary at AQHA e-mailed a scan of his papers to the Blue Heron Acres’ office, but this piece of business was the only easy part on Attila’s loaded dance card. Lindsey’s father was incommunicado. His e-mail address bounced, and his Facebook post indicated that he would not be able to check the page due to China’s censorship rules. His cell phone seemed to have been operational, however, and Attila did leave a brief message, requesting Skype communication and spelling out his Skype screen name.
Attila hated all the upset. There were times when nothing seemed to go according to his established routines. He took comfort in Kai’s progress with Cayenne. Today, his consolation was the fact that Kai slathered molasses onto a snaffle bit and persuaded Cayenne to let the offending device enter his pristine mouth. Cayenne’s greed for anything sweet was matched only by that of Kai, who would have been happy to live on chocolate mint milk shakes.
Today was Kai’s birthday, and Attila had already deputized Hal and Brent to pick up Kai’s birthday cake. There was nothing to wrap; Kai had already received Cayenne as his gift. Attila thought back to Kai’s words of warning regarding his generosity, and did in fact wonder whether his sister and brother-in-law would see the gift as not only extravagant but not entirely his to give. They did, after all, hold shares to Blue Heron Acres. On the other hand, they had viewed the purchase of Vermillion as one of Attila’s follies and were against it from the very beginning.
He walked up to the barn, leaving the computer behind, along with all the tedious paperwork that still begged to be processed. Kai wasn’t in the barn, and he wasn’t socializing with Cayenne. The arena was Attila’s next logical choice. He neared the door and peeked in.
Kai was riding Effie, putting her through all the paces both the horse and the rider already knew. His seat was natural and his form was good as he brought her into extended trot along the long wall of the enclosed space.
The best student I’ve ever had.
He smiled fondly, aware of the way his face changed with an expression that had been absent for a full two years. His smile was still subdued, just a slight turning up of the corners and a twinkle in his eyes accompanied by a relaxed drop of his shoulders. Kai made him smile. Despite all the drama surrounding Mona Putney, Attila felt comfortable and the reaction that would have been normal only two months ago—the desire to hide from people—was absent. A warm feeling blossomed in his chest, spreading through his body and infecting his cool, analytical mind.
I am happy.
The realization struck him as something unnatural. Just feeling joy over getting a good deal on feed or over a horse or a student learning a skill paled in comparison to the glow he felt as he observed Kai’s “kick and kiss,” spurring Effie from trot to canter. They ripped around the arena, the beat of Effie’s hooves loud in the worn groove around its perimeter. He could tell the precise moment when Kai became aware of his presence, because the younger man straightened his posture even more and that made Effie slow down. The horse and rider cut a circle at the far end and slowed to a walk, making their way down the center of the large space. Attila remained leaning against the sliding door, observing them.
Effie’s ears flickered forward. She had been paying attention to her rider, but now her eye was distracted by Attila’s presence. She extended her nose toward him, and Kai let her greet the other man.
“So, birthday boy,” Attila said once he was done stroking Effie’s pale nose. “Let me saddle up Dusty and join you, and we can work on some jumps.”
Kai’s eyes widened. “Really? You’d let me?”
Attila nodded. “Just from the trot. You’ll be fine.” He pulled out four jump blocks and four logs painted with green and white stripes, setting up two low obstacles that looked like a letter
X
.
“Go around a few times and work your two-point at every other letter from a posting trot. I’ll be right back.”
Attila had chosen Dusty because he, unlike Sen, needed proper reinforcement. The horse was used by many students, and students made mistakes. This confused Dusty, which made extra training lessons necessary to remind him of all that he had already learned. Attila tacked him up and led him in, then used a mounting block to be gentle on the aging horse’s back. As he led Dusty around at a walk in order to warm up, he instructed Kai.
“You’ll trot directly at the jump. Aim for the middle. As she starts to jump, press your heels down, raise your seat, and put your hands onto her neck—a standard two point. As soon as she lands, resume regular trot. Then do it again for the second jump.”
K
AI
nodded, his jaw set and eyebrows scrunched. He had Effie trot half around, aiming her at the crossed logs. It felt odd, knowing the inevitable would happen. The obstacle approached with every hoofbeat. He squeezed with his legs in an effort to hold on better. Effie burst forth into canter and sailed over the jump as Kai barely lifted his butt out of the seat.
“Two-point! Look ahead!” Attila’s words were a reminder of what to do, and he did it, and before he knew it, it was over. He pulled Effie back to trot and then to a walk as he saw Attila approach them.
“Do you realize what happened?” his teacher asked, his voice neutral.
“Uh… she likes to jump?”
“She does,” Attila nodded. “However, you asked her to canter by squeezing your legs like that. Why did you do that?”
“Uh… I didn’t want to fall on top of the jump.”
“Scared?” There was no judgment in the calm voice.
Kai shrugged, not answering.
“Feeling a measure of apprehension is only healthy, and is nothing to be ashamed of. Now, I want you to glue your calves to her sides like before, and take those jumps at an easy trot. Don’t look down at the obstacle. It will be there for you—she knows what to do. Watch me go over them on Dusty.”
Attila trotted around the area and pointed Dusty’s nose right at the crossed logs. They went over easily, front legs followed by the rear in close succession, and Kai was surprised to see how small the jump actually was.
“Were you even airborne?” he asked.
“Not very much,” Attila admitted.
“Well then, I have nothing to worry about.” Kai asked Effie to trot, aiming her at the jump and fixing his gaze straight ahead. He focused on moving with her this time, and when he felt her gather under him and heard Attila’s voice call out for two-point, he pressed his heels into the stirrups with his knees still soft and bent forward, his hands balancing on Effie’s neck with minimum pressure.
“Not bad,” Attila allowed. By now, Kai knew this to be high praise, and he beamed. “Do it three more times and then you can cool her off.”
K
AI
leaned his forehead against the tiles of the bath enclosure and let the hot water beat on his tired shoulders. He hated birthdays, because they were never enough. The one, allegedly special, day of the year never lived up to what he used to hope for when he was a little kid, and by now he was old enough not to hope anymore. There had never been enough care nor enough money, and the cake had always been a home-baked affair: yellow cake from whatever mix happened to be on sale, topped with bright yellow lemon frosting straight from the plastic container. The chocolate he yearned for never materialized.
Now he would endure the company of people who didn’t know the real him only to make Attila a happy man. The water was running cold by the time he heard the doorbell ring. Resigned to his fate, he turned off the faucet and took steps to make himself presentable. He would survive the embarrassing affair somehow… and he would pretend to enjoy himself, for Attila’s sake.
K
AI
was still hiding in the bedroom, dressed in his clean jeans and a black, button-down shirt, when Rita had arrived with the boys, bearing the birthday cake.
“You said he liked chocolate and mint, but Jean Marc doesn’t do that combination, so I got an Opera cake,” she said and tilted her head up to press a small kiss onto Attila’s chin. She handed him a large cake box and a packet of candles.
May arrived, and Sally, and their kids livened up the outdoor patio with strings of Christmas lights and floating candles in the pool. By now, everyone at the stables knew Kai and was excited to wish him a happy birthday.