New Hoofprints in the Snow, page 4
“Diane? Diane who?” Emma winked at her mom and laughed. “That’s been over for a while. And honestly? I think I’m okay with that.”
“Are you sure? You took it pretty hard when Diane left.” Mom looked concerned, searching her face for the answer.
“Yeah, it’s time to move on.” Emma nodded gently. She had known it was over with Diane for a while before the actual breakup happened. Since then, they’d had the chance to talk and go out for coffee a couple of times. Meeting Maia helped her realize that dwelling on the past wouldn’t do her any good. Plus she’s gorgeous and fun to be around….
Her mother relaxed a little bit, leaning against the back of the bench. “What about Maia? Maia seems like a sweet girl.”
“So far, that’s what I’m getting too.” Emma’s face grew even hotter, and she had a hard time keeping her grin from her mother. In a way, things felt like they were moving too quickly. But when Maia was around or when she heard from her, Emma was happy. When she’d first told her mother about Diane, when she’d actually come out to her mother about being a lesbian, the only concern her mother had was that Emma was happy, and Emma had been quick to assure her that she was.
“Well, let me know if I need to set a couple more chairs around the table for Thanksgiving. It’s not too far off now.”
“Six more weeks! Six weeks is a long time, Mom.” Emma laughed. Maybe? I don’t know, Mom. I don’t even know if she likes girls, but I can hope, can’t I?
“A lot can happen in six weeks.” Her mom stood and dusted her hands off on her jeans.
“Mom!” Emma flushed and hid her face with her hands.
Apparently ignoring her, her mom opened the gate and walked over to Selena, then slowly around her. The look on her face said they’d gone from talking about Emma to the horse. “Anyway, how long is it going to take you to run Selena through the obstacle course until she’s comfortable?”
“Probably two or three days. Maybe not even that. She’s been a brilliant horse to work with. As long as I don’t get too much homework any given night, we should be fine.”
“Hmmm, a couple days.” Her mother pursed her lips as she walked over to the fence and leaned her arm against it. “I want—at least—three or four days to work with her myself. So, think we could get Maia and her brother out here in two weeks for a trial lesson?”
“A trial?” Emma knew that, as a hippotherapist, her mom would spend the first session walking around the arena with a new patient to make sure everyone could work together. She’d spend some time evaluating Ramon’s needs and make sure that Selena’s gait would allow Ramon to use the muscles he needed to move for his therapy. There was always the possibility that it just wouldn’t work out for one reason or another. Maybe the therapist and the patient didn’t get along, or the patient didn’t like the riding aspect. She’d heard about things happening to cause the sessions not to continue, but she had hoped, since it was Maia’s brother, therapy sessions would be a sure thing.
Her mother cocked her head, and her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulder. The quizzical look told Emma that she hadn’t expected a question. “I want to get Ramon on Selena and see how much movement he’s got. We need to make sure that hippotherapy is actually right for him. If he can’t hold himself on Selena at least partially, this may not work. And, honestly, I haven’t hired anyone or had any volunteers for sidewalking positions. Part of me feels like we’re jumping the gun a little bit here with Ramon, but as long as we find a couple of guys to walk on either side of him to help him steady himself—and do it quickly—then we’ll be fine. I’ll go ahead and put out the call for volunteers, but we’ll still need someone for Ramon before then.”
“What about Larry and Marco? Marco’s usually open to just about anything we ask. What about Larry?” Larry and Marco were two ranch hands who helped at Heart of Colorado as volunteers.
“Marco will work, but Larry tends to be lazy. Even if we paid him, he’d still only do a half-assed job. He’d be too high of a liability for me—for the ranch—to be helping with any of the therapy clients. Maybe if Ramon was a pretty girl, I’d be more sure he’d be attentive the whole time.” Her mother sighed and dropped her voice to just above a whisper. “But then I might not want him working with a pretty young girl. Best not to tempt him.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure, then. Maybe Maia and her brother would know someone?” Emma hoped she didn’t sound desperate. Her head spun at the prospect of having to find someone to help on short notice. More than anything, she didn’t want this to disrupt things between her and Maia. Even if nothing romantic happened, Maia seemed to need a good friend, and she wanted to be that friend.
“I don’t know. Can you check for me? If we can’t find someone soon, we’ll have to reschedule. Or rethink this whole thing. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier.” Mom shook her head and sighed again. She patted Selena’s neck and rubbed her ears. When the horse didn’t react to the ear rubbing, she smiled and walked through the gate to Emma. “Well, I’m going to go get dinner ready. You go and put Selena up for today, and we’ll call it a night.”
“Okay, Mom. I’ll see if Maia knows anyone who’d be willing to help.” Emma removed her phone from her inside jacket pocket where she always kept it when riding. While she was typing, her mom leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. Emma smiled and shook it off as her mom walked into the house.
After texting Maia, she jumped off the bench, opened the gate, and walked over to Selena.
“Selena, you’re doing great so far,” she murmured to the horse while untying her from the fence. “I wish you knew if Maia liked me or not.”
The horse nickered softly and blew out her nose.
“Now all I have to do is translate that!” Emma laughed all the way to the barn.
7
MAIA STARED at her phone as her stomach sank. She couldn’t think of anyone off the top of her head she could ask to help keep Ramon on Selena. Even through her research, the need for sidewalkers hadn’t crossed her mind. It made sense, even with Ramon having a level of control in the saddle—he still wouldn’t be able to get on or off and, heaven forbid should something happen and he fall off. Who could I ask? Her father worked too much to be able to help. She slipped her phone into her pocket and headed down the stairs to Ramon’s room.
She knocked on the door and waited for him to acknowledge her. “Yeah?” he shouted as he turned down the heavy metal music blaring from within.
She pushed the door open and walked in. “I’ve got a question for you.”
“What?” He turned from the window and stared at her.
For a moment she wondered how much time he spent staring out the window, watching the guys across the street play basketball. He’d never really been interested in hoops before his accident, or even until they’d moved, but it seemed that every time she came into his room, he was staring out the window as if it was an enthralling TV show.
“I just got a text from Emma—you know—the girl out at the horse center?”
“That’s nice.” He drummed his fingers on the padded arms of his wheelchair. “What’d she want?”
Maia plopped down on the corner of the bed. It was about the only spot where things were flat and uncluttered except for Ramon’s wheelchair paths from the door to his desk then to his bed. Everything else was covered in clothes, papers, and books. “We need to find someone—sounds like it needs to be a guy—who can go out with us and help keep you on the horse, at least until you get comfortable and we’re sure you can stay on by yourself.”
Ramon rolled his eyes. “I knew this was too good to get my hopes up. Geez.” He balled up his fists and hit the arms of his chair. “I can’t believe this. Does this mean I’m not going to be able to do this? I’m just going to be stuck in this damned chair in this fucking house and never be able to live a normal life ever again.”
Over the past year, Maia had seen all sorts of outbursts from Ramon. His emotions seemed to be on a constant rollercoaster. She hoped they could find something with hippotherapy that he could look forward to. “Ramon, we just need to find one person. Emma said one of their ranch hands out there will help, but we need one more person.”
“Who?” Ramon snapped. “It’s not like anyone has come running to help us in anything yet. Abuela Sylvia did, but she’s family. Family’s supposed to help us when we need it. She took us in. But she’s damn sure not strong enough to help keep me on a horse. Hell, you’re my big sister, and you’re not strong enough.”
Maia had faced his wrath before. She didn’t respond. “Maybe some of the guys from the team might be willing to help out? Our old school’s trying to promote community service—maybe we can get them to accept this as part of that service?” The school in Falcon had been trying to get more of the students to do positive things for the area and even offered extra credit for it. The school in Fountain didn’t have a program like that, as far as she knew.
Ramon shook his head and turned back to the window. He mumbled, “I doubt it. Most of them don’t even remember that I’m alive.”
“I’m going to call Tess and ask her to check around.” Maia slipped off the bed. “These guys were your friends for years. One or two of them must be willing to help out.”
“Good luck.” Ramon waved a dismissive hand at her without turning around. “You’re not different. If you were, you’d understand that they don’t tolerate someone who’s different. They kill it. To them, being different is worse than death. You’re not a part of the group anymore.”
His words chilled her, but Maia didn’t stop to respond, and she hurried out the door. The smell of dinner hit her. Hamburgers on the grill. Her stomach growled in response. A quick glance at the clock in the hall told her she had fifteen minutes until she had to have the table set and ready for them to eat. Enough time to call Tess.
Not bothering to go up to her room, Maia hurried into the living room, sat on the overstuffed couch, and dialed Tess’s number.
“Hey, Maia,” Tess cheerfully answered on the third ring. “I don’t have long—Mom’s about got dinner ready.”
“I hear you. Mi abuela is working on dinner too.” She didn’t have time for small talk, so she cut right to the meat of the problem. “Tess, I’m trying to find someone to help out with Ramon’s hippotherapy.”
“What kind of therapy?” From her tone, Maia could almost see Tess’s brow creased in confusion.
“Hippotherapy,” Maia repeated, rolling her eyes and trying to keep her tone level. “It’s a kind of physical therapy, but it involves horses.”
“Then why not call it horse therapy?”
“Some people call it equine therapy.”
“Okay. Now I’m confused. I thought you had to get rid of your horse. You were crying about it for weeks. Now Ramon’s going to be riding?”
With a deep breath, Maia explained what was happening and how Selena fit into the plan. “So, we need a nice strong guy to walk beside Selena while Ramon rides. He’ll also have to help Ramon on and off, until—er, if Ramon will ever be able to do it himself.”
“Oh.” The sound of Tess’s mental light bulb going off rang across their connection. “So you want me to hit up the team and find one of the guys to do it?”
“Exactly, but I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head. Ramon’s convinced that none of the guys care about him since his accident.”
“They’re guys. He’s not around. He might be right about them forgetting about him. Out of sight, out of mind, right?” Her hum was loud enough to carry through the phones. “I bet Billy Anderson would do it. Particularly if you’d go out with him.”
It was Maia’s turn to roll her eyes. “Go out with him? He barely gave me the time of day last year.”
“I told you the other day he keeps asking about you. I’ll hit him up first and see what he says. But you’d better plan on going out with him. He’s hot.”
Maia remembered the strapping footballer with his wide shoulders and narrow waist. He was attractive. Most of the girls in school would’ve given anything to go out with him, but even when she’d thought she was interested last year, there was always something that kept her from saying anything. She couldn’t put her finger on it. “Okay, I guess I can. I just hope this helps Ramon.” At that point, she’d do almost anything to make Ramon feel better, both about himself and life in general.
“Good. I’ll give him a call after dinner and see if he can help you out. I’ll call you after I talk to him.” There was a muffled “Just a second.” Then Tess was back. “Okay, I need to go. I’ll call you later. Unless a text would be easier.”
Maia shook her head. “No, go ahead and call. Some things are too complex for text, and I’ve got homework tonight.”
“Yeah, me too. Later.”
“Later.”
As Maia ended the call, Abuela Sylvia called her to the kitchen.
MAIA HAD just finished the chapter in her biology text when her phone rang. She glanced at it and was happy to see Tess’s name displayed. She quickly answered the call. “Hey, what have you got for me?”
“You owe me.” A cheerful tease rang in Tess’s tone.
“It’s for Ramon, so whatever it takes.” Maia stood and paced her small room.
“Billy’ll do it. I was right. He does want to take you out.”
“Cool.” The hope of making Ramon happy overshadowed her uncertainty about going out with Billy. “If you’ll send me his e-mail, I’ll send him a message with a way to contact Emma so they can work out the details.”
“Not a problem. I just sent you his e-mail address through text.”
“So, what do I owe you for helping me with this?” Maia dropped into her computer chair and flipped open her laptop.
“Oh, I guess you should cover things the next time we all go to Starbucks. Nothing major.”
Maia leaned back in her chair as she waited for her computer to boot. She hated asking her folks for money, particularly for something so silly as going to Starbucks. It wouldn’t be a cheap visit, particularly if she had to cover her and Tess—Tess always got a latte and food as well—but the agreement had been for Ramon. If she approached it from that angle, maybe she could get Abuela Sylvia to give her some money. Or maybe her mother might have an extra few dollars. For Tess, it wouldn’t be a major thing; for her, it was. “Okay, I can try anyway. You know what the money situation is like around here.”
“Oh yeah, sure. No problem. Well, I need to get back to my homework. Got a lot of calculus problems to work out before tomorrow. Send Billy an e-mail, get him connected to Emma, and set up a time for the two of you to go out. There’re several good movies playing right now—talk him into that and dinner.”
“Yeah.” Maia sighed. “I guess it would be nice to go out somewhere, and I always thought Billy was a good guy.” Wish he had done this last year. I don’t really think I want to go out with him now.
“Right. Now, go send some e-mails and get back to your homework too.”
“I will. Thanks for everything.”
“No problem. Later.”
“Later.” Maia ended the call and put the phone on her desk. It didn’t take her long to send the e-mails and get started on her English Lit assignment.
Her phone beeped with an incoming text about an hour later.
Emma: Already got an e-mail back from Billy. He said after reading the stuff I sent him, he’s interested in helping out. Something about they were teammates before the accident?
Maia quickly typed her reply. Cool. I can’t wait to give this a try.
Emma: So, Billy said you agreed to go out with him for doing this?
For a second, Maia stared at the phone and wondered why that mattered. She couldn’t decide if it did or not.
Maia: My friend Tess set it up. Said Billy’s been wanting to go out with me. It’s not a big thing. One date.
Emma: Oh, okay. Are you going to try to come visit before Ramon’s first day?
Maia: I want to. Still waiting for Mom to tell me if I can borrow the truck or not. She’s being elusive about something.
Emma: It would be nice to see you. I know Selena would love it.
A happy smile spread across Maia’s face. Updates about Selena were one of the best things about the texts with Emma. It made her feel better about her horse being at the center and gave her more confidence that Emma was taking good care of her.
Maia: I’d love to see her too, especially when I won’t have to share her time with Ramon. I’ll pressure Mom to give me an answer tomorrow. She’s still at work.
Emma: OK. Hey, got stuff to do before bed. You have a good night. Good job in finding help for Ramon.
Maia: He’s my brother. I’ve got to help him. It’s what family does.
Emma: Yeah, family’s important. L8R
Maia: L8R
Maia put the phone back on the desk and basked in the warm, happy feeling that flooded through her. It had been a long time since she had a friend like Emma who made her feel contented and cared about. It didn’t feel like they were connecting just through a shared love of horses. It was something else. Emma truly cared about her and what was happening to her. Her friendship with Tess wasn’t anywhere near as strong, and she’d known Tess most of her life. She’d even had a few dreams where she and Emma rode across the prairie on Selena and Carl. It was like they had a connection that she couldn’t understand, but didn’t care to. Being around Emma felt right, and that was what was important to her.
8
“OKAY, NOW lift!” Emma said as Billy lifted the sack of potatoes onto Selena’s back. Selena nickered and moved slightly, but Emma was there to correct the horse and ease her back where they wanted her. “Easy, Selena, it’s okay,” she whispered to the horse.
