New Hoofprints in the Snow, page 5
“Billy, you’ve done a wonderful job today. I think you’ll do perfectly as a sidewalker for Ramon,” Emma’s mom said, smiling from the side of the arena.
“Thanks, Mrs.—I mean, Cassie.” Billy blushed slightly and adjusted his baseball hat. It was something he often did when he spoke to Emma’s mom. “I’ll do anything I can to help.”
Yeah, as long as it gets you closer to Maia. Emma was jealous of Billy. She couldn’t help it—at least, not once she’d seen him. He was strikingly good-looking with his reddish-blond hair and muscular build. She was glad they’d found someone to help Ramon, but someone this good-looking? Who already had a date with Maia in the works? I just wish I could tell Maia how I’m feeling. If there was some way to know what she was thinking….
“You both have done a great job today. Put Selena away, and I’ll fix a snack for the both of you in the house when you get done.”
“Sure, Cassie.” Billy beamed. Every word of encouragement from Emma’s mother brought an overenthusiastic response, and Emma tried not to let it grate on her nerves.
“Okay, Mom.” Emma rubbed Selena’s forehead and nose. “C’mon, Billy. Let’s go take her tack off.” She lifted the lead rope and led Selena toward the barn, not looking back to see if Billy followed.
When they got to the barn, Billy was there to open the door for her and Selena.
“Thanks.” Emma walked Selena into the barn and tied her to the first tie ring they came to. “You’re such a good girl, Selena. Yes, you are.” She rubbed Selena’s neck, fingering through her mane.
“You’re really good with her.” Billy patted Selena on the neck gently.
“Thanks.” Emma stood there and quickly gathered her thoughts about what she was going to do next. She really just wanted to be alone with Selena, the way she had been for a while now, and she could daydream about Maia and their rides through the pasture and the barrel races they’d set up.
“How long have you been around horses?” Billy interrupted her thoughts, walking around to Selena’s head and patting her on the forehead.
“Oh, most of my life.” Emma smoothly unhooked the saddle’s cinch and took the saddle off in one continuous motion.
“Oh,” Billy said and shuffled his feet. “This is Maia’s horse, right?”
“Well, technically, she’s ours.” Emma placed the leather saddle on its holder and walked back over to the horse. “Maia had to give her up, but yes, she was Maia’s.”
“That must have been hard on her.” Billy turned and looked at the mare.
“It was. It still is hard on her. It’s hard to give up someone you love, whether it’s an animal or a person.” Emma felt a hitch growing in her throat and swallowed a couple of times, hoping it would stay down. This boy had known Maia longer, talked to her more….
“Yeah, I hated it when I heard that Maia had transferred to the high school in Fountain. I was hoping to get to know her better this year.”
“Mm-hmm.” Emma’s ears burned.
“She’s really pretty and—” Billy stopped. “Do you get to spend a lot of time with her?”
“Some, I suppose. She comes out and visits Selena from time to time.”
“Does she ever mention me?” There was a puppy-dog eagerness in his voice.
Emma stopped what she was doing and looked at him, glad the lights were dim enough he probably couldn’t see the red flush that just crossed her face. “No, she doesn’t. But then again, we’re always riding, so we’re not talking about school and our friends. We’re talking about riding and horses and where we want to go next and what we want to do.”
Billy’s face grew sad. “Of course you are.”
“Oh, don’t be like that. You’re going out on a date with her, aren’t you?” Emma said, ready to cry. She hoped she was successful in hiding the tremble in her voice. “You’ll get to see her soon, right?”
“Yeah, I hope so. After the horse therapy with Ramon. We’ve got it all scheduled. I just have to figure out where we’re going.”
“Well, from what I know of her, maybe a trip to the zoo? She seems to really like animals, and she might like that.” At least, apart from here, that’s where I would take her. Emma coughed. She’d imagined taking Maia to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs for their first date several times. Imagining her there with Billy tore at her emotions, and she sighed deeply. Besides she probably likes guys more than girls. The hitch in her throat was back and tears formed in the corners of her eyes.
“That’s a great idea! Why didn’t I think of that? I haven’t been to the zoo in a long time.”
“Well, good. I’m glad you like it.” Emma quickly brushed the tears away. “You did a good job out here today. I’ll text Maia and tell her we’re almost ready for Ramon.”
“Oh, I already did that while you were leading Selena here.”
“Oh, okay.” Wishing that she’d have thought to text Maia first, Emma held in a sigh and led Selena out to the pasture, opened the gate, and turned her out. Hopefully Billy would be gone by the time she got back.
“MOM, WHY does it have to hurt so much?” Emma said as she lay in bed, her mom sitting on the edge, getting ready to tuck her in for the night. It was a tradition they had never changed—this was their chance to talk, to really talk about things, a chance they didn’t get at other times of the day.
“What do you mean?” Her mom smoothed the hair over Emma’s forehead.
“I mean Maia.” Emma scrunched her face up in disgust. “You know she’s going to go out with that guy Billy, right?”
“No, I didn’t.” A note of worry entered her mother’s voice.
“Well, she is. And I pushed her into it!” If I hadn’t asked her to find someone….
“Honey, I’m sure you didn’t do anything.”
“I did so. I texted her and asked her if she knew of a guy who could help with sidewalking Ramon.” A tear ran down Emma’s cheek, and her mom rubbed it away with her thumb. “Billy said the only way he’d do it is if she goes out with him.”
“Emma, that’s not your fault.”
Emma rolled over on her side, facing the wall, tears falling clearly now. “It is too. I pushed her into this guy’s path.”
“No, Emma, it’s not your fault. Besides you really don’t know how Maia feels about you. What if she’s just going to go out with Billy because… well, because he’s willing to help with Ramon? Her going out with Billy doesn’t necessarily mean that she likes him like that.”
“What if she does? You know she’s the first girl I’ve looked at since Diane….” Emma’s voice caught. It had been Diane who had broken up with Emma at the end. Diane who broke Emma’s heart. Diane who had decided Emma was just some kind of fling—even after two years—and had tossed her away for a jock on the high school football team. And that’s what Billy reminded her of—that same jock on Diane’s high school team.
“I know, dear. But you’ve got to be able to let her make her own decisions about who she wants to love and what she wants to do, or….”
“Or what?” Emma rolled back over, wiping her eyes with the sheets and looking at her mom.
“Or the relationship isn’t healthy. I know how much you care about Maia. But unless you can hold her in the palm of your hand and not close your fingers around her, you can’t expect the relationship to work out.” Her mom handed her a tissue from the box sitting on the nightstand.
After blowing her nose, Emma said, “Like we do the horses?”
“Like we do horses. Horses do what we want them to because they want to do it. You want Maia to choose to be with you because she wants to do it. Not because you push her into it or try to coerce her into it. And if she doesn’t choose to be with you, then that’s her choice and you need to respect it.”
“I understand, Mom. I just…. I’m just scared she’s not going to choose to be with me after all.”
“Shhh, honey. It’s time to go to sleep. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Emma closed her eyes and felt her mom stand up from the bed. Sleep didn’t come easily, and when it did, Maia rode up to her on Selena with Billy trotting along behind her. The dream wasn’t clear as she and Maia rode away, but Billy was never far away, although he also never got close enough to interact with them. When Emma woke up, she was more confused than ever.
9
FIDGETING IN her seat, Maia tried desperately to control her excitement. Her mom drove off the pavement onto the dirt road that would carry them to the Heart of Colorado Horse Rescue and Ramon’s first ride. Every night, she and Emma had either texted or talked about the progress Selena and Billy were making, getting ready for the big day. From everything Emma said, Selena was turning out to be a perfect therapy horse. It wasn’t a big surprise for Maia—she’d done everything she could to make Selena bombproof so things they encountered didn’t spook her. Maia hated falling off horses, particularly for stupid reasons, so she did everything she could to make Selena solid, and the ribbons they’d won together were a testament to her hard work over the years.
“Wow, could this road be any rougher?” Ramon asked from the backseat.
Their mother slowed down. “Sorry about that. But you know how dirt roads can be.”
A heavy sigh escaped him. “Yeah. That’s one of the plusses to living in Fountain—not as many dirt roads as out here.”
“We don’t have far to go,” Maia said. “You never complained about dirt roads before.”
“They were part of life before,” Ramon snapped. “Not something I could get away from.”
Maia shook her head. “And if your hippotherapy goes well, they’ll be part of your life again. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want this to work?” She turned and looked over the seat at him.
He shrugged. “I guess. I’m tired of getting my hopes up, in case it doesn’t work. At least we managed to get this going faster than getting the van.”
“The van will come,” their mother said as she flipped the blinker on to turn into the driveway leading to the center. “I got an e-mail from them yesterday, and we’re next in line. It should be just another week or so.”
Horses raced alongside the truck, and Maia turned her attention from her mother and brother to them. She spotted Carl among the herd and smiled at the memory of riding with Emma during the open house a couple of weeks earlier.
Once her mother had parked at the barn, it was all she could do to keep from jumping out of the truck and running in to find Emma and Selena. Somehow she knew Emma would be grooming Selena to make the best impression possible. Knowing Emma cared for Selena almost as much as she did made her like Emma more. She’d caught herself thinking a lot about Emma and how pretty she was. Maia could recall every detail of Emma’s delicate face. It was something she couldn’t do with Billy, even though she’d had a crush on him the year before. More than a couple of times, she’d wondered about that.
“Maia, grab the wheelchair,” her mother urged. “I’ll help Ramon out of the truck.”
“Okay.” Maia shook herself out of her thoughts and dashed to the back of the truck so she could drop the tailgate and get the wheelchair out. Every now and then, a rough pebble on the parking area made pushing the wheelchair difficult, even without Ramon’s weight.
Emma’s mother, Cassie, appeared in the open barn door. “You folks are right on time.” She walked out to the truck, smiling. “We’re going to fill in a couple of spots next week to make it easier for folks in wheelchairs. Here, let me help you push.”
“Thanks.” Maia’s mom helped Ramon ease down from the truck into the wheelchair Maia kept steady. Many times while helping Ramon from the truck to the chair, Maia was reminded of how much worse things would’ve been if her brother hadn’t worked on improving his upper body strength since he had started playing football. His lower body might not be working anymore, but his arms and chest were still strong, and that made a lot of difference.
Once Ramon settled into the chair, Cassie and Maia’s mother pushed the chair through the dirt while Maia ran on ahead. Just inside the barn, next to a new-looking wooden ramp, Emma stood, tightening the cinch on Selena’s saddle. Billy, in his Falcons baseball hat, stood holding Selena’s reins and rubbing Selena’s forehead. A momentary flash of jealousy went through Maia. She’d known that Billy would be there, helping out as a sidewalker, but seeing him there with Emma and Selena hit her wrong. It didn’t seem right for him to be in her special place, with her horse and new friend. But this was for Ramon, not her. Swallowing hard, she pushed the feelings aside.
“Hey,” she said as she came around the ramp.
“Hey.” Emma flashed her a bright smile. “Mom said you guys were here. I’d have come out, but I wanted to finish getting Selena ready. I think she looks great.”
Emma’s smile was enough for Maia to forget the flash of jealousy she’d felt at seeing Billy there. She couldn’t remember the last time someone looked so happy to see her. “She looks wonderful.” Maia slid her hand along Selena’s side. “Not a hair out of place.”
Billy laughed sharply and said, “The way Emma’s been grooming her for the past hour, you’d have thought she was getting Selena ready for a date.”
Emma’s face grew red and she pointed at the horse. “Depending on how Ramon’s seat is, this could be a bit awkward for Selena. I wanted to make sure everything else was perfect.”
“And it is,” Cassie said as she and Maia’s mom pushed Ramon up the ramp onto the platform that would make it easier for him to get from the chair into Selena’s saddle. “Everything looks about right, but we’re short one person.”
Maia glanced around and thought everyone appeared to be there.
“Ah, Marco!” Emma said. “I’ll run and find him. He was cleaning out the stock tank by the main gate a little while ago. Hopefully he’s done by now.” She dashed across the open area of the barn and through the back door.
“We’ll wait a moment before getting you onto Selena, Ramon,” Cassie said. “I doubt there’s going to be any problems. Selena’s a good horse and, with Billy and Maia’s help, we should be fine.”
Maia perked up. “My help?” She’d expected to just stand around and watch from the sidelines.
“Sure.” Cassie grinned at her. “I figured you could lead Selena today. It would probably be good for you and make her even more comfortable since she knows you so well.”
“Oh. Yeah. I can do that.” She scratched under Selena’s neck and the horse started to raise her head. “How’s that sound, girl? I can lead you around while Ramon rides you. It’ll be just like the first time he rode. When he was just getting to know you.”
Selena flicked an ear at her and nuzzled her elbow. Oh, how I miss being around her all the time! A lump rose in her throat as Emma dashed back in.
“Okay,” Emma huffed, slightly short of breath. “Marco’s right behind me. He got busy and lost track of time.”
“Good. Thanks,” Cassie said. “So, Ramon, this is just going to be a trial run so we can see how well you do, see what it feels like for you. We’re going to walk around the barn a couple of times, and then if you want, we can go outside and do a few rounds out there.”
“Okay.” Ramon’s tone wasn’t as down as it had been in the truck. It gave Maia hope that he might actually relax and enjoy himself.
A tall man in a leather cowboy hat and a red-and-black flannel shirt appeared in the door Emma had just come through. “Sorry, I lost track of time. Hope I didn’t delay things.”
Cassie shook her head. “You’re fine, Marco. We were just working things out.” She gestured to Billy. “If you and Marco can get into position on either side of Selena like we practiced…. Emma, show Maia where to have Selena stand.”
For a moment Maia felt like she should’ve been out there practicing with the others in preparation for the day. She followed Emma’s directions and moved Selena next to the platform where Marco stood to Selena’s left, between the horse and the wooden structure. Billy waited on the far side. Then her mother and Cassie helped Ramon from the chair into the saddle. Marco and Billy quickly got their arms in place on Ramon’s thighs to help hold him on.
Ramon looked as nervous as he had the first time he’d been on Selena. Selena looked back over her shoulder and seemed to study him for a moment, then blew out a snort of recognition.
A soft chuckle came out of Ramon. “Same to ya, horse.” It was the first happy sound Maia had heard from her brother in a long time. It gave her hope their adventure was just beginning.
“Okay, Maia, take him around the barn and let’s see how this goes,” Cassie said from the platform. “Ramon, if you feel like you’re going to fall, let Billy and Marco know.”
“I’m good right now.” Ramon took hold of the saddle horn and grinned.
Maia walked slowly, with Emma at her side. Selena stayed smooth and easy as they made it to the far end of the barn and turned around. They made it back to the platform, and Cassie signaled a stop.
“Ramon, is everything okay?” she asked as she appeared to study them all. She glanced at Maia’s mother. “I think we’re good here. How about you?”
“Definitely.” A wide grin formed on Maia’s mother’s face. “Keep going.”
Even if she’d wanted to, Maia wouldn’t have been able to hide her smile. She glanced at Emma, and it broadened. Their second time around the barn went as smoothly as the first. They were cleared to go outside.
It felt strange just leading Selena out into the sunshine. A cool breeze blew down from the north, reminding Maia it was fall, almost winter. She wanted to be up on Selena, riding with Emma and Ramon on either side.
“Hold up a second,” Billy said. “I think this strap needs to be tighter.”
The interruption shattered her thought of riding and brought her back to the situation at hand. “Whoa, Selena.” Maia pulled slightly back on the lead rope to bring Selena to a stop. Selena obliged.
“Everything feels fine from up here,” Ramon said. “I’d forgotten how cool it is to be on top of a horse. I’ve gotten used to looking up at people, not down.”
