“Tigger!” I called and then clucked my tongue.
Tigger looked solely at me and then trotted to my side.
“Good boy,” I greeted him when he was close enough that I could grab his halter.
“That horse should be put down,” Marly huffed as she stomped out of the stable. Her pumps echoed on the cement ramp.
“You should leave before another horse decides to mow you down,” I told her, eyeing her current outfit, which was now dusty from the sawdust in the stall.
She sneered at me and then demanded that Riley take her home. She walked ahead of us toward Riley’s truck. She stomped through the grass, which kept swallowing the heel of the expensive red-soled pumps. Her ass was covered in horse shit. I had to clamp my mouth shut to keep myself from giggling like a little schoolgirl.
“Good luck getting that out of the seat,” I said, nodding toward her ass.
“Get bent,” he told me as he sulked away. He must have been really upset about the brown stain he would have to scrub from his seats. He usually put more effort into his insults. Good, let him mull over his poor decisions while scrubbing the seat of that precious truck of his.
I told Tigger what a good boy he was as I walked him back to his stall.
I finished my morning chores quickly, knowing what was expected of me before potential clients of William’s arrived. He recently invested in two great retired racehorses, although not Triple Crown winners, and these clients were interested in breeding them with their mares. Everything had to be as spick and span as a stable could be; that was part of my responsibilities.
After leading the horses out to their pastures, I had a few hours to get some studying in. I was currently enrolled online in community college. I was hoping to get the general classes out of the way so that if the finances ever sorted themselves out, I could apply to a veterinary school.
I climbed up the steps to my trailer and threw the door open. It slammed shut behind me as I sat down at the kitchen table and opened up my laptop. I was several hours in and taking an online test when the power to my trailer went out. This wasn’t the first time that Riley messed with my trailer, but it never ceased to stop being annoying.
I grabbed a bottle of water out of my fridge, opened it, and took a sip, hoping the cold water would simmer the anger that rose up the moment I realized I wouldn’t be able to retake this test. I would get a failing grade. Riley’s antics would cost me my grade in this class. I added this to my still-growing list of reasons to hate him. He graduated high school with no plan except to sleep with everyone he could and make my life miserable.He got an A in both.
The water did nothing to stop the anger from boiling over. I slammed open my front door and started crossing the lawn toward the main house. Off to its left was a breaker box attached to a telephone pole. As I got close to the box, I saw a note taped to it.
Enjoy the dark trailer, loser. Get bent.
I ripped the note off the box and tore it into a hundred little pieces. I let the breeze take them as I lifted the switch to turn on the power and internet in my trailer. While I was out there, I took a moment to observe the farm.
In the pastures to my right, the mares were grazing. Iris, the mare due to give birth any day, was eating all the grass she could reach. She would need to be brought in shortly. She had a larger stall to give birth in. We kept her under close observation now that she’s so close to her due date.
I saw Rodrigo walking her way with the lead rope. I walked back to my trailer and came across William.
“Hi, Emma, how are you today?” he asked me in his quiet demeanor.
“Hi, William, a little annoyed but I will get over it,” I said, motioning to my dark trailer.
“Are you having electrical issues?”
“No, I am having Riley issues.”
“That damn boy is going to be the death of me. He just gets worse and worse.”
“Tell me about it. He brought another girl to the stable this morning. He let Trigger knock her over and then escape. He really needs some work,” I said, referring to the man and not the horse.
“He brought a hookup here?” he asked referring to the stables.
Had I just gotten Riley in trouble? I hoped so. Maybe his father would shove a wakeup call up his stupid ass. It would be fine if Riley completely ignored me and respected the horses. But I would always insert myself between him and a mistreated horse, no matter what the consequences were.
“He did,” I answered William.
His face turned red, and if we were in a cartoon, his white mustache would have floated away from his head, and steam would have exploded from his ears. I could hear the imaginary steam now.
“I ought to beat that boy,” he said, walking away from me, too angry to keep up with the conversation.Good speaking with you, too, William.
Wherever Riley was, he’d better keep hiding—his father was on the warpath. A smug smile spread across my face as I walked back into my trailer, turning on the lights and the portable AC unit that shorted out when the power was cut. The Georgia heat was brutal this time of the year.With no trees surrounding my trailer to provide shade, this thing would heat up as quick as an oven without the AC unit running.
