“It’s your idea. I simply agreed,” he said.
“Anyway, what if you got back on the horse—so to speak? Initiated a ful competition regimen again?”
I looked past them to Pietr. He studied the floor tiles like he wasn’t hearing our discussion. Or like he was considering a career in masonry.
“It would take my mind off things, I guess.”
“You did relish competing, didn’t you?” Sarah prodded.
“Yeah.” Flying over fences and bushes on Rio was a rush that was hard to beat. Unless I was kissing Pietr.
“Think about it,” Derek suggested, dropping his hand from Sarah to also fold it around the hand of mine he held.
“Okay, I wil ,” I promised, slipping my hand out of his.
And I did think about it. Al day. Almost as frequently as I thought about Pietr avoiding me.
That afternoon as I finished reviewing the assignment list for the upcoming issue of the newspaper at school, I cal ed the Rusakovas. Grounded didn’t stick as easily when I was at Junction High.
Cat picked up. “Nyet, I am sorry, Jessie. Pietr’s locked himself in his room to study. He said he wil not take phone cal s. He seems preoccupied. Kak dayla? What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I hope it’s nothing.”
* * *
Pietr nodded acknowledgment to me on the bus the next morning, but didn’t move the backpack on the seat beside him. I sat, glaring at the lumpy barrier.
“Look,” I said, tugging my hair back to show the barest hint of the fading yel ow bruise. “Almost gone.”
He nodded, a curt move of his head. His eyes remained dark. Stormy and troubled.
“I’m okay.” I reached out to him.
He drew back and forced his lips into a smile. “You wil be,” he agreed, once more turning to stare out the window.
the window.
That day Sarah landed three kisses on Pietr, entwining her fingers into his dark hair to better capture him for one particularly long one. He didn’t seem to put up much of a fight.
Probably just distracted.
Hopeful y because things were going wel in the hunt for his mother. But if so, he didn’t mention it to me.
* * *
Back home I alternately pushed Rio to gal op and slowed her to a walk, occasional y letting her lead around the yard as Hunter and Maggie kept a silent watch. Al the time I thought about Pietr. And his family.
I couldn’t imagine knowing your mother was alive and you couldn’t get to her—couldn’t see her, hug her, kiss her … even argue with her.
I wouldn’t have done wel in their shoes, waiting for someone else to decide when or if I could see her. It was no wonder they loped through the night, hunting for her while they waited for permission to visit.
I flicked the reins, encouraging Rio into a jog.
Of course, if I had the option of seeing my mom one last time, instead of knowing she was gone already and forever, I would have waited as long as it took to be with her again.
Winding back toward the barn I straightened in the saddle, seeing someone leaning on the split-rail fence. I slowed Rio to an ambling walk, wondering why he was here.
Derek waved at me and straightened, the breeze playing in his soft golden hair.
Rio trotted toward him and I nodded. My expression must have shown my puzzlement. “Hey.” I glanced at the driveway. Mercedes. No truck. No point tel ing him I wasn’t supposed to have visitors.
He walked around the fence and stood beside Rio. “I was thinking more about you starting competition again.”
“Real y? That’s why you’re here?”
“Not entirely. But the Golden Jumper is coming up.”
The Golden Jumper. The biggest competition in our county. “Too fast. I’ve missed registration.”
“So? Chuck and Lucy are old friends of the family.”
“Charles Overton and Lucinda Walsingham?”
“The same.” He grinned when my mouth popped open. “Anyhow, if you’d like to ride, I can cal in a favor.…” He rubbed his head, short hair shimmering.
“Real y?”
“Real y.”
“Wel , um. Yeah. Please, ” I added. The deadline of the Golden Jumper competition would force me to focus on riding. “Cool. Why else did you come by?”
“I want to learn to ride,” he confessed, glancing down, suddenly bashful.
As much as I was over Derek, I had to admit there was something about him.
“If there’s anybody patient enough to teach me, it’s bound to be you.” His boyish smile dazzled me, and my cheeks warmed.
“I don’t real y teach,” I claimed. “I mean, once at camp … but that was nine-year-old girls. Frankly, I’m more comfortable training horses than people.”
Rio stayed stil beneath me as Derek reached up to touch my leg. “Then think of me as a colt in need of a firm hand.”
I blushed, images of Derek flicking through my head like clips in an old film. Derek playing touch footbal in the park. On the skins’ team. Derek at the town pool in his navy blue trunks, water dripping from his hair.
Derek smiling at me. Derek kissing me at the Homecoming game.
“What are you thinking? You’re grinning ear to ear.”
Embarrassed, I realized I’d mental y equated Derek to a stud instead of a colt. His hand fel away, and I cleared my throat, banishing the thought. “I’m thinking more teaching would be good on my col ege apps, but it takes time.”
“Any good education takes time.”
“And, as much as I’d love to—”
“I can pay.”
“I don’t—” But the idea of additional money when there was trouble at Dad’s factory … Without a Christmas bonus, the money was quite a lure.
“Handsomely,” he added with a wink.
Any other day my pride might have stepped in and made me see sense. Besides, regardless of the additional income, what would Pietr say?
I gnawed my lower lip. Pietr hadn’t said much of anything these past few days. And Derek gave me his puppy dog eyes. And a tidy stack of bil s like it was nothing. “Okay.”
I could talk Dad into this. It was business, not pleasure.
And I could be professional. I’d be instructing him. It wasn’t like we were starting a relationship. So what if he was my old crush? “Fine. Two days each week. Your choice.”