Home for Christmas Page 3

  Jacob, Paige, and I walked past Heather, who had her arms around Aristocrat’s neck. The liver chestnut leaned into her. Brit had found Apollo—her gray gelding—and was whispering in his ear. Callie and Black Jack were reunited in the stall next to Apollo. Eric dug into his pocket, produced a peppermint stick, and held it flat on his palm for Luna.

  It made me teary to see all of my friends with their horses—the horses they thought they’d be without over break. It hadn’t been easy getting them here. The Foxes had put up a fight about having Heather’s expensive horse staying “at some stable in Union,” but Mr. Conner and I had managed to convince them.

  “Charm?” I called. A low nicker came from the right side of the aisle. “Chaaarm! I hear you!” Another nicker, louder and longer this time. I broke into a jog, not waiting for Paige and Jacob to catch up.

  As I reached the stall, a chestnut head popped over. Wide brown eyes found me, and I grinned. “Charm!” I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his mane. He smelled like clean hay and sweet grain. I stepped back and held his face in my hands. Charm wore his dark-brown leather halter, with his name inscribed on a gold name plate attached to the halter.

  “Look at my other boyfriend,” I said as Jacob reached my side.

  “Hey, Charm,” Jacob said. He put out a tentative hand for Charm to sniff. Charm bumped Jacob’s hand with his muzzle, and Jacob patted his neck. I couldn’t believe Jacob was the guy who, when we had first met, was so scared of horses he wouldn’t even touch Charm.

  Paige caught up and petted Charm’s cheek.

  Charm’s coat gleamed from daily brushings. Every hair on his white blaze sparkled like fresh snow. His socks were just as clean. Charm’s breeding—a mix of Thoroughbred and Belgian—made him tall and strong.

  “Anyone interested in a ride?” I called.

  “Yes!” everyone chorused back.

  With a final pat, I left Charm, and my friends and I met in the center of the aisle.

  “Sasha, wow,” Callie said. Her brown eyes danced. “This was the biggest surprise!”

  Heather nodded. “Really. I was down about spending Christmas away from Aristocrat. Thank you so much!”

  I waved my hand. “I wanted to do it. Mr. Conner did most of the work, really. It’s a small thanks to you all for helping me with the charity project.”

  I explained that everyone would find their tack and grooming supplies in a closet at the back of the stable. I hadn’t wanted to blow the surprise when I’d shown them the real tack room.

  “So, you guys tack up. I’m going to introduce Jacob and Paige to their horses and help them get ready. Want to meet out in front of the stable in half an hour?” I asked.

  “Deal!” Brit said.

  6

  SHADY LAUREN

  Lauren

  “YOU,” KHLOE SAID, POINTING A red fingernail at me, “are being shady.”

  We had just finished breakfast and were getting ready to go to Briar Creek. I wanted to show my friends the stable and go trail riding. Taylor, the rest of the guys, Ana, and Brielle were meeting us there.

  “Me?” I asked. My voice was octaves higher than normal. “Nope, no shadiness here.”

  Clare, in black breeches and a down vest, studied me. “Khloe’s right. Something’s up.”

  Channel Khloe, I told myself. Be an actress!

  “I—I was just thinking about Charlotte coming home tomorrow,” I said. “It’s going to be a little weird.”

  Clare, Khloe, Lexa, Carina, and Becca all exchanged looks. We were seated at the breakfast nook table. The girls had met Becca yesterday, and I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction. Just like I knew she would be, Becca was open and friendly with everyone, and it didn’t take long before she felt like one of our group. Everyone had whispered to me the second Becca had stepped out of the room last night how much they liked her.

  “Don’t worry too much, Laur,” Becca said. “I’m sure things with Char will be fine. You guys have really come a long way.”

  I thanked my sister with my eyes. Becca knew why I was distracted—and it wasn’t about Charlotte. Right now, anyway. Late last night, I’d woken up to my phone blinking on my nightstand. In my in-box was an e-mail from Char.

  12/17 1:32 a.m.

  To: Lauren Towers

  From: Charlotte Towers

  Subject: Coming home

  Hi, Laur,

  I’m taking a break from last-minute packing and wanted to e-mail you. Texting would have taken forever! I guess I just wanted to say that I hope you’re looking forward to Xmas as much as I am. It’s going to be a little different with your friends there, but I’m glad you have people over—the charity work is especially cool. I should have told you that sooner. I’m really proud of what you’re doing. I miss you (and the rest of the fam) and think this will be the first Christmas in a while that everyone—you and I, especially—are going to have fun being around each other. I want this to be a great holiday!

  See you very soon!

  Xoxo,

  Char

  I’d read the e-mail three times. Charlotte was really trying. She wanted to put our rocky past behind us, at least for the holidays, and have a good time. As sisters, Char and I rarely got into screaming fights—most of our issues came from the competitive gene that we both shared. When I came home with an A– on a history quiz, Charlotte brought home an A on a math test. I excelled in riding, and Charlotte made sure she was captain of the cheer squad. Mom always said that it was because Char and I were so alike that we didn’t get along. Maybe, just maybe, Charlotte and I would be a little less Grinch-y toward each other this Christmas.

  “Girls? Ready to go?” Dad asked, popping his head into the room. I blinked away my thoughts of Charlotte.

  “Yes!” I said. I jumped up so fast that I bumped the table and almost knocked over my half-full glass of Tropicana OJ.

  Before the girls could say anything, I darted toward the foyer and the coat closet.

  Dad had already warmed up the SUV and had 101.7 playing holiday tunes when we got inside.

  I didn’t know how I was going to make it through this ride! I pulled out my phone and texted Taylor.

  Lauren:

  W r on r way 2 BC. U?

  Taylor:

  Dad bailed at the last min from driving us so we’ve got our driver. Just picked up A & B.

  Lauren:

  Sorry, T. Glad u have A & B—they’ll tell u how 2 get to BC.

  Taylor:

  A, yes. B . . . ? Not so sure abt her sense of direction. :p

  Lauren:

  LOL. True. Let me know if u need help.

  I locked my phone and shoved it into my stable coat pocket. I looked up and Lexa, sitting next to me, was staring.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Spill it,” Lexa said.

  “There’s nothing to spill!” I said.

  “Lauren Towers!” Khloe called from the backseat, leaning forward. “I’m going to . . . ask your dad to turn this car around if you don’t talk!”

  Everyone giggled and Dad laughed.

  I couldn’t take it a second longer.

  “Oh, mon Dieu! You guys are so bad! Fine!” I shifted in my seat so I could see everyone. They all looked expectantly at me. “Becca’s the only one who knows about this,” I continued. “Cole, Ana, Garret, Zack, Drew, and Brielle don’t. And neither does Tay—not that it impacts him really.”

  “Lauren!” Clare said.

  “Okay, okay! I wanted to wait until we got to Briar Creek, but it really was killing me to wait. I have a little Christmas surprise for you all. Mr. Conner helped me. . . .” I paused for dramatics. Then I saw the look on Khloe’s face. She was about to jump over the seat and strangle it out of me. “All of our horses are at Briar Creek!”

  All the girls started talking at once.

  “What?” Carina said. Her platinum hair fell over her shoulder. “Rocco is there?”

  I smiled. “He is! I know your horse f
rom home isn’t here, Carina, so Mr. Conner wanted you to have Rocco, since he’s the only Canterwood horse you ride.”

  “Omigod! Omigod!” Khloe squealed. “I won’t have to wait until next year to see Ever!”

  “When did the horses get here?” Clare asked. Her fair cheeks were pink.

  “Last night,” I said. “Kim texted me when they were unloaded and checked to make sure everyone had traveled safe. They’re all waiting for us at Briar Creek.”

  “I knew you were up to something!” Khloe said, shaking her head at me with a smile. “I’m glad it was something like this. You know how much we wanted to see our horses during break, but we didn’t need a thank-you for volunteering.”

  The other girls nodded.

  “I would have missed Fuego like crazy,” Clare said. “But I hope you didn’t feel you had to do something for us or get us something for helping out.”

  I shook my head. “I didn’t. I knew how I felt—I didn’t want to spend Christmas away from Whisper, especially our first Christmas. I knew you all probably felt the same. I wanted to do this. I’m excited it worked out.”

  “Did Zane come too?” Carina asked. I pictured Brielle’s albino gelding, who she’d bought from Kim before coming to Canterwood.

  “He did,” I said. “Brielle doesn’t even know. Plus, Polo’s here for Drew, Nero for Zack, Scout for Garret, and Valentino for Cole.”

  “What’s Taylor going to do?” Lexa asked. “He doesn’t ride.”

  “He knows how,” I said. “I taught him enough to trail ride with us when he spent time with me at Briar Creek. Kim will pick out a très quiet stable horse for him.”

  “Riding at a new place is going to be so much fun . . . ,” Carina said.

  I stopped listening and took out my phone again. It was only fair to tell Cole, Garret, Drew, Zack, and Brielle, since everyone else knew.

  “I’m just going to tell the others, since you guys pried it out of me,” I said.

  They laughed and went right back to talking about riding at Briar Creek.

  I opened up BlackBerry Messenger and typed a message to Zack, Garret, Drew, Cole, and Brielle.

  Lauren:

  This was supposed 2 be a SURPRISE, but the girls got it out of me. I wanted all of us 2 spend Xmas 2gether. By all, I mean r horses 2. Sooo . . . B, C, G, Z, & D, you have guests waiting @ BC. Zane, Valentino, Scout, Nero, & Polo r there! Now we can ride r horses when we r not volunteering & spend Xmas w them.

  I sent the message, watched as it got read, and messages came back almost simultaneously.

  Drew:

  R u srs?!

  Cole:

  OMG, LT! U r my Xmas angel!

  Garret:

  You sneak!

  Zack:

  Good 1, LT!

  Brielle:

  NO WAY!!!

  I typed another message to them.

  Lauren:

  See u v soon!

  I looked up from my phone, and Dad was pulling in front of the stable. The girls chattered about the grounds and I listened, not saying a word. Having my Canterwood friends here felt surreal. Briar Creek had been the place where I had made the decision to ride again after my accident. It had been the stable where I had gone through a rehab of sorts—helping me with my fears of jumping and slowing the flood of memories from my fall at Red Oak.

  Briar Creek was the place where I had met Kim. She had been encouraging, tough, kind—everything I’d needed to get to a place to apply to Canterwood.

  More important than anything, Briar Creek was where I’d brought Whisper after I’d found her. This stable was the first place we had really bonded, and I’d never forget it. Nor would I forget that it had been Kim and her contacts who had led me to Whisper. I couldn’t imagine my life without my sweet gray mare. If I never got another Christmas present again, I could honestly say I would be happy. Even though I was excited to start volunteering tomorrow, I was glad to have a Sunday afternoon with Whisper.

  Dad was speaking, but it sounded garbled. The SUV doors opened, cold air flooding inside, and I sat frozen in my seat. The girls piled onto the driveway and gravel crunched as Taylor’s driver pulled an Escalade up next to us.

  I flicked my eyes to the rearview mirror and caught Dad staring back at me. His look reassured me that I’d made the right choice in bringing everyone here.

  “You’ve got this, LaurBell,” Dad said. “Go show everyone who and what made you the girl you are.”

  “Thank you, Dad.” I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned over the driver’s seat to hug him. “I love you and I’ll call you when we’re ready.”

  An hour later my friends and I had reunited with our horses, and I was leading them to Kim’s office for the last part of the stable tour. I’d introduced Ana to everyone, and she fit right in. I didn’t know if it was because of the Christmassy feeling in the air, but everyone was getting along. Even Taylor and Drew had zero weirdness between them. Or none that I could see, anyway.

  Kim’s office door was ajar and the light was on.

  “Come on in,” I said. “Kim won’t mind.”

  For all of the renovations Kim had done, one thing that remained the same was her office. The walls were still reddish brown and covered with photos and clippings of Briar Creek’s riders, past and present. Her desk was a mess of papers and files. A long shelf held dozens of trophies.

  “Wow,” Lexa said. She stood in front of a giant trophy—one taller than the rest. I knew who it belonged to.

  Lexa brushed a cocoa-colored finger over the plaque and the inscription: SASHA SILVER.

  “Sasha’s trophy gave me a lot of motivation,” I said. Then I giggled. “And it also intimidated me like crazy!”

  At the end of the shelf, Taylor was peering closely at a photo in a silver frame. “You see this, Laur?” he asked.

  I shook my head and walked over to him.

  Inside the frame was a photo of Whisper and me. Whisper was trotting in a twenty-meter circle in Kim’s arena.

  “Oh my gosh,” I said. “I’m on the shelf with Sasha!”

  Everyone crowded behind me to see the photograph.

  “This was the first week that I had Whisper,” I said. “I didn’t even know someone took this.”

  “Kim put that up when you left,” Ana said. She pushed her wavy light-brown hair behind her shoulders. “She talks about you at lessons all the time.”

  I shot a look at Bri, wondering how she felt that there wasn’t a trophy or photo of her on Kim’s wall. But Bri’s smile suggested she was okay.

  “Seems like Kim’s proud of both of her Canterwood students,” Cole said, smiling.

  I started to correct Cole that there were three BC-turned-Canterwood students—Sasha, me, and Brielle. Before I could, footsteps stopped in the doorway.

  “I most certainly am.”

  The twelve of us turned toward the door. A blonde with her hair in its usual haphazardly-styled ponytail, clad in fawn breeches, a thick sweater, and paddock boots, smiled at us.

  “Kim!” I squealed. I weaved through my friends and hugged my old instructor in the doorway. My friends and I filled up the small office, and there wasn’t much more room for another body. “It’s so good to see you! I missed you and Briar Creek.”

  “We’ve missed you, Lauren,” Kim said, her hazel eyes warm. “I take it these are your friends. Or ‘elves,’ I guess.”

  Laughing, I nodded. “These are my friends. You might already know Bri and Ana.”

  Kim scrunched her nose. “Hmm. You girls don’t look familiar.”

  Ana stuck out her tongue, and everyone laughed.

  “It’s great to see you, Bri,” Kim said, hugging her. “Things haven’t been the same since you left.”

  Bri raised an eyebrow, an amused look on her face. “You have to miss me bringing you a caramel macchiato from the Bean every day.”

  Kim grinned. “Well, yes, but classes are a bit more . . . quiet without you.”

  Bri gasped, pretending to
be surprised, while the rest of us giggled.

  “Kim, you remember Taylor, right?” I asked.

  Taylor held up his hand from the back of the room.

  “Of course. It’s nice to see you again, Taylor.”

  I made all of the introductions, and we chatted with Kim for a few minutes.

  “I want all you to make yourselves at home here,” Kim said. “Please let me know if you need anything.”

  My eye caught on Sasha’s trophy. “Do you know if Sasha’s going to stop by?”

  Kim blinked, then nodded. “I’m sure you’ll see her around. She texted me something about coming over during break.”

  Excitement rippled through the room. Sasha and I weren’t BFFs or anything, but we were friends. I wanted to wish her happy holidays. I crossed my fingers that we would see her.

  “We’re headed out to trail ride,” I said to Kim. “See you later!”

  A strange expression flickered across Kim’s face, then vanished. It was so fast—I couldn’t even be sure what I’d seen. “Have fun and be safe!” Kim told us. We emptied out of Kim’s office and headed to the tack room. I couldn’t wait to hit the trails!

  7

  DARE

  Sasha

  “I KNOW I KEEP SAYING it, but this trail is beautiful, Sash,” Callie said. She walked Black Jack on a loose rein beside Charm and me.

  “I picked my fave one,” I said. “I’m so glad you like it!”

  I looked to my right at Jacob. He looked at ease on Bliss—a bay mare that Kim used for beginner riding lessons. Paige also looked comfy on a paint quarter horse—Belle—that Kim had suggested.

  We were deep in the Connecticut woods, walking across a meadow. Heather and Aristocrat were near Alison and Sunstruck as they chatted. Brit and Eric were on the opposite side, walking their horses near the frozen creek.

  Beneath me, Charm couldn’t have been more relaxed. He seemed to remember this trail too. The open meadow often had deer grazing during the spring. A creek snaked through the meadow, and on the opposite side of the field, a stone wall with browned-from-the-cold ivy separated Kim’s property from the neighbors.