10. The Pumpkin Festival Parade
The Pumpkin Festival Parade
My stepmother returned the next afternoon. And I could tell as soon as she walked in the door that she was not happy.
She stomped into the kitchen–a somewhat impressive feat, seeing as she was wearing four-inch stilettos. “Did you seriously turn Ron off the property?”
“Good afternoon to you, too,” I said, taking a sip of my coffee.
“Ella, I’m not in the mood. Did you or did you not–”
“I politely asked him to leave. But as he was being belligerent and refused to exit the premises, my next student, who had arrived early, decided to assist.” I took another sip. “I’m not sure why you’re upset. We talked about this. I’m not teaching him again.”
“Well, now he’s given us a one-star review on the town website, and our average has plummeted.” She glared at me.
I sighed. “Look, I’ll ask our other clients to review. I know the seniors will do it if I help them log into their accounts. And if I explain the situation to the mothers in the homeschool group, I think they’ll be more than happy to.”
Casey pursed her lips, but I could see that my plan wasn’t lost on her. We’d always had a hard time getting people to review our small business, and I knew now that she was thinking about all the reviews people might post if they thought it would help us.
“Make sure you do,” she finally said before shaking her head. Then she stopped and looked at me again. “By the way, who was the student that ran him off?”
“Oh, the new one,” I said, deciding to remain vague. “He could see that Ron was making me uncomfortable. And he didn’t actually run him off. Just… made him uncomfortable instead.” As I said it, I couldn’t help the twitch of my lips as I remembered just how irate Ron had been.
But Casey didn’t smile. “Because that’s what we need to hear from our students. That our other students make them uncomfortable.”
“Ohhh, as long as they’re only making your stepdaughter uncomfortable, it’s okay.” I nodded. “Got it.”
Casey gave me a glower that looked like it could melt steel, and for a moment, I thought I was sure to get some sort of retribution. But then, to my surprise, she only studied me for a moment before putting her purse down on the counter. “Remind me, what day is your new class beginning?”
“Tomorrow,” I said. “It’ll be on Tuesdays and Thursdays at four.” Was she really giving up that easily? Casey liked to have her way. It wasn’t like her to just give up a battle.
But then again, having creepy guys on a ranch full of women probably wasn’t a winning fight.
“Hold on. Let me put this in my schedule so I don’t forget.” Casey pulled out her phone and began tapping away at it. “What’s the class called?”
I stared at her in surprise. She’d never been this interested in my classes before. “Um, Business Statistics. It’s an eight-week class.”
She nodded once, her curls bobbing as she put her phone away. “Look, I’m tired, and I’d like to go to bed. Where are the girls?”
“Jaelyne’s across the street at Mary’s house, and Harper left for class about three hours ago.” For a class that should have ended two hours ago. But I wasn’t about to pick another fight with my stepmother about my stepsister’s work ethic.
“Okay, good. Let them know I’m back when they get home. I’m taking some aspirin and heading to bed.”
As she walked away, I congratulated myself. Had she liked what I’d done? No. Was that the last time I would hear of this issue? Absolutely not. But she hadn’t convinced me to take Ron back as a student, and I hadn’t even been yelled at for it.
Unfortunately, I’d congratulated myself too soon. The next afternoon, when I walked into the classroom of our local community college, the professor–a thin woman in a fitted pencil skirt–asked me for my name.
“Ella Verre,” I said, going up to her desk.
She scanned the list in front of her, then frowned. “I’m sorry, Ella, but I don’t have you on my roster.”
My blood ran cold as I clutched my very expensive textbook to my chest. “I know I signed up… Sorry, give me just a minute.” With trembling hands, I put the book down and whipped out my phone.
My hands were shaking so badly that I had a hard time pulling up my itinerary email.
But just before I opened it, another, more recent email caught my eye. It was from the school.
You have successfully unenrolled from this course.
Immediately, my mind went back to the conversation I’d had with Casey the day before.
Her lack of anger.
Her question about the class time.
Her question about its name.
I closed my eyes and bit back a scream.
“Miss Verre?”
I opened my eyes to see the professor still watching me, looking somewhat concerned this time.
“It seems my stepmother unenrolled me,” I said, barely managing to control my voice. “I’m sorry to have taken up your time.”
And with that, I whirled around and marched out of the classroom.
By the time I got home, my blood was boiling. Harper was sitting on the couch with a textbook on her lap and her phone in her hand. She looked lazily up at me like usual, but I must have looked like a thunderstorm because she blinked, and her eyes grew wide.
“Who spit in your milkshake?”
“Where is your mother?” I snapped.
She rolled her eyes and shrugged before looking back down at her phone. “I dunno.”
“Harper!”
My voice was sharper than I’d ever used with her, and it made her flinch.
“I… think she’s out in the stable!” Her voice was petulant and defensive, but I didn’t care. This time, Casey had gone too far.
Casey was indeed in the barn. It was the first time I’d seen her in jeans and old work boots in a long time, and for once, she was cleaning out the stalls.
“Casey!” I snapped. “Really?”
She didn’t even look up as she worked, but I saw her smile, her red lipstick glinting in the light.
“You wanted more money. I just solved your problem by giving you more hours.” She finally looked up, and her eyes glittered. “I thought you’d be relieved.”
“You cancelled my class!” My voice was rising to a ridiculously high pitch, but I was too angry to care. “Do you know how hard it was to get into that class?”
She rolled her eyes and started shoveling again. “So now you’ll have even more time to enroll for the next semester. Congratulations.”
“Casey! What you did was illegal!”
She huffed, and finally, her smile disappeared.
“So what are you going to do about it? Do you have a lawyer on standby? Are you going to sue me for the ranch your father left in my care?” She shrugged.
“You were obviously taking on too much, so I lightened your load for you. Skipping a single eight-week course isn’t going to derail your graduation.
” She waved a hand at me. “And if you don’t want my help, don’t leave your password book out on your desk. It’s too easy to find.”
“Casey, I’ve been working on this degree for five years! I started straight out of high school, and at this rate, I might graduate by the time I’m twenty-five!”
“And I missed the part where that’s my problem.
Like I said, I just created the time and opportunity for you to get in more work.
More work means more pay, and more pay means more classes.
” She handed me the shovel. “So I suggest you take advantage of it.” Then, without another word, she walked away.
I was still so angry that by the time I got into bed that night, I nearly skipped looking at Margaret’s book. As much as I might wish it were, my life wasn’t a story, and I didn’t really feel like working on the mystery that was Margaret’s possible magic.
To make things worse, Asher hadn’t responded to my last text. Not that he was obligated to. But it really would have been nice to have a friend just then.
A friend. Margaret was my friend. Or rather, she was more of a protector of sorts. And Casey hated Margaret. Which meant Casey would hate my book if she knew I had it.
Which meant, tired as I was, I was going to look at that book.
Throwing open my bedside table’s drawer, I yanked the book out and pulled it open. And froze briefly once again.
Sure enough, another spread had been added, complete with pictures on both pages.
No matter how hard she worked, her family was never pleased.
Her sisters were allowed to play all day while the girl was forced to clean the floors, the dishes, the linens, and even the fireplace, until her cheeks became covered in soot day in and day out.
And Ella longed for the days of her family.
She also longed for someone as kind and thoughtful as the prince had been when she’d met him on the road.
But the prince was gone, and the girl was left alone.
I frowned down at the words. “That’s hardly comforting,” I murmured, turning the page. As usual, the next page was blank. Which meant that I was stuck with a story as depressing as my life.
A knock sounded on my door. I was about to yell at whoever it was to go away, but then the door opened, and Jaelyne padded inside, her fancy pink leopard pajamas shining in the yellow light of my lamp.
“Hey, kiddo,” I said, forcing a smile. As furious as I was with Casey right now, Jaelyne didn’t deserve my wrath. “What’s up?”
“I heard you and Mom fighting today,” Jaelyne said, curling up at the foot of my bed. “I was coming home from Mary’s house.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t meant for you.” I leaned forward and ruffled her hair. “It never is, you know.”
She nodded but didn’t smile. “Does this mean you won’t be riding in the parade this week?”
I stared at her. The Pumpkin Festival Parade was an annual event in our town. I’d ridden one of our horses in it every year since I was four. “Why would you think that?” I asked.
Jaelyne shrugged. “Mom was hoping you’d be so mad you’d drop out. She wants Harper to ride in it this year.”
Another wave of anger washed over me. So, she was trying to take that from me now as well, was she?
The parade was not only an annual event, but riding in it was considered a prestigious honor.
Our whole family had once ridden every year, but after Mom had died, it had just been Dad and me.
And then, after my father’s death, the mayor had infuriated my stepmother by personally requesting that I continue on in my parents’ place.
“Is that what you want?” I asked, suddenly curious. Jaelyne wasn’t always predictable. She loved her mom, and she thought Harper was cool, but for some reason now and then, she sided with me.
And sure enough, she shook her head. “It’s what you did with your dad before he died.” She let out a deep sigh. “If my dad did that with me before he died, I would want to keep doing it too. But he stays away from us as much as possible. Probably because of how much he and my mom used to fight.”
My throat grew suddenly thick, and I reached out and put my hand on her knee. “Don’t worry about that,” I said, trying not to let her see how affected I’d been by her empathy. “I’m going to ride.” I winked. “And I’ll even have you help me look fabulous before I do.”
Jaelyne grinned. There was nothing she liked better than makeup and fashion, and as she went back to her room, I decided that I was going to represent my parents by doing my absolute best to make the parade everything Casey didn’t want it to be.