13. Packages on the Doorstep
Packages on the Doorstep
Ipassed the next few weeks in a constant state of restlessness.
Without school, I did have more time on my hands.
Unfortunately, Casey ensured that I didn’t get to enjoy much of it.
She accepted even more horses for boarding, citing my canceled school hours as a good excuse to do so.
And not only was I supposed to do my regular chores, but I was also assigned inventory.
“You’re getting the extra hours you asked for,” Casey said when I objected. “I don’t see the problem.”
The problem was that I’d asked for more money–not more work.
And to make things worse, taking inventory revealed yet another problem.
A week and a half after the parade, Casey tossed the schedule onto the counter. “Let’s go over our rider schedule,” she said, fingering her iced latte. “I’ve got a trip coming up in a few days.”
“Another one?” I asked. And this time, I was unable to keep the incredulity from my voice.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Casey put her hands on her hips.
I rubbed my face. “Casey, this is the fourth conference in three months.” Still unable to believe her, I shook my head. “How much did it cost?”
But Casey was still staring at me as though I’d sprouted a pumpkin for a head. “Excuse me?”
“Casey,” I said, struggling to control my voice. “Have you looked at our finances lately?”
“Of course. Why?”
“Because our profits are shrinking!” I cried. “Despite taking in new riders and new horses every week!” I threw my hands in the air. “What do you even gain out of these trips anyway? In what ways are they benefiting our business? Because from what I can see–”
“What you can’t see is the big picture!” Casey snapped. “I’m making business contacts and connections–”
“That are getting us nowhere!” I interrupted. “The business is failing, Casey! You’ve claimed for years that these conferences are for business. But since you’ve been attending them, we’ve not implemented a single new strategy. And now that–”
“Oh, so now that you’ve taken two years of credits over the course of five, you think you have the right to lecture me about business practices?” she snapped. “Save it for someone who actually cares what you have to say!”
“But that doesn’t change the fact that we’re running out of money!” I insisted.
“So what do you insist we do?” Casey retorted. “Feed the horses less? Fire Derrick?” She would have included Brianna, except that Brianna had quit the week before after getting a better job at a coffee shop. “You might want to rethink that raise you wanted so much.”
Anger knotted in my stomach. “How about you cancel the…” I pulled my phone out and checked the screenshot I’d taken of our bank statement that morning. “Ten thousand dollar conference!”
As I spoke, my phone chimed with the sound of an incoming text, and I glanced at the screen. It was from Asher.
“Do not open that text!” Casey hissed. “We’re not done with this conversation, and I am not paying you to flirt with the rich boy!”
Something inside me snapped. “So what if I’m flirting with the rich boy?” I challenged her. “What right do you have to object to my dating life?”
“I have every right if it’s affecting your job!”
“My life apparently is my job!”
“Then there’s your answer!” she snapped.
I let out a humorless laugh. “I don’t know who you think you are to control my life, but you are not my mother. You never even tried to be. And I am most certainly not your slave!”
She leaned back and folded her arms over her chest, her eyes shrinking to slits.
“You’re right. You’re not my daughter. You’re just an employee who lives in my house.
Which means I can throw you off my property any time I want.
” She leaned forward. “And if kicking you out of my house isn’t enough of a threat, I can ban you from ever setting foot on this property again.
You don’t like my leadership? Fine. I’ll make sure that you’re free of it.
And that you’re also free of your room. Your job.
And your horses.” She smirked. “And that would include Nevada.”
I knew better. I really did. But the threat to take my childhood horse–the one I’d helped my father deliver as a foal–the one who was still with me after my parents had gone–was more than I could take.
“They were mine first!” I said through gritted teeth.
“Perhaps.” She inclined her head before taking a sip of her coffee. “But by law, they’re mine now. Which means–”
My phone began to ring. It was Asher.
“Don’t you take that call,” she warned me. “I’m not finished–”
Ignoring her, I whirled around and made my way to my room as I answered his call. “Hi, Asher.”
“Whoa,” came his voice from the other end of the line. “You okay? You sound like you’re on the war path.”
I closed the door–probably harder than was necessary–and locked it behind me. Then I grabbed a fuzzy autumn-themed blanket off my bed, wrapped it around myself, and sank down onto the floor of my bedroom.
“Casey.”
“Ah,” was his response. “So you haven’t kicked her to the curb yet?”
I laughed almost hysterically. “I wish I knew how to without leaving the horses to her whims.”
He paused for a moment. “You don’t think she’d let them starve or neglect them, do you?” No doubt he was thinking about Tomcat.
“I don’t know.” I pulled my ponytail out and ran a hand through my loose hair.
I really needed a shower. “I don’t think she would neglect them on purpose.
But knowing her, she’d assign horse duties to Harper and Jaelyne.
Jaelyne can’t stay focused on chores to save her life, so she’d get halfway through feeding time and run off whenever something distracted her.
And Harper just wouldn’t do it. Or she’d do the worst job possible.
” I paused. “Derrick would do his best, but she won’t give him enough hours to do what needs to be done. ”
He sighed. “I can see your point. I’ll do my best to brainstorm, but my guess is that you know better than both of us what really needs to be done.
” He paused. “On what I hope is a brighter note, I’ve just gotten the notification that a package should be sitting on your doorstep at this exact moment. ”
I got up quickly and unlocked my bedroom door.
Casey was nowhere to be seen, so I hurried out to the porch in my socks, hoping desperately that neither of my stepsisters had decided to pick it up.
Much to my relief, a small shipping box was sitting behind our pot of yellow chrysanthemums. Snatching it up, I ran back to my room and locked the door behind me once again.
“I don’t suppose this is some expensive horseshoe for Tomcat,” I said while I cut the tape on the box. “Or that I’ll be getting three more in the near future?”
He laughed. “It won’t make sense at first, but it should soon.”
“Well, that just makes the mystery even more tantalizing,” I said, finally pulling the box open. And what I saw took my breath away. “Asher,” I breathed. “Did you pick this out?”
Sitting in the box was a silver tiara with dozens of tiny white crystals winking up at me. Azurite crystals dotted its highest points with others scattered about.
“I might have had one of my coworkers help me,” he said in a sheepish voice. “I can’t really claim to have any sort of knowledge of tiaras or what makes a good one.”
Entranced, I lifted the tiara from its tissue paper bed in the box and turned it from side to side. “It’s incredible,” I whispered. And then I laughed. “And you’re right. I have absolutely no idea what it’s for.”
“You’ll know soon,” he said, a smile in his voice. “But you really like it?”
“Asher, I might just wear this out to the stables to muck the stalls.”
He laughed again. It was a happy sound, and I liked knowing I had been the one to make him laugh.
“Thank you,” I said as earnestly as I could. “I may have no idea what it’s for, but never in my life have I needed an excuse to wear one.”
“I hope you do,” he said. Then he paused. “I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go. It’s late over here, and I’ve got to get some sleep before my next shift.”
“Thanks for calling,” I hurried to say. “And thank you again for the tiara. I think it’s one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.”
After we’d hung up, I searched my room carefully for a place to hide it. I didn’t think Jaelyne would purposefully try to steal it, but I wouldn’t put it past her to borrow it without asking. Likely, she would snatch it up to try it on in her room, and then forget where she put it after.
It was funny, I thought to myself as I finally settled on placing it between two of my cowgirl hats, how quickly my mood had changed with his call.
Fifteen minutes before, my blood pressure had been soaring while I argued with Casey about her refusal to run our business. But now I felt happy all over.
Unfortunately, I knew that happiness couldn’t last. Not with Casey nearby, at least. Maybe I should just let her go on the stupid trip and take the consequences, come what may.
It had to be better than the constant friction that seemed to materialize every time we were within ten feet of each other.
So rather than face her again, I went out to the stables and did something I hadn’t done for a long time.
I saddled Nevada and we started up the mountain.