24
Rhett
July had the stables bursting at the seams, as all and sundry wanted to ride a horse. It wasn’t anything unusual during the summer season, but it was a lot to take on for Rhett and Florence. Heath was still renovating the house, not that he could do much else. He hardly knew one end of a horse from the other.
Tilly Sheridan, who ran The Post Office Shop, over on Dreamcatcher Farm, had brought her nephew, Jamie, for another lesson. She quickly tied back her dark wavy hair, entered the training enclosure, and helped Rhett by leading one of the horses for her.
Rhett was so grateful, but also felt slightly embarrassed. Was word getting around about the lack of staff at the stables? Tilly was on drop-off duty for her nephew, and even though she looked thirty-five, she was in her early fifties so might have fancied taking life a bit easier.
‘Do you need to be back at the shop, Tilly?’ Rhett asked, standing in the middle of the enclosure, keeping her eye on all the kids being guided around in a circle.
‘Rory’s behind the till. He’ll be okay.’
‘Thank you for helping.’
Tilly wiped her free hand down her pale-green dungarees before flapping it towards Rhett. ‘No worries. We can all do with an extra set of hands once in a while. Our Jamie can help out today, once he’s done riding.’
Jamie stopped concentrating on Luther and frowned over at his aunt. ‘Erm, I’m supposed to be on the farm later.’
Tilly glanced back at him. ‘You’ll be seventeen soon. At your age you should have enough energy for ten jobs a day.’
Florence laughed. ‘When I was sixteen, I didn’t dream of working at all.’
‘All I do is work,’ said Jamie, tilting his riding hat to adjust the strand of escaped dark hair hitting his right eye. ‘School. Farm. Work, work, work.’
Rhett smiled at the lad. ‘You don’t have to volunteer here.’ She felt the need to clarify he wouldn’t get paid. ‘However, you would have the benefit of free rides.’
Jamie raised a hand. ‘Yep. I’m in.’
‘Thank you.’ Rhett turned to Tilly to repeat herself.
‘No thanks needed,’ said Tilly. ‘Keeps him out of trouble, especially now the school holidays are here. The kids get bored, don’t they?’
‘Hey!’ scoffed Jamie. ‘I’m never given time to get bored.’ He turned from his aunt to Rhett. ‘If you need some more volunteers this summer, I can bring my girlfriend and friends up with me. Robyn, Daisy, and Dexter won’t say no.’
Wow! That would be brilliant, but should I say yes? I don’t want everyone feeling sorry for me.
‘That would be great,’ said Florence, taking the decision straight out of Rhett’s hands.
Jamie went to pull out his phone to text his friends straight away, but Tilly told him off before starting a conversation with the ten-year-old girl she was leading around.
Rhett smiled inwardly at the scene. The children looked happy, if not a little nervous about being so high up, Florence was beaming more so than usual, and life at the stables seemed back to normal.
Let’s hope it stays this way.
She noticed two blonde women walking over, and it took a moment before she realised it was Rosie and Belle Renshaw. After making a mental note to book an eye test, she approached the gate to greet them. ‘You two here for a ride?’
Rosie grinned as she side-eyed her sister. ‘Actually, Belle thought it would be a good idea to offer our services.’
Belle raised one hand. ‘Now, don’t get mad, but we heard on the grapevine you’re short-handed up here at the moment. So we figured we’d be able to squeeze in the odd day or two to help out. After all, you’re coming to our speed-dating night to help raise funds for our choir, so it’s only fair we do you a favour.’
I’d forgotten about the dating night. Great! I’m still signed up. I wonder if Heath will still want to go.
Rosie giggled. ‘You can’t keep anything quiet around here.’
Rhett scrunched her nose as she shook her head. ‘No, you can’t. But just so everyone knows, I’m quite capable of running my business alone.’
The sisters had twisted lips, crinkled brows, and fidgeting hands all of a sudden.
‘Sorry,’ added Rhett. ‘It’s just, well, I’m not used to asking for help, or receiving any, it would appear.’ She laughed, pleased to see the smile back in their matching hazel eyes.
Belle’s hand rested over the gate, lightly tapping Rhett’s. ‘It’s okay. We understand. You should have seen us when we first moved into our rundown hotel. We didn’t want to ask anyone for help. Figured we could manage, but it was so overwhelming.’
‘Yes,’ said Rosie. ‘But the people of Pepper Bay came over with buckets and sponges and helped clean the old place. We were blown away by their kindness.’ She gave a half-shrug and smiled at her little sister. ‘We fell in love with more than the Renshaw brothers next door to us. We fell in love with Pepper Bay. So we decided, whenever we can join in and help around these parts, we would.’
‘It’s kind of like paying it forward,’ said Belle.
That gave Rhett an idea. Perhaps she would be able to somehow repay the kindness people were showing in her hour of need. The BB would be finished soon. Maybe she could have a housewarming party or something. She was sure there was something she could do.
Being a loner, Rhett had never really joined in with activities, events, or anything much. The horses were her life. She cared little for companionship until Florence joined her household. So much had changed, it was hard to keep up, but one thing was for sure, she had friends, and most of them were there all along.
She smiled at the ones around her, watching them lead the horses back to the stables, and her past suddenly didn’t seem so close anymore. Could it possibly be that friendship was the only therapy she needed? It did make her wonder.
Heath came into view, carrying a lump of wood to the back of the house. Maybe all she needed to rebuild her weary soul were positive people around her. Closing herself away from the world, wrapping up in the darkness of secrecy and habit, and keeping the light dulled, had done little to free her from the misery that was her life. Now she could see something different. A team. A circle of kindness. Love.