Chapter 7
7
I’m back later than I’d like and have to race down to the stables just to grab a few moments of daylight. My horse, Estrella, whinnies as soon as she smells me entering the American-style barn. The thoroughbreds are out to pasture for the night; it’s just my family’s horses in here. We have nine.
Knowing Estrella, she’s going to be pissed off at me for being late. Two of us brothers prefer geldings, and two mares. I’ve always been a mare man myself. They’re temperamental; there’s no such thing as unconditional love when it comes to a mare, but that’s what I like about them. I know I earned it. And I don’t mind having to work for it.
Which only makes me think about Ava. She asked a lot of questions but wasn’t prepared to answer any. Of course, now I’ll lose a second night of sleep trying to piece her together, because just like with my mare, earning it is part of the appeal Ava brings to the table.
If she’s bringing trouble, she sure seemed free of it tonight. She danced her way around that grocery store inspecting every item with interest. The way she befriended Penelope with innocent, youthful energy was, quite frankly, sweet as can be, and she has a rare sort of sparkle about her. And the aliens? It was too quirky not to be cute.
In another lifetime, back in college when chasing a woman like Ava wasn’t attached to such stakes, when a woman’s ulterior motives couldn’t burn my empire to the ground, she’s the exact kind of firecracker I would have lit up with one swift strike of a match.
But besides being my employee, she comes with a whole host of other potential complications. No matter how charming her effortless laugh or how tasty those freckles on her shoulders looked, there’s no ruling out she could be a black widow.
Golden, early evening sun shifts through a shadow and warms my cheek. Estrella kicks the door and snorts when she sees me.
“You didn’t think I was coming, did you?” I lean over the stable door and stroke her flank. Just like our old dog, Frida, Estrella can tell the time better than an Apple watch. That dog would know if it was five p.m. and time for her dinner or seven in the morning when Mom used to take her on the school run with all of us. I miss that dog. I miss all the animals from my childhood. Those were good times. Simple times.
But there was no way to have established GhostEye in New Mexico. There simply wasn’t a big enough community of developers willing to work for peanuts back there. When I started working on our software, just after graduating college, it was clear the only way to get it done would be if we were closer to a national tech hub. Building GhostEye was a years-long endeavor, taking almost a decade to actually develop and even more to bring it to market.
Rio and I moved to California first. Santi came to visit and used some of his rodeo winnings to get some scrubland. Gabriel came to work the land for a while. Over the course of a few years, the concept of a ranch with enough houses for our whole family became the dream.
Over time, bit by bit, we built it. All of us contributed with whatever money we came into. I worked two jobs for many years. Rio, too. Santi had a successful year on the rodeo circuit, and his first racehorse ended up being a big Derby winner. Gabriel poured any and all money into the dream.
Leaving Starlight Canyon behind wasn’t easy, but we made a home for ourselves here. There are good people in this town. Invested people. It’s a tight community.
Now that we convinced Dad to finally sell up and retire, I hope he sees a second chapter here.
Estrella isn’t from Starlight Canyon. She never knew that life. She’s part of the string of purchases Santiago made over the years of quarter horses and Appaloosas we keep alongside the thoroughbreds to make it feel more like our raucous, dusty childhood. Only his old boy, Hector, is still alive and well; he’s somehow still out there on the trails, though he doesn’t kick up much dust anymore.
Life sure is different. I hardly have time to ride. Even now, I’m losing daylight fast and think better of taking her out on the trails around here in the dark. But even if it’s for thirty minutes, she deserves the excursion, to sample the cow’s parsley that we should have pulled up but none of us can bring ourselves to do it because our horses love the treat.
I set to work tacking up Estrella while she flicks her tail around warning away the odd fly, and eventually we set off along the trail leading to the easternmost gate. I salute the guard on duty, and he opens the gate leading to the Diablo trails. It’s not the same as back home where we could simply ride around our own land.
We couldn’t afford the acreage here in California when we started out, and now that we’re doing better there isn’t as much available. But the trails are typically empty, which is just as well because unless I’m with my brothers, I like riding alone. And even then, I prefer alone to my brothers. There’s something grounding about being with my horse in the mountains. Call it a return to my roots. Call it Mother Nature paying me a visit. I don’t care how it happens, but the loping movement of a horse underneath you at sunset? It would calm the most anxious soul.
About a mile out we reach a small lake. I let Estrella drink for a moment and breathe in the air that’s finally starting to cool as the sun dives toward the ocean. I don’t have long out here before sunset but I wish I did. Usually, the mountains bring clarity, and I haven’t been able to decide what to do about Ava.
Tonight I saw such innocence in her. The whimsical way she spoke of her uncle showed me a woman who loves her family. She didn’t seem to have the first clue how to cook. She nearly jumped out of her skin when Pen offered to exchange numbers. And the way she let the wind blow her fiery locks at my window was, quite frankly, charming. It’s beautiful to see someone enjoy living that much .
I could probably use a person like that in my life.
Maybe it’s too bad Ava came to this ranch under these circumstances. But she did. And she’s too young for me anyway. I’d better keep reminding myself of that.
I need to figure her out. If she can help with the hacks, I need that a whole lot more than I need to smooth my hands down her curves.
Thankfully, I have plenty of grounding moments. Debbie in payroll has been stalking me, anxious to get Ava’s identity documents in the system. I am, too, especially because I still haven’t managed to find much on her. Why doesn’t she have a record of housing agreements? There is literally nothing on this woman. I’m spending way too much time trying to figure out who she is and have come up empty-handed. I’ve always been good at solving puzzles, taking things apart and putting them back together, but this time, I’m falling down the rabbit hole and can’t think of anything but Ava Scott.
And how much I’m wanting her to be the good person she appears to be.
I’m fucked.
The sun is low, the air finally easier to breathe into my lungs, and we’ll need to turn around sooner than I would have liked, but we made it to Estrella’s late summer crop of cow’s parsley. I know I shouldn’t, but I let her have a nibble. Letting her have her way makes for a nappy horse, and mares already have too much a mind of their own. But she takes such pleasure in the simple taste of weeds by the side of the trail. I take pleasure out of pampering her.
My mom always said I’d be a good dad. Even from the time we were younger she said I was diligent regarding the animals’ needs. I suppose if I’d ever become one, I’d be the spoiling kind. I lean down over Estrella’s neck to pull a bit of stuck weed from her bridle and pat her. “Come on, girl. That’s enough.”
I click my tongue and tug lightly for us to turn around. Sometimes she doesn’t want to, but tonight she cooperates. Maybe the heat got to her, too, today.
Which makes me think about Ava’s Doc Martens. Why doesn’t she have any sandals? More clothes? More stuff altogether when she knew she was starting her new life? Maybe she’s a minimalist but she looked a lot more like a runaway just short of carrying her belongings in a kerchief at the end of a stick.
The way she was so witty evading my question tonight should have bothered me, but it only made me more curious.
I still desperately want a right-hand around here and have yet to be able to find someone up to my standards. Not that I’m giving her much of a chance to show me with a simple presentation. Then again, her hack was all I needed to know I might have met my match. But then, there are plenty of perfectly matched heroes and villains. I just wish I knew which one Ava is.
When I arrive back at the stables, the barn lights are on and Santi is there brushing Hector just outside the barn in a slice of fading sun. I throw my leg over the saddle and hop down.
He nods in way of greeting. “Nice out there tonight?”
I nod in return and lead Estrella to the O-ring next to Hector and slip off her bridle, replacing it with a head collar.
“I take it you went out there to think about our new guest?”
“Mmm.”
Santi draws a brush in long lines along Hector’s already clean hair. He pampers the old boy. Just as well. That horse won Santi more than a few buckles back in the day.
“She seems all right to me,” he says. “Sweet even.”
When the hell does Santi see Ava?
It’s like he reads my mind and answers.
“I stopped by there tonight when you guys got back from the Pig. She hasn’t been out much since arriving. I figured I better make sure she’s all right. I have a duty of care and all, bringing her here.” He laughs to himself as if recalling part of their conversation. “She sure is a quirky little thing.”
Quirky. Little. Thing.
I work to ignore the way he’s talking about her, but I can’t, and I find it makes my hand curl into a fist. I tell myself he talks about everyone that way. Santi would probably flirt with the flies on his horse’s tail. And yet, I’d rather he keeps Ava’s name out of his mouth.
“What makes you say that?” I barely managed to hide my irritation.
“Well, she just sort of vomited her visit to the grocery store all over me like it was the best thing she’s ever done. She couldn’t stop talking about Penelope and… aliens?”
I take off Estrella’s saddle and walk it to the tack room, putting it on her stand then join my brother again to brush down my horse.
He continues glowing about his new neighbor. “It’s hard to explain her, but the way she spoke about ordinary life just got me smiling. Like she said it smells nice here in the Valley. And I love those Doc Martens of hers and how her socks don’t match. And she wears men’s cologne? She’s not your typical twenty-something.” He laughs to himself again, and it’s like he’s thinking about how cute she is. “She’s just a one-off. You know?”
Yeah, I know .
“Did you ask her at all about her background?” I ask.
Santi throws his brush in Hector’s grooming kit and offers me a cocked eyebrow. “Why don’t you ask about her background?”
“I did, and she didn’t offer much.”
“Well, did you ask her like a friend or like a detective? I know you. You’re all Sherlock Holmes when it comes to new people. It’s kind of off-putting, Zo. Smile once in a while.”
I did lay into her a little on the way to Piggleton’s.
He slaps his hands against his jeans to get the dust off. “Why don’t you try sharing something about yourself first? And get her out of the goddamn house. The girl is a clear extrovert. It’s torture locking her up like that.”
“She’s not locked up.”
“Well, invite her out and work with her over in the stable offices or something. My gut says she’s a good girl and she’s not here to do any damage. By the way, I asked her to Town Hall tomorrow.” He unties Hector. “Oh, and can you drive us all? I’m having a beer after with the guys so I don’t want to take my car in.”
Why the hell is my temperature rising? Why the hell do I get the urge to spark up and tell him to let her be? She’s my employee, and for her to possibly be part of saving this company from the hacks, I need to keep it all professional. Hell, I still don’t know anything about her. And yet, the thought of Santi spending more time with her than I do pisses me off.
He doesn’t wait for an answer because Santi’s life has been so full of yeses he’s come to expect them. He starts to lead Hector into the barn.
“Listen, if you’re so worried about Ava, the feeling is mutual. She wasn’t exactly thrilled at being given a fucking presentation as her job for the next three months. That was a pretty lame move. Seems to me you put her on guard as much as she’s got you there.”
He gives me one last word of Santi wisdom before heading into the dim light of the barn. “The thing about trust is it’s hard to get it when you don’t give it.”