Sta.sh
"Ryan stop it!" Giggled Cassy. "I have a hose and I'm not afraid to use it!" She cries.
I yank the hose away and she hides behind a water trough. "Yeah? Well now it's mine!" I say with a smile, turning the nozzle and beginning to chase her. It was really warm for some reason, so everyone was taking advantage of the weather.
"Ryan, If you spay me one more time…" I smile and laugh, "You'll what? Scream?" She runs into the tack room and I grumble, tossing down the hose and running in and grabbing her. "Got ya. Nobody can save you now!"
"Ah! You're evil!" She says laughing and trying to shield her sides from me tickling her.
I nearly drop Cassy when Amy walks in but Cassy laughs and slaps me lightly. "Get back to work you slacker!" I tickle her again and she runs off with the hose in hand.
"I see you two are having fun." Amy says with a small smile.
"It's a nice day. Why not have fun?" I say, wiping wet hay and straw off of me.
"Hmm. You've got a point. But I'd rather get to work." She says, walking into the tack room and sitting down to put on her boots.
Walking in I look at her. "Well I'm fine with that. But there's only one horse left to be worked. Me and Cassy got them all done this morning." I say, grabbing Smoke's tack.
"You and your wife seem to get a lot of things done around here by yourselves." She says softly but bitterly.
I act like I'm gagging and start to laugh. "Um, my WIFE?" I say, looking at her.
"Yes. Aren't you two married?" She asks almost like a snob, still slipping on her boots.
I walk over and stop her from putting on her boots. "First of all, Cassy is my SISTER. And second, if you like your job you will treat me with respect, otherwise don't expect me to do the same for you. I work hard and so far this place has stayed afloat long enough with 2 employees and many boarders. If you think you can just come in here and expect you'll be treated like a princess, think again. I'm still the one writing your checks and you're still the one riding MY horses so don't think I won't fire you in a heartbeat." I pick up Smoke's tack and walk to his stall to get him tacked up.
Once I get Smoke onto the track, he snorts and paws the dirt, just like Warrior once did when he was 2. I warm him up first and fail to see Amy walk to the rail, watching Smoke and I intently. I pat the colt's neck, standing in the saddle and slowly trot him in circles. Soon, his gait switches and I sit in the saddle, walking him in large circles, and continuing to get him warmed up. I move him over near the gates on the backstretch and sit there, calming him down a minute.
I set a quick alarm on my phone and make it as loud as possible. When it goes off a minute later, Smoke takes off, breaking from his standing position perfectly and keeping a constant, even stride. He changes leads seamlessly while I hover over his back while we rush past the mile pole on the homestretch. Amy sighs, watching Smoke and me as we turn around and walk back to the gate.
It's quiet for quite sometime as I dismount, loosen the girth and walk Smoke to the hot walker.
"You seem to have a really good connection with him." Amy says quietly.
I scratch my head but don't look back at her. "Yep."
"You don't really show it with Warrior…" she says after a short while.
"Warrior respects me, I respect him. We have a strong connection nobody ever sees because we've been through a lot together." I say, tying Smoke to the hot walker. I take off his bridle, replace it with a halter, and remove his saddle and he begins walking slowly in circles with the other horses.
"But how come you show it more with him and not with Warrior?" She pesters.
I stop and look her in the eye, getting a bit annoyed with her. "I just told you. I don't make mine and Warrior's bond obvious. Smoke's Last Chance is his son and when Warrior dies, Smoke will be the only thing I have left of Warrior and…" I pause and sigh, dropping my head to look at my feet. "Warrior and I have a special bond, but Smoke is at the start of his career. I need to show him love and encouragement otherwise he won't be great like his daddy was." I turn and walk off. Amy narrows her eyes, wondering what I was going to say, but she shuts up and goes to help elsewhere.
Later that night, Ryan lays on a big chair in the living room watching TV and talking to the other 2 people who lived in the house. Cassy walks in a few minutes later and gives everyone a plate with macaroni & cheese and a sandwich. Ryan gets up, sets his plate on the table, and walks over to raid the fridge. He grabs 2 bottles of POMx, a Monster, and a grape Gatorade and walks back into the living room. "Julian, heads up." He says, tossing Julian the Gatorade. Carly walks out of her bedroom and takes her plate from Cassy before looking at Ryan. "Well where's mine?" Ryan laughs and tosses her the Monster, then grabs his plate, plops down in his big chair and starts eating.
I take a bite of my sandwich right when Amy walks through the from door, carrying a box full of her stuff. "Oh let me help you with that." Says Cassy. She walks over and grabs the box, leading Amy to her room at the end of the hall, then goes with her outside to help unload the rest of her things.
"What is the deal with you and her?" Asks Julian after Amy finishes bringing in her things and retreats to her room. "Do you like her or is she mine for the taking?" He asks with a smile.
I laugh and take a sip of my tea. "I do not like her. She is too much for one man to handle so if you try, you better he careful."
Cassy walks in in her pajamas and plops down on the floor next to Carly and playfully pushes my head. "Shut up, she's a nice girl. You've barely talked to her."
I smile and laugh some more. "Oh, I don't need to talk to her. I got enough from her today."
"Oh really?" Cassy says. Carly laughs, "You got enough of her, but what part?" She and Cassy start laughing while I stand up, grabbing my food and walking upstairs to my room, shutting and locking the door. I turn on the TV, slip in a movie, lay down in my bed and finish eating, and make sure my plate is on my desk before I lay back down. Soon enough I'm asleep and the TV shuts off on it's own.
"Ryan?" Cassy says quietly. "Ryan, open the door." I sigh, look at the clock, which reads 3:18AM, then walk over and unlock the door. "You have the dream again?" She nods and rubs her eyes a little before I hug her and sigh. "I know. I want them to stop too." She pulls away and I walk her over to my bed, turning on the TV, putting in a CD with soft ocean sounds on it, then wait for her to fall asleep about 5 minutes later. I walk downstairs and into the kitchen before I see Amy getting a bottle of tea from the fridge. "What are you doing up?" She asks, almost like she was doing something wrong.
"Cassy couldn't sleep. She was having, uh…a bad dream. So she's sleeping in my room." I say. I grab a bottle of tea as well and walk into the living room, and sit in my chair.
"What are you doing up?" I ask her as she lays on the couch. "Insomnia." She says.
I nod before turning on the TV just quiet enough so it doesn't wake anyone up.
"Ryan" Amy says after a while. "Yeah?" I ask, not really looking away from the TV.
"Look, I'm sorry about the other day. It's just, I'm new here and I'm not really used to being in a house with people who act like…well, who act like, a family." She says.
I sit up and look at Amy, who is now sitting up, hugging her knees and looking at the floor. "Oh great. I got 2 girls, one's in my bed, and another's on my couch and both of them are sad." I say with a slight laugh.
She doesn't even flash a smile and I sigh, getting up and sitting next to her on the couch, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Look, forget about it. I know you're new, and I know you're probably homesick. I would be too. It's just, you can't assume things around here and you can't say things the way you did. That's not how it works." She sighs and lays her cheek on her knee, then looks at me. "I'm sorry." I smile and pull her closer, "It's okay. I know you didn't mean it." I stand up to go put my drink back in the fridge. "Just go get some sleep. You can have the morning off and take some time to go look around and get to know everyone." She smiles and sighs, getting up and walking towards the hallway. "Do you act like a big brother to everyone?" I smile, "Only when I have to." Amy shakes her head and walks quietly back down to her room and closes the door, while I sit back down in my chair, falling asleep a few minutes later.
The sun pokes through the shades in the morning, and somehow, I find myself, minus a shirt and pants, in just my boxers. I look around, then see Cassy coming from down the hall with an empty laundry basket. "Do you think you could have at least put some clean clothes on me after taking the dirty ones off?" I say. I grab a blanket and wrap it around my waist when I see Amy walking out. She smiles and laughs. "Don't laugh. How would you like it if the clothes goblin came and took away your clothes at butt crack dawn?" I protest.
"Well at least you're not half bad to look at. My brother has a beer belly and would threaten to walk around stark ass naked if he didn't have a clean pair of clothes to wear." She says with a giggle.
"Yeah, well enjoy the show while it lasts. Cause this is the only time you'll see it." I glare at Cassy, "And the LAST time I wake up ALMOST NAKED." I walk to the stairs, stopping halfway up and shaking my ass and smiling, "You both can kiss my hairy ass." Then, I hurry in the room when I hear Cassy running up behind me, almost shrieking like a girl. I shut and lock the door and hear them both laughing, then I hear something interesting from Amy.
"How do you put up with him? I would pack my bags and get the hell out of here." She says with a laugh.
Cassy sighs. "I have to. He's my brother, and he needs me." She smiles and whispers loudly, "Besides, he can't cook anything." I smile and laugh, "I can cook! You just haven't let me!" I find a pair of sweatpants and a shirt before I sit down next to the door and listen to the rest of the conversation.
"Yeah, but he seems so bossy and uptight most of the time." Amy says.
Cassy shrugs, cleaning the pot and pan from last night. "He's a nice guy. He's just protective and specific is all."
Amy sighs, "I hope you don't mind me asking but… do you think he likes me? He doesn't really say much to me, and when he does, it's usually just directions or something that needs to be done."
"I absolutely think he likes you. He just takes a long time to…well, to bond with people. Ryan, he has a hard time letting people in. He won't even tell me most things. Like when we started loosing money, he kept it a secret and I had to find out when I tried to withdraw money for the vet bill."
Amy sits down at the table and looks at her hands, while I sit up there, listening to what they say as quietly as I can. "He's just afraid that if he lets someone in, that he'll loose them."
Standing up, Amy looks at Cassy, "But if he doesn't let anyone in, he won't know that for sure. I mean, we're all going to die someday, so why let something silly like that get in the way?" Cassy stops washing the dishes when she hears the washer and dryer beeping. "It's more personal then you might think." She says. Amy pauses and watches Cassy disappear into the laundry room before she turns and looks at my door. I sit on my bed and sort of get lost in thought, until I hear Amy knock quietly on the door.
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December 2011
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