ALLUSIVE AFTERSHOCK (3 page)

He turned and stared at
me; the cool morning breeze blew his thick dark hair into his eyes. He brushed
the strands away with long slender fingers
and for the first time, I
noticed that his eyes were not only green but also the deepest shade of emerald
I’d ever seen.

“Yeah?” he said coolly.

“Um …what exactly are
you going to do?”

His lip curved up on
one side. “Well, I don’t know yet. I’ll have to ask the horses what they want.”

I blinked. “Oh,” was
all I could think of to say to such an odd statement and he turned and walked
away. Shiloh pushed her nose against my hand one more time before turning to
follow Court.
What did he mean
,
“ask the horses?”
At this, I ran
to my room to put on my riding boots. I wanted to be there when Courtland asked
Big Blue that question. I chuckled at the image of Big Blue neighing and
shaking his head in my direction, indicating it was me he wanted. I glanced in
the mirror on my way to the closet and froze.

Did I really just
answer the door looking like this? My shirt was buttoned crooked; the last
button was completely undone. I hadn’t even brushed my hair before pulling it
back into a ponytail and it was all bumpy and lumpy with tons of escaped
strands sticking out.

I yanked the elastic
from my hair, cringing at the broken strands that came with it. Running the brush
through the tangles, I smoothed out the knots, and pulled it back into a neater
ponytail this time. I tugged off my shirt and pulled on a grey sweater instead.
It had been a little nippy outside and besides, the sweater stopped short of
the silver embroidery on the flaps of the back pockets of my jeans, which
accentuated the little curve of my never-to-be-perfect bottom—not like my mom’s.
I think I must have inherited some ancestor’s butt from my dad’s side who
hadn’t had much in that area. Kicking off the old brown boots my dad referred
to as my shit-kickers, I opened the closet door to get my black riding boots
and screamed.

I moped my way to the
stable, kicking at almost every rock I saw along the way. Shiloh trotted beside
me and leapt after several of them. What a freakin’ douche. I’d been totally
tongue whipped. Good thing Adela couldn’t read my mind. When she opened the
door, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. What a sight. I had to keep my
eyes from hers in order to refrain from laughing. As beautiful as she was, this
morning she was a mixture of sweet and ruffled. Not the normal angel I’d come
to covet. But then, we don’t have major earthquakes every morning, so I guess I
could understand her appearance. I bet she threw those clothes on in a hurry to
get to her horse.

Adela’s dad was pitching
hay in the back of the stable when I entered. He looked up and smiled at me, a
huge welcoming grin, and I instantly felt at ease.

“Hey, Courtland. Am I
glad to see you!”

“Hey, Mr. Castielle.” I
waved my hand and made my way to the first stall where Adela’s horse, Big Blue,
stood. He stepped back and snorted at me as I approached. His breathing quickened
and his neck muscles stiffened as he raised his head—a sure sign that he was anxious.

Mr. Castielle walked
over to us, careful to keep his distance. “When I came in here this morning,
Blue’s ears were pinned back and his muscles seemed mighty tense. Adela was
able to calm him some, but I still want you to see what you can do for him as
well as Misty over there.”

I glanced over at
Misty, Max’s horse, and nodded at Mr. Casteille. If I didn’t care so much for
animals, I wouldn’t give Misty the time of day, knowing she was
his
horse. But I knew deep down that Misty really had no choice in who she belonged
to and thank God she didn’t have the same personality as her owner.

I stretched out my hand
toward Big Blue with my palm open and he walked forward a little bit, but he was
swishing his tail, showing me his agitation. I noticed him grinding his teeth
so I grabbed an apple out of the basket on the ground next to his stall and held
it out to him. He was hesitant at first, but soon started to nibble. I petted
his side and he began to relax, resting his rear foot with the tip of his hoof barely
touching the ground. “That’s it, boy. All the ruckus is over. No more shaking
and rumbling.” At least for now. I was certain there would be aftershocks.

I know for a fact that Adela
wasn’t happy about the idea of me being here to calm down her horse. I can only
guess at the expletives she used in her mind when she found out I was coming
over. It was no secret to me how she felt—just like everyone else around this
too-small-to-be-called-a-town and at school. I knew they all thought of me as a
freak.

I’d heard it said that
five years after graduation, everything that happened in high school would be
forgotten. Hmmm … somehow, I didn’t think that would to be the case for me,
thanks to Max.

My life would be so
much simpler if Max Wendell bit the dust. If there was one person I wish I’d
never met, it was him. Sometimes I wondered if there was such a thing as the
butterfly
effect
like that movie and if so, maybe I could go back in time the way
Ashton Kutcher did and change things for the better. But like him, I’d probably
end up making things worse or even lose an arm or two. I shook my head,
shuddering at the thought and dreamed of Adela instead.

Sweet, sexy Adela. The
way she stood at the door frowning, looking frazzled but beautiful. took my
breath away.
I cannot fathom what it is that she sees in Max
. He had to
be the most obnoxious, arrogant, spiteful human being God ever planted on this
earth. I could only hope and wish that someday Adela would look at me the way
she looked at Max. I sighed at the thought and tried to concentrate on Big
Blue.

I had to admit, I was
ecstatic this morning when my dad told me Adela’s father called to ask if I
would come over and help calm his horses. My dad didn’t seem to be his usual
morning-after-binge self. But then, maybe the earthquake sobered him up. I was
a little surprised to see him drinking coffee this morning when I walked into
the kitchen and at first, I thought that he was coming down from a drunken
binge, using coffee to sober up. But after I called Mr. Castielle back, I
realized my old man was actually lucid for once.

I’d been in love with Adela
since the day she moved to Pleasant Ridge, the very first time I ever saw her
sweet face sprinkled with freckles. We’d been in the fourth grade. But once Max
wormed his way into her world, I became invisible to her, or maybe like
everyone else, she simply regarded me as a freak to be avoided.

I never asked for this
weird freakish talent I have to calm animals. It really wasn’t any type of
paranormal ability; at least I didn’t think it was. All it took was a little
patience and understanding, except sometimes I could actually sense what they
felt. It was spooky, even to me.

After Blue finished his
apple and calmed down, I walked over to Misty. She had similar reactions as
Blue, so I talked softly to her and coaxed her forward with an apple, the same
way I did with Blue.

As much as I wanted to,
I couldn’t seem to get my mind off Adela and her disheveled appearance when she
answered the door a few minutes ago—not to mention the fact that I was actually
standing in her barn, tending to
her
horse. Surreal. She was a goddess
even when she was flustered. I know these feelings I have for her are only one
sided, though. They always have been.

Mr. Castielle turned up
the radio. The announcer’s loud voice spooked Misty a bit and she started to
fidget, swaying her rear back and forth. I searched my mind for a tune I knew
and the only one that came to mind was Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss a
Thing.” My mom used to sing it to me when I was a kid and had trouble going to
sleep. I leaned in close to her ear and sang the few verses that I could
remember, wondering if Adela would come into the barn.

“Crap, Max. You scared
the bejeezus out of me.”

Max stood in my closet,
grinning; my clothes draped around his head and his lanky body. My heart pounded
in my chest, and I struggled to catch my breath as Max shoved his way out of
the closet, chuckling.

Seeing Max in my
bedroom provoked three reactions at once: one of surprise, a normal reaction. One
of fear that my mom would pick this very moment to walk in my room and find him,
resulting in a two-week restriction of no riding Big Blue. The third was an
excitement that made my heart race almost as fast as it had during the peak of
the earthquake—except there were no thoughts of a quick death with the earth
opening up and swallowing me alive. This time, my stomach joined in and did a
flip-flop, as I thought about how close we were to my bed and what I wished we were
doing. But of course, that could only be in my mind. Because in the real world,
Max never had those thoughts with me in mind, at least not yet. That was
something I was working on.

“Shhhh,” he said, still
grinning with his finger to his lips, “let’s not bring in the little squirts. They’ll
tell your mom.”

“So not funny, Max.
What are you doing and how did you get in here and …” remembering that only
moments ago, I changed my clothes in that very same room, I added, a bit
chagrined, “how long have you been in there?” I absently eyed my closet door
and wondered if he’d peeked out while I changed. A thrill ran through me at the
thought of him liking what he might have seen.

“A few minutes. I came
in through your window.”

I glanced at the window;
glad it hadn’t broken from all the shaking. I quickly made a mental note to myself.
Remember to lock window.

“Anyway, I came to
check up on you after … you know, the quake.” His dark blond hair seemed
extremely curly, messier than normal, as if he bolted out of bed and rushed
right over. At least, that’s what I wanted to think.

“I’m fine. I’m in a
hurry. Big Blue needs me. He’s all jittery from the quake.” I sat on the edge
of my bed and pulled on my boots. Max sat beside me and my stomach did a full
on summersault, making that little flip-flop it did a minute earlier seem more
like a minor ping. I cringed, praying my mother didn’t decide to walk in at
that particular moment and discover us. Even though we weren’t doing anything,
boys in the bedroom? Especially Max? Not if I want to see the light of day
again, ever.

After snapping the tops
of my boots, I stood, hoping Max got up too. When he didn’t, I tugged him by
his arm. “Get up and get out the same way you came in. If my mom catches you
here, I’m dead.”

He walked to the
window. “Okay, but how’s Misty?”

“She’s okay. A little
edgy, but my dad has everything under control.” I didn’t say anything about
Courtland. The mere mention of the name alone would send Max into a state of
violent mental agitation, and he would want to go to the stables with me. For
some reason, I didn’t want him to. “Why didn’t you come to the front door like
you normally do?”

“I’m not supposed to be
here. I didn’t want your parents to catch sight of me and say anything to my
dad. He thinks I’m in my room studying some marketing mumbo jumbo. He told me
not to go anywhere. I think he’s worried about the quake, which made me worry a
little about Misty.”

Misty? Typical Max.
Figures he would worry about Misty but not me. “Misty will be fine. Go home and
I’ll call you later.” Shaking off my disappointment that he didn’t worry about me,
I added, “Maybe we can take the horses for a soothing stroll later and have a
picnic or something to help calm their nerves.”

Max frowned; propping
his leg up on the windowsill, he slowly shook his head. “Can’t. Since we don’t
have school today, my dad wants me to stay close to home. Actually, I think he
really wants me to make sure my mom is safe. He gets a little emotional during
things like this. Plus he wants me to study his marketing plans for the next
year.”

“I thought you only
wanted to perfect the
making
of wine, not sell the stuff. Besides, you’re
not old enough.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, I
know, but my dad wants me to learn more about the marketing side for the
future.”

“Yeah, I guess
marketing and sales would be the next step since you already know everything
there is about making wine.”

“I won’t be selling
wine, silly. Not until I’m twenty-one. I’m just learning how.” He leaned toward
me, placed his finger under my chin as though he was going to kiss me and I
held my breath in anticipation, but Max only smiled and turned away. “Bye-bye,
Adela. Take care of my mare.”

He slipped out the
window and I sighed in relief, breathing a lot easier now that he was out of my
room. I loved Max. I couldn’t remember a time I didn’t love Max. I would do
anything for him. He was my best friend, only I wanted him to be more, which my
mom had guessed a long time ago. She’d blow a brain vessel if she ever caught
him in my room.

I stopped in front of
the mirror for one last check then sprinted down the hall. Remembering the twin’s
cereal, I bee-lined to their room and hurried them along to the kitchen. After
adding milk to Aaron’s Cap’n Crunch and Ambrosia’s Froot Loops, I set the bowls
in front of them. Not the best breakfast—Mom would probably want them to have
some fruit, but man, I just didn’t have time for that.

Aaron tore into his
cereal like he hadn’t eaten in days, while Ambrosia placed one little fruity
loop onto her spoon at a time. I wanted to leave them to their cereal, but my
mom would have my hide. Last time I’d left them eating alone, they’d decided it
would be more fun to have smoothies for breakfast and dumped the contents of
their bowls into the blender. Without covering the glass pitcher, they pushed
the “high” button, sending cinnamon apple oatmeal up to the ceiling and all
over the walls. No, it was better for everyone if I stayed in the kitchen with
them while they ate.