Breaking Fences (The Breaking Series) (30 page)

“Hey.” I poked her with my foot, and she jumped to the side to get out of my reach.

Chuckling, I stepped closer and poked her with a spoon. With a squeal, she slapped the spoon away and tried to stomp her foot on mine.

Leo barged in the kitchen through the back door and gaped at us. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Yes!” we answered together, which made us laugh more.

“
Bom,
I’m hungry, so whatever you two are doing can wait.
Morena
, tell me what to do to help.”

She handed him the bowl with potatoes. “Peel.”

He stared at the bowl. “All of them?”

“There will be eleven adults here tonight. What do you think?”

“
Credo
,” he muttered, grabbing the bowl. “I think we should put everyone on a diet.”

“Right,” I said. “Because you, Ri, Pedro, and Gui can eat any less than a horse.”

“We can. We just don’t want to.”

I snorted. “Convenient.”

The teasing slowed down, and soon we were each focused on our tasks. An hour later, Hannah served lunch and we took a break.

With nothing to occupy my mind, I thought of Garrett and Midnight. Was Midnight well? How was his recovery? When would he be able to jump again? I hadn’t known anything about his health for quite some time and was worried. I wished he had a quick recovery and that Delilah regretted having asked Garrett to buy her a new horse. What was Garrett doing right now? Did he have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with? My heart squeezed.
Meu Deus
, I hadn’t thought of this before. To me, this was the biggest American holiday, and he was probably alone at his cabin and barely there barn. An urge to take the first flight back to Colorado assaulted me, and I gripped the table to avoid getting up and running to the airport.

Leo’s hand rested on my arm, and I jumped. “Hey, you okay?”

I forced a smile. “I’m great.”

He exchanged a look with Hannah. “If you say so.”

I knew he didn’t believe me, nor did Hannah, but I wasn’t asking them to. All I wanted was for them to respect me enough not to push it. I was finally feeling well again. I was finally feeling like me, like the loudmouth, hotheaded girl I had always been. And that was all I needed right now.

***

At six in the evening, Hannah’s dining room was exploding with people. Hannah, Leo, Hannah’s parents and Hilary, my parents, Ri, Pedro, Gui, and me. We were all around the dining table, drinking and talking and munching on appetizers.

My father and I had barely said hi since they arrived, and we certainly hadn’t exchanged any looks or smiles.

When dinner was served, the guys went to eat at the kitchen table and I went with them.

Ri served a big spoonful of sweet potato casserole to his plate. “When are you going to talk to him?”

I didn’t need to ask who “him” was. I shrugged. “I don’t know. Not now, if I can help it.”

“Why?” he asked, passing me the spoon so I could serve myself.

“I don’t want to talk about this.”

“You should,” Pedro said from across the table. “If you’re not gonna talk to
pai
, then you should talk to us.”

“We’re all ears.” Gui nodded. “You know, if Leo is getting along better with your dad, you can too.”

I glared at them. “Are you guys rallying against me?”

“If it’s the way to get you to talk to
pai
, maybe.” Ri winked.

I sank into my seat. “I don’t even know what I would say to him.”

“Just reach out to him,” Ri said. “Maybe he’ll do the talking.”

Then we would fight again. I knew we would.

We ate the rest of the meal in silence. Hilary and I helped Hannah to take the dishes back to the kitchen, while everyone else gathered in the living room. Soon, Hannah served dessert and more drinks.

I was about to go to the living room with the rest of them when my father stepped out in the hallway, and we almost bumped into each other.

“Beatriz,” he said as if my name hurt his tongue.

“
Pai
,” I said, imitating his tone.

He looked at me with his hard hazel eyes. “I’m glad you came back.”

“Me too.”

“I didn’t think this adventure would last this long.”

“
O que
?”

“I thought that after a month, you would be back home.
Bem
, took you three months, but I’m glad it ended.”

My jaw fell open. “It didn’t end. I came for the holidays. I’m leaving Saturday evening.”

His face blanched. “You’re going back?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Why, Beatriz? Haven’t you proved your point to me already? I know it now. You’ll do whatever
porcaria
you want to without my approval. I get it.”

“That’s not the point. There isn’t a point. All I want is to do something for me. To be myself.” Once I said those words, it struck me like a punch. All I wanted was to do something for me and be myself, but I wasn’t being myself. Not in Fort Howell. And only sometimes at Rock Hill Ranch. I wasn’t myself anywhere.

“Did I ever stop you from being yourself?”

I shook my head. “It’s not that,
pai
.”

“What is it, then?”

“I already told you. A thousand times. But you never listen.”

“You think I’m not listening.”

“Then you just don’t care, but I’ve been saying it for a long time.”

“Stop being childish, Beatriz.”

Irritation and frustration seeped into my chest. He would never understand because he would never listen to me. Not really.

I walked around him. “Good night.”

“Beatriz,” he called me. “Where are you going?”

“It’s none of your business.” I opened the front door, pretending the living room wasn’t right there and everyone was watching me, and marched out of the house.

Fighting the angry tears brimming in my eyes, I ran to the stable and into Preta’s stall.

Chapter Twenty-Five

On Friday, Preta and I went riding before eight in the morning.

I actually had woken at six and wasn’t able to go back to sleep, so I threw myself into action. Better to do something and occupy my head with mindless thoughts than obsess about my life. Even if I wanted to, I didn’t have the energy for it.

With a slice of bread with butter and a to-go coffee mug, I tiptoed out of the house, honestly hoping Hannah and Leo would sleep in and rest a little. They worked hard on this ranch and deserved some peace.

I fed the horses, checked their water, released a few of them into the pasture, and got ready to muck out their stalls, but decided against it, afraid that the sound of scraping the shovel on the ground would wake the happy couple.

The jealous feeling came back and I pushed it away. What the hell? He was my brother and she was one of my best friends. I was happy for them. A little jealous of what they had built for themselves—even though their beginning had been rough. Well, kind of terrible, actually—of how strongly they felt for each other and showed it any moment they could.

I shook my head of those thoughts, tacked Preta, and went out with her.

Preta and I only returned after I got several messages from Hannah, Leo, and Ricardo, asking me to come for lunch. The guys were over and promised me I would have fun. How could I say no to that?

With Leo’s help and a copy of my mother’s cookbook, Hannah made
feijoada
, and for dessert a cake of
negrinho
and
branquinho
—what we called it in the south of Brazil. The dessert made from sweetened condensed milk was called
brigadeiro
and
beijinho
in the other Brazilian states. She was truly becoming a Brazilian master cook. If Leo wanted proof that she really loved him, he didn’t need to look further. However, I was sure he knew it, and that he loved her that much too.

Later, we drove to my parents’ ranch, and played with the trucks in the field. If my father saw us coming, I didn’t know, and honestly, I hoped he pretended he didn’t. Hannah went with Leo, and I hopped in Ricardo’s truck. Pedro wanted to drive his truck, but the game was too difficult with four trucks, so he joined Gui with the promise that they could switch at some point. When they switched, I nudged Ricardo until he let me drive for a bit.

After everyone went home and showered, we met again in a restaurant/bar downtown.
Meu Deus
, it felt so good to dress up and go out.

We gathered around a round table in a corner. Ri and Hannah sat by my side, with Leo on Hannah’s side, Pedro on Ri’s side, and Gui directly across from me. This time, Leo gave us the okay to order alcoholic beverages. I hated drinking in front of him, but I could use a good dose of whiskey and Coke. Being considerate, Hannah, who I knew loved whiskey as much as I did, stayed with plain Coke with him.

They told me all about them. The practices, the tournaments, the new faces around the polo scene, the ones who looked like serious threats, the ones who would probably be out in one year or two. It was all about polo, of course. I felt like a hateful bitch. I loved polo, probably almost as much as they did, and I had run away from them as if it hurt me. That was never the case.

I just had to find myself. I thought leaving home would be the solution, but so far, everything had gone wrong. When I was in Fort Howell, I wasn’t myself. It wasn’t right, and I had to do something about it. Maybe go back to Brazil? Gui’s parents and his sister, Gabriela, were still there, as were my real, old friends. There, I could be myself again. I could pick up vet school where I left off, without worrying about starting over. I would still be older than the rest of my class, since I had been away for almost two years, but at least I wouldn’t have to go through pre-vet, then apply for vet school, hope I was accepted, and study for another four years. In Brazil, I would graduate at twenty-five. Here, I would graduate when I was twenty-eight.

“What’s the matter?” Ri asked, leaning closer to my chair. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was the oldest at twenty-six and had his head on the straightest, but he was the most perceptive and the peacemaker. Whenever Leo and my father had one of their warlike arguments, Ricardo had been the one to break them apart.

Now it seemed like it was my turn to be in the war zone with our father.

Noticing I had been frowning and gripping my glass tightly, I relaxed. “Nothing.”

“Right, because you have been loud and opinionated, like always.”

I snorted. “Is it that noticeable?”

“You’re telling me you didn’t notice you’re different?”

I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Bia, I know Leo has always been closer to you, and now Hannah, but you don’t seem to want to open up to them, and they’re worried about you. They aren’t bugging you though because they think you’ll react badly and distance yourself even more.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’ll distance myself from you if you push me?”

He grinned. “Maybe that’s exactly what I want.”

I slapped his arm. “
Chato
.”

He chuckled. “I’ve heard worse.”

I frowned, swirling my glass. The golden liquid slushed close to the brim, but not too close to spill. “How have
you
been?”

He lifted one eyebrow at me. “Changing subjects, huh?”

“Maybe? Seriously, though, I want to know. We haven’t really talked in—” I did the math in my head. “—three months, and I know you were still hurting from …” I didn’t continue. It wasn’t worth it mentioned Joana.

Last year, all hell broke loose. Hannah’s ex-boyfriend Eric found out about Leo’s past and spilled the beans to the local newspapers to get Leo away from Hannah by making her mad at him. We found out Joana had been involved. The reporters dug up what they could in Brazil and, mad that Ricardo had left Brazil—and her—to come to the United States, Joana told the reporters all she knew about it. And since she had been with Ricardo for a long time, she knew a lot. If she had known Ricardo was ready to propose to her and ask her to come live in the United States with him, she probably would have held her tongue, but it was supposed to be surprise. How would she know? Still, the fact that she would gossip about our lives like that made all of us mad at her, especially Ricardo. After that incident, they never talked again.

He ran a hand through his light brown hair. “Better, I think.”

“Still think a lot about her?”

His bright blue eyes darkened. “Not really. What stayed with me is the hurt. The way she just opened her mouth and told the world all of our secrets will haunt me for a while.”

Understandable. I hoped what Joana had done didn’t mark his life though. I wondered if he would ever be able to trust another woman again.

I reached over and held his hand. “As long as you don’t let it consume you.” He shrugged, and I could see they already did consume him.
Droga
. I squeezed his hand. “I bet you’ll meet a girl who will knock you off your feet soon enough.”