Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 01 - Dark Horse (29 page)

Dan shrugs. “Okay.” Jeff could tell him he was going to build a new barn out of oatmeal, and that would be okay by Dan.
Tatiana pulls up on Sunshine, and Dan and Jeff both congratulate her warmly. Dan feels a bit like he and Jeff are parents watching their child perform, and it strikes him as odd that none of them are actually related. They set off down the trail to the barn, Tat and Dan riding on the outside, Jeff and Lou walking together in the middle.
Both horses prick their ears forward as two large dogs appear off to the side of the path, and Sunshine dances a little as Trapper and Copa approach. They aren’t quite as well-behaved as Lou around the horses, and when Evan appears they act up a little more, as if they are protecting him from the horrible equine monsters. Jeff quiets them down pretty well, and when Evan meets the riders on the path the dogs settle completely with his hands on their foreheads.

Evan smiles a little tentatively at them all, and then addresses Jeff and Tatiana. “Tia sent me out to find you. She’s got brunch just about ready.” He turns to Dan. “I’m sure there’s lots, if you haven’t eaten yet.”

“No, thanks, I did eat. I can take the horses back, though. Tat, I can ride Sunshine back and lead Smokey, if you want to head straight to the house.”

Tatiana looks shocked, and maybe a little offended. “But you said that a true horse-person looks after the whole horse, not just the riding part!”

Dan smiles at her. “Yeah, I did. But a true horse-person is also happy to trade chores with another horse-person. It’s no big deal, seriously.”
She shakes her head stubbornly. “No, Sunshine did her job on the hill, now I should do mine in the barn.”

Dan sees Jeff and Evan both smiling at her, and for a second it’s like they’re
all
fond parents. “Okay, then,” Jeff says, slapping Sunshine on the shoulder. “You take care of your responsibilities. We’ll keep brunch warm for you.”

“And save me some bacon!”

 

Evan shakes his head. “It’s every man for himself with bacon, you know that.”

“Jeff—can you ask Tia to save me some bacon?” Tat asks sweetly. “I’ll see what I can do, sweetheart.”
Tatiana smiles smugly at Evan and then nudges Sunshine forward.

“Let’s go, honey—we’ll find some brunch for you too!”

Dan has a quick urge of irrational jealousy as he watches Jeff bring his hand up and rest it on Evan’s neck as they turn and walk back to the house. He needs to get a lid on that. Whatever Jeff may or may not want to talk to him about isn’t going to be any easier to understand if he’s still harboring some stupid crush.

Dan and Tatiana head back to the barn with the horses, and when they get there Robyn is waiting for them, looking a little excited. She lets Tatiana take Sunshine into the barn and then grabs Dan’s arm. “It’s about time! Hurry up!”

“What are you talking about?”

“We’re going to Santa Cruz.” She gives Dan a pleading look. “Please, please, please, we’re going to Santa Cruz?”
“Wait, who’s ‘we’, and why are we going to Santa Cruz?” Dan has only a vague idea of where that even is.

“You, me, and some people from last night. Scott called about half an hour ago, asked if we wanted to go with them.”
“Scott the drummer? You gave him your number?” Dan gives Robyn a long look, and laughs when she blushes.

“Okay, yes, I’m weak! Are you happy? But I don’t want to go by myself, and you were invited, too, so… please, Dan? He’s really cute, and I think he was pretty nice.”

Dan shakes his head, but he’s not saying no. “Yeah, he seemed all right… who all else is going?”

 

Robyn makes a face. “Okay, will it make it
more
likely or
less
likely that you’ll go if I say Ryan is going?”

“It’ll make me less likely to dump a bucket of water on your head if you just spit it out.”
She looks at him skeptically, and then says, “Okay, fine. He’s going. But so are Molly and Nikki, but without Donny because he has to work, so it’s not like a date unless you want it to be.”

“I don’t know, Robyn. I’ve got a lot of work to do around this place.

I can’t just keep taking off every afternoon.”
“It’s not every afternoon! It’s two afternoons this week, and you
worked fifteen hours every other day. I don’t think anyone’s going to
accuse you of shirking.”
“She’s right.” It’s Tatiana, looking out at them from the door of the

barn. “Sorry to eavesdrop, but… if you want to go, you should go. You’ve been working really hard, and Santa Cruz is pretty fun. It’s less than an hour’s drive, and there’s lots to do there.” She looks a little sad, and Dan finds himself unable to read another Kaminski. “I mean, if you don’t want to go, that’d be great—you could stay and hang out with Jeff and Evan and me. But if you want to go… you shouldn’t stay just because you think you’re supposed to work.”

“Please, Dan? I’ll be your slave for a week,” Robyn pleads. “You’re already my slave, stable girl.” So much for not letting their new work hierarchy change their relationship.

 

“Yeah, but for a week I’ll actually listen to you. And… I won’t gossip about you at all, for a whole month. Please, Dan?”

Dan honestly isn’t even sure what he wants to do. He isn’t against the idea in general, it just all feels a little… rushed. Rushed to get ready today, but also rushed that he hadn’t even met Ryan twenty-four hours earlier, and now he’s thinking about going on his second semi-date with him. Third, if you count the deck building… and, hey, there’d been dinner. But Robyn’s really excited, and Dan still feels a bit guilty for neglecting her all week. Her phone rings, and she looks at him imploringly as she picks it up. He nods resignedly, and then watches as she puts her game face on to be cool for the phone call.

While Robyn is sorting out details, Dan leads Smokey into the barn and pulls off his tack. He’s carrying it to the tack room when he notices Tatiana looking at him a little shyly. “You okay, Tat?”

“Yeah. I just… this Ryan guy… do you really like him?”

Dan really hopes this isn’t more of that crush that Evan had teased him about. He really hasn’t seen much sign of it, though, so maybe she’s just curious. He decides honesty is the best approach. “I don’t really know, Tat. I mean… I don’t really know him.”

“But you like what you know.”
“Well, yeah, I guess so. It’s really not… I dunno, Tat. When you’re a teenager, everything’s intense, and that’s great. But when you get older— sometimes it’s nice to just relax a bit, without the huge roller coaster. Does that make sense?”
“So Ryan’s not a roller coaster, he’s just….”
Dan runs a hand over Smokey’s body to check for dampness, but he hadn’t really done much work, and he’s bone dry. “I don’t know, Tat. Honestly.”
Tat doesn’t seem to want to let this go. “But is there any other guy that you might be interested in? Maybe?”

Dan’s mind catches on the word “guy.” That doesn’t sound like she’s holding onto her own crush. But then what
is
she talking about? “Uh, not really, I guess?” He doesn’t think he’ll give her the rundown of his lustful thoughts about Jeff, or the flashes of attraction to her own brother. He doesn’t want to scar the poor kid for life.

Robyn breezes in then, thankfully. “We’re supposed to meet them in town at eleven thirty. That gives you forty minutes to shower, shave, dress, and drive us in. Are you up for the challenge?”

“I think I can handle it. Tat, are you okay putting Sunshine out in the paddock?”

“I think I can handle it,” she mimics.
“Okay. And then you’re down here all day tomorrow? Sunshine should do flatwork tomorrow, but we can find lots of horses for you to ride down here, and then we’ll take Sunshine back up on Tuesday. Sound okay?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” She smiles at him, but he’s still not getting the full enthusiasm out of her, and he doesn’t like it. But with Robyn staring at him, he doesn’t have time to worry about it, so he takes Smokey out to the paddock on his way back to the house.

He showers, then pulls on jeans and the Henley that he’d rejected the day before. He doesn’t really worry about looking too good today. He’s back at the barn at eleven fifteen, and follows the sound of voices inside. He realizes his mistake when he sees no sign of Robyn, only Tatiana looking sullenly at a helpless Jeff and a frustrated Evan. “It’s really, really not something for you to be getting involved in, Tat,” Evan is saying, and Dan backs out carefully. He turns and almost runs into Robyn.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping!” she hisses before he can even speak. “I was just trying to intercept you before you blundered into it.”

“Good work with that. What happened to their damn brunch?” He shakes his head. “Are you ready to go?”
“I think so… but now I feel bad leaving when Tat’s upset. What if she needs someone to talk to?”

Dan shrugs. “She survived up until last week without your advice. I expect she can make it a little longer. But, hey, if you don’t want to go—” “No, I want to! I just—” Robyn breaks off as the door of the barn opens and Jeff, Evan, and Tatiana come out. Evan’s got his arm around

Tatiana’s shoulder, and her other arm is looped through Jeff’s. Dan takes a look at them as they walk over, and then smirks at
Robyn. “Amazing—they solved it without you!”
She doesn’t have time to respond before the others are within
hearing distance. They’re looking a little strained, but they aren’t fighting,
at least.
“So you’re heading down to Santa Cruz?” Jeff offers.
“Uh, yeah, looks like.” Dan turns to Evan. “I’m gonna start keeping
track of my hours. I can just keep a list in the tack room or something. I
mean, you shouldn’t just have to hope that I’m putting in the time.” Evan just shakes his head. “You don’t have to do that, man. I trust
you, remember? It’s one of the reasons I was so hot to hire you.” Dan shrugs. “Well, I’ll do it anyway. Make myself feel better, even if
no one else ever looks at it.”
“Whatever works for you.” Evan smiles awkwardly. “Look, do you
guys know when you’re getting back tonight?”
Dan looks at Robyn. He really has no idea about their plans, so she
takes over. “They were talking about getting dinner some place down
there, so, I don’t know… it might be late-ish.”
“Yeah, okay. Okay. Well, hey, have fun, all right?” Evan seems a
little uncertain.
“Sure, yeah.” Dan looks over at Robyn, who’s standing by the truck
but not getting in, obviously as hesitant as Dan. “Look, it’s no big deal,
today. If there’s something you need done….”

Jeff steps forward. “No, Dan, it’s fine.” He looks over at Evan. “There’s no rush here. We can wait.” Evan almost says something, but then he nods, and Dan and Robyn warily climb into the truck.

They pull out and head down the driveway, then out onto the main road. They’re halfway to town before Robyn finally says, “On the plus side… Evan looks really hot when he’s all brooding.” Dan gives her an incredulous look, and she laughs. “What? I hear he dabbles in women… and even if he’s out of my league, he’s still nice to look at.” She leans over on the seat and pushes Dan’s shoulder a little. “Don’t even tell me you haven’t noticed that he’s hot. Good face,
rockin’
body, and the money doesn’t hurt. And Jeff’s beautiful, too, with those eyes and that voice… yummy! I seriously don’t know, Dan… if you got your choice, which one would you pick?” There’s a bit of a strange edge to Robyn’s voice, as if her questions are somehow more significant than she’s letting on, but Dan doesn’t want to play.

“Honestly, we’re on our way to reunite you with the drummer of your dreams, and this is the best thing you can find to think about? Why don’t you concentrate on Scott? Or Santa Cruz?”

“Yeah, okay, Danny, if you’re afraid to answer.”

They drive on in silence, and Dan thinks about Justin, wonders what he would say about Dan going off with some new guy like this. Justin could be jealous, even a little possessive, but Dan had never really minded because he’d liked the feeling that someone valued him enough to want to keep him. But he wonders what Justin would think about Ryan. He remembers Chris’s words: Justin is dead. He doesn’t have a perspective. But Dan isn’t sure that’s true, because Justin is still a part of him, so doesn’t that mean Justin’s perspective is the same as his? So when he’s wondering what Justin would think, is he really wondering what he thinks himself? Dan doesn’t like these sorts of thoughts. They always make him feel like the high school dropout he is. He wishes sometimes someone would explain it to him, because he really doesn’t feel equipped to figure it out alone.

He sighs a little when he pulls into Ryan’s street, and then he looks ahead and sees a few people already standing outside the apartment stairs, sees Ryan raise his hand to wave a greeting.

“Ready or not, here it comes,” Robyn says, and Dan thinks that’s true. It’s coming, and he’s really not sure he’s ready.
Chapter 24

T
HERE
are six of them going on the trip, and there’s really only room for four in Scott’s car, so Dan says he’ll drive, and Ryan offers to ride with him to help navigate. The truck has a good-sized back seat, so there’s lots of room for Robyn and Ryan both, but Dan isn’t surprised when Robyn decides she’d be more comfortable riding in the car. Dan reminds himself that he’d spent a good part of the previous day with Ryan and had enjoyed it, but his hands are still a little sweaty when he climbs back behind the wheel. Ryan seems relaxed, though, and makes easy conversation as they drive, and Dan calms down pretty quickly.

It’s a beautiful day and the drive takes them through some scenic countryside, so a lot of the time they’re both just looking outside and appreciating the view. They tend to talk more when they drive through the fingers of urban sprawl that stretch out from the city. Ryan tells Dan about his musical ambitions, and Dan explains the basics of eventing and how he earns his living. There are no huge revelations, but by the time they pull in beside Scott’s car in the Santa Cruz parking lot, Dan at least feels a bit more confident in his assessment that Ryan is a good guy.

The Californians have been to the seaside town before, and they already have somewhere in mind for lunch. Dan and Robyn are happy to go along. After the meal, they all walk down along the boardwalk, but it’s really too crowded for a group of six, so they divide up with plans to meet for dinner, and again Dan finds himself with Ryan. It’s neither unexpected nor unwelcome. He thinks briefly of the electricity he’d felt from Jeff that night in Kentucky, but then remembers how quickly that seemed to have faded into nothingness. He might not feel a fiery passion for Ryan, but he is developing a gentle affection, and maybe that’s better in the long run. It’s certainly less confusing.