Work in Progress Wednesday: Awkward

The calendar says spring, but the view outside my window says winter.

Okay, we've had some decent days in the last couple weeks, but today is not one of them. It's been a busy month, and there hasn't been a lot of progress on Rescue. But now that March Break is over, and my daughter is over her cold, I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. I've got to get my butt in gear to finish up before the next busy time starts up- garden season! Now that my gardens aren't buried in snow, I'm itching to get some seeds in the ground lol (being in Nova Scotia, I'm at least a month away from really being able to plant hardy things, and that's only if it warms up and dries up first). Oh well. Here's an excerpt- finally!- from Rescue.

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“What are you doing here, Jake?”

He stood a little too close- which she wouldn’t have minded yesterday. But now that she realized he could be involved in a little girl’s kidnapping, all she wanted was for him to go away.

“What, no ‘thanks for helping me find a job where my talents are actually appreciated’? It’s good to see you too, Paige.”

Paige’s cheeks heated up. Act normal, she told herself. Of course, for her, awkward WAS painfully normal.

“Sorry,” she choked. “I- thank you for the tip. I’m actually enjoying work a lot more than I’m probably supposed to. And Sapphire here is actually better behaved than my own horse, so…”

Jake chuckled. “You wondered why I was so desperate to get rid of her.”

“Well, I’d never let a kill buyer have her,” Paige snapped. “She didn’t deserve that.”

“No, I’m sure she didn’t. But I don’t have time to bring a horse like that around. Probably not the skills or patience, either.” He made a face as he looked at the mare. “And I can’t afford to hire a trainer to fix her for me. She’s looking a lot better, though.”

“Well, all she does is eat, so…” Paige crossed her arms over her chest. “So, are you Nick’s brother?”

“I try not to admit it, so keep it under your hat,” Jake said.

“But you…” Paige tilted her head sideways to look at him, trying to figure out what was going on. Both Nick and Natalie were very wealthy. Jake didn’t seem to have the same fortune.

Jake snorted in annoyance. “Dad didn’t think a convicted criminal should share in the family fortune.” His voice was bitter, and his eyes went cold.

Paige tried to back up a step, but ran into the gate, which of course clanged and gave her away.

“Don’t worry, I’m a reformed criminal. But Dad still hasn’t changed his mind about me. Thankfully my dear brother always needs my handyman services, so I don’t go hungry.”

“Um…” Paige’s mind spun. She wanted to ask why he’d gone to jail- had it been for kidnapping? But if that was the case, how had he ended up with Copper?

Jake sighed. “Anyway, I’m glad you like working here. But just be careful, okay? Everything’s not as it seems here. I’ll leave you to get back to work. I’d better get to mine.” He nodded at her and stalked off before she could say another word.

Paige’s heart pounded at she stood and watched him walk away. She felt like she didn’t know what to do next.

Her phone rang, and she didn’t have to think anymore. It was Jess.

“Oh my God, how did you know I need to talk to you?” Paige said in a rush when she answered her phone.

“Yeah, hi to you too. Hey, hold that thought, okay, because I need to talk to you. It’s kind of important.”

“Sorry, Jess. What is it?”

There was a sigh on Jess’ end. “Mom made me call. There’s a bill here for you. For Copper’s board.”

“Okay. Um, why do you sound like that?” Paige was suspicious about Jess’ begrudged tone.

Another sigh. “I tried to talk Mom out of this. It’s ridiculous, actually.”

Paige groaned. “Just tell me.”

“She’s charging you for an entire month-”

“But Copper was only there for like three days!”

“I know. But she’s insisting you pay for the entire month. It’s five hundred dollars.”

“But anytime she had clinics, she let people board for the day rate. Tell her I’ll pay twenty-five dollars a day, plus I’ll pay for a bale of hay for each day Copper was there, and whatever shavings she used, and I’ll even pay for two bags of feed, even though Copper didn’t eat any feed. But I’ve got that vet bill to finish paying for, and I just paid for Copper…I haven’t gotten groceries yet and my paycheck’s just about gone.”

“Whoa, I’m not telling Mom anything. You’ll have to do the negotiating. Mom’s just being Mom- you know how she is. What did you want to tell me?”

“So, Jake just showed up,” Paige said, looking around to make sure no one was listening. She lowered her voice. “Did you know he’s Nick’s brother?”

“Yeah, he’s about a year older than you, but he went to boarding school. Then I guess he ended up in jail-”

“You knew all that?”

“Yeah. You didn’t?”

“No. But anyway, I finally got my hands on Copper yesterday, and when she showed me one of her memories about the little girl, I could hear a voice. I couldn’t make out what it was saying, but it was familiar. Then Jake showed up, and I realized the voice was his.”

“What?” Jess said.

“He might have kidnapped a kid!” Paige hissed into her phone. “Why was he in jail?”

“Uh, I don’t remember, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t kidnapping. You can probably Google court records from 20 years ago. All I know is he was running with the wrong crowd in high school, and he got himself into some big trouble the summer after he graduated. Anyway, sis, I gotta go. The kids’ll be home from school soon, and I’ve got a few things left to finish up. Call me later though, okay?”

“All right. Bye.”

Paige leaned against the gate and sighed. There was a nudge at her back, and then a sharp pain as Sapphire’s teeth pinched her skin.

“Ouch!” she shrieked, making the colt jump backwards when she spun around.

He dropped his head and looked at her, almost as if he was apologetic.

“I should really know better than to turn my back on you- or any horse,” she mumbled, rubbing the spot between her shoulder blades.

Sapphire snorted and carefully stepped up to her again. Paige reached out to stroke his nose. She knew she should be getting back to work, but if the skittish horse wanted to make a connection with her, she wasn’t going to ignore him. He let her rub his neck and whoofed out a contented sigh when she found the itchy spot on his withers. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Copped slowly moving closer to the fence, keeping an eye on Paige and Sapphire while she grazed. Before long, she was at the fence, nickering softly.

Then Sapphire was beside himself, thrilled that the love of his life was finally close enough to touch. He neighed loudly and rushed over to the fence, where Copper promptly flattened her ears and wheeled around at the colt, kicking him with both back feet through the fence.

Sapphire squealed and jumped backwards, nearly falling over in his haste to get away. Copper stood at the fence again, watching Paige and hoping for a peppermint. Sapphire stood several feet away, bewildered and heartbroken. Paige looked him over, thankful that her mare hadn’t broken the skin. But the spot on his chest where Copper’s hooves had made contact was already swelling.

Sapphire nickered sadly at the mare, who glared at him and flicked her ears back. He didn’t dare approach the mare again. Paige could feel the colt’s sadness and the mare’s pride- and annoyance. And a migraine coming on.

“All right, guys, don’t kill each other, okay,” Paige said, feeding her mare a peppermint before heading back to the barn to finish her day.