Greener Pastures - Alyssa Brugman [2]
Shelby was working up to telling Zeb that she wanted to quit. She felt guilty because Zeb had trained her from trick to trick until she had mastered the hippodrome – standing on Blue's back as he galloped around the arena. She hadn't performed that one outside of lessons yet, but she was working towards it.
Zeb never asked for payment. The expectation was that his investment in her would be returned when they went on tour.
Even the thought of going around the state with the troupe made her feel tight across the chest and panicky in her throat. She wasn't ready to be away from her parents for so long. She knew she couldn't do it. Now she just had to find a way to tell Zeb.
She had become quite fond of him over the last few months. He had the same mischievous sense of humour as her father, but with a hot temper, and an occasional brooding melancholy that she found frightening.
'He's going to be cranky,' she murmured, running her fingers through Blue's mane.
'Zeb? Nah!' Chad said. Then he reconsidered. 'Not for long, anyway.'
There was a long stretch of flat, sandy track ahead.
'Do you want to canter for a bit?' she suggested.
Chad gathered up his reins and urged Texas forward. The big quarter horse broke into a beautiful rocking-horse canter. Shelby knew it wasn't Chad's riding skills that gave Texas such a smooth stride – this was only their third ride together out on trails and Chad hadn't ridden any other horse yet. Texas was comfortable, and beautifully schooled as well, perfect for a beginner.
Blue, on the other hand, was horrible to ride, but Shelby didn't have to tell him anything. He would change direction when she shifted her weight, or halt before she even realised that's what she wanted to do. It was as though they were connected telepathically.
Over the last few months Shelby and Chad had spent a lot of time together – almost every afternoon at troupe training with Keisha, Molly and Zeb, and sometimes weekends when they had a show. Even when Shelby's family was up the coast visiting Shelby's great-aunt, Jenny, Shelby would sometimes hang out with Chad at the shops near the beach, since Chad's older brother lived in the same suburb.
Still, after spending so much time together Shelby had no idea at all what Chad was thinking. She'd never really had a friend who was a boy before, so she had nothing to compare it with.
Shelby's best friend, Erin, had urged her to ask him out, but Shelby didn't know how to do it. She'd asked Chad to go to the movies, and they went, but they didn't hold hands or anything, so she wasn't sure that he understood that it was supposed to be a date. She wanted to make it official, but whenever she planned to raise it with him her face went red and she became tongue-tied.
What if he said no? What if he laughed? She could just imagine him trying to let her down gently. I'm sorry, Shel, you've got the wrong end of the stick! You're like a little sister to me. Shelby would be so embarrassed. She would never be able to speak to him again after that.
It made her blush just thinking about it. She was glad she was cantering with the wind rushing across her face, cooling her cheeks.
Texas was zipping ahead and so she urged Blue to go faster – lifting her backside off the saddle and leaning over his neck. Her little paint pony leapt forward, lashing his tail, eager to race. Shelby grinned.
At the end of the sandy stretch the trail opened out to a long grassy expanse passing beneath some power lines. Here several trails intersected, so Shelby and Chad slowed their horses to a walk in case someone was coming along one of the other tracks.
'Are you ready to head back?' Chad asked.
'Just a bit longer.'
He raised an eyebrow.
'We can go around in a loop,' she told him.
He glanced at the sinking sun. 'Come on, scaredy-cat. It's time to go back,' he said, turning Tex around.
Reluctantly, Shelby followed.
She loved this time of the year in the Gully. Sometimes in the grey of winter all of the trees and bushes would blend in together, but in early spring