Hide & Seek - Alyssa Brugman [15]
'Maybe. I work, remember. It's really busy right now because of the holidays. What about if you ring me?'
Chad patted his pockets. 'I don't have a pen!'
Shelby laughed at the tragic look on his face. 'We're in the phone book. My last name is Shaw. Can you remember that?'
'Sure can!' He winked.
She groaned.
'I guess you've heard that one before.'
'Once or twice,' she admitted as she backed away.
'I'll ring you then, Shelby.'
'Bye!' Shelby waved. Then she felt dumb for waving when he was standing only two metres away, so she turned and jogged up the hill. Then she thought she probably shouldn't actually run away from him. He might think she didn't want him to ring her, when really she did.
10 A Guy
After an uneventful trip home on Easter Monday, Shelby was glad to be back at the stables again on Tuesday morning. She'd rung Erin as soon as she got home, but they hadn't found Diablo yet. Erin said that Mrs Edel was in a bad mood, but other than that it was business as usual.
From first light the agistment centre was busy with trucks and floats trundling up and down the driveway. The loading area was noisy with the clanging sounds of breeching doors and dividers locking into place, the thump of hooves clambering up tailgates and the hum of electric brakes. The owners commanded their animals in single syllables – 'up', 'yar', 'whoa'.
Riders turned up early in the morning to use the arena – from little kids with big helmets that made them look like lollipops, to elegant older ladies on leggy dressage mounts, to blokes in jeans practising spins and pivots on their lean stock horses.
Groups of kids fooled around while their ponies looked on patiently, or slept on their feet. Ladies joked to each other as they passed in the laneway with buckets, hoses or tack.
During school holidays the demand for trail rides always doubled and that meant early starts and busy days for the girls too. Erin had offered to help out. Hayley was helping as well. She had finished feeding her other two horses, a pony called Echo and a lovely bay hack called Scamp. Now she was waiting for her mother to take her over to Homebush – back to the Royal Easter Show.
'At least it's finally stopped raining!' said Hayley, taking the last bite of an apple before offering the core to Hiccup – the pony she was saddling.
There was a long line of trail riders looking eager, and a little anxious. Some girls had brought their own helmets. Shelby handed out waiver forms on clipboards for the parents to sign.
'Why are you humming?' Erin demanded.
Shelby looked up at her friend, surprised. 'I wasn't humming.'
'Yes, you were! You've been doing it all morning. What's happened? Did your mum say you could have another horse?'
'I wish.' Shelby smiled.
'What is it then?'
'Nothing!' It crossed Shelby's mind to tell Erin about Aunty Jenny's trip and what it could mean for her family, but she wanted to wait until her parents had made a firm decision. Nobody had mentioned it on the way home and Shelby knew better than to nag them. She also knew that they were quite proud and might see Aunty Jenny's offer as charity. That gave Shelby cause to hope that they might reject the offer.
Lindsey frowned as she allocated trail riders to horses. Shelby was glad she wasn't the one who had to match size, experience and temperament, and also determine who was lying when they ticked the box marked 'Ridden more than one hundred times' on their waiver forms.
Shelby boosted one of the regular trail riding girls onto Cracker's back and then reached up to tighten her helmet strap.
A tiny girl in baggy jodhpurs tugged at her mother's hand and pointed to Blue. 'I want that one,' she whispered.
Lindsey raised an eyebrow at Shelby.
'I could pony him off Scooter,' she suggested, meaning that she would lead Blue while she rode Scooter. Lindsey nodded.
'You have great taste!' Shelby said as she lifted the girl into the saddle by the underarms.
Erin was adjusting Blockhead's stirrups for a man who had come along with his son. 'Now I know some-thing is up,' she said,