Dreams Adrift (A River Dream Novel) (6 page)

“
Ahoy,
Hey 19
,” I called
out as we got close.

Maeve smiled, waved, and called back, “How was
the fishing?”

She jumped quickly to the dock, followed by
Malori, to handle the lines as my father pulled the Sailfish
alongside.

Tossing Maeve the bowline, I told her, “So-so.
We got a few bites but let them go.”

Maeve’s lips turned down in an exaggerated
pout. “No fish for supper, then.”

I laughed at her expression. “No, I'm afraid
not.”

“
Who's a frayed knot?” Malori
joked. “Where are all the fish?”

Dad handed me the poles and said, “We left
them in the ocean so they would stay fresh.”

Malori gave him an “awe, Dad,” and ran off to
tell Mom we were back.

Putting my arm around Maeve I asked, “How long
have you guys been back from horsing?”

She pursed her lips. “Is that a real
verb?”

I shrugged. She was the English teacher; she
ought to know.

“
We got back about an hour ago.
After riding, I took Malori to lunch at Dupree's, and then we did
some shopping. Darling is a great horse. How come you never told me
Malori was so into riding?”

I shrugged again. “I guess it never came up.
Haven’t you noticed all the horse stuff in her room?”

It was Maeve's turn to shrug. “No big deal. I
know now. We had a great time riding together.”

My father lifted his tackle box onto the dock.
That was not as easy as it sounded. His offshore fishing tackle box
looked like a decent-sized mechanic's toolbox. Then he reached back
and lifted the now empty cooler out of the boat.

I handed Maeve the poles. “If you'll carry
these up to the house, I'll grab the tackle box.”

That left my father with only the cooler to
worry about. The cooler was empty so it would be easy for
him.

Mom and Malori came down to see what was
taking the rest of us so long. By then I was playing the hose over
the rods and reels to clean as much salt water off them as
possible. Dad had put his tackle box away in his equipment room.
Maeve was sitting on the cooler telling me all about her day at the
stable with Malori.

“
First we exercised them in the
paddock so they could stretch out and warm up some. Then we tacked
up and walked them around the paddock until Darling got used to me
being in the saddle.”

Maeve was smiling as she talked about it. “She
didn't seem to mind at all that it was me and not Malori. Once I
felt comfortable enough, we took them out on the trail around the
stables.”

I knew the trail they meant. It meandered
through the woods and fields around the horse farm for about two
miles.

“
After the ride we brushed them
down and turned them out to the pasture to graze. It was a great
morning.”

I’d been listening while I made sure to do a
good job of cleaning the fishing gear. Deciding I’d done a thorough
job, I turned off the water.

“
So, where did you go shopping
after you were done horsing around?”

From the deck Malori answered for her. “We
went shopping for boots, that's what. Maeve had to ride in sneakers
because she doesn't have any riding boots. We fixed
that.”

Rewinding the hose on its reel, I asked Maeve,
“You bought riding boots? Are you planning to do a lot of riding
then?”

Again, Malori answered for her. “I told her
anytime she wanted to take me to the stables, we can go
riding.”

Maeve added, “And I did tell her that anytime
we were in town, and I had the time, we would go.”

My father came out of his equipment room,
having put everything away just so.

“
Why don't we get washed up and
find out what's for dinner?”

Malori and Maeve traded a conspiratorial
look.

My mother said from the deck, “We won't know
what's for dinner until we find out what the King Neptune has on
special.”

My father looked up and asked, “When did we
decide to go to the King Neptune?”

My mother replied, “We ladies decided we would
like seafood and were fairly certain you two would not bring back
any.”

She turned away with a smug look and went
inside. Maeve and Malori giggled at us before running up the
stairs. My father and I traded defeated looks and went in to wash
up.

Flounder, my mom’s favorite, was the special
at the King Neptune that night. My father ordered the flounder and
shrimp combination. Malori joined our mother in having the flounder
in a smaller portion. Maeve and I both chose the surf and turf. I
always loved the taste of shrimp and sirloin together. We said
good-bye in the parking lot after dinner, and Maeve and I went to
our house for the night. The next morning we were up early to fly
home to River Dream.

Seven

We'd been home at River Dream for a few days
when the subject of horses came up. Two days spent cleaning house
and grocery shopping had left me longing to get on the water. We
rigged Riverscape after lunch and sailed a big triangle across the
river toward Cherry Branch, downriver to Great Neck Point, and then
home.

The final leg was actually more of a zig-zag
as we were beating to weather against a northwest wind. After
supper we sat in the swing in the screened room sipping iced tea
and enjoying the breeze.

“
Sweetheart,” Maeve began in the
voice she used when about to suggest something she figured I
probably wouldn't want to do. “Sweetheart, don't you think we could
put up a little stable in that field behind the house? Maybe fence
off a pasture for a horse?”

I’d known this was coming. Trying to postpone
the inevitable, I pointed out, “Babe, we don't have a
horse.”

Maeve rolled her eyes and looked at me over
the top of her Foster-Grants. “I know we don't have a horse. I
think it would be nice to get one. Having my own horse was a dream
of mine when I was a girl.”

“
You've never talked about it
before,” I said. “What brought this on all of a sudden?”

Maeve turned to face me on the swing. “I
started thinking about it again when we were on that overnight ride
in Spain. Then the other day when I went riding with Malori the
idea just grew on me. These last couple of days I've been trying to
decide if it’s something I really want to get involved in again.
Bad news, sweetheart, I do.”

“
That’s what I was afraid of,” I
said, resigning myself to the fact that we were going to be getting
a horse; however, there were some things I wanted to make sure she
had considered.

“
Maeve, even if we do build a
stable here, what about when we're back at Wrightsville Beach?
Where would we keep the horse while we're gone? Who would take care
of it?”

She was ready with an answer. “We could stable
it here in Pamlico. They would take care of it and I would ride it
on weekends when we come home.”

Looking out toward the dock, I observed, “It
won’t fit on the boat.”

Maeve chuckled, knowing that was my way of
saying yes. “No, I don’t imagine it will. We wouldn’t give up
sailing. It would just be something else we could do.”

Shaking my head slowly, I was completely
honest with her. “It would have to be something you would do. I
have no interest in riding horses. That trail ride in Spain
convinced me of that.”

As much as I’d enjoyed our time at the ranch,
it hadn't done my bionic hip a lot of good. After that ride I
decided I’d take sail canvas over saddle leather every
time.

Maeve had known spending that much time on a
horse had been something of an endurance test for me, though I
hadn't said anything. I hated being reminded that there were some
things I just couldn't do as well as I could before getting
wounded.

“
All right. Then it’ll be
something I do. I’ll ride and you can watch me,” she
said.

“
I guess we can think about it,” I
conceded.

Of course by that I meant that we would get
her a horse and she knew it. I could tell by the satisfied smile on
her face. After spending a month and a half living on a boat, I
guess I could understand why Maeve might want to take up a hobby
that would keep her on dry land once in a while.

Maeve started researching what kind of horse
would be best for her. We spent a good bit of our time over the
days remaining before we had to go back to school - Maeve as a
rookie English teacher at Laney, me as a sophomore at UNCW -
traveling eastern North Carolina looking at horses. Maeve decided
on either a Morgan Horse or a Quarter Horse.

As luck would have it, right in Pamlico
County, she found a four-year-old that was half of each, a jet
black mare named Raven. Maeve fell in love with Raven the first
time she saw her.

“
I know she's my horse. I knew it
as soon as I looked at her.”

Raven seemed to respond to Maeve as well. She
had her horse.

Raven was being kept at R&R Stables. The
owners of R&R, Ray and Rita Gallagher, were happy to let us
keep Raven there and look after her for us. Rita and Maeve were
destined to become good friends.

We also built a stall and paddock behind the
house at River Dream so that Maeve could bring Raven home on those
occasions when we could be there more than a few days at a
time.

Seeing an opportunity for myself in this, I
told Maeve, “You realize that in order to carry Raven back and
forth we'll need a horse trailer.”

Maeve recognized that glint in my eye. “I
suppose we will,” she agreed.

Pressing the matter, I continued, “And I don't
think the old Jeep will be able to pull any reasonably sized
trailer.”

Maeve smiled. “Are you trying to say you want
to buy a new truck?”

Putting on my best innocent face, I replied,
“Only because I think you'll need one to pull your horse
trailer.”

Maeve laughed out loud at that. “Michael
Justin Lanier, you know perfectly well that you can afford to go
out and buy any truck you want anytime you want.”

She was right about that.

“
What you say it true,” I
acknowledged. “However, I feel better spending the money for a good
reason than just because I have it to spend.”

The next day found us in New Bern at the Jeep
dealership looking over what they had that might do the job. A blue
Jeep Laredo four-wheel-drive pickup with a 360 V-8 seemed to be
just the vehicle for the job, so it became ours. The dealership
took the old CJ in trade more out of pity for it than anything
else.

Once we had a truck with which to tow, it was
time to find a horse trailer to tow. I was thinking we would get a
simple, straightforward horse trailer that could carry a couple of
horses. Maeve had other ideas.

She'd seen the Gallaghers’ trailer, the one
they used for going to rodeos and horse shows. It had room for
three horses, a small tack room, and a tiny bunk room. Maeve’s
enthusiasm for that large a trailer dimmed somewhat when I reminded
her that she’d be the one towing it and backing it.

“
How often do you think you'll be
going off overnight with Raven?” I asked Maeve as we were sitting
in the den at home looking over the brochures we’d picked
up.

“
I don't know,” she replied
absently, comparing the trailers on the covers of two of the
brochures. “It could be a lot or a little. Maybe Malori would like
to come up and go with me to some things.”

I knew she was probably right about that.
Eventually, we decided on a two-horse trailer with a changing room
that was just big enough to put down a couple of sleeping
bags.

Eight

It seemed like we’d barely gotten the horse
situation figured out when it was time to go back to school. Maeve
was teaching English Composition One and Two, three classes of
freshmen and two of sophomores. I was beginning my sophomore year
of college. Maeve's first workday preceded my first day of class by
two days.

“
What are you going to be doing
for two days while I'm hard at work?” Maeve asked me the last night
before she started her teaching career. She was looking over all
the things she planned to take with her to school the next
day.

Watching her pack and re-pack everything in
her tote bags and boxes, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Maybe we
should’ve brought the horse trailer down for you to pack it all in.
It might have been big enough.”

“
Very funny,” Maeve retorted. “I
want to make sure I'm prepared.”

Smiling at her defensiveness, I said, “You
should certainly be prepared for anything.”

Judging from the dark look Maeve gave me, I
don't think she was amused. I finally realized she was more nervous
than she’d let on.

“
Babe, you’re gonna do fine.
You'll be a great teacher, and the kids will love you.”