Summer of the Wolves (3 page)

R
ight around sunset somebody rang a cowbell, and we headed over to the lodge for supper. The wooden tables in the dining room had silverware laid out on red checked napkins and big old pitchers of iced tea. As we walked by the salad bar, I saw Diana grab a handful of carrot sticks and shove them in her jeans pocket.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m going down to see a horse at the barn later.”

Lynn slid into a chair near the end of one of the long wooden tables. Daddy was getting ready to sit next to Lynn, but then Diana plopped herself in that chair, so Daddy sat across from Lynn and I took the seat beside Daddy.

Other people were filing into the dining hall. I looked for Nick but didn’t see him. The lady we’d seen before with that gray braid came up. Mama had always told me that when women reached a certain age they ought to cut their hair. The lady’s face was lined, and her hands were real red and wrinkled. Mama would call her a candidate for a complete makeover. More “catty” talk. But I thought the lady had a nice face, with laugh lines at the corners of her eyes. I liked her right off. “Good evenin’,” she said. “I’m Maggie, the head wrangler.” I liked the sound of her voice, a country accent that was both twangy and poetic. Southern, but different from the way Daddy and I talked. “So, everyone’s ridin’ tomorrow morning, right?” she asked.

Riding? Her question was so sudden I thought I might faint.

“I’m riding!” Diana jumped up and stuck her hand right in front of Maggie’s face, like some rude little kid. “I want you for my trail leader. And I want to ride Copper.”

Maggie’s brown eyes widened, and she gave this
gravelly chuckle. “We’ll see what we can do, darlin’. What’s your name?”

“Diana. And I’m an advanced rider. I’ve been taking lessons for three years.”

Diana was advanced! Even worse than I thought.

“That so,” Maggie said. She looked at Diana a minute, then didn’t say anything else.

“She’s intermediate,” Lynn said.

“Okay. What about you, darlin’?” She looked at me.

Before I could answer, Daddy said, “The girls can ride together.”

I looked down at my plate. Why did Daddy always do this? It was almost like he was doing it on purpose.

“You’ve taken lessons?” Maggie was still talking to me.

“Yes, she has,” Daddy said.

I stared at Daddy and started to say something, but clamped my mouth shut, feeling my cheeks go hot as a jalapeño pepper.

“My wife signed us up for the adult trail ride,” Daddy went on. “I’m a city slicker, but my wife will take care of me.” He laughed and gave Lynn’s hand a squeeze across the table. I used to love all the dumb stuff he did, but lately it was embarrassing. Who said things like “city slicker”?

“Well, sir,” said Maggie. She shifted her weight from
one leg to another. “We’re very careful here. Horses are gentle animals for the most part, but I’ve been riding going on forty years, and believe you me, I have a healthy respect for them.”

“My husband and I will be happy with the intermediate trail ride,” said Lynn, nodding. “Diana and Stephanie probably want to trot or canter some. Is that right, girls?”

“Gallop!” said Diana.

My insides turned watery.

“Well, we have one trail ride for the young people, and what we do while we’re out there pretty much depends on the experience level of who we’ve got.”

“Diana, you’ll watch out for Stephanie, won’t you?” Daddy said.

Now he was asking Diana to babysit me!

“Do I have a choice?” Diana looked like she was getting ready to barf. I saw Lynn point at her temple and tap two times. Diana looked away really fast.

Just then Nick came in the dining room with his parents. Finally! The minute he saw me he waved, and just like that, he brought his mama and daddy over. He’d changed into a polo shirt. It was so cute the way he tried to slick down his hair for supper. He was smilin’ again, like he thought just about everything was something to smile about.

“Nick and I met playing horseshoes today,” I explained to Daddy.

“Will you folks be riding tomorrow?” Maggie asked as they got settled.

Nick’s mama and daddy signed up for the same ride as Lynn and Daddy. Nick would be with Diana and me. I breathed a sigh of relief. With Nick along, even if Diana was mean, I could still have fun. And maybe the trail ride would be nice and slow.

Our waiter brought us barbecued ribs made with the ranch’s special sauce, corn on the cob, and butter beans. He came back with baskets of homemade biscuits and plates with mounds of butter that looked like little beehives.

“Everyone should stick around after dinner for a little welcome speech,” the waiter said. “They need to get head counts on who’s going to Cherokee, and who’s going white-water rafting. And then there’s housekeeping stuff, like how to keep the garbage away from the raccoons and bears, ranch rules, and so on.”

“Bears?” Daddy said. “You’re not serious.”

“Yessir.” Our waiter gave us a grin as he headed over to the next table.

Our parents introduced themselves as they passed the platters.

“I’m Charlene Hansford and this is my husband
Ray,” said Nick’s mother. “Nick is so glad there are other kids his age here. He’ll be in eighth grade.”

“So will our girls!” Lynn said.

“We have zero in common,” said Diana, and then she laughed really loudly. The conversation came to a complete halt. All the grown-ups stared at her. I felt my face getting hot again.

“You two have lots in common,” Lynn said, and she gave Diana a look. She did that tapping thing again on her temple, then reached across the table and patted my hand.

I gave a ghost of a smile. Whoa, this was embarrassing. I could hardly look at Nick.

“I’m Norm Verra and this is Lynn, my bride,” Daddy said smoothly. “We got married just last month.”

“Congratulations,” said Nick’s mom.

“You’re Stephanie’s dad, right?” said Nick. “You look alike.”

“That’s right.” Daddy grinned. “Stephanie and Diana are both awfully lucky to have gotten a new sister out of the deal. Isn’t that right, Steph?” Daddy put his arm around me and squeezed my shoulder.

I smiled, then looked down, made sure my napkin was folded in my lap the way Mama taught me.

Right, Daddy
.

U
gh! Stephanie had already met a guy! What a preppie, with those khaki shorts and yellow polo shirt and slick blonde hair. Not my type. Though I hadn’t exactly zeroed in on “my type,” since most boys acted like I had leprosy. But I could tell this guy Nick liked Stephanie. He kept watching her and smiling and making lame jokes. It was as bad as Norm around Mom.

As soon as the parents said the kids could be excused, Stephanie said, “Y’all want to play horseshoes?”

I said, “Nah,” but Nick gave this stupid-looking grin and said, “Sure!”

His dad said, “Go ahead, have fun,” and Nick and Stephanie jumped up from the table and practically ran out the door.

Stuck with the grown-ups. Talk about feeling like a complete idiot. Now Mom would say, “Diana, why don’t you go play with them?” And I’d try to ignore her, and then she’d say something else, like, “Go ahead, sweetie, you’ll have a good time.” And then I’d say, “Leave me alone,” and go straight to the barn. And then, in just a few minutes, maybe Mom would come down and find me to make sure I was okay.

On cue, Mom said, “Diana, why don’t you go play?”

“Only two people can play horseshoes at once, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“You can switch off. They want you to play, I know they do.”

“Hurry up,” Norm added. “They’re probably starting the game already.”

“Go ahead, honey. You’ll have fun.”

I pushed my chair back from the table and flung open the screen door leading outside. When I turned the corner I saw Nick and Stephanie by the horseshoe pit, laughing and poking each other.

Through the window, I watched Norm move into
my
empty seat. Put his arm around Mom, obviously telling some lame story. Everyone was laughing. Mom looked like someone in a Happy Meal commercial.

I raced down the road toward the barn. The sun dropped lower. Red and purple started to leak across the horizon like watercolors bleeding across a sheet of paper. A cool, damp breeze tickled the hairs on my arms, and I rubbed my hands over them.

How the heck had Stephanie gotten to know Nick so quick? Geez, we’d only been here a few hours.

Last month, after Mom and Norm got back from their honeymoon, Stephanie came and stayed with us for a weekend. Saturday night I walked in the computer room and Stephanie was online with about thirty people at one time. Boxes popping all over Stephanie’s screen with those little sparkling tones that made you feel oh so popular and cool.

“Sup?”

“Hey girl!”

How many little cyberfriends did Stephanie have, anyway? I had looked over her shoulder. “What’s ‘lylas’?” I asked.

“‘Love you like a sister.’ It’s just something my friends and I do—that’s all.” Stephanie didn’t look at me.

“Must be southern. Never heard of it.” I ended up
spending most of the weekend of Stephanie’s visit at the barn. And that’s exactly what I’d do this week, too.

The fence gate was locked. I vaulted over. Sprinted across the hard-packed stable yard. The barn door squeaked when I pulled it open. A faint light glowed inside. I felt in my pocket for the carrots and tiptoed across the dirt and straw floor. Copper was probably still awake.

Josie, who managed the barn where I rode, said horses only slept a few hours a night and they only actually laid down for a few minutes. Usually they dozed on their feet with their knees locked. Except for Seabiscuit, the famous racehorse, of course. Seabiscuit used to lie right down in his stall and could sleep through anything.

The rustle of straw came from one of the back stalls. I froze. And listened. But then I didn’t hear anything else, so I headed down the center walkway to Copper’s stall.

He nickered and poked his beautiful head over the gate as I came up. Wow, he knew me already. I reached up and stroked his jaw and neck, then laughed when he nuzzled my underarm. He must have smelled the carrots.

“Oh, you think I’ve got something for you, huh? You think so?”

What if Copper could be my own horse? How much
would it cost to buy him? Maybe about a thousand dollars. I’d saved two hundred.

“Hey, the barn’s closed.”

The sharp voice behind me made me drop Copper’s carrot. I whirled around and in the dim light saw a black-haired boy carrying a bucket of water.

“I just came to give Copper a treat,” I said and bent to pick up the carrot lying in the dirt.

“Didn’t they tell you not to feed the horses at night?”

“I don’t know.” I did kind of remember that being in the “Welcome to Blah Blah Blah” speech, but so what?

“Well, you’re not supposed to feed them.” The boy stepped forward and the bare yellow lightbulb outside the office illuminated his sharp cheekbones.

“I’m not hurting anything!” I heard my own voice go higher.

“Yes, you are. They’re on special diets. You’re not even supposed to be in here.” His jeans and T-shirt were both smeared with dirt. His bare forearms were dark and wiry. “Didn’t you hear them say no one was allowed in the barn at night?”

Maybe I had heard that. “What’s the big deal?”

“Hey, what’s with your attitude? It is a big deal.” His dark eyebrows swooped downward. His voice got louder.

Copper jerked his head away and disappeared into the back of his stall.

My shrink’s voice sneaked into my head. “
Take a breath. Focus. Think about what you’re going to say before you say it. Admit it if you’ve been wrong
.”

Moronic Mood-o-Meter hovering at six point five.

I took a breath. “I’m sorry. I came in here because I, well, I … fell in love with Copper.”

The boy’s face got softer. “I’m just trying to help Maggie out,” he said. “She’s my grandmother.”

I searched the boy’s face and something about his eyes did look like Maggie’s. “Really? She seems so cool. I can’t wait to ride with her.”

The boy’s face opened a little more. “She put me on a horse the first time when I was three years old.”

“Wow.” This boy was probably an incredible rider. I’d love to go riding with him and Maggie. I didn’t want him mad at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t pay attention.”

“It’s okay.” He shrugged, but he kept his eyes on my face. “I like hanging out in the barn myself.”

Suddenly I felt self-conscious. I felt heat on my neck and cheeks.

And then one of the eeriest, most lonesome animal sounds I’d ever heard started out low and sad and arced through the air for so long it made the hair on my arms and neck stand on end.

The boy heard it, too. The spell was broken. He grabbed the water bucket and hung it on the hook by the sink. “I’ve got to go, and you’ve got to leave.”

“What was that?”

He practically herded me out of the barn. His fingers grazed my back very lightly.

“Was that a wolf?” I said.

“Yeah,” he said. “A wolf that’s not being allowed to be a wolf.”

“What do you mean?” The boy and I were outside the barn now. He closed the tall wooden door.

“Nothing,” he said. “I gotta go.” He climbed over the fence and then straddled a four-wheeler parked outside the gate. He turned the key and it roared to life, shattering the quiet mountain night. He sped off down the dirt road.

A wolf that was not being allowed to be a wolf. What did that mean?

The shadows stretched long and dark as I headed for the lodge. I was shivering now. I’d thought maybe Mom would be out on the grounds outside the lodge looking for me. But yellow light spilled from the dining room window. Mom and Norm still sat at the long wood table across from the Hansfords, laughing, Norm’s arm over Mom’s shoulders. A bottle of wine on the table between them. Outside under the tree in a circle of light, Stephanie and Nick still threw horseshoes. The
sound of their laughter seemed to travel farther in the dark. Everyone was enveloped in the warmth of the laughter and golden lights. Except me.

And that lonesome wolf.