Firefly by Terri Farley

Author:Terri Farley
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2005-09-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“I’m going to go outside and sit with the colt,” Sam told Gabe once Mrs. Allen was busy in the other room.

“Sure, leave me in here with her.”

“She’s your grandmother,” Sam said, smiling. “Mine just cooks too much.”

“You think this is funny?” Gabe asked, rubbing one hand over his spiky hair.

“A little bit,” she admitted. Now that Mrs. Allen was out of the room, it all made sense. Sam had seen the tension building in the older woman since she climbed down from her tangerine-colored truck. “I think she’s just worried about you, and this is how she’s showing it.”

“By acting crazy? What about creating a secure environment for the invalid?” Gabe asked, then lowered his voice. “I haven’t been around her that much. We were just getting to know each other before this happened. I—”

Gabe broke off. Then, looking thoughtful, he reached up and turned the gold stud in his earlobe. “If I’d come out here to visit when she wanted me to, two weeks ago, I wouldn’t have been on that road trip.”

Sam remembered the long list of “ifs” from her own accident. If she’d paid closer attention to her horse, to the weather, to Jake’s technique of riding through the gate, to any of those things, she might not have fallen and the horse she loved wouldn’t have escaped.

But it didn’t matter how many “ifs” she listed. She’d made a mistake that had caused her to fall. The stallion’s hoof had grazed her head. He’d run for the mountains, leaving her on the ground, where she heard his hooves retreating into silence.

Even if she could count off ten thousand ways she might have changed that day, it was too late. But she sure wasn’t going to lecture Gabe about the lessons she’d learned. Sooner or later, he’d learn them for himself.

“So, do you want to learn to ride?” Sam asked.

Gabe’s expression said she didn’t deserve an answer, so Sam didn’t wait for one.

“The first step to horsemanship is always done on the ground anyway. You need to get to know the horse. They’re individuals just like people, in how they think, how they understand the world, and how they express themselves.”

Gabe still didn’t say anything. Given the way he sagged against his forearms, which lay on the mahogany table, Sam guessed his silence wasn’t all resentment. Part of it was weariness. Just the same, he was listening.

Sam told him about the HARP program, going over the days of groundwork that preceded actually mounting the mustangs. She talked about the program’s success with girls like Mikki Small and the failures that had come before the successes.

“You let them burn down your barn, get bitten by snakes, and commit, like, Internet fraud. Then, instead of suing them,” Gabe asked, “you talk about them being scared and getting over it? That’s lame.”

Shaking his head, Gabe leaned forward until his chin rested on his folded arms.

“Maybe,” Sam said. “But it works.”

Gabe’s eyelids were drooping. Careful that her chair didn’t squeak

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