The Win Over by Jennifer Torres

Author:Jennifer Torres
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

“Horseback riding? Seriously?” When she and Raquel were younger, Abuelo would sometimes take them to neighboring farms to ride when they visited Lockeford for the summer. Under normal circumstances, Lucinda would have loved to be on a horse again. But nothing was normal now. They had a wedding to save. And it was only going to be harder after her idea had turned into such a spectacular failure yesterday.

“Shouldn’t we be getting ready for the wedding?” Lucinda asked. “There’s so much to do. Cooking? Cleaning? Decorating?” Behind those questions was another that she was too afraid to ask: There’s still going to be a wedding, right?

But Dad and Sylvia were already walking toward the stable, boots crunching in the red dirt. “Vamos,” Dad said without looking back. “We could all use some fresh air.”

What they could use was a new plan, and there would be no time to come up with one if they were out riding all day.

“Raquel, didn’t you say you had a schedule to keep?” Raquel always had a schedule. For once, Lucinda could use it to her advantage.

Only Raquel, who usually never hesitated to tell them what they should be doing and when, didn’t even look up from her phone screen. “Huh?”

Perfect. She wasn’t paying attention. Just like the previous afternoon when she only half listened to Lucinda’s retelling of the disastrous pruning incident before shutting herself up in the study for more “research.” Raquel was definitely up to something. But Lucinda didn’t have time to pry it out of her. She jogged ahead to where Jules was walking.

“We need to call another sisters meeting,” she said, keeping her voice low. “We need Kel to help us figure out what to do next.”

Jules shrugged. “She didn’t help us yesterday,” she said. “What makes you think she even wants to?”

Before Lucinda could recover from the sting of those words, Jules sped up and ran the rest of the way. “I want to ride Damita!” she yelled.

The horses were in the pasture, grazing in the warm morning sunlight. Luis was there, leaning against the fence while Oso galloped back and forth along its perimeter. “They’re all ready for you,” he said.

Sylvia kissed his cheek. “Gracias.” Oso nuzzled his nose against her knee, and she patted him. “Good morning, Osito, are you ready for a ride?”

Jules scrambled up and over the fence’s wooden planks and walked straight to a horse with a cream-colored coat and silvery mane. She pulled an apple from her pocket, and Damita eagerly ate it from her hand. “So you do remember me,” Jules said, smiling as she patted the horse’s shoulder.

Sylvia unlatched the gate.

“Armonia and Octava are over there,” she said, pointing at two horses nibbling grass under the feathery green leaves of a mesquite tree. “They’re very sweet, and I thought they’d be perfect for you girls. And, Marcos, we saved Cascabel for you.”

Dad and Lucinda started to follow Sylvia through the gate and into the pasture, but Raquel didn’t move. She had lowered her phone and was staring at Armonia and Octava.

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