lifted the reins a notch. The horse began to walk backwards towards them. âHeâs just stiff, nothing a stretch wonât cure.â
âSpeaking of which, weâd like to take a walk too,â Meredith said. âIs there a particular direction we should go?â
âWell, you can go in any direction you like, for a long time, but if you head on up thereâ â he pointed to the trees â âyouâll hit a forest trail. Your feet might not be up to going too far in those shoes though, Miss Hope.â He looked at her Toms.
âHope should eat something,â Meredith said. âBefore we go anywhere.â
âCal!â
âYeah?â
âThe little ladyâs hungry.â
âNo problem.â He jumped down and drew the reins over the horseâs head.
âPlease, itâs fine, really,â Hope said quickly.
Cal halted, glove on the bridle. âYou want something or not?â His tone was blunt, but not unfriendly.
âCanât we just go for a walk, please, Mum?â Hope pleaded.
Meredithâs lips thinned. She stalked out of the barn, up towards the forest between the stable barn and the house. Hope followed, ducking past Cal, who was still holding on to the black horseâs bridle, watching her.
As soon as they entered the cool green of the forest, her mother slowed. âIâm going to pretend I didnât see what I saw in the house. He seems a nice young man and I must admit heâs remarkably handsome, butââ
âNothing happened! I was standing on the landing six metres away from him.â
âBarely covered. Why?â
âNew craze. Shower burlesque.â
âDonât be smart. As much as you donât want to hear it, Iâve experienced sexual attraction too.â
Oh. My. God . Hope wrapped her hands in her hair. Please, please stop talking .
âJust because Iâm your mother doesnât mean Iâve never had a sex life.â
âIn the car you told me to try harder,â Hope said, her feet crunching on the pine needles.
âTrying harder doesnât mean parading around their house in a towel!â
âI wasnât parading .â
âIâve raised you to make good, sensible choices, Hope, and that wasnât one of them.â
Hope said nothing. Above them, the forest was alive with birdsong and the occasional flutter of wings. As sunlight shot through the canopy, softening in the late afternoon, it lit up insects and the odd butterfly. The trail turned back towards the ranch and suddenly spilt them out on to the meadow at the back of the house.
âI have some work I should get on with,â her mother said, suddenly seeming weary, as they headed into the kitchen through open sliding-glass doors. âWhat are you going to do?â
âCheck my emails, maybe.â
âDo it sitting in a chair so you donât fall asleep. We need to make it through until at least ten tonight. Try that chemistry project.â
Back in her bedroom, Hope unpacked her laptop and put it next to the router, taking the password from the sticker on top of the blue plastic. Her emails downloaded and she sent a message to her friend Lauren to let her know they had arrived. It was after midnight back at home. Clicking through Facebook, she hesitated, before updating her status with, âIn Montanaâ. Because of the travelling and being so shy, her social life wasnât exactly anything to shout about. At least on Facebook she didnât get tongue-tied.
Curious, she searched for Calâs unusual name, but with noluck. Then she felt weird and stalky, and blinked, tired. Putting the computer to sleep, she got to her feet and stretched. Heading down the stairs, she crossed to the front door and went back out into the sunshine.
The horses had shifted further away now, tails swishing as they lazed. The pick-up had moved over to a cluster of buildings to her