Poppy shook her head. “That issonoton. We don’t touch each other’s stuff, not unless we ask to borrow something.”
Ru shrugged. “He has it in for me.”
“Yeah, he does and I don’t see why. You work really hard. You know what you’re doing with horses. It’s not fair.”
“Is there anything I should know about cleaning the horsebox?”
“First of all, I need to move it to where we keep it. You need to wash inside and out. Someone will be doing the other one so ask them if you’re not sure. It won’t be Mike. He never cleans the boxes.”
Seb and Mason were working on the other horsebox and they showed Ru what to do. Both seemed shocked that Mike had sent Ru to do it on his own, because there were aspects of the work that Ru wouldn’t have known about.
When they’d finished and Ru was only part way through his, they helped him.
“Thanks.” Ru was really grateful.
“Did you enjoy the vet practice?” Seb asked.
“It was grand. I’m an expert now.” He laughed and so did they.
Am I making friends?
When the inside was done, Ru told them he could do the outside on his own. “Thank you for helping me.”
“Make sure you clean inside the wheel arches,” Mason said. “And you can use a higher pressure on the outside with the hose.”
They left Ru to it. He hadn’t known until they’d told him, but high pressure spraying inside the vehicle spread bacteria.
By the time he was done, Ru was wet, dirty and knackered, and he hadn’t even had to handle the ponies while the game was on. Everyone had to be exhausted.
Paolo turned up just as he finished sweeping the area around the horseboxes.
“All done?”
“Yes, boss.”
Paolo went into the vehicle and looked around. Ru waited, hoping Paolo didn’t find fault.
“Good job,” Paolo said as he emerged.
“Thank you.”
“Tomorrow’s a rest day instead of Monday, so the horses will be turned out and not ridden, though of course they still need to be checked and fed. On Monday, you’ll ride with the others. Rodrigo’s injured his foot. To be more accurate, Matilda trod on his foot, but he needs to take it easy. You’ll take his horses out. Let’s see how you get on.”
Ru wanted to jump up and down with joy, but he managed to restrain himself. Maybe Paolo saw his delight in his face because he chuckled.
“Follow Mike’s lead.”
“Okay.” That was the not-so-good news.
Paolo pocketed the keys for both vehicles and Ru picked up his backpack and made his way to the accommodation block. It was only after he’d dumped it in his room that he remembered Jasim still had Bela’s cage. He had a quick shower, towel-dried his hair, then walked up to the house. His heart was pounding. He was so looking forward to seeing him.
Then out of nowhere came doubt. Even after all those exchanged messages, ones that made him laugh, ones that made him hot, maybe nothing else would happen. That wonderful evening in the pool house was just one snatched moment, never to be repeated. No more swimming lessons. No more watching red kites. No more anything.
He knew he was talking himself into a hole, but he couldn’t help it. Ru thought he’d find it too hard to work here and only see Jasim from a distance. He’d wondered about applying for a training position at Leigh’s vet practice, but maybe he’d be better going a long way away. Could be that the answer to everything was behind the door he was about to knock on. The right sort of smile, or not?
As he knocked, he felt a prickling sensation as if someone were watching him. He looked round and saw Paolo heading towards him.
“What are you doing?” Paolo asked. “Why are you bothering Jasim?”
