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I was scared. Scared enough that my hands were shaking. But fuck him. I hadn’t led him on. I hadn’t done anything. I lifted Charlie’s reins over his head, and I put my hand on his withers and pushed so that he would swivel fast. Simon had to step back to get out of the way, and I had my foot in the stirrup and I was mounted before he could do anything. I only remembered that Charlie’s girth was still loose when it was too late and I was halfway up and the saddle shifted on his back. It held, though, and then I was on.
“Jesus, Grace. You’re acting crazy. Maybe it runs in the family.”
He stepped back and stood in the center of the clearing, his arms spread wide, blocking my way to the trail. We looked at each other. I could tell he wasn’t going to move. I said the only thing that came into my mind.
“You’re not a nice guy. I thought you were, but you aren’t.”
He shook his head, half laughing. “Your mom attacks me. You ask me to meet you here, you lead me on, then you act like I’m some kind of pervert and I’m the bad guy.”
“Can you just get out of my way please?”
He looked at me and put his head to his side like he was considering it, and then he shook his head slowly, like he regretted the situation but he had no choice.
“You need to say sorry first. Say, ‘I’m sorry, Simon, for my crazy mother. And I’m sorry for being a bitch.’ And then I’ll move and you can go, and maybe someday, when you grow up a little more, we can be friends.”
I started to get angry. The anger made the fear a lot smaller. I squeezed my legs and Charlie started to walk forward. I could feel him wanting to walk around Simon, but I signaled him with my legs and my hands to go straight forward. Simon didn’t move. He thought he could win a game of chicken with a fifteen-hundred-pound horse. I decided to show him he couldn’t. I squeezed my legs firmly and gave Charlie a small kick. He leaped forward. Simon stumbled backward, swearing. I urged Charlie on and he went into a flat run. We left that asshole in our dust.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Andy
Grace came home. Just like that, she came home. I was still sitting on the couch with Lee when I heard the sound of hooves on the gravel. Rufus lifted his head and whined. I wasn’t imagining it.
“Lee? Do you hear that?” She didn’t answer me. I moved her to the side so that she was sitting on the couch instead of on me. She curled up into a ball and buried her head in the cushion. I went outside. And there she was, our beautiful girl, with Charlie. Grace had already gotten off the horse. She was standing with her arms around her horse, her forehead resting against his neck.
“Grace?”
She turned to me. Saw the look on my face. Her face crumpled. “I’m sorry, Dad. I’m really sorry.”
I went to her and picked her up and hugged her too hard. She was still holding Charlie’s reins. He blew out air and shifted his feet uncertainly. I reached out and patted him.
“Good boy,” I said. “Good boy.”
Grace was half crying, half laughing. “He really is.”
“Where were you?” She shook her head, like she wasn’t ready to talk about it. “I’m sorry I made you go to school, baby. I went right back to get you.”
We tied Charlie up at the back door. I held Grace’s hand as we went inside. I didn’t know how to warn her about the state her mother was in. When we got to the living room, Grace froze at the door. Lee was still curled up in a ball on the couch, her face like stone.
“Mom?” She sounded scared, and years younger than fifteen. Lee didn’t react. Didn’t move an inch. Grace went to her mother and sank to her knees by the couch. She caught Lee’s arms and pulled them until they were around her in a limp kind of a hug. “I’m here, Mom. I’m here, okay?”
Something sparked. Lee’s hands curled into fists, gripping the back of Grace’s jacket. She held on tight, then her head came up and she pulled Grace hard against her. She said Grace’s name, once, then again and again until it sounded like a mantra.
“I’m okay. I’m here. I’m okay.”
Lee’s hands went to Grace’s face and tilted her face back and looked at her like she needed to really see her. I had tears in my eyes. I walked away. I called Matthew Wright and told him that Grace was okay. Then I went outside and put Charlie away in the barn. For months Grace has been asking me to make a stall for him, and I still haven’t done it. I couldn’t just let him loose in the barn. It wouldn’t be safe for him with the landscaping supplies around, so I had to tie him up, but I let him have a loose rein, and I gave him water. I didn’t have any hay. It would have to work until he could be picked up. I called Molly’s mother and told her that Charlie was with us. She’s a kind woman. She didn’t ask a lot of questions, but she did volunteer to drive over that evening with her trailer and take him back. I untacked Charlie and brushed him down. At first I thought I was imagining it when I heard a car engine start. Then I thought maybe one of the journalists had driven up to the house, or maybe Craig had come by. But when I got out of the barn, I saw Lee’s car pulling away down the drive. I went inside. Grace was sitting alone on the couch looking very pale.
“Grace?”
“I told Mom that it was Simon. He asked me to meet him in the woods, and I did, and then I got scared. I thought he was a good guy, and he’s really not.”
My hand was on the doorjamb. I gripped it, hard.
“Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head. She swallowed and looked ashamed. “He tried to kiss me. Charlie got me away.”
“Where’s your mother?”
