Little White Lies

Chapter 3

The movie works its way through the previews, then through the first 20 minutes or so. About the time the Lorax finally appeared I stand up, "I'm going out to check on Treasure and turn the lights off in the barn. I'll be back in a little while," I tell everyone.

"Careful, you never know who might be lurking out there in the dark," Jacey says not taking her eyes off the movie.

"I guess I should go with you then. If there might be something scary out there," Andy says with an amused look.

"Meta humans, assassins, villains, you just never know," Jacey giggles. Lately she and I have been watching a lot of superhero shows.

"Bring back some popcorn," Grant rolls his eyes at our little joke. Secretly he loves the shows too, but he likes to pretend he's too cool for comics and superheroes. "All this chocolate made me want something salty," he adds as Andy and I reach the stairs.

The two of us make our way down the stairs as quietly as possible, I'm trying to listen to my mom. From the sound of it Mark is talking to her about the farm and her students. Maybe he won't be so bad; I mean most of the guys Mom has dated thought her job was a hobby not a real job. People don't understand how much work goes into running a place like this. Mark at least sounds like he realized how complicated it is and he cares enough to ask questions.

I reach over and touch Andy's arm, pointing for him to head to the kitchen first so as to announce our presence instead of simply walking in on them. Once we get to the kitchen, I step into the pantry and grab two of the reusable plastic cups the local horse show association gives out each year and fill them with tea. I hand one cup to Andy and nod towards the door. As we walk quietly through the dining room I keep my eyes locked on the door to the mudroom. My hand is on the door knob when I hear a voice.

"Where are you going?"

I do a small double take, it's not Mom asking me. It's Mark. I'm pretty shocked, does he suddenly think I'm his child of all sudden? Be nice, I remind myself.

Mom glances at her watch, "Are you going out to do night check already?"

"Yeah, Jacey and Grant left the lights on in the barn by mistake. I noticed on my way down to grab tea. I figured we could go turn the lights off and check on Treasure while we're out there. Kill to birds with one stone," I direct my answer to my mother, not to Mark.

"Let me know if you need me out there. She should be fine though, weather is far too decent," Mom says with a light laugh as she brushes her shoulder length light brown hair out of her face, her warm brown eyes, which match Jacey's, truly look happy.

I smile back at her and nod before we head out the door.

"What was that supposed to mean?" Andy asks me as we're sitting on the porch steps pulling our shoes on.

I laugh and point up at the sky, he glances up as I start to explain. "Mares tend to foal when the weather is bad or on a full moon, and most of the time in the middle of the night. They say it has to do with barometric pressure, but I'm pretty sure it's just that horses love making us stay up all night during thunderstorms," I sigh. "Knowing Treasure, she'll make it as inconvenient as possible."

Andy grins back at me, "I bet it's worth it though. I'd love to see something like that. Foals are the cutest."

We stroll through the open double sliding doors on the left side of the barn and over to Treasure's stall. Treasure is my old thoroughbred mare; I learned to ride on her. She took me from walking on a leadline to jumping courses. Now that age is finally catching up with her, Mom and I decided to retire her and breed her to a local thoroughbred stallion. Though why on earth she decided to breed for a September baby I will never understand. Personally I think we received a pretty nice discount.