Little White Lies

Chapter 7

"We should really be getting ready for the show tomorrow," Ali said as we lounged in the club room a few hours later. We had taken our time in the meadow earlier; swapping stories about our week at school and planning things for tonight. Everyone laughed and goofed off while we were gone. It was like just physically being removed from the property had taken us away from all of the stress that Mark brought to our home. I felt like we were a lifetime away, instead of just a couple miles.

"No need," Andy says holding up his phone. "Weather says it's going to start raining around dinner time and it's not going to stop until late Monday."

"Great. Perfect. No show means no escape," I grumble. My face falls as I think about being trapped in the house with Mark all day tomorrow. My hope that he would be leaving today was evaporating every minute he remained in my living room.

"Not to mention, no reason for me to stay the night," Ali groans.

"No worries there, just say we were hoping it would clear up or something. Your parents know us. They know we'd be holding out hope until the last possible second," I remind her.

Just then Mom's 3:00 lesson group comes into the club room. Sarah Fenwick who owns Maitland and Claire Gibson who owns Que both walk over to us.

"Hey Sawyer, I was hoping you could do two rides a week instead of one for the next couple of weeks," Sarah says taking her helmet off. "He just isn't where I want him to be before we go to finals and I have crazy work hours for the next month."

"Sure, I don't see why that would be a problem," I tell her. I love getting to ride Maitland, he's such a cool horse. He's only 7 and can be frisky on the ground but is pretty solid under saddle. "Just text me which days you plan to come ride him and I'll work around that."

"Thanks! Have fun tomorrow!" Sarah calls over her shoulder as she and Claire walk over to the table and pull out a couple of chairs.

"Let's head inside," Ali rolls her eyes.

"Claire bugs you more than Mark?" I ask Ali as we head back to the house.

"She's just always complaining about something," Ali replies. "Plus she asks questions then talks down to people when they answer."

"I've just learned to grin and bear it when it comes to Claire," I tell her as we pull off our boots.

When we walk into the house I can hear the TV is still blaring the race in the den. Ali and I head to the kitchen to refill our metal water bottles before we head upstairs. Apparently Mark must have thought Andy came in alone because as he passed through the living room I heard Mark speak to him.

"You're still here? Are you ever leaving?" Marks voice came from the direction of the couch.

Without missing a beat Andy replies "I will when you do." I can only assume Mark didn't hear him because nothing else is said.

Ali looks at me with raised eyebrows and mouths "Wow." I nod and roll my eyes, then take a deep breath before I step into the living room. To my great surprise Mark doesn't seem the least bit concerned that I might have heard what he just said to Andy. In fact the only acknowledgment of our presence was the glare Mark gave Ali.

"Mark?" I say trying to be the bigger person. "This is my friend Ali, Ali this is Mark." Thankfully Ali decides to be a team player and she gives him a polite little wave. Mark simply grunts with the worlds smallest glance at the two of us. "Well, we'll be upstairs if you need us," I say before turning and walking up the stairs.

Breathe. In and out. This too shall pass, or some other bullshit like that. I remind myself of this with each step I take. I follow Ali into my room and the moment I've closed the door I flop onto my bed, put my face in a pillow and scream.

"I don't know why they tell you to do that. It doesn't help at all," I say, rolling over to stare at the ceiling.

"I've only tried it once, but in the moment I thought the exact same thing," Ali agrees. "You know what else I've wondered?"

"What?" Andy asks.

"Why are there 10 hot dogs to a pack but only 8 buns?" Ali asks in a very serious tone.

"Or, how many licks does it actually take to get tot he center of a tootsie pop?" Andy replies, equally serious. His voice sounds like it's coming from the floor in front of my bed.

"Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" I join in.

"If a tree falls and no one hears it, does it make a sound?" Ali asks with a little grin.

"Why do tug boats pull things?" I quip.

"If Donald is a duck, and Mickey is a mouse..." Andy pauses, "What the hell is Goofy?"

"He's a dog," I respond.

"But he wears a hat and drives a car," Andy argues.

"And Mickey wears pants and owns a cat. He's a freaking dog," I playfully argue back.

"If you say so," I hear Andy say from the foot of my bed.

Naturally And is right, just before 6pm the rain begins to fall; ever so slowly at first but building to a down pour over the next half hour. Thankfully we had just made it back inside from doing the evening barn chores before the storm began. Ali and I were in the kitchen when my mother, the twins, and Emily all came running onto the porch. We run over and grab towels out of my Mom's bathroom before racing back to the mud room; they were completely soaked.

"What's for dinner?" Grant asks as he towels his short hair.

"Pizza, garlic bread, and salad," I say, looking over to the oven to see if it's finished preheating; of course not. "Go grab showers first though. I'm just starting. By the time you guys are done it will be ready."

I turn to Emily, "Andy and Joey ran back home to get some stuff. They just left so text them what you want."

"How long is dinner going to take?" Jacey grumbles. "It'll take forever for us to all shower."

"I just figured everyone could eat as they are done. I mean, there are too many of us to fit in one room anyway," I laugh, thinking of Andy's advice. Drive him away, just have people over all the time. I'm definitely pulling that idea off even without meaning to; there are just always so many people here.

The rest of the evening passes with surprising ease though. Mark is still here but he was shockingly nice to all of us. Mom was calm and relaxed too; which is nice to see for a change. We, kids, all go upstairs and watch movies. The younger kids lying on the floor, while Ali, Andy, and I take up the couch. We all eat our pizza and watch silly little kids movies. Wreck it Ralph, then Meet the Robinsons, followed by Beauty and the Beast. Once we are all fed and content we slowly begin to drift off to sleep.