Scarecrow on Horseback by C. S. Adler Page B

money being the show off
he was.
    ”What's wrong if Mr. Jeffries just keeps
them?” Mel asked. “If I were rich, that's what I'd do. I'd have a
ranch for every horse that nobody else wanted, and I'd take care of
them and let them roam around free.”
    “Yeah? Well, don't you think a horse'll get
pretty bored running around the same field for years, never getting
anywhere and never being useful for anything?”
    “You think a horse likes to be useful?” Mel
asked.
    Jeb lifted one shoulder. “Maybe a horse is
like a man that way.”
    She studied him. “Do you like your job?”
    He nodded. “I always wanted to work with
horses, and here I am doing it. Sure, I like my job.” He smiled at
her. She smiled back, drawn to him for the first time.
    “I want to work with horses, too,” she said.
It was the pleasantest exchange they had ever had.
    “I have an idea,” he said.
    “What?”
    “Don't want to tell you till I see if it can
be worked out. But you'll be glad. I can promise you that.”
    “Does it have something to do with me?” She
still didn't believe he could want to be nice to her, unless it was
to please her mother. Probably that was it, she thought.
    “Yeah. It's something to do with you all
right. What do you say? Want to try being friends?”
    She shrugged. “Maybe.” While he obviously
liked himself a whole lot, that didn't mean he couldn't care some
about other people's feelings. And to be fair, as Sally had pointed
out to her, the horses Jeb had sold out from under Mel had belonged
to Little Creek Ranch, not to her. As for how Jeb treated Sally,
possibly she did take the teasing too seriously. Mel held out her
hand, “Friends,” she said.
    They shook solemnly. One last splash of pink
lingered in the V between the two mountains ahead of them. The
mustangs were huddled together now at the far end of the field in
the dark that was coming on. “Might as well go,” Jeb said.
    On the way up to the ranch, Mel wondered
about Jeb's idea. She hoped it had something to do with paying her
a real salary for the work she did on the ranch. It seemed to her
that an assistant vet, even if only needed on occasion, and a
regular poop scooper and horse groomer should earn something. She'd
be a senior citizen before she could afford a horse at her current
savings rate. But if she pushed Jeb to pay her, he'd push right
back about needing her to lead trail rides. And if she gave in,
likely something else terrible would happen to the horse she chose.
No, she'd best wait and see what Jeb's big idea was.
     

 
    Chapter
Twelve
     
    Whatever Jeb's idea for her had been the
night he took Mel down to see the mustangs remained a mystery. He
said nothing in the next week, and she was too proud to pester him.
Instead, she spent the early morning hours helping Sally. Later in
the day, she hitched a ride down the mountain to watch the mustangs
in Jeffries' field. Some guest or staff member was always heading
to town to pick up supplies. After a couple of hours of hanging
around the pasture, she'd start walking home. If no one she knew
stopped to give her a ride, Mel hiked the whole way back to the
ranch. As she told her mother, who wanted to know why she so
frequently missed lunch or was late to dinner, a five-mile hike up
a mountain was good exercise.
    Her spirits rose so high, Mel even wrote an
e-mail for her mother to send to Tanya.
    “So what's new with you? The big excitement
around here is there's three wild horses down the road. The one I
like best has a look in his eye like he's someone I could get to
know.”
    Maybe Tanya would think I’m crazy to say
that , Mel thought, but she asked her mom to send the message
anyway.
    Denise understood. On the first Saturday
Denise rode Lily down to meet Mel at Jeffries' field to watch the
mustangs, Denise told Mel the story she'd read about a boy who had
tamed one.
    “You could do that, Mel. I bet you'd get
those horses tamed in no time.”
    Mel laughed. “Nobody's asking me to