Page 102 of Maximum
Sipping from my tea I waited for her to find her words. “It’s silly, but I came here because I have this dream of living like you did. I’m thinking about applying for a job in a zoo. I really want to work with wild animals and see them up close.”
“Really, why didn’t you ever tell me?” As I thought about it, I should have guessed as much from all her questions about my time in South Africa. “If you want, maybe I could use some of my connections to get you a job in a wildlife park back home.”
Kate lit up. “You mean that?”
“Of course. You’re very talented.”
“It would be my dream to work with large predators and exotic animals.”
Nellie leaned away from Kate as if she might pull a crocodile from under the table. “No thanks. That sounds scary. I wanna stick to horses. That’s my favorite animal.”
I looked at the skinny girl, who was only nineteen and had come here to get away from a difficult home situation.
“Don’t ever underestimate horses,” I teased. “They can bite and kick. People have been killed by horses.”
“Only when they didn’t know what they were doing. I get along with all horses.”
“That you’ve met so far,” I added and winked.
“Clara loves me and she doesn’t like most people.”
“That’s right.” I had already eaten most of my toast and took the last bite before drinking the rest of my tea. “And talking about Clara, I’m going to pay her a visit. I would like her to finally make friends with the other horses. She’s been alone for too long.”
I was up at the pasture, sitting on the fence with Clara pushing at my arm and being stubborn as always, when a car came down the road toward the farm.
Holding a hand above my eyebrows as a shield from the sun, I wondered who it could be. It was too early for it to be Maximum and I didn’t recognize the car.
With the farm being the last house on this road, whoever came here was either lost or had come to see us.
The car stopped and I swung my legs around on the fence facing the newcomer. When the door opened and a man stepped out, I gasped.
“What are you doing here?”
Pierre stood with his hand on top of the car door. “I’ve come a long way and all I’m asking is for you to talk to me.”
Sliding down from the fence, I felt my body tense. “What do you want?”
He held up his hands and tilted his head. “There’s no need for you to be defensive. I just want to talk.”
“Then talk.”
Behind me Clara was neighing loudly. I turned to see her throwing her head back and moving her ears while crying for me to be careful. She’d been mistreated by her previous owner and was no doubt picking up on the tension in me that Pierre’s appearance had caused.
Taking a step toward her, I reached my hand out, calming my own energy to soothe her. “It’s okay, Clara. Pierre won’t hurt us.”
“What’s with the horse?”
“She’s skittish.”
Pierre closed the door of the car and walked closer, which made Clara take off in a gallop.
“You’re scaring my horse.”
“Sorry about that, but I really need to talk to you.”
Crossing my arms, I was happy that Maximum wasn’t around. With his jealousy things could have gotten ugly fast. “You said that already, so say what you need to say.”
“Honey, why are you being so closed off to me? I wanted to talk to you at the gallery, but you never gave me a chance and you left town before I got an opportunity to sit down with you.”
