Free Every Second Counts by D. Jackson Leigh Page B

exactly were you doing that was irritating your grandmother?”
    “The usual teen stuff—blasting rock music over my stereo, slamming doors, smoking pot in my bedroom and not even trying to hide it.” She grinned at Leah. “I think she was mostly pissed that I’d found her stash and helped myself.”
    “I might leave that part out. We wouldn’t want to sic the cops on Grandma.”
    She shrugged. “Eleanor died about five years ago. It’d be hard to arrest her now.”
    Leah looked up from taking notes and raised an eyebrow, but she held her gaze in challenge. What was Leah expecting? Tears for the woman who couldn’t bring herself to comfort a child crying for her absent parents?
    “What happened when she brought you here?”
    “When we got here, Leigh was at the outdoor ring, watching her daughter, Kate, work a new stallion. Kate was pretty much running the kids’ program by then, so Leigh waved her over to get in on the discussion about what to do with me.” Ryder chuckled. “I was thirteen and—”
    “Trouble with a capital T .” Tory stood in the doorway, smiling at Leah. “Sorry, babe. I was just here to check a few mares that are pregnant and saw your car. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I forgot you were doing the interview.”
    “Maybe you should tell this part,” Ryder said.
    Leah held out her hand to beckon Tory over. “You were there?”
    Tory entwined her fingers with Leah’s and bent down for a quick kiss. “Yep. Skyler and I both were. We were watching Kate ride Dante for the first time.”
    “Every good profile requires input from people who know the subject. Why don’t you join us for a few minutes?”
    She shrugged again and nodded her consent when Tory looked at her to confirm she didn’t mind.
    “Ryder, why don’t you start?” Leah, her hands poised over her laptop keyboard, scooted over to allow Tory to sit next to her on the sofa.
    “Well, Eleanor was talking the ears off Kate and Leigh about her problems with me, so I wandered over to Sky and Tory. They were looking all important and full of themselves because Kate had handed the stallion over to them to watch while she talked.”
    Tory cut in. “You were the one trying to look all tough and full of yourself.”
    She laughed. “Sky and Tory were both sixteen, and Sky was dressed in riding breeches and knee-high boots that I thought were really cool. So, yeah, I was trying to impress the older kids.”
    Tory said, “She sauntered over and said, ‘Nice horse.’ Skyler always had a chip on her shoulder about the rich kids who owned horses at the center because most of them looked down on the trouble-making kids in Kate’s program. And she hadn’t missed that Ryder and Eleanor had driven up in a Mercedes, so—”
    “So Tory jumped in before Sky could be a smart-ass and said, ‘You ride?’” Ryder smiled, and Tory grinned back at her as they relived the scene together. “I said, ‘No, but how hard can it be?’”
    “You were such a punk,” Tory said. “Skyler kinda snorted and says, ‘A lot harder than you think, kid.’”
    “I, of course, took that as sort of a dare. I didn’t like being called kid .”
    “Then Ryder says to Skyler, ‘So you ride him?’”
    “You two were so easy to play.”
    “Says you.”
    “It’s the truth.”
    “Okay, children, focus for me.”
    Ryder returned to the story. “Skyler puffs up and says, ‘Not yet, but I’ll ride this big guy as soon as Kate says it’s okay.’ I couldn’t resist yanking her chain, so I said, ‘You think he’s big? I’ve seen bigger horses.’”
    Tory reached over and lightly slapped her on the back of the head. “It was just the first time this instigator got us all in trouble by taunting Sky into doing something she shouldn’t.”
    “Anyway, Sky says, ‘You’d probably wet your pants if I put you up in that saddle.’ I said, ‘Try me.’”
    “Next thing I know, Skyler hands the reins to me and boosts this idiot into the saddle,”