Page 30 of I Knew You Were Trouble

“She didn’t.” Or I don’t remember. I was more focused on the clothes she had in her arms. I can’t imagine Candace in anything with holes in it. Holey jeans were actually on her list of fears. Red zone, I think.

Maddie gets out of the twenty-year-old car she bought for fifteen hundred bucks last year, her feet slipping on the icy ground. Used to sliding everywhere with her board, her expression doesn’t change one bit.

A barn sits about half an acre away, the whinnying of horses carrying across the giant field. There’s a wooden fence that extends beyond where I can see, the training area empty for the moment. Five giant horses graze in the distance.

It’s not snowing today, but there is definitely a bite to the air as both Mad and I head toward the barn slack-jawed. I wasthis closeto inviting Candace to my place, but that is a definite hell no now. She’d see the six-hundred square feet of the apartment and ask where the rest of it is—or how we can fit two bedrooms, a bathroom, and living space in there.

I yank on my jacket zipper and slide it up to my neck. My breath whooshes from my lips in a gust of fog, floating up to the partly sunny sky. Hopefully that sun actually starts heating things up soon, even though I don’t mind having a white Christmas.

A guy emerges from the large entryway that leads into the stables, pushing a large wheelbarrow. I poke Mad in the shoulder and nod in his direction. “Think we should ask him where Candace is?”

She answers me by changing her direction, practically bouncing her way over there. A laugh ripples through my chest and billows out in a puff in the cold air. Maybe I can pass this off as her Christmas gift. Mad’s obsessed with all things horses. Hell, if we could’ve afforded it, she would’ve taken up riding instead of boarding.

“Excuse me!” she calls out, and I jog to keep up with her. The guy either doesn’t hear her or he’s being a dick, since he doesn’t give us even a glance up. Maybe he’s got headphones in.

“Hey,” I try, knowing we’re well within earshot now. “We’re friends of Candace. Do you know where she’s at?”

Nothing. His back is toward us, and he pokes a giant pitchfork into a pack of hay and dumps it into a trough.

Mad and I stand there like a couple of sausages on a veggie tray, completely out of place and wondering where the hell to go. I raise my brow at her, and she raises hers at me, and we both shrug at the same time. We’re full of solutions.

“Um, hello?” I take a step toward him. He finally turns around, his eyes locking on us, widening under his bushy brows. His mouth pops open under a hefty beard, but from the looks of it, he can’t be much older than Madison.

“Sorry,” I say at his startled expression. “We’re looking for Candace.”

He blinks, his eyes dropping to my lips. He makes a gesture with his hand, tapping his chin and cheek.

“Uh…”

“Pete,” Maddie hisses, poking my side. “I think he’s deaf.”

“Oh!” Well, now I have no clue what to do. For a second I think of talking louder and slower, but that would just make me look like an idiot.

The guy grins and holds up a finger. He wipes a hand on his jeans before digging out his phone and tapping away. He steps toward us while he does this, bringing with him the soggy scent of animal and hay.

He turns his phone around, a message up on a notepad app.I’m Luke. You must be Candace’s friends?

Maddie and I lean in together to read the screen, and she lifts her head first and nods. She’s always been a faster reader.

Luke starts typing again, and I share a look with Maddie. The guy’s thumbs fly across his keypad, and I wonder how often he’s gotta communicate like this.

Wait… does Candace know sign—

“Hey guys!” Speak of the devil. Candace skips out from the stables in her usual clean and crisp attire, boots over her jeans, a button-down plaid tucked in at the waist. Her reddish hair hangs over her shoulder in a braid. Luke’s still typing to us, obviously having not heard her approach.

He spins the screen to us again, but I don’t get the chance to read more than two words before Candace taps his shoulder and he tucks the phone away.

She signs while she speaks, “Luke, meet Pete and… Madison, right?” she asks, looking at my sister.

“Maddie.” Her smile can’t be suppressed, stretching across her face. She most likely senses that the horse intros are next.

Luke signs something to Candace, and she interprets.

“He says it’s nice to meet you,” she says, mimicking the same gestures he used. An odd zap prickles in my gut, pulling the corners of my lips up. Gotta say, I’m impressed that I’ve known her for two years and she hasn’t waved this talent in my face. Hell, if I knew another language, I’d be using it as much as I could to impress whoever was interested.

“Nice to meet you,” Maddie says, her voice higher than normal. Her eyes jut over Luke’s shoulder to the entrance of the stables, her legs shifting their weight. Anticipation ripples off her in waves and nearly knocks me off my feet.

I let out a laugh and grab her shoulders. She’s a foot shorter than me and has been since my fourteenth birthday. “Someone wants to meet the animals.”

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