Ten Year Grudge

As soon as I was sure that Ace had driven off, I looked around for something to throw. The only unbreakable thing I could find was Ace's suitcase. I snatched it up and went through the kitchen to the door to the basement. I opened and threw it down the stairs. It hit the wall and a picture of Tribute and I crashed to the floor. Thankfully the floor was carpeted instead of wood like most of the rest of the house so the glass didn't shatter. I kind of wished it had.
I turned around and went towards my room. If all the barn chores hadn't already been done, I would have gone down and worked off my frustration there. Instead, I changed into my bathing suit and went out the backdoor.
Immediately outside of the door was the patio, then half and acer of lawn, and to the right was a separate patio inside a fence with two tables and my in-ground swimming pool. I strode to it and jumped in.
I took out all my anger and frustration on the water, mentally scolding and yelling at myself. What the hell was I thinking? Hadn't I learned my lesson from my father and Drake? Men couldn't be trusted farther than you could throw them. All through high school that had been my motto. I'd had guy friends, and had even thought about taking one of them up on their offer to go see a movie. Then I'd heard one of them say, "I just ask girls out to get some." He'd been best friends with the one who had asked me out. I'd quickly declined after that and tried to avoid guys as friends. Once I had gone into my worst period, I had become antisocial and avoided conversation with everyone, even most of the girls.
More words ran through my head then: "It's a shame because you're such a romantic." Those words from my therapist. Maybe I had been a romantic, always daydreaming about Prince Charming coming and sweeping me off my feet. Taking me away from all my problems to live in a castle with the most beautiful horses...Then I'd gotten a reality check. The only person who could do that was myself. There was no real life Prince Charming, he only existed in Walt Disney's imagination.
And what was so great about Prince Charming anyway? He didn't come looking for his Princess, he just waited around on his lazy butt until the most beautiful and fair and kind in the land to come to his ball, or save him from drowning, or hear her singing. Well I wouldn't be caught dead in a dress, I was being buried in my favorite pair of jeans; I would let him drown, and I couldn't sing. And I wasn't kind or fair or beautiful anyway.
I swam until my lungs screamed for oxygen. Then I swam to the side of the pool to drag my float into the water. I scrambled onto it and scrambled some more to try and lay on my back. On the second try, I did it without falling off. I pulled my hair out of its falling-apart pony tail and put the tie on my wrist. Then I laid my head back so the water covered my ears and shut my eyes. Every now and then I would hit the wall and reach back to push off to the middle again.
Suddenly, something big hit my middle and the float and I capsized. I came up sputtering, wiping hair out of my face, and a tongue licked my face. Delia had somehow jumped the fence. I had had to get the fence put up because the puppy had kept jumping in. Now somehow she had found a way in. But she wouldn't have been big enough to turn my float over. I blinked to clear my vision and came in contact with a big, soaking wet, very furry, dog.
"Crap. Nik I'm so sorry!" Ace called from the open gate. "Max come here!"
The dog ignored him and licked my face again. His tongue lolled to the side and dropped into the water. I smiled and took a backstroke towards the side of the pool. The dog followed me.
I hopped out and the dog tried to follow me. He whined when he couldn't get out.
"Come here boy," I called. The dog swam to the side and I slid back in and pushed from the bottom to get him out. I followed him out and he shook, spraying me with water and hair.
I fell in love with the dog on sight. He was a German Shepard, like my late Rex. He looked young and he was huge. His tongue lolled and his tail curled. When he walked towards me, he nearly tripped over his big paws.
"Aren't you cute," I crooned, crouching down to ruffle the dog's ears. He licked my face again.
Ace came around the side of the pool. "The way he fought when I gave him a bath I thought he would hate water."
I stood up and the dog jumped up to put his paws on my shoulder.
"Down boy," Ace said, grabbing the dog's collar. Max dragged his paws down my bathing suit on the way down, nearly ripping the top. It wasn't a very big bikini anyway. It had been a gift from Drake. I grabbed it just in time to keep it from coming off.
"He's alright," I said.
"So he can stay?"
"If I had the choice I'd keep him and kick you out," I said, adjusting my top. I lead the way towards the house with Max trotting on my heels.
Delia was going crazy at the back door. She was yapping and jumping on the glass, digging at it furiously. Max sniffed at the door, as if he could smell the other dog through it.
When I released the puppy, she came out, barking furiously.
To my surprise, Max looked terrified. Delia came after him and he turned tail to run across the yard with the puppy yapping at his heels. It reminded me of a show I'd went to where a Shetland pony had gotten loose and the big thoroughbreds had been terrified of it.
They took a lap around the yard, then Max returned to me and cowered behind my legs.
"Because she's going to eat you," I said, reaching down to pat the dog. He rolled onto his back and Delia came up to sniff his private parts. Then, seeming satisfied, she walked away. Max rolled back over and scrambled to his feet, loping after the puppy.
"The dog can stay in the house with me when you move back into the barn," I told Ace.