The "company" mother was having consisted of a family that had just moved to Bangor from Virginia. My mother pounced on them when she learned they had money and quite a lot of it.
She also insisted they drag along their teenage son who I suppose was kinda good looking in a blond hair blue eyed star quarterback on the high school football team kind of way but he was definitely no Fulton.
"Juliette why don't you show Marcus here around the estate whilst we wait for our luncheon to be served" my mother didn't beat around the bush at playing matchmaker.
"Um, sure" I replied hesitantly glancing at 'Marcus' who looked like he wished the sky would open up and strike him with lightning. Can't say I blamed him since I was wishing the earth would open up and swallow me whole.
I motioned for Marcus to follow trying desperately to ignore the 'approving' looks of my mother. I knew what it was that she wanted and it wasn't sitting well with me.
I headed straight for the stables knowing that my horse would calm me down, with any luck I could convince the preppy boy to ditch the parentals and come riding with me therefore killing two birds with one stone, my need to ride my horse and the other need to get away from my mother before my cover was blown (along with my temper).
"Nice look Julie" Ryan snarled from the entrance to the stables.
I was about to reply with something incredibly colourful when the heel of my left shoe decided to snap off causing me to stumble into a big patch of mud.
"Just great!" I threw my hands up in the air as I wrenched my shoes off and threw them with more force than necessary into the mud puddle, succeeding to cause more mud to splash up and dot the hem of my skirt.
This proved too much for Ryan who threw his head back and exploded into laughter.
I cunningly retrieved a shoe from the puddle and flung it at him hitting him squarely in the chest.
"Watch it Gaffney!" he warned indicating to the pile of horse shit he had in the shovel he was holding.
I hid behind Marcus who looked torn between horrified and amused.
"Juliette! Marcus!" my mother's obnoxiously loud voice rang out through the air causing all laughter (and breathing in my case) to stop.
Great now mother's gonna have a fit!
Ah who cares!
I stomped along the path ensuring that with each step took a pile of mud was flying off of my shoes. I could hear Marcus walking behind me.
"Juliette what on earth happened to you?" my mother was horrified at the sight of me.
You know Fulton would find this incredibly funny.
"I fell in a puddle" I replied with a shrug feeling my old who gives a shit streak returning and boy did it feel good.
"You should take pride in how you look Juliette now go change out of those disastrous clothes and quickly, lunch will be served soon" she scolded.
Wow I got out of that one easy.
Rather than replying with a rude retort like I normally would I decide to take pity on her for once and do as asked.
But she was gonna shit a brick when she saw what I was gonna change into!
Once in the safety of my room I kicked off those uncomfortable heels and grabbed a pair of trainers. I removed the 'nanna' stockings and the rest of the clothes and threw my Ducks jersey over my head followed by a pair of black pants.
I smiled to myself in the mirror before heading back downstairs.
"Juliette!" my mother screeched when she saw me.
Fortunately she had to shut up when Marcus' father who smiled broadly and said.
"Julie Gaffney from Team USA? I thought that was you!"
"Yeah its me" I said sitting down next to Marcus who suddenly looked starstruck.
Geez boy I'm not that famous.
"You'll have to tell me some of your strategies, I think you're one of the best goalies I've ever seen" Marcus' father continued gushing.
"You mean for a girl right?" my brother cut in.
He is such a sexist pig.
"No actually I don't, that Goldberg would never have caught the last shot" he continued.
"Yeah but it's the only time she played during the whole time" my brother was itching for a fight.
"So? Bombay seemed like a cocky arrogant man. He obviously favoured that Charlie Conway and the original Ducks" Marcus' father argued back.
"Charlie's captain now" I cut in giving him a piece of information that wasn't quite public knowledge yet.
"That doesn't surprise me one little bit" Marcus' father answered.
We chatted more about hockey and my time as a 'Team USA/Duck' player and by the time lunch had finished my mother was about to turn blue with anger and Marcus' mother had even asked me jokingly if Dean Portman was single.
To which I replied "Yes but I think he has a thing for Connie Moreau" I laughed recalling at his antics at the airport.
Shoot! That reminds me I need to call Fulton later on too.
"Who wouldn't" I heard Marcus say under his breath.
When lunch had finished it was time for them to leave.
"Oh Catherine your family is just wonderful, especially young Julie here" Marcus' mother gushed.
"Oh um thank you" my mother was stunned.
"We hope to be seeing you again in the near future" Marcus' father spoke up before adding "and Julie, I want to hear some more Team USA gossip"
"Sure" I replied smiling.
This was classic, the family my mother was trying to break into the Maine Society club with were closet hockey fans!
"Bye Julie" Marcus called as his family climbed into their towncar.
"Bye" I replied feeling my feet itching to get to the stables and take Thunder out for a decent run.
The second the car left my sight I raced towards the stables before my mother or brother could say anything to me.
"Ryan get Bobby, I'm taking Thunder out" I ordered.
"Yes M'am" Ryan grinned obviously pleased that I'd returned to my old self.
Oh well I'll just have to call Fulton later.