Setting the Pace

by Bonnie Bryant

  By that point, the decision had been more of a relief than anything else. But as many times as Lisa tried to explain that to her mother, the message just didn’t seem to be getting through.

  “Don’t hold back, darling,” Mrs. Atwood had crooned after dinner the evening before, her voice dripping bitter sympathy. “I know exactly how you feel.” Lisa had almost been able to read her mind at that point—she was sure her mother was thinking about the day Lisa’s father had walked out after twenty-seven years of marriage. Mrs. Atwood still hadn’t adjusted to the divorce, though she’d spent enough time and money trying. She still attended weekly group therapy meetings, better known as gripe therapy to Lisa and her friends. And now she seemed unable to understand that Lisa didn’t feel a need to cry and moan and rehash every moment of her own breakup. After dealing with the idea of it for so long, she was pretty much resigned to it. A little sad, yes. A little uncertain about the future, certainly. But any twinge of regret or doubt or bitterness was behind her already.

  Still, after hanging around with that bunch all this time, I shouldn’t be surprised if Mom can’t conceive of someone moving on after a breakup, Lisa thought with another grimace as she reached the stable’s wide double doors, which were shut against the January chill. None of her gripe therapy pals seems to be capable of moving on from a hangnail, let alone a breakup. It’s probably just as well that I didn’t tell her about—

  “Scott!” she blurted out as she pushed open the door, almost banging it into the tall, good-looking guy standing just inside. Feeling a little flustered, she noticed that Scott Forester wasn’t alone. “Um, I mean, hi, Scott and Callie. How’s it going, you two?”

  Scott and Callie both greeted her, but Lisa only seemed to be able to focus on Scott. “Hey, Lisa,” he said, taking a step toward her. “What’s up?”

  “Thanks for the ride, Scott,” Callie told her brother. “Don’t bother to wait—I’ll walk home when I’m done.” Giving Lisa a quick wave, she hurried off in the direction of her horse’s stall.

  “That’s my sister for you,” Scott joked fondly. “There’s no time for chitchat when there are horses to be ridden.”

  “I know just how she feels,” Lisa replied with a smile. “Um, by the way, happy New Year.”

  “Ditto.” Scott smiled tentatively. “So … um, how are you doing?”

  His tone was carefully neutral, but Lisa guessed he was fishing for information. Everyone at Pine Hollow must have heard that she and Alex had broken up, and Scott had more than a passing interest in that particular topic. He and Lisa had been out on several dates during the weeks when she and Alex were experimenting with seeing other people. At first Lisa had been reluctant to get involved with him, even casually—it just seemed too awkward, since they shared most of the same friends. But after a certain point, she’d been forced to admit that there was a serious mutual attraction brewing between them. Even at that moment, standing in the dusty stable entryway, dressed in ratty old riding clothes, she could feel the sparks flying.

  She blushed, hoping that Scott couldn’t read her mind. “I’m okay,” she said. “Great, actually.”

  “Really?” Scott looked hopeful but not completely convinced.

  Lisa nodded firmly. “Really,” she said. “The past is over. I’m ready to face the New Year—no regrets.”

  “Cool,” Scott said with a broad smile. “Then how about if I take you to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate your New Year’s perspective?”

  Lisa gulped. She had mixed feelings about letting herself slide right into another relationship so soon. Still, looking up into Scott’s guileless blue eyes, she couldn’t resist. “Sure,” she said. “That sounds like fun.”

  “Great.” Scott looked pleased. Before he could say anything else, Stevie appeared at the end of the stable aisle. Spotting Lisa, she called her name, sounding excited. Lisa couldn’t help feeling a twinge of guilt—would Stevie feel awkward about finding her here with Scott? Even though it wasn’t as if he was Alex’s replacement, exactly, it might appear that way to Alex’s twin sister.

  But Stevie hardly seemed to take in the meaning of finding the two of them together as she rushed over, breathless and clutching a currycomb. “Sorry, Forester,” she said bluntly. “You’ll have to drool on Lisa some other time. I have big news for her right now.”

  “Really?” Lisa’s worries, along with her slight annoyance at the interruption, were overtaken by curiosity. “What is it?”

  Stevie grinned proudly. “I’m going to be an eventer!”

  “Huh?” Lisa blinked.

  Stevie rolled her eyes. “You know, eventing? As in combined training? I’m going to do that!”

  “Oh.” Lisa was still having a little trouble grasping Stevie’s point. For one thing, Scott was standing so close it was kind of distracting. “Um, I know what eventing is. Why are you going to do it all of a sudden?”

  “Come on. Let’s grab Carole and go on a trail ride. I’ll tell you all about it then.” Stevie seized Lisa’s arm and dragged her toward the aisle. Lisa hardly had time to wave good-bye to Scott before they left him behind.

  THREE

  “Almost ready,” Callie murmured soothingly as she pulled her horse’s forelock out from under the browband of his bridle. “Hope you don’t mind working in the ring today, boy. It’s a little cold to spend much time out on the trails.”

  Scooby merely blinked in response. Callie gave him a pat, then brought the reins over his head. Unhooking the stall guard, she led him out into the aisle. A flash of movement at the end of the aisle caught her eye, and she spun around quickly—only to see one of the stable cats batting at a fly. She sighed with relief, feeling foolish. She was really getting jumpy.

  It hadn’t been easy to drag herself to the stable. While one part of her was champing at the bit to get into serious training with her new horse, another part kept remembering all the unpleasant surprises she’d had to deal with lately, which were making her as spooky as a green-broke horse on a strange trail. Like the time a few days ago when she’d panicked at the sight of George’s car pulling into the drive and had taken off into the woods as fast as Secretariat. Or that creepy incident with the face at the window the other night. And most of all, she kept reliving the day more than a week earlier, when she and Scooby had been deep in the state forest behind Pine Hollow. Alone. Or so she’d thought.…

  “Come on,” she said aloud to her horse, forcibly interrupting that line of thought. It wouldn’t do her any good to dwell on all that. She’d gotten herself into this mess, and she was just going to have to face it down before it went any further. “The day’s half over. We’d better get cracking.”

  She led Scooby down the aisle, planning to work on some schooling figures in the outdoor ring. Halfway to the entryway, she came upon Maureen Chance, who was emerging from a stall with a hoof pick in her hand.

  “Hey,” Maureen greeted her, giving Scooby a quick once-over. “Doing some training today?”

  Callie winced, trying not to hear the unspoken Finally! in Maureen’s sentence. She hadn’t been spending nearly as much time at the stable lately as most new horse owners would, and she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised that people had noticed. “Yeah,” she replied. “I thought we’d work on some schooling figures in the outdoor ring. Is it free?”

  “Far’s I know,” Maureen said with a shrug. “Lessons are over for today.”

  Callie nodded, clearing her throat nervously. “Er, so who else is around today?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?” Maureen stuck her hoof pick in her jeans pocket and reached up with both hands to adjust her fiery ponytail.

  “You know—like, people my age. Who all’s here right now?” Callie asked. “Um, I was just wondering.”

  Maureen gave her a strange look, but answered. “I think I saw Stevie and what’s-her-name, Lisa. Oh, and Carole and Ben are here, natch. And I just saw that studly brother of yours pulling out. A couple of the younger kids just got back
from the trail. I guess that’s about it.”

  “Oh. Okay. Thanks.” Callie was already wishing she hadn’t brought it up. Why would Maureen even notice if George was at the stable or not? Despite the fact that the new stable hand seemed to have radar when it came to spotting males of all shapes and sizes, George tended to blend into the woodwork no matter where he went.

  Besides, who cares if he’s here? she added rather defiantly. I’m here to train, not to worry about George. Not anymore. I’ve wasted enough time on that already.

  Still, she couldn’t resist speaking up again just as Maureen started to turn away. “Um, what about George?” Callie asked. “George Wheeler. Is he around?”

  Maureen smirked knowingly. “Ah, I should’ve guessed what you were after,” she said. “Yeah, forgive me for leaving him out. I’m pretty sure he’s still here. He took his mare out for a long hack this morning, and he’s been puttering around the place ever since.”

  Callie was relieved to hear that George had already done his riding for the day, though she was also more than a little annoyed that Maureen seemed to think she had some kind of romantic interest in George. What was the deal with all those smirks and winks? Was it just Maureen’s natural habit to look for scandal and intrigue everywhere? Or had George said something to make her think there was something going on?

  She did her best to put that out of her mind. The last thing she wanted to do was press Maureen for information—that would only encourage her to keep thinking what she was thinking. Besides, Callie thought as she tugged gently at Scooby’s reins to get him moving again, the sooner I get out into the ring, the less likely it is that George will turn up suddenly and want to chat.

  Soon she and Scooby emerged from the stable aisle. Pausing just long enough to fasten the chin strap of her hard hat, Callie mounted in the high-ceilinged entryway. After adjusting her stirrups and double-checking her girth, she squeezed Scooby with her calves and aimed him toward the open side of the wide double doors.

  “Hey! Callie!” a young voice called from somewhere behind her. “Don’t forget to touch it.”

  Callie pulled up and glanced over her shoulder. A girl named May Grover from the intermediate riding class was standing near the stable aisle, staring at her with concern. “What?” Callie said blankly.

  “The lucky horseshoe,” May said, her tone indicating that Callie might be just slightly stupid. “You didn’t touch it.”

  “Oh,” Callie said. Like most stables, Pine Hollow had a long list of traditions. Callie had only been riding there for a little over six months, so it was sometimes hard to keep track of them all. She turned Scooby in a tight circle so that they could come around again beside the misshapen old iron horseshoe nailed to the wall beside the main entrance. As she understood it, the hunk of metal was afforded magical properties by most of Pine Hollow’s riders, who swore that no one had ever been seriously injured while riding after touching it.

  After brushing the horseshoe with the tips of her gloved fingers, Callie headed for the door once again. Minutes later she had Scooby walking around the schooling ring on a loose rein. Doing her best to push all distractions out of her mind, she focused on the coming session, planning her strategy. Scooby was in pretty good condition already, but he needed plenty of schooling and conditioning before they would be ready to tackle their first endurance race. Callie had already come up with a series of exercises designed to improve Scooby’s balance, suppleness, and responsiveness, and she spent her warm-up time running through her plans once again. Then, when Scooby was ready, they got started.

  A few minutes later Callie was concentrating on a double-loop gymnastics exercise when she became aware of hoofbeats approaching. Darn, she thought. So much for having the ring to myself today. I knew this was too good to be true.

  She glanced up to see who was coming, praying it wasn’t one of the intermediate riders wanting to set up a jump course or a beginner who wouldn’t be able to keep her horse from running up behind Scooby or otherwise getting in Callie’s way. But the person she saw fit neither category.

  “Hi, Callie!” George called cheerfully, waving to her from aboard Joyride. “Mind if I join you?”

  What? Callie thought. Her mind froze, unwilling to accept this new wrinkle. What in the world is he doing here? Maureen said he already took Joy out for a long time today. So why would he want to work her again now?

  It didn’t make sense. Still, she supposed she shouldn’t be so shocked. Nothing George had done lately made much sense—from accidentally-on-purpose loosening her horse’s shoe out on the trail to peeking in her living room window late at night.

  She stared openmouthed at George, who didn’t seem to be waiting for an answer to his own question. Steering Joyride alongside the gate, he expertly leaned down and opened it without dismounting. Seconds later he was in the ring with Callie, riding toward her at a brisk walk.

  Joyride, a fairly high-strung Trakehner, snorted and pinned her ears suspiciously as she approached Scooby, but George didn’t seem to notice. “Hi there!” he said cheerfully, bringing his horse to a stop just a few steps away. “What are you doing? Giving ol’ Scoob a little workout?”

  “Um, yeah.” Callie nudged Scooby to get him to step away. The gelding obeyed, though his ears flicked back and forth nervously as he picked up on his rider’s discomfort. Callie was trying her hardest to keep her fear from taking over—the fear that was becoming increasingly common whenever George turned up and did something weird and unpredictable. Like tracking her down deep in the state forest, miles from anywhere. Or showing up in the ring now, when he was supposed to be finished riding for the day. “We were just doing some figures and stuff.”

  “Cool.” George smiled blandly, completely unaware of her consternation. Or at least acting as though he was.

  Feeling tense, Callie decided it was time to take action. “Well, we’d better get back to work,” she said, gathering her reins. Picking up on her nervousness, Scooby tossed his head, but he moved forward at a trot.

  A moment later Joyride caught up to the Appaloosa gelding, trotting briskly along at his inside. Callie glanced over to see George grinning at her as he kept hold of the mare’s naturally long stride, keeping it carefully matched to Scooby’s.

  “Hope you don’t mind,” he said. “Joy could use a good session in the arena right about now. Maybe we could just work along with you and Scooby for a while.”

  Callie was trying to come up with a response to that when she spotted Stevie emerging from the stable building, leading her tacked-up horse. Carole was right behind her with Starlight, and a second later Lisa joined them, leading a school horse named Barq.

  “Guys!” Callie called, hoping her voice didn’t sound quite as desperate as she thought it did. “Hey, you guys! Over here!”

  The trio glanced in her direction and waved. Peeking at George out of the corner of her eye, Callie gave a quick kick to send Scooby rushing toward the gate. Outside, Stevie mounted smoothly and rode toward the ring. “Hey, Callie,” she called cheerily. “What are you—”

  “I’m ready!” Callie shouted, doing her best to drown out the rest of Stevie’s question. “Should we go ahead and hit the trail now?” She widened her eyes meaningfully at Stevie, rolling them slightly backward and hoping her friend would pick up on the message.

  Stevie didn’t miss a beat. “Great,” she said. “Sorry we kept you waiting, Callie. But we can get going now.”

  Callie smiled with relief. Quickly leaning over to open the gate, she let herself out. As she turned her horse to close the gate again, she saw George riding toward them, looking confused.

  “Are you all going on a trail ride?” he asked.

  “Uh-huh.” Lisa had joined them by now, though Carole was still back near the stable entrance, fiddling with Starlight’s girth. “We thought we’d ride out to the creek or somewhere.”

  “That sounds fun,” George said. He hesitated, then gave Stevie and Lisa a tentative smile. “You kno
w, I was going to work in the ring this afternoon. But a trail ride sounds kind of relaxing.” Blinking at Stevie, he added, “And I was hoping we’d have a chance to talk more about your eventing plans.”

  Callie had no idea what that last comment was all about, but to her amazement and dismay, she saw that Stevie looked torn. Was she actually thinking about letting George invite himself along? “Sorry,” she blurted out quickly. “It’ll have to wait, George. This is strictly a girls’ day out. I’m sure you understand.”

  Without waiting for an answer, she urged Scooby forward, aiming him toward the trails. Soon he was moving at a brisk trot. She could only pray that her friends would take their cue from her once again and follow before George could figure out a way to butt in anyway.

  Hearing hoofbeats behind her, she heaved a sigh of relief. Then she had a sudden vision of Stevie, Carole, and Lisa standing back at the stable, gaping stupidly as George trotted after her, and she twisted around so fast that she nearly unbalanced herself. To her renewed relief, she saw Stevie and Lisa trotting along just behind her. Carole was still a little way behind, but Starlight’s fast, swinging trot was closing the gap. George was still in the ring, though he’d dismounted and was staring after them as Joyride nosed at some weeds beneath the fence.

  Callie slowed her horse to a walk, knowing that her friends’ horses weren’t warmed up yet. Soon they were riding four abreast across the broad, frostbitten pasture that stood between the stable yard and the woods.

  “Hey, Callie,” Carole said, “I didn’t know you were coming with us today.”

  “Neither did I,” Callie replied grimly, willing herself not to look back and check on what George was doing. “It was sort of a last-minute change of plans.”