Lisa smiled. She knew that was all the endorsement Carole needed. “Did she tell you about her old horse?”
“Not very much,” Carole said. “What’s the story?”
Lisa told her what she knew. She had hardly finished when she heard a voice behind them.
“Here we are!” Stevie announced. She barreled around the corner, pulling Max along behind her by the arm.
Carole and Lisa hurried to meet them. “Where were you?” Carole asked Max.
Max gave her a glance that was halfway between amused and annoyed. “Do I work for you three now?” he asked. “When was the coup?”
Stevie rolled her eyes. “It’s a good thing we’re here,” she told him. “Otherwise your wife would have gone crazy and your new student would have wandered off to another stable before you ever got back.”
Maxi spotted her father and stretched out her arms toward him, babbling.
“I see you’ve kidnapped my child, too,” Max said, letting the baby grab on to his fingers. “What have you done with Deborah?”
“Max!” Deborah cried, rounding the corner. “Thank goodness Stevie found you.” She dragged him off in the direction the Lynns had gone. “Can you watch the baby for a few more minutes?” she called over her shoulder.
“No problem,” Lisa called after her. She turned to Stevie. “Where did you find him?”
Stevie waved one hand uninterestedly. “Oh, he and Red were having some kind of debate with the grain delivery guy,” she said. “But that’s not important now. What’s the story with the new girl? Is she our age? Is she nice? Can she ride?”
“Let’s go see for ourselves,” Carole said, answering the last question first. “Max is supposed to watch her ride right now.”
The three girls hurried to the indoor ring. They arrived just behind Max, Britt, and the others.
“I hope Britt doesn’t get nervous with all of us watching her,” Lisa said.
But the new girl hardly seemed to notice their presence. She walked up to Nero, one of the oldest and steadiest mounts in the stable. He had been trained by Max’s father and was always a safe choice for a new rider.
As soon as Britt was in the saddle, The Saddle Club could tell that she could have handled a much more spirited horse. She mounted easily with a boost from Max, took the reins with confidence, and soon had Nero trotting around the ring. She touched him with her boot, and he broke into a lumbering but enthusiastic canter.
“Wow,” Carole said. “I can’t remember the last time I saw Nero canter.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him canter,” Lisa said. “Britt’s good, isn’t she?”
Stevie nodded, looking impressed. “She makes old Nero seem like a lively young thing,” she said. “No easy task there.”
As Britt continued her ride, with Max watching carefully, Ms. Lynn came over to The Saddle Club. Lisa and Carole introduced her to Stevie.
“Britt really seems to like it here,” the woman said happily. “I was afraid we would have to try out a few stables before she found the right one.”
“Don’t be silly,” Stevie said quickly. “This is the best—the only—choice in the whole area.”
Lisa laughed. “You’d better not let Phil hear you say that, Stevie,” she teased. Phil rode at a stable called Cross County, which sometimes competed against Pine Hollow at Pony Club rallies.
“Or the people at Hedgerow,” Carole added. Hedgerow Farms was another nearby stable. Max was friends with the manager there, a woman named Elaine, and The Saddle Club knew that Hedgerow was a lovely, well-run establishment.
“Seriously, though,” Lisa told Ms. Lynn. “I’m sure Britt will be happy here. Maybe she’ll find a horse she likes almost as much as Toledo.”
The woman glanced over at her daughter, who was still mounted on Nero. Britt had pulled the old horse to a halt and was nodding as Max talked to her. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you girls about that,” Ms. Lynn said quietly. “I want to get Britt a new horse. It won’t replace Toledo in her heart, but I can tell she really wants one.” She grinned mischievously. “Somehow, though, she’s gotten it in her head that we don’t have enough money right now because of the move, so she won’t just come right out and ask me about getting a new horse. My Britt is anything but selfish. That’s why I want to surprise her if I can.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Carole said quickly. “If she’s going to ride the horse, she should be the one to pick it out. Otherwise—”
Ms. Lynn cut her off. “I know, I know,” she said with a smile. “Believe me, I haven’t lived with my daughter all these years without picking up a little bit of horse sense. But if I can, I’d like her to pick out her next horse without realizing that’s what she’s doing. If you know what I mean.”
Carole and Lisa looked a little confused, but Stevie nodded immediately. “I get it,” she said. “But I think you’re going to need some help.”
Ms. Lynn smiled at Stevie hopefully. “I know,” she said. “And I know I just met you three, but …”
“Say no more,” Stevie said. “The Saddle Club is on the case.”
Now it was Ms. Lynn’s turn to look confused. The girls quickly explained what The Saddle Club was. And they all promised to help track down promising horses that were for sale.
“We can just happen to arrange for her to ride a bunch of different horses and see how she likes them,” Stevie explained to her friends.
“Oh, I see,” Lisa said as she caught on. “It makes perfect sense. A rider who’s new to the stable ought to try a number of horses anyway, right?”
“Right,” Carole confirmed. “It sounds like fun.” She smiled at Ms. Lynn. “Don’t worry. With us on the job, Britt will have the perfect horse in no time.”
“Great,” Ms. Lynn said, smiling back. “I’d love to help her find a horse before the vacation is over. I think it would make it easier for her to start in her new school.”
Lisa knew that the woman’s logic probably wouldn’t make sense to some people. What did having a horse have to do with going to school? But she herself had no trouble understanding exactly what Ms. Lynn meant. “We’ll do whatever we can,” she promised.
“Thank you so much,” the woman said. “I just know this will be the best holiday present Britt could have.”
They had to change the subject after that because Britt had dismounted and was walking toward them. Max and Deborah were right behind her.
“What do you think, honey?” Ms. Lynn asked. “Do you want to give Pine Hollow a try?”
Britt nodded. She still didn’t seem to have much to say, but now she was definitely smiling.
“I was just telling your daughter,” Max said to Ms. Lynn, “that what we can do, if you like, is have Britt start coming here on a trial basis for a few weeks. Sort of a guest membership, if you will. That way she’ll be able to get a better idea of what this place is all about.”
“Wonderful,” Ms. Lynn said. She put an arm around Britt’s shoulders and squeezed her tightly. “I’m sure she’ll love it here. Right, honey?”
Britt blushed and looked a little embarrassed. But she also looked happy.
Carole felt happy, too. She loved meeting people who loved horses as much as she did. And even though Britt hadn’t been terribly friendly today, Carole was sure she would loosen up once she started coming to Pine Hollow regularly. The Saddle Club would see to that.
Besides, it would be a lot of fun to help Ms. Lynn find Britt the perfect horse. That kind of project was right up The Saddle Club’s alley!
Ms. Lynn gave the three girls a wink as she and Britt said good-bye and got ready to leave. “I’ll be in touch,” she whispered as she passed Carole. When Britt wasn’t looking, the woman tucked a small piece of paper into Carole’s hand.
Carole looked down. It was a business card with Ms. Lynn’s phone number on it. “I guess she’s serious about wanting our help,” she said, showing it to her friends after the Lynns had gone.
&nb
sp; “She’d better be,” Stevie said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. “Because we’re on the case now.”
As Max started walking around the ring with Nero to cool him down, Deborah came over to the girls. “Thanks again for everything,” she told them. “I know Max appreciates it, too. I can take Maxi back now.”
Lisa gave the baby a quick hug before unfastening the carrier. “I hate to give her up,” she said. “She’s been a perfect angel. I think she really likes it in the stable.”
Deborah rolled her eyes, and the girls laughed. “Don’t fight it, Deborah,” Stevie advised her with a twinkle in her eye. “Maxi was born to be in a barn. It’s in her blood.” Max wasn’t the first one in his family to run Pine Hollow. His father had done it before him, and his grandfather had started the place. The Saddle Club was sure that Maxi was destined to be the next Regnery to take over the family business.
“Maybe I should try letting her sleep in a stall,” Deborah said. “She might let me get some rest that way.” She gave the girls a quick wave and walked out of the ring.
“She was joking about that stall thing, wasn’t she?” Carole said.
Stevie shrugged. “It was hard to tell,” she said with a grin. “Who knows—maybe it would work. Maxi is a Regnery, after all. But enough about Deborah. We’ve got a Saddle Club project to work on, remember? We’ve got to find Britt a horse.”
Carole nodded and led the way out of the ring. The girls paused in the hallway just outside. “I know a few places I can call,” Carole said. She sometimes volunteered as an assistant to Judy Barker, the local equine vet. Judy visited most of the horse farms in the area on her rounds.
“We should definitely check at Hedgerow,” Stevie suggested. “And I’ll have Phil ask around at Cross County when he gets back from his vacation.”
Lisa was only half listening to her friends. She was still thinking about their previous topic. “I think Deborah is working too hard,” she said suddenly.
Her friends turned to stare at her. “What?” Stevie said.
Lisa told them what she had been thinking. “Deborah seems really tired. Not only does she have to take care of Maxi and keep up with her job at the newspaper, but she’s also pitching in more around here this week while Mrs. Reg is away. I think it’s really getting to her. And I don’t think she and Max are even planning to go out on New Year’s Eve.”
“So what are you saying?” Carole asked.
Lisa leaned against the stable wall. “Isn’t it obvious? Deborah needs a break. Max does, too, for that matter. You know he hardly ever takes any time off.”
“You’re not thinking about staging that coup Max was talking about, are you?” Stevie asked with a grin.
Lisa laughed. “No way,” she said. “But I do have an idea. All this talk about holiday gifts—you know, Britt’s new horse—made me realize something. We gave Maxi a present this year, but we didn’t give Max and Deborah anything.”
“You’re right,” Carole said. She shrugged and picked at a splinter on the wall she was leaning against. “I guess maybe we should have. But Maxi’s stuffed pony used up all our money, and I’m sure Max and Deborah didn’t really expect anything from us. Anyway, I’m still not sure what you’re driving at, Lisa.”
Lisa sighed. “Isn’t it obvious?” she said again. “The perfect gift for Deborah and Max is right in front of our noses—”
She bit off her next words when Max emerged from the indoor ring with Nero strolling sedately behind him.
“I’ll tell you later,” Lisa whispered to her friends.
Max spotted the three girls and asked, “What is this, a tea party? What are you girls doing standing around chatting? Didn’t I see a pile of dirty saddles in the tack room?”
Stevie’s eyes widened. “How does he do that?” she said wonderingly as Max continued on his way. The girls scurried back to their unfinished cleaning task. “I was with him on our way back here, remember? And we didn’t go anywhere near the tack room!”
“CAN I RESERVE another table for two?” Colonel Hanson said into the phone. He paused, listening to the person on the other end of the line. Carole held her breath and crossed her fingers.
A moment later, her father gave her a wink and a thumbs-up sign. “Great,” he told the person on the phone. “Thank you very much. The name is Regnery. They’ll be there at seven-fifteen.”
He hung up the phone and grinned. “Okay, sweetheart,” he told Carole. “Max and Deborah have a reservation for New Year’s Eve. Whether they want one or not.”
“They want one,” Carole assured him, giving him a quick thank-you hug. “Or they will, once we get through with them.”
Colonel Hanson laughed. “Somehow I have no trouble believing that,” he said. He grinned. “And don’t worry—Linda and I will keep an eye on them for you. We’ll make sure they’re having fun.”
Linda was Colonel Hanson’s date for New Year’s Eve. The two of them were going to the same New Year’s Eve dinner theater in Washington, D.C., where Max and Deborah now had reservations. All the couples would be served a gourmet meal, then see a stage show, and then end the evening with a special celebration and dancing at midnight.
Colonel Hanson went into the living room and sank into his favorite chair. Carole perched on the arm of the couch next to him. “I can’t wait to see their faces when we tell them,” she said eagerly.
“I’m sure they’ll be thrilled,” her father said. “Having a baby is wonderful, but sometimes it can be just as wonderful to get away and talk to other adults for an evening.” He grinned and winked. “Not that your mom and I ever felt that way about you, of course.”
Carole stuck out her tongue at him playfully. “I certainly hope not,” she said.
“So whose idea was this plot, anyway?” Colonel Hanson asked. “No, don’t tell me. Let me guess. This has the look of a Stevie Lake scheme.”
“Guess again,” Carole said. “Lisa came up with the idea.”
Colonel Hanson put his hands behind his head and stretched out more comfortably. “Lisa? Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said. “All three of you girls manage to come up with some pretty interesting ideas when you get together.”
AT HER HOUSE, Lisa was thinking the same thing. She was sitting in front of her family’s computer, working in a greeting-card design program.
She tilted her head and looked critically at the image on the screen. Happy Holidays, Max and Deborah, the card read in curly script. From The Saddle Club.
Below that, the card continued:
We know that new parents don’t have much time to make plans. So we’ve made them for you. You are invited to a wonderful New Year’s Eve of dining and dancing the night away. In addition, we are happy to provide baby-sitting services for the entire evening. And all we expect in return is free access to your refrigerator!
That last line had been Stevie’s idea. Lisa giggled as she read it.
The card looked good. Lisa nodded with satisfaction and typed one more line at the bottom in smaller print:
All non-baby-related expenses to be assumed by the recipients.
That had been Stevie’s idea, too. Lisa wasn’t sure whether it came from Stevie’s sense of humor or from the fact that both her parents were lawyers. But she decided it didn’t matter. She was sure Max and Deborah would be amused, and that was all that counted.
Lisa hit Save, then Print. She sat back and waited for the card to emerge from the printer.
She was still proud of herself for realizing that Max and Deborah needed an evening to themselves. They had both been a bit moody and irritable lately, and Lisa was sure it was because they were working too hard. They needed to get away from all their responsibilities for a while and just concentrate on having a good time.
And The Saddle Club was going to make sure it happened. Carole and Stevie had immediately been enthusiastic about Lisa’s idea to give the Regnerys a free night of baby-sitting on New Year’s Eve. And both of them had added the
ir own ideas, making it even better. Carole had suggested making reservations at the place in Washington. That way, it would be harder for Max and Deborah to make excuses not to go. And it had been Stevie’s idea to surprise the couple with a card—though she had been happy to let Lisa, the most artistic member of the group, design it.
It had also been Stevie who had pointed out that this was the perfect solution to their own New Year’s Eve dilemma as well. Now they could have their sleepover at Max and Deborah’s big, rambling farmhouse, without worrying about parents or brothers getting in the way of their fun. The only person they would have to share the place with would be Maxi, and they didn’t mind that one bit.
Lisa smiled as she thought about it. They could start out the evening by playing with the baby. Then, when Maxi had fallen asleep, The Saddle Club could move on to the rest of their plans—making resolutions, playing games, talking about their newest Saddle Club project. And, according to Stevie, making prank phone calls to a certain local New Year’s Eve party …
It would be great. What could be better than a nightlong Saddle Club meeting free of distractions?
AT THAT MOMENT, Stevie was feeling more than a little distracted. That was because she was talking on the phone to Phil and fighting off her brothers at the same time.
“So what do you think you’ll be doing on New Year’s Eve at mid— Oof! Wait a second,” Stevie said into the phone.
She tucked the receiver under her arm and grabbed the soccer ball that had just hit her in the stomach. She crouched down behind the kitchen counter, holding the ball ready.
After a moment, a grinning face peered around the corner of the door frame. It was her twin brother, Alex.
Stevie didn’t hesitate. She took aim and fired. Her brother pulled his head back just in time, and the ball bounced off the wall in the hallway outside the door. A pair of hands reached out and snatched it out of Stevie’s sight.
Stevie sighed and put the phone back to her ear, doing her best to ignore her younger brother, Michael, who had his face pressed to the glass outside the kitchen window. She couldn’t hear him from inside, but she could tell what he was doing. He was making smooching sounds against the window.
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