When she reached Ben, she stopped Windsor, who put his head forward to nudge at the young stable hand’s shoulder. Ben lifted one hand and rubbed the big gelding on his broad forehead, scratching him under his forelock. As always, Callie was amazed at the way the rather aloof gelding warmed up to Ben instantly—Ben really did have a magic touch, as she’d heard Max comment more than once.
“Hi,” Callie greeted him.
“Looks like you’re still having trouble with your balance,” Ben said bluntly.
Callie blinked, immediately feeling a bit defensive. “Of course I am,” she said. “My right leg is still weak, remember? Anyway, I’m getting better.”
“Sure,” Ben said, still rubbing Windsor’s face. “But maybe not as fast as you could. Me, I’d try more work without stirrups. Might help you regain your natural feel for the seat instead of focusing on your legs.”
Callie opened her mouth to reply sharply, then stopped to think about what Ben had said. She had to admit it made sense. She’d been working so hard on strengthening her weak leg, forcing it to carry its share of her weight, that she hadn’t done much work on her balance. She knew she was overcompensating and throwing herself off, but until now she hadn’t really stopped to think about how she could fix it.
“Thanks,” she said slowly. “I’ll try that.” It was never easy for Callie to accept help from other people. Then again, Ben wasn’t like most people: She had seen the way horses trusted him, and that made her trust him, too, at least when it came to riding advice. While he often seemed completely oblivious to the passions and concerns that motivated other people, nothing mattered more to him than doing the best thing for horses. In the past, his apparent lack of interest had often made Callie impatient, especially when she was trying to get information out of him. But now, for the first time, she was starting to understand, at least a little, what Carole saw in him. It was obvious to anyone with two eyes that Carole and Ben had some kind of special connection, though it was just as clear that neither of them was in any hurry to do anything about it.
Callie couldn’t really understand that—it just seemed like a waste of time to her. Two days earlier, she had noticed that Ben wasn’t around when she came to Pine Hollow. The only reason she’d noticed it was that it made two days in a row, since Ben had actually taken Sunday off for once. Callie hadn’t thought much about it at the time—she’d been way too focused on her own problems for that—but now she wondered if his absence had anything to do with Carole’s banishment. She quickly dismissed that theory, though. It wasn’t as if Ben would ever neglect his duties at the stable over something as insignificant as another person.
Too bad he can’t be as open and caring with Carole as he is with horses, Callie mused as she dismounted and reached for the crutches Ben was handling her. But then again, maybe it’s just as well they never got anything going. It would just be one more thing for Carole to be missing right about now.
As she thought it, she heard the sound of a truck shifting gears as it trundled up the stable drive. Glancing over her shoulder to make sure that the noise wasn’t bothering Windsor, she saw that the gelding was munching peacefully on a mouthful of tall grass he’d swiped from beneath the fence. “Wonder who that is?” she commented, glancing over and noting that the vehicle was a large, multihorse transport trailer.
“Guess it’s here for Samson,” Ben replied.
“Samson?” Callie repeated, pulling off her hard hat and shaking out her long blond hair, which had been tucked up beneath it. Taking another look at the truck, she noticed that it had Canadian plates. “Oh, you mean his new owner’s picking him up already?”
Ben shrugged. “He was on his way back from another show. Made sense.”
Callie couldn’t argue with that. Samson was a fantastic horse, with a promising future in the show ring. It was no big shock that his new owner wanted to get right to work with him.
I wonder if Carole knows, she thought. I wonder if anyone told her he’s leaving today.
She had hardly finished the thought when she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Glancing toward it, she saw a small, jeans-clad figure crouched in the shadowy corner between the stable wall and the large evergreen shrub that hid the building’s gas meter. Callie winced as the figure leaned forward a little, revealing its identity. Carole was clearly doing her best not to be seen as she watched Max lead Samson out of the stable entrance. Her face wore a haunted expression and her posture was nervous and tense.
Callie quickly averted her gaze from Carole as Max led Samson toward the big horse van. The gelding was dressed in quilted standing bandages and a poll guard, covered with a padded blanket, and his flowing black tail was enclosed in a bright pink wrap—all of which vaguely gave him the look of a frumpy, bathrobed housewife. Even so, he looked as magnificent and regal as always. Pausing halfway across the stable yard, he let out a loud snort and lifted his head to sniff the air curiously. Max waited patiently at his head, letting the horse come along at his own pace. It was obvious that Samson realized something unusual was happening—his nostrils were flared, and his eyes were bright and curious as he stepped forward, seeming to dance lightly on his toes.
Even though she had no real personal connection to Samson, Callie felt tears welling up. He really was an incredible horse, and her heart ached on Carole’s behalf. If he were mine, she thought, in heart if not in fact, I could never stand to lose him.
“Be tough to see him go,” Ben said abruptly.
Callie started. She had almost forgotten he was still standing beside her. She wasn’t quite sure what he meant by his comment. But she guessed he was having some of the same thoughts she was, whether or not he’d actually seen Carole hiding across the stable yard. “Uh-huh,” she replied. “He’s some horse.”
Callie risked another quick peek at Carole. She was still in the same position, her intense gaze never wavering from Samson as he stepped toward the ramp that someone had just lowered off the back of the van. Callie wished there was something she could do to help—she knew that Carole felt her emotions intensely, and she had to be right in the middle of a big hurt right about then. But there was no way Callie could go to her without giving her away to Max. Besides, Callie suspected that this might be something Carole had to go through alone.
It didn’t take long for Max and the van’s driver to load Samson. All too soon they were raising the ramp and securing the rear door. After a last quick consultation with Max, the driver climbed back into the cab, slowly turned, and pulled down the gravel drive.
Good-bye, Samson, Callie thought, blinking back a tear. She didn’t glance at Carole’s hiding place again, but she was imagining what she must be feeling at that very moment, as the van’s turn signal winked on and it lumbered out onto the road and away from Pine Hollow. We’ll miss you.
She was still thinking about Carole as she led Windsor into the stable building. Ben wandered along with her, though he hadn’t said a word in several minutes.
Poor Carole, Callie thought. She really has it tough right now. I wonder if being away from the stable will make it easier or harder to get over Samson.
She didn’t wonder about it for long, though. At that moment someone called her name from across the stable entryway. Glancing up, she saw George hurrying toward her with a pleased grin.
“Hey, Callie!” he exclaimed. He sounded so thrilled to see her that a stranger might have thought they hadn’t set eyes on each other in months, rather than having run into each other half a dozen times earlier that day in school. “How’s it going?”
For a second Callie dared to hope that Ben’s presence beside her might discourage George from hanging around too long. He hardly noticed when her girlfriends were with her, but the presence of other guys often seemed to intimidate him.
But her hope faded quickly. “Uh, okay,” Ben muttered, already moving away in the direction of the stable office. “Later.”
Callie did her best not to grimace as h
e disappeared, leaving her alone with George. Grasping Windsor’s lead line tightly, she cleared her throat meaningfully. “I’d better move along, too,” she told George. “I’ve got to get Windsor cleaned up and put away or I’ll be late for dinner.”
“No problem.” George beamed at her. “I’ll help you. That way you’ll get finished faster.”
Callie couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t sound mean, so she kept quiet and nodded helplessly. As she led Windsor across the entryway toward the stable aisle, George kept pace with her, chattering about endurance riding. From what Callie could gather, he’d looked up some information about the sport on the Internet and was eager to share what he’d learned.
They had almost reached Windsor’s stall when Callie spotted Polly Giacomin rounding the corner toward them at the end of the aisle. Feeling desperate, she interrupted George’s monologue. “Hey, Polly!” she called, waving her down. “What’s up?”
Polly looked a little surprised that Callie was greeting her so enthusiastically, but she hurried toward her. “Not much,” she said agreeably. Casting a curious glance at George, she added, “What’s up with you?”
Callie just shrugged in response. “Hey, did you see Samson leave just now?” she asked, fishing for a topic that might keep Polly around to serve as a buffer between her and George.
“Uh-huh. I helped Red put the bandages on him,” Polly reported. “Pretty big news, hmm? Samson going off to be a superstar in Canada, I mean.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Callie saw that George was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking a bit uncomfortable. Ignoring the twinge of guilt she felt about what she was doing, she nodded. “Definitely big news,” she agreed. “But sad news for us here at Pine Hollow, right?”
“For sure. Especially for Carole. I don’t think she knew he was leaving today,” Polly confided. “I saw her as we were leaving school, and she looked kind of freaked when I mentioned it. I guess she was bummed that she couldn’t be here to see him off.”
“Hmm.” Callie wasn’t about to give away the fact that Carole had snuck in for one last goodbye, no matter how desperate she was to keep Polly interested in the conversation. “So listen, Polly. I’ve been meaning to ask you about that neck collar I saw you carrying the other day. Are you training Romeo to drive?”
She did her best to look interested as Polly happily launched into a description of her latest training plans for her gelding. Callie’s first impression that Polly was a bit of a space cadet hadn’t changed over the months of their acquaintance. But right at that moment, she was glad of the other girl’s incessant chattiness. Sneaking a quick peek at George, she saw that he was already looking bored and restless.
Again Callie felt a touch of guilt. Lately it seemed she would try just about anything to blow him off short of just telling him the truth. But she was getting sick and tired of wondering how to treat George when they were alone together and worrying about hurting his feelings.
So from now on, she told herself, leading Windsor into his stall as Polly leaned against the wall just outside and chattered on, I’ll just have to make sure that we’re not alone if I can help it. It didn’t occur to her that she had already tried that and it hadn’t worked so far.
Carole was relieved to see that her father’s car wasn’t in the garage when she got home a few minutes later. She pulled her car into its usual spot, offering a silent prayer of thanks that she hadn’t gotten into an accident on her way home, despite the hot tears that had been blurring her vision since she’d snuck away from Pine Hollow.
I can’t believe he’s gone, she thought, remembering the way Samson had stood in the stable doorway, proud and alert. He had searched the air with his flared nostrils, almost as if he were looking for someone … for her? Could it be possible that he would miss her even a tenth as much as she would miss him?
She didn’t know. But one thing was certain—she was glad she’d gotten to see him one last time. She knew that her father, Max, and Dr. Durbin would stand in line to strangle her if they knew she’d faked a stomachache and sneaked over to Pine Hollow. But she didn’t care. It had been worth it, even if it meant getting grounded for the rest of her high-school career. Even if her father never spoke to her again…
Pushing aside that last thought, Carole hurried into the house and up the stairs. Now that the joy of seeing Samson was starting to wear off, her general depression about everything else in her life was coming back full force. This was it. She’d said her last good-byes, to Pine Hollow as well as to Samson, and she was just going to have to face it.
How do other people do it? she wondered as she headed into her room. How do they get up every day, eat breakfast, and go to school and do homework and all the rest of it, when they don’t have a trip to the stable to look forward to, a visit with a special horse or a nice long trail ride to make the day worthwhile?
Closing her bedroom door behind her, Carole headed straight for the pine bookcase beneath the window. Several photo albums were stacked on the bottom shelf, and Carole picked up the red one on the top of the pile. Sitting down cross-legged on the floor, she set the album on her lap and flipped it open to the first page. A shot of Samson flying over a plain rail fence in the schooling ring jumped out at her.
Carole couldn’t help smiling when she saw it. Lisa had snapped the photo a month or two earlier as part of a project for the photography club she belonged to, and she had given Carole a spare print. The photo caught the big black horse right at the peak of the jump, and it captured all his power and his joy in the exercise. Carole herself was visible only as a tucked-in figure on his back, dwarfed by her mount’s size and sheer personality. Like all the time she’d spent with Samson, she remembered that moment as if it had happened just that day.
Flipping slowly through the album, Carole looked at other pictures of Samson. She also lingered over the many photos of Starlight, as well as those of some of the other Pine Hollow horses. Now that she was banished from their world, it looked even more wonderful and enticing than usual. She missed it so much already that she didn’t know if she could stand it.
As she turned to a new page, she saw a photo she’d all but forgotten. It was one that Max had asked his wife to take the previous spring, a group shot of Pine Hollow’s staff. Carole was standing in the front row between Denise and a part-time stable hand named Aurora who’d gone away to college that fall. Behind them were Max, Red, and the others. Off to one side, almost as if he’d wandered into the picture by accident, was Ben.
As soon as she saw him, Carole’s thoughts twisted in a slightly different direction. Even through her grief and her intense focus on Samson, she hadn’t been able to avoid noticing Ben. The only thing that had distracted her the slightest bit from the big black horse was spotting Ben over by the schooling ring. He’d been standing with Callie and Windsor, watching Max load Samson into the van. He hadn’t seen Carole, but she’d had a clear view of him.
Playing with one corner of the album page beneath her hand, Carole pictured Ben’s intense gaze as he leaned forward and kissed her.… Then, just as clearly, she saw his indifferent look as they passed in the stable aisle just a few hours later.
She sighed with frustration, embarrassment, and a whole mix of other emotions that she couldn’t be bothered to identify. It just didn’t make any sense. She still had no idea what to think of what had happened between them.
And seeing Ben standing there in the stable yard a few minutes earlier, talking with Callie and patting Windsor as if he didn’t even notice that Carole wasn’t around anymore, definitely didn’t help her come any closer to figuring it out.
TEN
“This isn’t funny, A.J.!” Stevie exclaimed. “What were you thinking?”
A.J. shrugged and leaned back on their picnic blanket. Just in the nick of time, Stevie reached beneath his back and grabbed the sharp Swiss Army knife she’d brought to slice cheese and apples. In his condition, A.J. could easily have lean
ed on it and hurt himself without even noticing. She moved a little too fast, though, and the knife caught on the long tails of his flannel shirt, ripping a small slash in the fabric. “Oops,” she muttered.
“Why think?” A.J. murmured, paying no attention to what she’d done. Tucking his hands behind his head, he gazed up peacefully at the tree branches far above. “Too much trouble.”
Shooting a guilty glance at Phil, who also hadn’t noticed the accident, Stevie flipped the blade closed and tucked it in the front pocket of her jeans. Then she returned her attention to A.J. She and Phil had been trying to talk to him for the past few minutes, but he refused to take anything they said seriously. The initial giddiness was wearing off a little, and he seemed to be getting sleepy and distracted. What are we going to do now? she wondered. Instead of helping him by bringing him out here, I’m starting to think we just made things worse!
Phil gave A.J. a hard shove on the shoulder. “Wake up,” he said sharply. “Stevie’s right. This is serious. You’ve got to get a grip.”
A.J. closed his eyes. “Don’t be such a spoilsport,” he said with a heavy sigh.
Stevie took a deep breath, reminding herself to be patient. It was like Max was always telling them—when a horse made a mistake during a lesson, it was usually because it didn’t understand what it was supposed to be doing. A rider wouldn’t accomplish anything positive by yelling at the animal or hitting it. By the same token, she couldn’t just let herself blow up at A.J., as tempted as she was to do so. That might scare him off from ever talking to her about his problems.
“Look,” she said as gently as she could. “I know this is a tough time for you, A.J. You just found out your whole family, your whole past, everything is different from what you thought it was. You just realized that the people you trusted most in the world have been lying to you—maybe they didn’t really see it that way, but still, there it is. So now you have to figure out how to act and how to handle it all. I can’t even imagine what that would be like.”
Ground Training Page 9