“Me too.” Alex reached for her, running his hands up her arms and then slipping them around her shoulders, pulling her toward him. “Really glad.”
Lisa relaxed into his kiss. Almost. Part of her was still worrying over that funny feeling she’d had a few times over the course of their date. The feeling that something was a little off-kilter between them.
Finally Alex pulled away with a sigh. “I’d better go,” he said softly, stroking her cheek gently with his fingers. “See you later, beautiful.”
“Bye.” Lisa smiled at him, then turned to let herself in through the front door as he loped off toward his own house. Her smile faded as she thought about that weird feeling. What could be wrong now, when Alex’s grounding was fading, when it finally looked as though they might be back on track?
Maybe that’s just it, Lisa thought as she went to the kitchen for a glass of water. Maybe we’re out of practice after all this time apart. It’s only natural—we just need to get used to being together again. Sort of like how horses that have been out to pasture too long need to get used to being ridden again. They need a little refresher training, an attitude adjustment, just like us.
Smiling at the image of herself and Alex as feisty half-wild horses, she nodded, satisfied that she’d hit on the answer. Soon, once Mr. and Mrs. Lake lifted Alex’s grounding for good, they could all get back to normal. It would be about time.
The phone rang as Lisa opened the cabinet to get herself a glass. She started to hurry over to pick it up, then hesitated.
It’s probably Dad calling to remind me to get some sleep on the plane so I’ll be fresh for his week-long lecture about college, she speculated sourly. Or maybe he just wants to get started on the lecture early, long-distance charges or no long-distance charges.
She decided to play it safe and let the machine pick up. The phone rang twice more; then the recorded message clicked on. “Hello, dear caller,” her mother’s voice trilled tinnily on the tape. “You’ve reached the Atwood residence. Please leave a name and number so Lisa or I can call you back posthaste!”
Grimacing as always at the supremely dorky message, Lisa waited for the beep as she set her glass on the counter. When it came, her mother’s voice poured out of the tiny speaker again. “Hi, Lisa, it’s Mom. I guess you’re not home from your date yet. And guess what—” There was a girlish giggle. “Neither am I! Rafe and I are going to grab some dinner, then maybe catch a movie or something. I’ll be late, so don’t wait up!” After another giggle, the machine clicked off.
Lisa groaned and rolled her eyes, trying not to flash back to the picture of Rafe and her mother coming down to breakfast together the other morning. “Don’t wait up,” she muttered. “Yeah, right.”
Suddenly talking to her father about college didn’t sound like the worst fate in the world after all. It had to be better than hanging around home all week, worrying about what her mother and Rafe might be up to in the next room, feeling sad about Prancer, without even the comforting routine of school to distract her.
After all, I’m even feeling weird around Alex these days, she thought, filling her water glass and taking a quick gulp. And that doesn’t make any sense at all. So maybe it’s really good that I’m going away for a while. Maybe I can clear my head while I’m out there. Get control of my feelings again.
She nodded firmly, liking the thought of that—of getting away from her life in Willow Creek and figuring out how to feel normal again. Suddenly she couldn’t wait to get to California, lectures or no lectures.
“Two and a half days and counting,” she murmured. Setting her glass in the sink, she headed upstairs to start packing.
THIRTEEN
“This can’t be happening,” Stevie muttered anxiously, pacing back and forth on the shore and keeping her eyes trained on Phil and A.J. The situation hadn’t changed much in the past few minutes. Crystal was still in the river, jerking around nervously. Phil was trying to keep A.J.’s head clear of the water without slipping down into it himself. And Stevie was racking her brain for a way to get them out of there.
Maybe I should just ride for help, she thought, casting a quick glance at Blue, who was standing quietly behind her with her head close to Teddy’s. Both horses were munching on some dry grass they’d found growing among the rocks on the shore. Miraculously, they didn’t seem to be catching Crystal’s panic. I could probably make it back to the stable in, oh … Stevie calculated quickly in her head. Then she blew out a vehement sigh. Oh, about an hour, if Blue suddenly turns into Secretariat, she concluded grimly. Too long. Way too long.
Still, she couldn’t just stand and watch. She had to do something, take some action—but what? There just didn’t seem to be any good choices. Riding for help was out. Jumping into the river was out, too. She would have done it in a heartbeat if she’d thought she could help, but there was barely room for the two guys between Crystal and the boulder. Stevie wouldn’t even be able to reach them unless she crawled right over the panicky horse.
“Damn!” she cried in frustration, pounding her hands on her thighs. “Ouch!” she added as her left pinky smacked into something hard and unyielding.
Stevie stuck her hand into her pocket to see what it was. She pulled out the folded Swiss Army knife.
“Oh, yeah,” she muttered, remembering how she’d stuck it in there earlier after accidentally slicing A.J.’s shirt with it. She was about to return it to her pocket when an idea popped into her head. Holding the knife up on her palm, she stared at it for a moment. It belonged to her father, who took it on occasional fishing trips, and it was so sharp that he’d had doubts about letting Stevie take it that day. Now she was glad he hadn’t managed to talk her into taking her brother Chad’s old Scout knife instead.
It might work, she thought, weighing the knife in her hand and giving it a critical look. And it might be our only chance. If only I can get close enough to try it without totally freaking Crystal out. Maybe if I can find something to use for a—
“Aha!” she cried, spotting Phil’s windbreaker lying on the rocky shoreline. Stevie leaped for it and immediately attacked it with the knife, hacking into the hem about a foot from the zipper and sawing upward. If they all came through this, she would personally save up her allowance to help Phil buy a new jacket.
She was concentrating so hard on what she was doing that it took her a moment to realize that her toes were now in the river, the water seeping through her leather riding boots. She stepped back from the edge, surprised at how cold the water was. It was November, and the sun didn’t warm the river the way it did in the summer. The water stayed clear and frigid on its way down from the cold springs high in the mountains.
Taking a step back and casting a worried glance at Phil and A.J., Stevie returned to slicing through the thin nylon fabric, which turned out to be surprisingly resistant to her efforts. She sawed at it until it finally gave, ripping it in a clean, long slice.
Tossing away the rest of the jacket, Stevie slung the strip she’d ripped off around her neck, then hurried toward Blue. “Hey, girl,” she said to the horse. “Feel like taking a dip?”
Blue blinked at her, hardly pausing in her grazing as Stevie quickly double-checked the girth and mounted. When Stevie picked up the reins and clucked to her, though, the mare obediently turned and headed out of the grassy area toward the rocky shoreline.
“That’s right, girl,” Stevie said soothingly as she guided the mare into the chilly, gurgling shallows. “Here we go.”
Blue hesitated when the water swirled around her fetlocks. But as Stevie continued to urge her forward, the mare snorted and kept going. Soon she was splashing through the chest-deep water toward the others. Crystal saw her coming and rolled her eyes until the whites showed. But she didn’t move, except to stretch her neck forward and snuffle at Blue’s neck as Stevie guided her horse next to Crystal. Soon the two mares were standing nose to rump in an incongruous approximation of the way they might, in a very different situation, stand
in the pasture flicking flies off each other’s faces with their tails.
“You guys okay over there?” Stevie called, leaning out of the saddle to peer over Crystal’s broad back. Crystal didn’t seem particularly happy about that—she tossed her head and then twisted her neck around awkwardly to try to see what Stevie was doing. But Stevie ignored the horse for the moment. She was more concerned about Phil and A.J., both of whom were turning an interesting shade of blue in the cold water. Stevie could see that Phil’s arm, which was still clutching A.J.’s neck and upper chest to keep his head above water, was peppered with goose bumps. His other hand was clutching the edge of Crystal’s tilted saddle to help keep himself afloat as waves of rapidly moving water swept past, lifting him off the river floor and bumping him against the boulder behind him.
“Oh, yeah,” Phil called back breathlessly. “We’re having a total blast. What are you doing in here? Shouldn’t you be riding for the posse right about now?”
Stevie flipped open the knife and held it over Crystal’s back so that he could see it. “I brought this. I think I can cut the reins with it and get A.J. loose.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?”
Stevie stuck the knife between her teeth, feeling like a character in a bad action movie. But she needed both hands free for what she was going to do next. “You’ll see,” she told Phil, or at least that was what she tried to say. With the knife in her teeth it came out more like “Rrrr rrr,” and Phil looked confused—and cold. Very cold.
Gripping Blue’s saddle with her legs, Stevie leaned back and made a grab for Crystal’s cheek piece. The mare saw what she was doing and tossed her head, moving herself out of reach.
Come on, come on, Stevie chanted in her head, leaning farther out of her saddle. Just a little closer, that’s it.…
She grabbed again, and this time she felt cold, slimy, soaking-wet leather beneath her fingers. “It’s okay, girl,” she murmured around the knife, knowing that the horse wouldn’t care if her words came out a little garbled. “I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay.”
Crystal snorted and pulled, almost yanking the bridle leather out of Stevie’s fingers, which were already a little stiff from the cold. But Stevie held on. Still talking to the horse soothingly, she signaled for Blue to back up a few steps. The mare didn’t respond at first, but when Stevie repeated the command more firmly, she reluctantly took a few awkward backward steps, giving Stevie easier access to Crystal’s head.
Still keeping a firm hold on the bridle with one hand, Stevie dropped her own reins and grabbed the strip of nylon. “Okay, Crystal,” she said soothingly. “There’s a good girl.”
Holding her breath, Stevie carefully placed the fabric over the horse’s eyes, tucking it into the sides of the bridle to keep it in place. As soon as Stevie tightened the blindfold, Crystal calmed down a little. She was still snorting and shifting her weight, but at least she wasn’t as likely to slip or bolt.
Okay, now comes the hard part, Stevie thought grimly. Rubbing Crystal’s neck to comfort her and keep her aware of where she was, Stevie guided Blue forward a few steps until the mares’ backs were lined up again, then she unbuckled the snaffle reins and pushed them forward, praying that the mare would still understand ground-tying even when the ground wasn’t technically in sight. Giving her horse a pat, she kicked her feet free of the stirrups underwater.
“Hold tight, now, girls,” she told the two horses. “Just stay still for me, okay?”
Stevie swung one leg over Blue’s back, holding on to the pommel to keep from slipping off the wet leather seat. Soon she was perched in an awkward and precarious sidesaddle position. Maybe I could just lean over and push the knife across the saddle to Phil, she thought. But then she shuddered, imagining the knife sliding right past Phil’s hand and disappearing into the chilly depths. Then they would really be in trouble.
She gazed at Crystal’s back. The mare’s saddle had slid about halfway to her left side, the side facing away from Stevie. It looked very far away. And there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t slip back the other way if she grabbed it, dumping her right into the freezing-cold water swirling between two nervous horses.…
Stevie decided not to think anymore about how crazy it was to try what she was going to try. She just had to do it, that was all.
Taking a deep breath, she leaned over and grabbed for Crystal’s saddle. Her fingers scrabbled for a hold as she lost her balance and slipped forward, her rear sliding off the sloped side of Blue’s saddle as if it were a water slide at an amusement park. Just in time, she found the cantle with one hand and a hank of Crystal’s wet mane with the other. She heaved herself ungracefully forward, pulling for all she was worth while pushing against Blue’s side with her legs. She landed hard on her stomach on the edge of the saddle.
“Oof!” she gasped, almost spitting out the knife. She clamped her teeth together just in time, keeping it in place.
“Are you okay?” Phil was watching her anxiously. Even A.J. had turned his head to follow her progress.
Stevie couldn’t answer. She was too busy trying to hold on as Crystal snorted sharply and did a sort of half buck in the deep water. Holding on for all she was worth, Stevie waited, praying that Blue wouldn’t start to panic, too. If she did…
After a few endless seconds, Crystal quieted down again. Heaving a sigh of relief, Stevie inched forward until she was lying right across the middle of Crystal’s back where she could balance herself. Only then did she release her grip with one hand and carefully remove the knife from her teeth.
“Okay,” she said, aware that her teeth were starting to chatter. Her legs were now hanging in the river up to her thighs, her soggy jeans clinging to her skin. “Just show me where to cut.”
“The reins are wrapped around his right arm,” Phil reported. “A.J., can you move your arm closer? Stevie’s going to try to get you loose.”
A.J. nodded dully. There was a slight disturbance in the surface, and then A.J.’s arm appeared and Stevie could see the problem for herself. She gulped. She’d been pretty confident that she could saw through one layer of leather. But Crystal’s long reins were wrapped around A.J.’s arm three or four times.
Still, it wasn’t as though she had much choice. She had come this far. All she could do was try.
“Okay, hold still,” she said as cheerily as she could. “Let’s see if we can do this without drawing blood. Especially mine.”
She pushed herself forward a little more, hooking one boot through Crystal’s loosened girth to secure herself in position. She was going to need both hands for this.
Grabbing A.J.’s arm, Stevie pulled it a little closer. A quick glance at the crisscrossing leather straps gave her a pretty good idea where to start. Shoving a couple of fingers between the leather and A.J.’s skin, she slid the knife into the space she’d created and pressed upward, sawing back and forth as firmly as she could.
“Is it working?” Phil asked anxiously. Stevie’s activity was mostly blocked from his view by A.J.’s head. “Is the knife cutting it?”
“I think so.” Stevie clenched her teeth determinedly and sawed harder. The leather started to split and pull apart. “Yeah, it’s coming! We’re just lucky these reins are the plain leather variety instead of those fancy plaited ones.”
“Yeah,” Phil said with a short laugh. “We’re rolling in luck today for sure.”
Stevie could tell he was trying to stay upbeat, but she didn’t have time to return his banter. She just kept sawing away, pulling the leather taut with her free fingers. It seemed to take forever before she was halfway through. But after that, things suddenly got easier. The leather gave out, stretching and then finally snapping in two.
“Yes!” Stevie cried. “That’s one down.”
She reached for the next strand, ignoring the protesting muscles in her neck, legs, and hands. Sawing away diligently, she managed to work her way through that piece of leather as well.
“How’s it goin
g?” Phil asked just as the rein came loose.
“Almost there,” Stevie replied. “I think if I get this last bit off, we can slip his hand out through the other loop.”
Her hand was starting to go numb, both from the cold and from gripping the knife so tightly. Knowing that she couldn’t afford to stop and rest, she switched it over to her left hand. It was harder for her to handle that way, but she didn’t have much choice.
“Okay, hold still, everyone,” she said. Unfortunately Crystal didn’t get the message. The mare shifted her weight just as Stevie tried to slide the knife under the last strand of rein. “Ouch!” Stevie cried as her hand jerked to the side and the knife jabbed into her right palm. Glancing down, she saw blood seeping out of the cut and swirling off in the water.
“What?” Phil cried. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Nothing,” Stevie said, clenching her jaw and willing herself through a surge of light-headedness. She could handle a little blood. “I’m fine. Just hang in there.”
Returning her attention to her task, she carefully slid the knife into position. She had to saw more slowly with her left hand, but she kept at it with determination, ignoring the throbbing in her right hand as she gripped the leather. Slice by slice, the rein started to pull apart. Second by second, the cut she was making gaped wider and wider.
Just when Stevie was starting to think it would never happen, the leather snapped and floated off on the water’s surface.
“Yes!” she cried again. “Okay, A.J., now pull your arm back toward you.… There, that’s the way.…” Guiding his hand through the last few loops of leather, Stevie managed to get him completely free of the reins at last. “That should do it!” she called to Phil. She glanced over her shoulder at Blue, who, true to her quiet, unflappable nature, was still standing more or less where Stevie had left her, her muzzle just above Crystal’s croup as she turned her head and pricked her ears anxiously toward all the human commotion. “Just hold still for another sec and let me get back on my own horse before you start moving around,” Stevie went on, relieved that her mare hadn’t wandered off. “These two have been amazingly good so far, but…”
Ground Training Page 12