Lisa grabbed Stevie’s arm. “It’s your song, remember?”
Stevie looked confused. “My song?”
“ ‘Just As Long As We’re Together.’ ”
“Oh. Phil’s and my song.”
“That’s right,” Lisa said. “You don’t want to miss it, do you?”
Stevie shook her head. “I don’t want to miss him,” she said.
“What?” asked Lisa.
“Nothing.” Stevie found herself wondering whether she wouldn’t rather be in some smelly cafeteria—with Phil—after all. Still, that would be against her principles—wouldn’t it? Look how happy Dime is, she thought. He could have had a nicer stall, but all he wanted was to stay close to Penny.
“Stevie, are you coming?” asked Carole.
“Sure.” She had made her choice. It was too late now.
THE SADDLE CLUB followed Max across the driveway. A dozen cars were parked outside the hay barn. Light spilled from all the windows and from the door whenever it opened to let another person inside. They could hear people talking and laughing.
Max opened the door. “Ohhh!” The Saddle Club gasped in unison. The barn was bathed in soft, rosy light. In the center, hanging from the main rafter, a glittering mirror ball slowly revolved. Rose-colored spotlights, nestled among the streamers in the corners, shone directly on the mirror ball, so that the entire barn shimmered with moving pink light.
“It’s beautiful!” gasped Carole.
“It’s Mr. Stowe’s surprise,” Stevie said, realizing that it must be. “Wow. He was right. This is the most romantic atmosphere I’ve ever seen.” She swallowed hard. What good was atmosphere when you were alone?
Max tapped her on the shoulder to move her through the doorway. “Let’s start the show,” he said. He strode across the room and flicked the button on the stereo. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “Happy Valentine’s Day!” He flicked another button, and the music began.
As soon as the first strains sounded, people began to choose partners, while others melted to the sides of the room. Lisa looked around avidly, wanting to see who was there. Adam led a blushing Betsy (Was she blushing, or had her mother let her wear makeup?) into the center of the floor. Several of the adult riders paired off, and May, Jasmine, Corey, and their old friend Joey Dutton started what looked like a game of ring-around-a-rosy. And there was Simon—Lisa caught her breath. He was so handsome! He had his arm around a black-haired girl whose back was to them. Lisa sighed. So Veronica had won after all.
“Excuse me,” said a rude voice behind her. “You’re blocking the door. I know you might not be planning on dancing tonight, Lisa, but I’d like to be able to get to the dance floor. So move.”
Lisa gaped. It was Veronica! So who was the girl with Simon? On the dance floor Simon gently swung her around, and Lisa could see it was no one she recognized. Simon had probably brought someone from his own school.
“Look, Stevie,” Lisa said, nudging her friend. “Veronica didn’t get her hooks into him after all! The pink breeches weren’t enough!”
“As if any color breeches would be enough to camouflage Veronica,” Carole said. “Eew.”
Stevie didn’t say anything. Lisa glanced at her worriedly. Usually Stevie wouldn’t miss a chance to insult Veronica.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Sure,” Stevie said. On the stereo, the song hit its chorus: “Just as long, just as long, just as long as we’re to-ge-e-e-ther …” Stevie sighed.
“Well, maybe we should get some chips—ohmigosh! Look!” Carole pointed across the crowd. “I never thought—I never guessed—oh, no!”
Lisa and Stevie looked where she pointed. Across the room, Mr. Stowe was leading a blushing Mrs. Reg onto the dance floor. He stopped for a moment, holding her hand, and then he pulled a small rose out of the pocket of his sports coat and gently pinned it to her lapel. Then he picked up her hands again and swung her into a slow dance.
“It’s a romance,” Lisa said, thunderstruck. “Right under our eyes. Like Dime and Penny—and we never even noticed!”
Mrs. Reg looked up at Mr. Stowe with sparkling eyes. Mr. Stowe smiled down at her happily. The signs were unmistakable.
“I knew it! I knew Mrs. Reg liked Mr. Stowe!” Carole exclaimed. “But I didn’t know he liked her, too. This explains everything! He wasn’t interested in riding nearly as much as he was interested in Mrs. Reg. He was riding so he could be around her.”
“And he wasn’t bothering her,” Lisa said. “She liked it.”
Carole clapped her hand over her mouth. “We spent so much time trying to keep him away from her! We could have wrecked everything!”
“We were awful,” Stevie said with heartfelt vehemence. “We interfered with them every time they had a chance to be alone. Remember? We even made Mr. Stowe clean stalls instead of going on a trail ride with Mrs. Reg!”
“We meant well,” Lisa said. She felt mortified.“The problem is, they’re like Dime and Penny. We never thought of them as being romantic, so we didn’t see their friendship even when it was right in front of us.”
They watched Mr. Stowe twirl Mrs. Reg around. They watched Mrs. Reg laugh.
“He’s a good dancer,” said Carole. “He’s much more graceful than when he rides.”
“He’s not all that old, really,” Lisa said. “He’s not any older than Mrs. Reg. We’re just used to thinking of Mrs. Reg as young, because she acts young.”
“Mr. Stowe acts young, too,” Stevie said, thinking of the glitter ball and all the work he had so cheerfully done around the stable. “Think about it. We might have broken them up before they had a chance to get together!” She couldn’t believe she’d been so blind.
“At least we didn’t,” Carole said. “That’s one Saddle Club project that I’m glad failed.”
Stevie bit her lip. She longed to be out on the dance floor—with Phil. She wanted to feel as happy as Mrs. Reg looked. More than anything else, she realized, she wanted to be with Phil.
“I made a big mistake,” she said slowly. “I shouldn’t have insisted that Phil come here. He probably shouldn’t have insisted I go to his dance, either, but at least I’ve figured it out now. The important thing isn’t which dance we go to. More than anything else, I wish I were with him right now.”
Carole and Lisa looked at her sympathetically. “We thought you might feel like that in the end,” Lisa said.
“It’s not that I don’t want to be with you guys—”
“Of course not,” Carole said. “We know we’re your best friends.”
“I think I still can be with Phil,” Stevie said determinedly. “I’m going to go use Mrs. Reg’s phone. This is an emergency if I ever saw one.”
Carole and Lisa smiled. Mrs. Reg’s phone was strictly off-limits, except for emergencies.
“I’m going to call my mom and ask her to come get me,” Stevie continued. “I’m going to Phil’s dance.”
MR. STOWE CAME up to Lisa and made a deep bow. “May I have the honor of a waltz?” he asked in a courtly tone.
Lisa giggled. Even without Stevie, she and Carole were having a marvelous time. They had danced to some of the faster tunes, and during the slow dances they had had the fun of watching Simon twirl his date around the floor while Veronica glared from the sidelines in fury.
“I’d love to dance the way you do,” Lisa said, “but I don’t know how.” She’d been admiring Mr. Stowe’s elegance for half an hour. He and Mrs. Reg both danced very well.
Mr. Stowe held out his hand. “If you don’t know the waltz, I’ll teach you,” he said. He led her to an open space on the floor, then showed her how to place her hands. “Up on your toes,” he commanded. Lisa, surprised, lifted her heels off the floor. She hadn’t thought waltzing would be like ballet. “Now, follow my lead,” he said. “One-two-three, one-two-three.” Mr. Stowe counted to the music, and he and Lisa spun across the floor. Lisa hadn’t known waltzing could be so much fun. She felt as if she had wings.
“Thank you,” she said when the dance was over. She bit her lip. “Mr. Stowe—my friends and I didn’t realize that you and Mrs. Reg—I mean—I mean, we’re sorry we made you work so much.”
Mr. Stowe smiled. “I always liked to work,” he said. “I still do. But I guess Elizabeth kind of got the impression I was only interested in working. I talked to her and we’ve got that straightened out now, so don’t worry about it.”
Lisa was very glad The Saddle Club hadn’t messed things up permanently. “Thank you for showing me the waltz.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied. “Now I’ll take Carole for a spin, if she’d like. Where’s Stevie?”
“She left a little bit ago. She had another dance to go to.” Lisa got herself a drink and watched Mr. Stowe sweep Carole around the floor. From the look on Carole’s face, she was enjoying it just as much as Lisa had.
Lisa put down her drink. “Hey, Max,” she said. “Want to waltz?”
Max had spent most of the evening with his wife, Deborah, but had only danced once so far. At Lisa’s suggestion Deborah laughed, and Max looked a little sheepish. “I managed to duck dance classes when I was young,” he said. “I don’t know how to waltz.”
“That’s okay,” Lisa said. “I’ll teach you.”
Max laughingly agreed, but Lisa discovered that it was much harder to waltz when neither person knew what he or she was doing. “You’re supposed to lead me around,” she instructed. “One-two-three, one-two-three. Like that.” She pointed at Mr. Stowe and Carole.
Max shook his head. “I can’t do that. You lead.”
“Okay.” Lisa took a deep breath. “Get up on your toes.”
“No way,” said Max.
“Okay, just walk normally. Ready?” She tried to steer Max. First she stepped on his foot, then he stepped on hers, then they both tripped.
Max grinned and dropped his hands. “Why don’t I buy you a drink?” he joked. He walked with her over to the hay-bale table where free drinks had been set out for everyone. In a moment the dance ended, and Carole joined them.
“Phew, that was fun!” she said. To Max she added, “I saw you out there with Lisa. Maybe you should get Mr. Stowe to show you how to do it.”
Max roared with laughter. “No, I think I’ll just watch from now on,” he said. He went to rejoin Deborah, but Deborah shook her head at him and waltzed with Mr. Stowe. Mrs. Reg adjusted the volume on the stereo, then walked out to the dance floor and cut in on Deborah. Deborah laughed, patted Mrs. Reg on the shoulder, and walked back to Max.
Carole and Lisa sat down on a hay bale. “Do you think it’s true love?” Lisa asked, nodding toward Mrs. Reg.
“Too soon to tell,” Carole said. “But it’s a happy Valentine’s Day.”
A skinny boy who looked a few years younger than the girls sat down on the hay bale next to Lisa. “Hi,” he said nervously. He took a few sips of his drink.
Lisa looked at Carole, who shook her head. Neither of them recognized him.
“Hi,” Carole said. “I’m Carole and this is Lisa. Are you one of the Cross County riders?”
The boy nodded enthusiastically. “I’m Dusty,” he said. “I remember you, Lisa.” He looked at her adoringly. “You fell off twice last weekend at our games.”
Lisa felt a blush creep up her neck. “How nice of you to remember,” she told him.
“Thanks.” The boy nodded and scooted a little closer to her. “I saw you dancing. Would you show me how to waltz?”
Lisa didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t hurt his feelings. She didn’t want to dance with him.
Carole suddenly coughed, then choked. “Choking—on a—chip!” she wheezed. She hacked a few more times, grabbed Lisa’s hand, and gasped, “Lisa—help!” They raced to the other side of the room and disappeared behind a stack of hay bales near the door.
“I’d try the Heimlich maneuver,” Lisa said,rolling with silent laughter, “except that you can’t be choking. You weren’t eating any chips!”
Carole grinned. “Maybe I was choking on my diet soda?” she suggested.
“Maybe,” Lisa said. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re all right now. And thanks. Are we going to have to dodge Dusty for the rest of the evening?”
“I don’t think we both are,” Carole said. “Just you.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “I’m the one that stands out, after all—you didn’t fall off!”
“No,” Carole said. “Penny was running away with me so fast last weekend that Dusty probably never got to see my face at all.”
“Trade you,” offered Lisa. “I’ll take the run-away, you can have the falls and Dusty.”
“Nope,” said Carole. “But I’m willing to choke on imaginary potato chips all night long, whenever you need me.”
A flash of headlights shone through the windows, and they heard a car come to an abrupt stop on the gravel drive. A few seconds later someone threw open the door.
“Phil!” Lisa said, scrambling to her feet. She and Carole ran to meet him. “What are you doing here? Where’s Stevie?”
Phil looked startled, as well as out of breath. “Dancing?” he guessed. “Sitting on a hay bale? Talking to you guys? I don’t know! You tell me.”
“She’s at your school,” Carole said. “She came here and decided she missed you too much, so she left for your dance.”
Phil groaned. He staggered over to a hay bale, sat down, and covered his face with his hands. When he uncovered it he was laughing. “I went to my dance,” he said. “And when I got there I saw all these couples dancing, and I thought, This is really stupid. More than anything else, I just wanted to be with Stevie. So I called my mom and had her drive me over here.”
“That’s really ironic,” said Lisa. “When you think about it—”
“—it’s really nice,” Carole interrupted. “You both did the right thing.”
“Yeah, but …” Phil shook his head. “Stevie doesn’t know very many people from my school, and my dance was really crowded. She’s not going to know where I am!”
Carole looked at Lisa. “Definitely,” Lisa said in response to Carole’s unspoken question. “This definitely counts as an emergency.”
“Come on,” Carole said, pulling Phil to his feet. “Mrs. Reg has a phone in her office.”
When they reached the office, they found to their surprise that the phone was already ringing. Lisa grabbed it. “Good evening, Pine Hollow Stables,” she said politely. She was greeted with hysterical laughter—laughter she knew very well.
“Phil, it’s Stevie,” Lisa said, holding the phone out to him. “I think she’s figured out where you are.”
IN THE CROWDED, noisy hallway of Phil’s school, Stevie pressed the phone closer to her ear. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” she shouted.
“Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too!” Phil shouted back.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“So am I!” he replied. “And I’m sorry we’re not at the same dance, too. Have you found anyone you know?”
“Oh, sure,” Stevie said cheerfully. “I saw A.J. and Bart as soon as I walked in—that’s how I knew where you were. They’re right here.” She waved her fingers at Phil’s two closest friends. They were in Cross County, so she’d hung around them a lot at Pony Club events.
“I hate to say this, Stevie,” Phil continued, “but my mom is absolutely going to die if I ask her to come get me again.”
“Mine too,” Stevie said. “Are you having an awful time?”
“No. I can hang around Carole and Lisa, if they don’t mind.”
Lisa grabbed the phone. “Of course we don’t mind,” she said, just as a male voice on the other end said, “We’ll take care of her, Phil.”
“Hi, A.J.!” Lisa said.
“Hi, Lisa!” he answered.
Stevie grabbed the phone back. “Hi, Lisa! Put Phil back on, please. Hi, Phil. Hey, next time I’ll plan to go to your dance from the start, okay?”
“No, I’ll plan t
o go to yours,” Phil said.
Stevie laughed. “Whatever. Let’s just both plan to go to the same one.”
“Okay.”
They talked a bit more and then Stevie hung up the phone. It was a good Valentine’s Day after all.
Carole and Lisa had stepped outside the office to give Phil a few moments to talk to Stevie alone. When he rejoined them, they grinned at each other.
“Do you guys have any food here?” he asked. “I was too busy hanging streamers—and being upset about Stevie—to eat any dinner.”
“We’ve got chips,” Lisa said.
“Real and imaginary,” Carole added, and both girls broke out laughing. Phil looked mystified.
“Never mind,” Carole said. “What can you tell us about a kid in your Pony Club named Dusty?”
Phil laughed. “Dusty? Is he here? First of all, he’s only in the sixth grade. And Dusty’s not his real name. We call him Dusty because he falls off his horse so often the seat of his breeches is always dusty.”
Lisa and Carole howled. “That explains his attraction to Lisa,” Carole said when she could speak.
“Phil,” Lisa said with a shake of her head, “why couldn’t you have brought a friend? It would make dodging Dusty so much easier!”
CAROLE LOOKED OUT the window of Lisa’s bedroom. “Here’s Stevie now,” she announced.
“Oh, good.” Lisa joined Carole at the window. They watched Stevie get out of her mother’s car and run up the steps to Lisa’s house, and they watched Mrs. Lake drive away.
Carole and Lisa had come home from Pine Hollow first, half an hour before. They’d changed into comfy sweatpants and shirts, then stockpiled snacks in Lisa’s room. Of course, they couldn’t really discuss the whole night until Stevie arrived.
Stevie burst through the door. “I’m back!” she cried. “How was your dance? Did you have fun?”She tossed her coat on the floor and pulled off her boots.
“We really did,” Carole replied. “Phil is always fun to hang around, and Mr. Stowe waltzed with both of us twice—”
Stable Hearts Page 8