Cross-Ties

by Bonnie Bryant

  “Ugh!” Peter grunted in agreement. He pounded his fists on his chest. “Women wash dishes. Men watch football!”

  “Oh yeah?” Without warning, Greta leaped at him and started tickling him. Lisa and Evelyn exchanged glances—and grins. Within seconds, they were attacking Mr. Atwood.

  Soon they were all laughing so hard that nobody felt like cleaning up, though Mr. Atwood and Peter swore solemnly that they would take care of it during halftime. They all sat together, watching the game and recovering from the heavy meal.

  Lisa found her gaze wandering frequently to Greta, who was sitting on the couch beside Peter with her feet tucked up under her. For the first time, Lisa had caught a glimpse of just what it was that Peter might find so appealing in his new wife. I guess I really haven’t been totally fair, Lisa thought lazily, stretching out on the love seat as she shifted to a more comfortable position. I mean, Greta is new to us. But we’re new to her, too—plus, she’s in a whole new country. It’s up to me to make her feel welcome. Especially now that I’ve seen that she does have an interesting, fun, likable side. She smiled as she remembered Greta leading the charge into the living room. If only we could find that kind of connection more often.

  Suddenly she sat up straight. Of course! There was one thing that connected her and Greta, whether Greta really realized it or not. “Hey Greta,” she blurted out. “I just had a great idea. Want to go riding with me tomorrow? Just for fun—not work.”

  Greta looked startled. “Riding?” she repeated. “But where?”

  “Um, there’s a stable not too far from here that rents out some pretty nice horses. I used to go there a lot with friends when I was staying out here last summer.” Lisa was already feeling a little nervous about her idea. What was she thinking? Even if Greta agreed instead of turning her down bluntly, what would the two of them find to say to each other during a long trail ride through the woods? Worse yet, what if Greta insisted on bringing her kids along, turning the whole thing into a huge production?

  Greta looked as uncertain as Lisa felt. But after a quick glance at Peter, she nodded. “All right,” she said. “That sounds … pleasant.” She leaned over and poked Peter in the side. “Why don’t you come, too, Liebling? You could exercise off a few of the pounds you ate for dinner today.”

  Peter pretended to be insulted. “What do you mean? I’m in peak condition. Besides, I already had a full exercise program worked out for tomorrow. It consists of sitting here on this couch and watching other people exercise.”

  Greta laughed. “Very funny. Now, are you coming? I want to show your sister what a terrible rider you are.”

  Peter grinned. “Well, if you put it that way, how can I resist?” he joked. “I’m in. But you two have to promise not to tease me too much about keeping my heels up and my earlobes down, or whatever it is you riders are always saying to each other.”

  Lisa giggled, feeling relieved that Peter would be coming along. I guess maybe Greta isn’t quite ready for the two of us to go it alone just yet, either, she thought. But that’s okay. One step at a time.…

  “I was planning to be home most of the day tomorrow, anyway,” Evelyn said, glancing from Greta to Peter and back again. “I could keep an eye on Dieter and Hanni for you if you like.”

  “Thank you.” Greta nodded and smiled. “We would appreciate that very much.”

  Evelyn looked pleased, and Lisa felt a sudden rush of affection for her stepmother. She was trying really hard at making her weird, unexpected, mixed-up family work, and Lisa had to give her credit for that.

  As they were making more detailed plans to go to the stable the next morning, the phone rang. Mr. Atwood was the closest, so he picked up. “Hello,” he said. “Atwood residence.” He listened, then smiled. “Oh, hello,” he said. “Just one moment. She’s right here.” He nodded to Lisa. “It’s for you.”

  “Who is it? Is it Alex?” Lisa glanced at her watch, trying to calculate whether the Lakes would have finished their Thanksgiving dinner yet. She put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Lisa. Surprise! Guess who!” a familiar voice said.

  “Skye!” Lisa gasped. “Is that you? Where are you?”

  “That’s the surprise,” Skye replied. “I’m right here in L.A., just like you. My promo tour schedule got changed, and my director wanted me to fly back here so that I can rerecord some dialogue tomorrow morning. So it looks like I have a whole two or three hours off tomorrow afternoon. What about you? Do you have time to get together for a cup of coffee or something, say around two? I know it’s short notice, but—”

  “That’s okay,” Lisa interrupted. “That sounds great. I’d love to!”

  They quickly arranged a place to meet. As she said good-bye and hung up, Lisa felt a twinge of anxiety. She’d thought that Skye would be out of town through her whole visit. When Alex found out she was seeing him, even briefly for coffee, he would freak out.

  Still, that’s his problem, Lisa told herself firmly as she settled back on the love seat again. Skye is my friend, and I want to see him. Alex will just have to deal.

  “You were right, Lisa,” Greta said the next morning, surveying the neat, low-slung buildings and well-kept fences of the rental stable. “This seems like a very nice place. With some good-looking horses.” She nodded at a few horses grazing in a pasture nearby.

  Lisa smiled, feeling good about their excursion. “Let’s go right in,” she said, glancing at her watch. “I called and told the manager to expect us around now.”

  As they entered the main building, a stout, bearded man hurried forward to meet them. “Lisa!” he exclaimed. “So lovely to see you again, my dear!”

  “Hi, Mr. Burke,” Lisa replied with a smile. “It’s good to see you, too.” She quickly introduced Peter and Greta, mentioning Greta’s job.

  “Wonderful.” Mr. Burke peered at Greta as he shook her hand. “And if Lisa says you’re a top-notch rider, that’s good enough for me. You can have your pick of our available horses.”

  “Thank you,” Greta replied, glancing at Lisa curiously.

  Lisa hid a pleased smile. She was sure that Greta would respect her riding a lot more as soon as she saw her in the saddle, but it was still nice to hear Mr. Burke sing her praises. “I should warn you, though,” she told the stable manager, “my brother isn’t quite in the same league as his wife.”

  “I’m not in any league at all, actually,” Peter put in, looking slightly nervous. “Um, if you have a nice bicycle I could ride …”

  Mr. Burke laughed. “I have just the thing,” he promised. “Come. Let’s get you saddled up.”

  A short while later, the three of them were mounted and riding out of the courtyard toward a trail through the low, scrubby foothills surrounding the stable. Lisa was riding one of her favorite mounts from the summer, a spirited bay named Fred. Greta was on a strong, feisty quarter horse mare. And Peter was snug in the saddle of a steady old Appaloosa. Despite the fact that his mount seemed unlikely to break out of a slow walk unless a UFO landed on the trail in front of him, Peter looked slightly apprehensive as he did his best to steer his mount along between the others.

  “Are you okay there, bro?” Lisa asked.

  “Fine,” Peter replied distractedly. “Just fine. No problems here.”

  Lisa grinned. “Okay, if you say so. You just look a little nervous, that’s all.”

  “I’m not nervous,” Peter insisted, tightening his grip on the reins as the Appaloosa took a step to the side to avoid a large rock. “This is a piece of cake, really.”

  “Uh-huh. I think we are lucky he’s sitting the right way round in the saddle,” Greta joked with an amused glance at Lisa.

  Peter pretended to be insulted, but Lisa laughed. “Yeah, I know,” she said. “I didn’t think he knew which end of a horse was which, either.” She shook her head with mock concern. “I don’t know, Greta. I think you have your work cut out for you if you plan to turn him into a rider.”

  Greta chuckle
d. “Oh, I know,” she said. “But I am determined. I think it will only take me the next forty years or so.”

  Lisa laughed at the joke, but Greta’s words struck her in a weird way. They were the words of someone who was in a relationship for the long haul. The very long haul. Somehow, Lisa still hadn’t quite accepted the fact that Greta and Peter had promised to be together forever. Forever was a long time.

  She glanced over at Greta, who was instructing Peter on keeping his heels down and his elbows in. Wow, she thought. When you think about it that way, I guess maybe it’s worth taking a little extra time to get to know her.

  FOURTEEN

  Carole tapped her pencil on the coffee table, reading through the algebra problem one more time. She frowned, trying to remember what her teacher had taught them the previous Friday when he’d given them the assignment. After Carole’s busy week of volunteering, school seemed very far away somehow. Almost as far away as Pine Hollow …

  “Doing okay there, Carole?” her father asked, glancing up from his newspaper. He was seated across the room in his favorite recliner, having a cup of coffee as he read. “Need any help?”

  “No, that’s okay. I can get it.” Carole forced herself to keep her voice light.

  No big deal, she told herself. It’s not as if Dad never offered to help with my homework before.

  She sighed and scratched her shoulder with the end of her pencil, glancing over at her father quickly. He had returned to his reading and didn’t notice her looking.

  No, she added. But before the past couple of weeks, I never got the feeling that he was doing it to check up on me.

  It wasn’t a happy thought, but Carole knew there was nothing she could do to change her father’s wariness except try to earn back his trust. She’d made a start the day before at Thanksgiving dinner, but it was only a start. It would take time—probably a lot of time—and some real effort on her part if she wanted things between them to go all the way back to the way they once were.

  But mainly, I’ve got to stay positive, she told herself, her thoughts flashing momentarily to Lionel and Nadine. After all, despite everything that’s happened, I still have an awful lot to be thankful for. I shouldn’t forget that. I also shouldn’t forget that things are changing, whether I like it or not. I’m growing up, and that means my choices have consequences. They matter more than ever.

  She chewed on her lower lip as she thought about that, her math homework forgotten for the moment. It wasn’t as though she was the only one who had to deal with the consequences of his or her decisions. Everyone she knew had to make choices all the time. Sometimes they made the wrong one—like when Stevie and Alex had decided to drink at that party. Other times it wasn’t totally clear whether the choice was the right one or not, like Lisa’s decision to go to NVU.

  Thinking about her friends reminded her about Stevie’s big announcement the day before. I still can’t believe she’s going to join her school paper, she thought with a smile. No, on second thought, I do believe it. Actually, it’s a natural. Stevie has the perfect balance of inquiring mind and persistence to track down the big stories.

  She wondered if Stevie might follow in Deborah’s footsteps for real someday by pursuing a career in journalism. It was an interesting thought, though it also made Carole feel a little sad. After all, it wasn’t so many years before that she had thought all three of them—herself, Stevie, Lisa—might someday choose careers with horses. In her daydreams, Carole had always imagined that Stevie would end up going to law school like her parents and then become an animal rights champion or something. And in those same daydreams, she’d thought that Lisa might make a terrific equine vet. After all, she was good at all her subjects in school, and she was so precise and detail oriented.…

  Carole sighed, playing with one corner of her math paper. Daydreams were one thing, but this was real life. And no matter how much she wanted her friends to do one thing or another, she knew it would be their decision to become journalists or vets or whatever. Just as it was hers to stick with horses.

  You know, Carole told herself, now that I’m feeling like such a wise adult—well, sort of—maybe it’s time for me to start thinking more about that particular decision, too. After all, I only have a little over a year and a half left of high school. Then I’ll have to start narrowing down my career choices.

  She had known for as long as she could remember that she would work with horses someday. For just as long, she had been torn between all kinds of different ways she could do that. She could be a competitive rider or a vet. She could train for other people or run a boarding stable like Pine Hollow. She could breed or do any number of other things. She’d toyed with the big decision in the past but had always backed away, telling herself she had plenty of time. But now time was getting short, and she knew she was going to have to decide before long. Which did she want to do most?

  I have no idea, she admitted to herself. But maybe I should spend some of my free time over the next few weeks trying to figure it out.

  Just then the phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts. “I’ll get it,” she told her father, who nodded absently as he turned a page in his paper. Carole hurried to the phone on the side table by the couch. “Hello?”

  “Hi, this is Craig Skippack,” a polite voice responded. “Could I please speak with Carole?”

  “Hi, Craig,” Carole said. “It’s me. Carole.”

  Colonel Hanson looked up and raised an eyebrow. Carole put a hand over the mouthpiece.

  “It’s someone from Hometown Hope,” she whispered.

  Her father nodded, looking satisfied. He returned to reading the newspaper as Carole returned her attention to the call.

  “So what’s up?” she asked Craig.

  “I just got word that our next project was approved.” Craig sounded excited. “We start next week. The animal shelter wants us to help spruce up their place—new coat of paint, the whole works. What do you say? Are you in?”

  Carole hesitated, but only for a second. “I’m in,” she said, realizing she wasn’t agreeing only because her father and Dr. Durbin expected her to. She was doing it because she wanted to. It couldn’t take the place of riding—nothing could do that—but helping people in a hands-on way was a lot more rewarding than she’d ever expected. She smiled as she remembered Zani’s face as she pumped her legs back and forth, reaching for the sky. “Just tell me when and where to show up.”

  It wasn’t hard for Lisa to find Skye once she arrived at the café. She knew better than to expect to see him at one of the outdoor tables, since he would have been mobbed the second he sat down. When she pushed her way through the heavy glass doors into the air-conditioned interior, her gaze fell on a table full of overdressed women in their thirties, all of whom were whispering and shooting glances toward a table in one corner. The waitress working the tables at the front of the restaurant also kept looking toward that particular corner, as did several of the other customers.

  Lisa smiled wryly as she followed their gaze and saw Skye sitting by himself, his handsome, square-jawed face bent over a newspaper. She hurried toward him. The table he had chosen was off by itself in front of a small side window.

  “Hi,” she said.

  He looked up, his face arranged into the professional smile Lisa had seen him flash dozens of times at the fans who approached him for autographs. But when he recognized her, the smile relaxed into the more open, genuine one Lisa knew much better.

  “Lisa!” he exclaimed, standing up and hurrying around the table. Taking both her hands in his, he leaned down and planted a quick kiss on one cheek before leading her to her seat. “It’s great to see you. You look as beautiful as ever.”

  “Thanks.” Lisa sat back and looked him over. “You look pretty great yourself.” His blond hair was cut a little shorter than it had been the last time she’d seen him, but otherwise he hadn’t changed at all. He was still every inch the handsome movie star who made women swoon from Topeka to Taiwan.
But he was also still her friend Skye, the nice, friendly guy she’d known since she was a little more than a kid and he was a teen idol just beginning his career as a serious actor.

  “Have a seat,” Skye said, gesturing to the chair across from his. “So, how’ve you been? How was your Thanksgiving?”

  “It was okay.” Lisa’s lips were a little dry, and she was grateful when the waitress hurried over and plunked a glass of water in front of her, staring at Skye the whole time. Lisa took a sip of the icy water, trying to banish the memory of a certain moment the summer before—the day just before she’d returned to Virginia—when Skye had admitted that his feelings for her were starting to go beyond friendship.

  Neither of them had mentioned that conversation in the few times they’d talked since, and Lisa wasn’t planning to bring it up now. She knew that Skye knew she was in love with Alex, and that was that.

  Anyway, don’t be an idiot, she told herself sternly. He’s not thinking about that little chat anymore. Women swoon over him everywhere he goes. Of course he’s moved on. So just get over it already! He’s your friend—that’s what he’s always been, and what he’ll always be. A good friend.

  “Just okay?” Skye looked concerned. “You look a little weird. Is anything wrong?”

  Lisa blushed, hoping he didn’t guess the real reason. “Oh, not really,” she said quickly. “Um, I mean, my older brother showed up a few days ago and surprised us.”

  “Your brother?” Skye shook his head. “I almost forgot you had one. He lives overseas somewhere, right? What’s his name again?”

  “Peter, and yes, he lives in Switzerland.” Lisa cleared her throat. “But that’s not all.” She quickly filled Skye in on Greta, Dieter, and Hanni. “So that was pretty freaky,” she went on. “Especially since Greta isn’t exactly easy to warm up to.”

  At that moment the waitress returned to take their order. Lisa had filled up on leftover turkey after returning from her ride a couple of hours earlier, so she just ordered a cup of tea. Skye asked for coffee and a bagel.