Reining In

by Bonnie Bryant

  “Evelyn,” Lisa replied firmly, guessing what he was thinking. “She’s a great cook, and she’s been grilling since she was my age. She makes the best barbecued chicken I’ve ever tasted.” Why can’t he get it through his head? she thought with a twinge of annoyance. I’ve told him often enough that Skye and I are just friends.

  She didn’t like having to reassure him over and over on that point. Yes, Skye Ransom was a famous, wealthy, handsome TV and movie star. Yes, Lisa had been friends with Skye for years. Yes, she had spent a lot of time with Skye over the summer while working as a stable hand on the set of his new show, Paradise Ranch. But as she had explained to Alex many times, that didn’t mean he had anything to worry about. She was in love with Alex, not Skye.

  “Well, that’s great.” Alex shrugged and glanced at his sundae. “I guess barbecues on the beach are just one more wonderful thing about life on the West Coast.”

  His words were normal, almost playful, but they still made Lisa’s stomach contract. Why was it that anytime she said something about California, Alex seemed to withdraw from her a little?

  She concentrated on her milk shake, trying to figure it out. It couldn’t just be jealousy about Skye. Could it? Sure, Alex had seemed pretty insecure about that while she was actually in California. She had understood that, or at least accepted it. But now she was back. They were together. And he could see—or he should be able to see—that she was just as devoted to him as she had been before she left. The summer was over.

  Or maybe it wasn’t over, not really. Maybe she was asking too much when she expected Alex to simply forget about the time they had spent apart and move on. After all, it wasn’t as if Lisa herself had forgotten those two months. On the contrary, she cherished the memory of them.

  Maybe that’s it, she told herself. Maybe what’s making Alex jealous and weird isn’t Skye at all. Maybe it’s the whole idea of my going to California in the first place, of leaving him behind for the whole summer.

  That was a new thought, and one that made her more than a little uncomfortable. She still hadn’t told Alex how close she’d come to staying in California after the end of the summer—going to school there, living with her father. She had planned to share her thoughts with him, as she had with Stevie and Carole, but so far the right moment hadn’t presented itself. Now she wondered if it ever would.

  I knew he didn’t want me to go, she thought. But I never considered that he might actually resent it.

  She decided to test her new theory. “California is a pretty cool place,” she said carefully. “It’s really different from Virginia. I’m glad I got to try living there. Even though it was really hard to leave my life here for two whole months. Especially you.”

  Alex shrugged. “Whatever. You’re back now, and that’s what matters.” He paused and wiped chocolate off his chin with a paper napkin. “So anyway, did you check with Max about a horse for me to ride on Saturday?”

  Lisa held back a sigh. It seemed that her theory was right. He still doesn’t get it, she thought in despair. He doesn’t understand how I could voluntarily leave him behind for two months. He doesn’t even want to talk about it. But if he doesn’t understand why I went, how will he ever understand everything that my time in California taught me? How will he still be able to really understand me?

  Realizing that Alex was waiting for her to speak, Lisa forced herself to smile as if nothing were wrong. Nothing is wrong, she told herself firmly. Even the best couples don’t have to share every single thought and feeling they have. The most important thing right now is to reassure Alex—make him realize how important he is to me. And if that means not talking about California with him, so be it. It’s not that big a deal. I’m sure we’ll be able to discuss it someday, after we’ve both had some time to readjust.

  “I think you’re going to be riding Congo on Saturday,” she told Alex. “Max says you’ve improved a lot lately. Actually, he said something about how living with Stevie all these years must have finally rubbed off on you.”

  “Hey,” Alex protested, pretending to pout. “That wasn’t very nice of him. The part about Stevie, I mean.”

  Lisa giggled, though it felt a bit forced. Stop it, she told herself sternly. This is Alex you’re talking to, remember? Nothing has changed.

  But deep in her heart, she couldn’t help thinking that for the first time since they’d fallen in love, something had changed between them. And she wasn’t quite sure how to fix it.

  THREE

  As Lisa pulled into the driveway of Pine Hollow on Saturday morning, she spotted Carole turning in right behind her. Coasting into a spot in the parking area under the shade of a large oak tree, she cut the ignition, hopped out of the car, and retrieved a bagful of picnic supplies from her trunk. By the time she had closed the trunk, Carole was climbing out of her own car.

  “Well, we survived our first week of school!” Lisa called to Carole.

  Carole groaned as she reached into her backseat and grabbed her backpack. “Just barely,” she said. “I’m trying to convince Dad to lend me his mobile phone during the school day. I figure I might need it to call nine-one-one if I start to die of boredom.”

  Lisa laughed. “Maybe you should skip the phone and just get one of those medical alert devices,” she teased. “You know, the kind that gives you a direct hookup to the paramedics. ‘Help! I’ve fallen asleep and I can’t wake up!’”

  Lisa had long since accepted the fact that she and her two best friends would never agree on some things. One of those things was schoolwork. Stevie had always been the least serious of the three when it came to classes and grades, often just sliding by. Lisa had never quite understood that, since Stevie’s quick and creative mind should have guaranteed her straight A’s with only minimum effort.

  As for Carole, she had always seemed to regard schoolwork as a necessary evil—although lately, Lisa had noticed, she was starting to stress the evil part a lot more than the necessary part. School had always seemed a little like the place Carole stopped between home and the stable, and these days that was truer than ever.

  Lisa herself had always done very well in school, earning a long and almost unbroken series of A’s along with numerous academic honors. She was aware that her friends thought her good grades were primarily the result of her perfectionism, and that had certainly been a part of it. But there was a little more to it than that. Earning good grades, learning new things, and keeping her teachers’ approval had always been a real source of comfort and pride to Lisa, much the way Carole’s work at the stable and love of horses were to her.

  “Most of my classes seem pretty interesting, now that my teachers have finally started teaching,” Lisa said, leading the way toward the stable entrance. “But I have to admit, I’m glad the weekend is here. I’m looking forward to spending a whole day’s worth of quality time with Prancer.”

  “Prancer?” Carole repeated.

  Lisa shot her an amused look. “Yeah, you know, Prancer. Prancer, the horse I’ve been riding for the last few years. I was gone so long that I’m afraid she’s forgotten who I am!”

  “No way,” Carole said loyally. She paused, then went on. “Actually, though, I was thinking about something on my way over.”

  “What?” Lisa asked absently. She had gone back to thinking about her friends’ strange attitudes toward school. It never ceased to amaze her that the three of them could have been so close for so many years and yet be such totally different people in some ways. Still, I guess we’ve always had one thing in common, she thought. We all feel the same way about horses.

  Carole hesitated. “Well, you know Calypso?”

  “Of course.”

  “I was just wondering if you might consider, um, riding her today. Instead of Prancer.”

  Lisa furrowed her brow, her attention finally focused on her friend. “Why would I want to do that?” Hadn’t Carole been listening to what she had said just now about spending time with Prancer?

  Carole shr
ugged, looking slightly uncomfortable. “It’s just that Max was saying the other day that Calypso could use some more trail experience. I mean, he’s bred her almost every year since he bought her, so she hasn’t been ridden as much as some of the other horses. And she’s such a nice horse, it would be great if he could start using her more in classes and stuff. I just thought you might like to help out—you know, especially since Calypso is a pretty Thoroughbred mare, just like Prancer. You two would probably get along great.”

  Lisa waved her hands. “Wait,” she commanded. “Are my ears deceiving me? Are you—you, Carole Hanson, of all people—actually trying to convince me to give up a ride on the horse I’ve been missing like crazy all summer? The horse I’ve only had a chance to ride once—that’s one lousy time—since I got back? What’s the deal?”

  “Nothing, forget it,” Carole said quickly. “Never mind. It was just a thought. A dumb idea. I’ll work with Calypso myself next week.”

  Lisa shrugged. “Okay,” she said, giving Carole one last puzzled look. But she didn’t think about her friend’s silly suggestion for long. She was too busy looking forward to starting their ride—on her favorite horse in the whole world, Prancer.

  “… so I told Max you should probably ride Nickel today,” Stevie told Phil. “That way, when you fall off every few steps, it’s not such a long way to the ground.”

  “Funny.” Phil grinned and leaned on the half door of the stall. “Did you also tell him that I’m planning to lose you in the woods so I can find myself a girlfriend who doesn’t make fun of me all the time?”

  Inside the stall, Stevie smoothed the hair on the broad back of her horse, a feisty bay mare named Belle. “Nope,” she replied seriously. “That’s not going to happen. You’re too much fun to make fun of. No girl could resist. You should just be glad that my quips are always so witty and clever.” She grinned at him briefly, then turned her attention back to Belle. “Hand me the saddle pad, will you?” She gestured toward Belle’s green fabric saddle pad, which she had hung over the stall door atop her well-worn leather saddle.

  “Fine.” Phil grabbed the saddle pad and held it behind his back. “But not unless you admit that I’m the best rider in the entire known universe and give me a kiss to prove you mean it.”

  Stevie pretended to pout, but she walked over and kissed him lightly on the lips. “There’s your kiss,” she said. “As for the other part, forget it. Now hand it over.”

  Phil pretended to hesitate, but then he took a step into the stall and held out the saddle pad. When Stevie reached to take it, Phil grabbed her hand and planted a big, wet, noisy kiss right in the middle of her palm.

  “Ick.” Stevie giggled. “I just cleaned out Belle’s feet with that hand.”

  “Really?” Phil raised one eyebrow and licked his lips. “Well, her hooves are just divine. Wanna taste?” With that, he grabbed her and planted another kiss right on her mouth.

  She broke away quickly and wiped her mouth, pretending to be disgusted but hardly able to stop laughing.

  When Stevie thought about how many years she had been kissing Phil, it sometimes amazed her. To most people their age, Stevie and Phil’s three-year relationship was more than an oddity—it was virtually unique. Stevie herself could hardly remember a time when they hadn’t been together. But to her, that didn’t seem strange at all. From the moment she had met Phil at riding camp the summer they were both thirteen, the world had suddenly seemed brighter and even more fun. He had always known how to make her laugh, and unlike a lot of guys, he also understood when she occasionally needed to cry or yell.

  I really am lucky to have him, she thought with satisfaction as she smoothed the saddle pad over Belle’s withers. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t notice, since he was busy searching his jeans pockets for something. And I’m doubly lucky that such a great guy also happens to be totally cute!

  “Uh-oh,” Phil muttered. He patted his back pockets, then dug into his front ones again, looking slightly perturbed.

  Stevie stepped over to pick up Belle’s saddle. “What’s the matter?” she asked, pausing at the stall door.

  “My wallet. I think I left it in the locker room while we were changing shoes.”

  Stevie wrinkled her nose. “You needed to take out your wallet to change into your boots?”

  “Ha ha,” Phil tossed over his shoulder. He was already heading down the aisle in the direction of the locker room. “I took it out to give you that article I saved for you about the dressage entries for the Colesford Horse Show, remember? So if someone steals my whole wallet, it’ll be all your fault.”

  Stevie just grinned as her boyfriend disappeared around the corner at the end of the aisle. She knew there was little chance of Phil’s wallet being stolen—not at Pine Hollow. The worst that would happen would be that Max’s daughters’ puppy might find it and chew on it a little.

  She returned her attention to Belle, settling the saddle on her back and going through the familiar motions of securing it. A few minutes later Belle’s bridle was on, too. And Phil still hadn’t returned.

  “What’s taking him so long?” Stevie asked her horse.

  Belle stared at her owner blankly, then reached forward to nibble at a loose strand of Stevie’s dark blond hair. Stevie giggled.

  “Quit it, you monster.” She pushed the horse away. Then she let herself out of the stall and glanced down the aisle. There was still no sign of Phil. “Oh well,” Stevie told Belle. “He’s probably taking his time because he’s hoping I’ll be so impatient to get started that I’ll decide to tack up Barq for him while he’s gone.” She shrugged and sighed, giving Belle one last pat.” And I guess he’s right.”

  Stevie was just fastening the noseband on Barq’s bridle when Phil finally hurried down the aisle, flushed and breathless.

  “There you are,” she said sardonically. “Did you get lost? Or were you just hoping I’d get so bored I’d tack up your horse for you?”

  Phil shot her a sheepish grin as he opened the stall door and stepped forward to take Barq’s lead. “Sorry about that,” he said. “It only took me a second to find my wallet—it was lying right there on the bench where I left it. But Scott Forester was in the locker room, and we got to talking.”

  “Scott? You were talking to Scott all this time?” Stevie frowned. She knew that Phil had met Scott several times over the summer. He had even attended a party at the Foresters’ house a few weeks ago. But as far as she had noticed, the two boys had never exchanged more than a polite hello and small talk.

  “Sure. He was here dropping Callie off.” Phil clucked to Barq and led him down the aisle to Belle’s stall, where Stevie ducked in to retrieve her horse. “I tried to convince him to come along with us today—I mean, he’s got to be at least as good a rider as your brother, right?—but he has some kind of debate society meeting this afternoon, so he begged off.”

  “No kidding,” Stevie said, leading Belle into the aisle and latching the stall door behind her. “He wouldn’t be caught dead at any gathering I was a part of. He might actually be forced to talk to me or something.”

  Phil shot her a sympathetic look. “I don’t know, Stevie,” he said as the two of them led their horses down the aisle at a leisurely walk. “I know you two have had some tough times this summer. But Scott seems like a pretty cool guy. His head’s in the right place, you know? And didn’t you say you thought he might be warming up to you a little?”

  “I thought so,” Stevie muttered. “But now I think I was wrong.”

  She didn’t bother to go into details, but she was thinking of chemistry class. She and Scott didn’t sit anywhere near each other, so there was no real reason he would talk to her before class. Still, she couldn’t help noticing that, like the future politician he undoubtedly was, Scott had already sought out the acquaintance of just about every other person in the class. Except me, she thought sourly. He already made my acquaintance. And now he doesn’t want it anymore.

/>   She wondered what Scott and Phil had found to talk about for so long, but she shied away from asking Phil. It was too weird to think about the two of them hanging out in the locker room, chatting away together without her there to hear what they were saying. Had her name come up? If so, what had they said? How had Scott reacted? Was Phil telling the truth about Scott’s response to his invitation, or had Scott actually said something else? Something about not wanting to spend time with Stevie? Phil might have changed the story to spare her feelings.

  At heart, Stevie was an optimist. Maybe this will turn out to be a good thing, she told herself. If Scott warms up to Phil, maybe he’ll warm up to me again, too. After all, something has to give between us sooner or later, right? We go to the same school, we both spend a lot of time at Pine Hollow—we can’t spend the entire year not talking to each other.

  Can we?

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  About the Author

  Bonnie Bryant is the author of over one hundred forty books about horses, including the Saddle Club series and its spinoffs, the Pony Tails series and the Pine Hollow series. Bryant did not know very much about horses before writing the first Saddle Club book in 1986, so she found herself learning right along with the characters she created. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, Bonnie Bryant Hiller. Bryant was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives today.

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