“Brrrr!” Stevie exclaimed when she saw Callie. “It’s freezing out there!”
Callie nodded, feeling anxious. The last thing she wanted was to get sucked into a lengthy conversation with Stevie. “Yep,” she said succinctly. “Gotta go. Doctor.”
“Oh!” Stevie nodded understandingly. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.” Relieved at her quick escape, Callie continued on her way. Scott was waiting for her at the edge of the parking area, and she quickly hopped in the car, shivering. Stevie was right—it was cold.
“Ready?” Scott asked, already putting the car into gear.
Callie nodded. She could feel her tense body relaxing slightly as her brother pulled down the drive-way. “Ready,” she told Scott.
Lisa stared at the history textbook on the kitchen table in front of her. She had read the same paragraph about seven times, and she still wasn’t sure what it said. She was too distracted by her mother, who had been hovering around her like a fly over a manure pile.
“Are you okay, honey?” Mrs. Atwood asked, perching briefly on the chair across from Lisa. “Can I get you something to eat?”
Lisa sighed. This had been going on for days now, ever since the official breakup on New Year’s Eve. Over the weekend, whenever Mrs. Atwood wasn’t at work or asleep, she had been trying to force Lisa to open up and share all her innermost feelings of grief and rejection. The more Lisa tried to explain that she really wasn’t feeling those things anymore, the less her mother seemed to believe her.
“I’m fine, Mom,” Lisa said as patiently as she could, though her voice came out sounding a little sharp. “I just need to read this chapter for tomorrow.”
“Well, all right.” Mrs. Atwood looked dubiously at the book. “Just don’t work too hard. That’s no substitute for facing up to your feelings, you know.”
Lisa gritted her teeth as her mother wandered out of the room. Not for the first time, she wondered if she should just give in and tell her mother that she was already seeing someone new. She had kept that news to herself so far, mostly because she was a little afraid too see Mrs. Atwood’s reaction when she heard about Scott. The Foresters were important people in town, and that had always been the kind of thing her mother cared about a lot. Lisa didn’t relish the thought of dealing with her mother’s excitement, especially when her own feelings were so new and uncertain.
She’d probably call up Congressman and Mrs. Forester and insist they come over for dinner, she thought with a shudder, folding and unfolding one corner of the page in front of her. Then if they came, she’d spend the whole evening pretending to know all the important people in the entire universe and generally trying to impress them with her social importance. Then she’d probably start dropping hints about what a wonderful mother-in-law she would be for their darling Scott. …
She grimaced. Maybe that last part was an exaggeration, but just barely. In any case, Lisa wasn’t sure she wanted to take any chances right then. Still, she realized as her mother returned to the room, it might make things a lot easier to just go ahead and tell her.
“Lisa, dear,” Mrs. Atwood said somberly. “I just want you to know, what you’re feeling isn’t wrong or shameful. The only thing wrong about grieving a betrayed love is keeping it all inside. I know you made a lot of plans based on the idea that you and Alex would be together, and now that that’s all changed you have to be feeling lost and hurt. Honey, you have to help others to help you—that’s the first step toward a renewed inner peace.”
Lisa took a deep breath, trying to conceal her annoyance. It wouldn’t do any good to blow up at her mother. It would probably only convince her all the more that Lisa was in some kind of deep emotional pain. “I think I’ll go over to Pine Hollow for a little while,” she said blandly. “I can finish my homework after dinner.”
“Oh, darling.” Her mother gazed at her with a sorrowful expression. “Are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather stay here and talk? That sort of avoidance mechanism isn’t going to work forever, you know. Sooner or later you have to let someone help you.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. So now Pine Hollow was an “avoidance mechanism”? She guessed that one had come straight out of her mother’s latest gripe therapy meeting. Her mother opened her mouth to go on, but at that moment the phone rang.
Saved by the bell, Lisa thought, hopping out of her seat and grabbing the extension on the wall near the refrigerator.
“Hello?” she said. “Atwood residence.”
“Hey, Lisa,” Scott’s familiar voice came through the line, sounding warm and inviting. “What’s up?”
“Hi!” Lisa glanced at her mother out of the corner of her eye. Mrs. Atwood didn’t seem to be paying attention to the call. She was staring up into space, looking thoughtful and concerned.
Probably coming up with more psychobabble to fling at me until I’m beaten into submission, Lisa thought ruefully. Either that or she’s revving up to start complaining again about how Dad did her wrong. I guess she thinks that kind of thing will make me feel better about my own situation, but it really just makes me want to throttle her.
She was so distracted that it took her a moment to realize that Scott was speaking. “… but we could meet after that.”
“Huh?” Lisa said. “Oh. Sorry, I mean, I didn’t catch that.”
“I said, do you want to grab some dinner tomorrow night?” Scott said patiently. “I have a student government officer’s meeting after school, and it might run kind of long since it’s the first one of the semester, but we could meet after I get out. How about it?”
Lisa hesitated, suddenly flashing back to their last restaurant date. She hadn’t had all that much fun watching Scott talk to everyone in town except her. Of course, things had gotten a lot better once they’d left. In fact, she’d had an awfully nice time saying goodnight in the front seat of his car. … “Okay,” she said. “It’s a date.”
“Cool.” Scott sounded pleased. “I’ll swing by and pick you up around five-thirty, give or take.”
“Okay. See you then.”
Lisa hung up and turned to find her mother watching her quizzically. “Was that one of your friends?” she asked sympathetically. “I do hope you’re talking to them about this, since you’re obviously not talking to me. Of course, they don’t have nearly the same perspective on this sort of thing and I—”
“I’m not going out with my friends,” Lisa blurted out before she quite knew what she was saying. “I have a date. With a guy.”
Mrs. Atwood blinked. “I see,” she said carefully.
Lisa took a deep breath. Now that she’d started, she might as well tell her everything. If nothing else, it would get her mother off her back about Alex. “Yes,” she said. “I have a date. With Scott Forester. And not our first date, either. I’ve been out with him several times already, and we’re really getting along great. So you see, you can stop worrying about my emotional scars and my avoidance mechanisms or whatever. I’m just fine.”
She braced herself, ready for an onslaught of excited questions about Scott. Instead, her mother just shook her head sadly. “Oh, my,” she said. “This is worse than I thought.”
“Huh?” Lisa cocked her head in surprise. “What are you talking about? I thought you’d be thrilled I was seeing someone like Scott.”
Mrs. Atwood sighed. “Don’t you know you can trust me, Lisa?” she asked sadly. “I’m your mother. You don’t need to put on a brave front for me. And you certainly don’t need to make up stories. If you’re not ready to open up to me yet, just say so.”
Lisa threw her hands in the air. She couldn’t believe it. Her mother was totally out of control, and there didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it. “Forget it. Just forget it,” she snapped. “I’m going to the stable. I’ll be back for dinner.” Slapping her history book shut, she hurried out of the room before her mother could answer.
ELEVEN
Carole glanced at her watch and then looked through the gaping main stable doorway, her stomach
fluttering eagerly. “It’s almost three-thirty,” she told Ben, who was sweeping the entryway. “They should be here soon.”
Ben nodded and joined her at the door. Even though he didn’t say anything, Carole could tell he was just as excited as she was. His dark eyes gleamed with interest, and he kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other and checking his watch.
Carole leaned forward to peer toward the road. It was more difficult than usual to see, since there were a couple of large bulldozer-type machines parked at the edge of the driveway. The contractor Max had hired to work on the expansion wasn’t wasting any time getting started. In fact, the workers were supposed to break ground the very next day.
Carole felt oddly wistful when she thought about that. Pine Hollow had been the same for so long—it was weird to think that things would soon be changing. Of course, people and horses had come and gone over the years she’d been riding there. But that wasn’t really the same. The expansion felt much more serious somehow.
She glanced at Ben, who was still standing beside her. “It’s going to be strange around here,” she commented.
Ben nodded. “I know.” He lifted his chin and gazed toward the road. “Look. It’s them.”
Carole followed his gaze and saw Pine Hollow’s truck trundle into the driveway with a two-horse trailer behind it. With that, all nostalgic thoughts of the past fled, and she had to restrain herself from hopping up and down with excitement. She and Ben walked out into the chilly winter wind and waited as the large vehicle made its way slowly toward them and parked near the door.
“They’re here!” Red O’Malley, who seemed happy and relaxed after his brief honeymoon, climbed out of the cab and grinned. “Like it or not.”
“Did you have any trouble loading them?” Carole asked anxiously.
Red shrugged. “Madison walked right on like a pro,” he said. “Jinx … Well, let’s just say he took some convincing.” He winked. “It’s just lucky for us that he’s crazy about apples.”
Max emerged from the stable. “What’s everybody standing around here for?” he barked. “Let’s get these horses unloaded.”
Carole grinned at Ben. He smiled back. It was just like Max to act so gruff and businesslike at such an exciting moment. But they set about doing as he said.
Madison was just as easy to unload as she’d been to load. She backed placidly off the trailer, took a look around, and then followed Red calmly into the stable.
“She goes in the stall across from Talisman,” Max called.
Red tossed him a thumbs-up as he continued walking, chatting easily with the mare. Carole glanced at Max. “Should we get Jinx out?”
Max raised one eyebrow. “Absolutely,” he said. “He’s your project, isn’t he? So you’d better get started.”
Carole wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw the ghost of a smile playing around the corners of the stable owner’s mouth. Okay, she thought, stepping toward the trailer. So this is a test, huh?
She stepped forward eagerly. “Ben?” she said.
Ben immediately joined her, standing back as she entered the trailer through the front escape hatch. Inside, Jinx was rolling his eyes nervously, his small ears flicking back and forth. Carole could tell he was on the verge of panicking.
“It’s okay, little guy,” she crooned in her most soothing tone. “Don’t worry, we’ll have you out of here in just a second.” She glanced toward the rear of the trailer, wanting to tell Ben to remove the center divider so that the pony wouldn’t have to back off. If he was as leery of loading and unloading as it sounded like he was, it would be a lot easier if they could turn him around and lead him off headfirst.
Ben was already moving into the empty side of the trailer, clucking softly to let Jinx know he was there. The pony snorted in alarm, but as Ben started murmuring to him, he calmed down and returned his attention to Carole. She smiled. I guess great minds think alike, she thought as Ben set about dismantling the divider that had separated Jinx and Maddie on the trip over. I didn’t even have to mention what I wanted to do—he already knew.
It was kind of a weird feeling when she looked at it that way. But she didn’t have time to examine it just then. She kept talking to Jinx, patting him and scratching him and generally keeping him distracted for the few minutes it took Ben to clear the divider out of the way. After that, she coaxed Jinx into turning around inside the metal trailer, which he did with only a couple of minor kicks at the walls. Finally he was stepping carefully off the back.
“Good job,” Ben said quietly, watching her from outside.
“Thanks.” Carole gave Jinx an approving pat. “See, he’s not nearly as bad as every—” At that moment a breeze kicked up in the stable yard, sending a dried leaf fluttering past. Jinx snorted and leaped to one side as if the leaf were a mountain lion. Carole went with him automatically, talking to him soothingly as he shuddered and stomped his feet, his tail swishing. He tried to pull away a couple of times, but she remained firm, insisting that he pay attention to her and settle down. Finally he started to focus on her again, and she breathed a sigh of relief. That had been close. She would have to stay on her toes with this one.
She finally got Jinx calm enough to take a few steps forward again. That was when the pony spotted the bulldozers farther down the driveway. Letting out another loud snort, he pricked his ears toward them in alarm. “Watch out,” Ben murmured, never taking his eyes off Jinx’s face. “He’s thinking about blowing up again.”
Once again, Carole spoke calmly to the pony, meanwhile turning him in a circle to distract him from the horse-eating monsters by the driveway. Jinx danced nervously, craning his neck to keep an eye on the bulldozers as long as he could.
“You okay?” Ben asked quietly.
Carole nodded, never taking her eyes off the horse. “Just give us a minute,” she murmured.
Ben nodded and headed over to close up the truck. Carole patiently worked with the pony, convincing him that the monsters wouldn’t get him as long as he behaved himself.
Just when Jinx was starting to relax again and pay attention to her rather than the bulldozers, Carole heard a shriek from the direction of the main doors. A second later half a dozen members of the intermediate riding class poured out of the building and ran toward them.
“Wait!” Carole called in alarm, her voice lost among the cries of the excited junior-high kids. “Stop! You’re going to scare him.”
The younger girls didn’t pay any attention to her. They swarmed around Jinx, reaching out to pat him all over. The pony backed up, snorting anxiously, and Carole glanced helplessly at Ben, who was hurrying over from the truck.
“It’s okay, Jinxie,” Carole said helplessly. “Guys!” she hissed at the girls, who were all babbling at the same time about how pretty Jinx was and how much they wanted to ride him. “Please!”
When Ben reached the crowd, he stopped short. “Hey,” he called to Carole. “He’s doing okay.”
Carole blinked, realizing it was true. The pony was still shifting his weight and flicking his ears, but he wasn’t trying to get away.
Amazing, she thought. He’s freaked out by a leaf, but he doesn’t mind a whole herd of giggling girls pawing him. I guess he is meant to be a kids’ school pony after all!
Still, Carole figured they shouldn’t press their luck. “Yo!” she shouted, her voice firmer. This time several of the girls glanced at her, most of them seeming to notice she was there for the first time. “Listen up,” Carole continued. “You need to back off and let me get Jinx settled. He’s a little nervous, and we have to let him calm down before we call out the welcome party, okay?”
“But Carole!” Alexandra Foster whined, still patting Jinx on the withers. “We just want to see him.”
Carole opened her mouth to repeat herself, but she didn’t get the chance. “You heard her,” Ben said in his gruffest voice, stepping forward and glaring at the younger kids. “Move it. Now.”
That was all it took. Carole h
id a smile as the girls backed off immediately, eyeing Ben warily as they made room for Carole and the pony to pass. Carole knew that most of the younger riders at Pine Hollow—and some of the older ones, for that matter—were a little scared of Ben. She shot him a grateful look as she urged Jinx forward.
It took quite a while to reach the pony’s new stall. Jinx insisted on taking a good, long look at every new thing they passed, from the other horses to a stack of empty water buckets. But finally Carole was leading him into his new home in the quiet rear corner of the stable loop. She and Ben had bedded down Jinx’s new stall before his arrival, and the pony stepped in carefully after Carole, snuffling at the water bucket before zeroing in on the pile of fresh hay in the corner.
“There you go, boy,” Carole said, unsnapping the lead line and giving the pony a pat. He ignored her, munching contentedly on the hay. “I’ll let you settle in to your new home. Then maybe we can have a nice grooming or something, okay?”
The horse barely bothered to flick an ear in her direction as Carole let herself out of the stall. She closed the mesh top of the door as well as the solid bottom, hoping that would dissuade the younger riders from pestering the newcomer too much.
She was planning to go and check on the new mare, then see if Max needed help cleaning out the trailer. But she hesitated outside Jinx’s stall for a moment, watching him eat. “We’re going to make a great team, Jinx,” she whispered. “Just wait and see. We’ll show everyone how great you can be.”
As she turned away, she saw Ben walking toward her. She blushed, wondering if he’d heard her words. But she also couldn’t help thinking that she and Ben were starting to feel like a pretty good team, too.
Stevie chucked a wad of manure toward the wheelbarrow standing outside the horse trailer. “Score!” she cried as it landed right in the middle of the small pile already there.
She turned and glanced around for any spots she might have missed. The trailer seemed clean, so she hopped out and leaned her shovel against the wheelbarrow. She was just in time to see George pulling into the parking area in his mother’s white car.
Track Record Page 10