“Okay, Patch,” the girl agreed, walking out of the office glumly.
“What was that all about?” Max asked Carole as he walked in.
“This is the class where everybody wants to ride Nickel and nobody wants to ride Patch,” Carole said. “It has something to do with one of the girls getting her finger nipped when she gave Patch a piece of apple at the beginning of the spring term. Ever since then, there is nothing Patch can do to redeem his reputation with this group.”
Max laughed. Young riders were often silly in how they chose their horses.
“We were never that bad, were we?” she asked.
“I plead the Fifth,” Max said.
“Oh, dear.”
“But the good news is that I’m not teaching that class today. Red is taking it for me. I’ve got a humongous stack of paperwork, as you can see because it’s mostly sitting on that desk, and I’ve got to get to it. I’ll make you a deal, Carole. I’ll cover the desk while I attack all this paperwork if you’ll come back this afternoon and enter all the data in the computer. Denise will be busy with afternoon classes, and I always feel like a ham-handed idiot with that damn thing. Besides, you’re so good with it.”
“Flattery, Max? You’re reduced to flattery?”
“That’s one way of looking at it,” he conceded. “But isn’t there something else you’d rather be doing right now?”
“You mean like going for a trail ride?” Carole asked.
“Perhaps. Speaking of which, I saw Stevie lurking around Belle’s stall. Think that might do her some good, too?” he asked.
“I suspect it might do her a world of good,” Carole said. “Thanks, Max. I’ll make it up to you.”
“You bet,” he said. “On the computer later today. I’m going to need my glasses, and I left them in the house. I’ll be right back.”
Carole tidied up the horse-and-rider charts and set them aside. She’d finished that task for the morning classes, and there was no need to clutter the desk with them. She put away her pencils, pads, and erasers and dumped six paper clips into the cup on the desk.
Carole was at the stable manager’s desk in the mornings. In the afternoon the job was done by Denise McCaskill, a graduate student in equine studies who was also Red O’Malley’s girlfriend. Carole and Denise had made a deal that no matter how messy the desk got during a shift, it would always be neat at the end. Carole was doing her part.
She was almost done with her tidying when Scott Forester stepped into the office.
“Is Callie here?” he asked.
“Sure,” Carole said. “She should be in the small schooling ring with Emily.” Then, realizing that Scott wouldn’t know a schooling ring from a paddock, she explained, “The place where they were riding yesterday.”
“Right,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure she’s okay.”
“She’s okay,” Carole promised. “Nobody here will let anything bad happen to her.”
“Thanks. And, um, I wanted to remind folks about the barbecue. My mom and dad want to be sure everybody knows they’re welcome …”
“I think they made that clear yesterday,” Carole said. “But if you want, we could put a notice on the board.”
“Okay,” he said. “Good idea.” Carole handed him some paper and a box of colored pens so that he could make up the invitation. He sat in the visitor’s chair, facing Carole, and began making a colorful poster.
Carole expected Max to reappear, so she wasn’t surprised when she heard heavy male footsteps at the door. It wasn’t Max, though. It was Ben. He stepped into the office, opened his mouth as if to say something to Carole, and then, spotting Scott, withdrew.
Carole turned her eyes to Scott, who was working earnestly to devise a clever, welcoming invitation. Even with just a set of colored markers, Scott could manage to be warm, funny, and inviting. What a contrast that was to Ben Marlow!
In a few minutes the task was done. Carole handed Scott a pushpin and pointed to the locker area, assuring him that she’d be at the barbecue on Saturday. Max reappeared then, glasses in hand, with a stony look that told her exactly how much he was looking forward to a couple of hours’ worth of paperwork. She was convinced that the smartest place to be while he was grumbling at papers was very far away indeed.
She took a detour past the tack room, picked up Starlight’s tack, and went in search of Stevie. Not surprisingly, she found her friend in Belle’s stall.
“I’ve been given a Get Out of Jail Free card. Want to go on a trail ride?”
Stevie squeezed her eyes shut, trying both to clear them of the tears that had so lately filled them and to clear her mind. Carole had startled her, and she’d been so deep in thought that she wasn’t sure she’d heard right.
“Trail ride?” she echoed. Right. She knew what that was. Did she want to go on a trail ride? No, she wanted to remain lost in Belle’s stall for a long time, undiscovered, invisible, and alone.
“I figured it was time we checked out the creek. On a hot day like this, our feet could use some cool water.”
Willow Creek ran through the woods behind Pine Hollow. As long as the girls had been riding at the stable, they’d had a favorite place by the creek. The horses could have a drink there, and the girls could dangle their feet in the water, which seemed icy even on the hottest day of the summer.
“Trail ride?” Stevie said again.
“Right, like with horses,” Carole teased.
Carole needs to talk, Stevie thought. And besides, she couldn’t hide behind Belle forever. She’d have to come out sometime. Now was as good a time as any.
“Great,” Stevie said. “I’ll just finish grooming Belle and then I can tack her up. I’ll meet you at the good-luck horseshoe in fifteen minutes.”
“Deal,” said Carole, stepping back from the stall door. She proceeded down the aisle to Starlight’s stall, too polite to mention to her best friend that if she was having any trouble grooming Belle, it might be because her grooming bucket was still in the aisle.
SEVEN
Carole breathed deeply. The warm air was pleasantly tinged with the scent of horses and the inviting smell of the piney woods that lay beyond the field. It was summer and she was riding her horse, so what could be wrong with the world? All her life, she’d found an almost unbearable joy in the simple fact of horses. As a little girl, people had sometimes teased her that she’d outgrow horses as soon as she discovered boys. She’d smiled at the teasing, knowing that horses were different for her than they were for the temporarily horse-crazy girls. Her insanity was permanent. In time she had discovered boys, too, and she liked them just fine—not better than horses, but differently. She leaned forward in the saddle and patted Starlight. He flicked his ears in appreciation and then, when she nudged his belly, broke into a trot.
Behind her, Stevie followed suit. It was an easy and natural change. The fresh air was invigorating, and a walk wouldn’t do in the charged atmosphere.
Soon they left the open fields that surrounded Pine Hollow and entered the woods on a well-traveled trail. The woods behind the stable were crisscrossed with trails, well known to all the riders, and each one had a favorite. One trail passed an old abandoned farmhouse; one went near the quarry. One went straight through, coming out near the center of the little town of Willow Creek. Another led to a maze of trails, all of which ascended to the top of the wooded hill. Best of all, however, was the one that circled the hill and led to the creek.
The horses slowed to a walk as they approached the creek. The burbling of the water invited them forward, and without any signal from their riders, they halted. Starlight and Belle knew what was up even if Carole and Stevie weren’t telling them. The girls dismounted and tied their horses where they could reach the cool water.
Carole and Stevie shed their boots and socks and scootched across the wide rock that bordered the creek, taking up their traditional foot-dunking positions. Carole hiked her breeches up her legs, and Stevie did the same with her jeans.
Carole reached forward and tested the rushing water with her fingers. Stevie wasn’t so tentative. She just plunged her feet into the water. The cool rush surprised her, as it always did, and then comforted her, as it always did. Carole pulled her fingers out and put her feet in.
“Aaaaahhh,” she sighed.
“Me too,” said Stevie.
“I know you’re having a hard time,” Carole began.
“I wasn’t crying,” said Stevie.
“I know,” Carole lied.
“I was just grooming Belle.”
“She looks great,” Carole said. She leaned forward and looked into the clear water of the creek. She pointed to a small school of minnows facing into the gentle current. Stevie sat up and watched them.
“They’re so tiny,” she said.
“Their world is pretty tiny, too,” said Carole.
“I guess,” Stevie said, leaning back on the flat rock. “I got another job, you know.”
“You’re not going back to Pizza Manor?” Stevie had loved her pizza delivery job. “Didn’t your parents get you and Alex a new car with the insurance money?”
“Yes, but I think Pizza Manor replaced me already. Besides, now I’m working at the laundry.”
“The one at the shopping center?”
Stevie nodded. “I can walk to it, so Alex can use the car all the time. And the good news is that it’s really boring. The manager said I was good at measuring detergent. Now she lets me sell fabric softener, too. Next week—who knows?—maybe bleach.”
“Well, there’s a career move for you,” Carole teased.
Stevie winced. Carole realized that her friend wasn’t in the mood to be teased and wished she could take back the words.
“There must be something more interesting you could do. Maybe even at Pine Hollow?”
“I asked Max,” Stevie said. “He was really nice about it, and he’ll let me fill in sometimes, but he doesn’t need another person working there. Everything else that was available required a car or a ride—you know, like something at the mall.”
“But you could use the car,” Carole said.
“I haven’t, you know.”
“You haven’t …?”
“I haven’t driven since the accident,” Stevie said.
“Oh,” said Carole. She hadn’t realized; she hadn’t even thought about it. Stevie had loved driving. She’d gotten a job that required driving on the first day she had her license. How could she have stopped driving?
“I hurt two people I care about and a valuable horse,” Stevie went on.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Carole countered.
“That’s what everyone says, but they weren’t there.”
“I was.”
“Not driving.”
“No, but I was in the car, and you saved my life.”
“I should have pulled over when it started to rain like that. I couldn’t see.”
“You didn’t have time to pull over. One second it wasn’t raining, the next second it was a deluge. We’re all lucky you handled it as well as you did. We could all be dead—including Fez. That’s good news, Stevie, nothing to mope about.”
“The only good news about the whole situation was that the car was so bashed in that I never had to confess to Alex or my parents that I’d dented it the week before.”
“You’d dented it?” Carole sat up and looked at Stevie. “Badly?”
“Pretty much,” said Stevie. “I broke a taillight and smashed the rear bumper.”
“What a cover-up!” Carole said, beginning to giggle.
Stevie sat up, too. “Maybe a little extreme?”
“Not a bit,” Carole said.
Stevie began giggling, too. “I was really worried about that dent.”
“And now nobody will ever know,” Carole said.
“Alex would have been furious.”
“He’s none the wiser.”
“My father would have made me pay the deductible.”
“Think how much money you saved.”
“My mother would have grounded me.”
“And you’re free as a bird,” said Carole. “See? We found the silver lining.”
“There had to be one somewhere,” said Stevie. “But it gives all that darkness a tiny bright side.”
“Just between us,” said Carole.
“Definitely,” said Stevie.
They shook hands.
“Am I supposed to give you a lecture now about getting back on the horse when you fall off?”
“No,” said Stevie. “We both know that only means when you’re not too badly hurt to ride. I’m still too badly hurt. I’m not ready to drive yet.”
“If you want, I’ll let you drive my car,” Carole offered.
“With you in it?”
“Of course,” said Carole.
“Maybe,” said Stevie. It wasn’t the answer Carole had hoped for, but it was the best answer Stevie was ready to make. As long as Carole had known her, Stevie had always been a girl who knew her own mind. When she was ready, she’d be ready—not before.
“So now that we’ve covered what’s on my mind, what’s up with you?” Stevie asked. “You seem concerned about something more than me and Callie and Fez. Not that we aren’t all enough to make you pull your hair out.”
“I didn’t think anyone had noticed,” said Carole.
“So?”
“Working at Pine Hollow is great,” Carole began. “I feel so lucky to be around all the wonderful horses and the people, doing exactly what I’ve always wanted to do.”
Stevie waited. Carole didn’t offer any more. This was going to take some prompting. “So?” Stevie repeated.
Carole swallowed and then spoke. “It’s Ben. He’s so difficult to get along with.”
“You mean he makes things hard around the stable?”
“No, no. Not that at all. He’s a wonderful worker, and he’s almost magical with the horses. They all love him. It’s just that he’s so—oh, I don’t know—annoying? He does more grunting than talking. One minute we’ll be having what passes for a conversation, like when we were working together in Fez’s stall the other day, and then the next, it’s as if we’ve never met. He gets all sullen and slinks around. Like, before you came this morning, Scott showed up. He was in my office, asking about Callie and Fez. Ben walks in, sees Scott, and turns around and walks out without saying anything. Now you and I both know that Ben doesn’t come into the office for exercise. He had something to say, but is he too shy to talk in front of two people at once? Am I expected to run after him to beg him to tell me what’s on his mind? Am I supposed to be at his beck and call all the time?”
“Carole!” Stevie exclaimed.
“Well, maybe it’s not that bad. But he’s so glum!”
“You think he’s being glum?”
“What would you call it?”
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“He’s interested in you, Carole. At least, that’s what I think.”
“He’s only interested in horses.”
“He’s a guy. Guys tend to be interested in girls no matter what else they’re interested in,” said Stevie.
“Ben? Are you kidding?”
“No, I’m not kidding. Don’t you see that he’s jealous of Scott? I mean, well, who wouldn’t be? Scott’s terrifically good looking, he talks easily with everyone and anyone—except me—and Ben feels like a klutz around him. Scott flirts the way some people breathe.”
“Not with me,” Carole protested.
“With everyone, including you. He oozes charm and charisma. It’s only natural for people to treat him the same way in return. Oh, yes, he flirts with you, and it doesn’t mean any more to him than it does when he flirts with me or even his sister. He’s simply a nice, easygoing guy. This upsets Ben, who is just one of those two things. Nice, I mean. Not easygoing.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, Stevie.”
“Who said it had to? I co
uld be wrong about Ben being interested in you, but I’m not wrong about him envying Scott’s approach to life.”
“Maybe he’s irritated by it.”
“No difference there,” said Stevie.
“Well, it seems to me that Ben Marlow is irritated by far too many things.”
“Some people have good reasons for being upset about things,” said Stevie.
“Like what?” Carole challenged her.
“Oh, I don’t know. We don’t really know anything at all about Ben, do we?”
“We know he’s good with horses.”
Stevie laughed in spite of herself. It was like Carole to value that trait so highly that it would be enough for her to judge a whole person. “Sure, there’s that,” she said. “But he never lets anybody know anything else about him. Like the other day, Ben and I were mucking out a stall together and I got to talking about school and I asked him where he’d gone to high school. He actually changed the subject to grain mixtures, and although I didn’t think much about it at the time, I realized later he’d been evading the question. What’s the big deal about where he went to school?”
“Hmmm,” said Carole. “Hey, maybe it’s time to get back to the stable.”
“Are you changing the subject on me?” Stevie teased.
“About as effectively as you did on me,” Carole countered.
“Touché.” Stevie withdrew her feet from the cool creek and shook them dry before pulling on her socks and boots. Carole did the same. A few minutes later, both girls were ready to ride. They mounted up and began the return journey to Pine Hollow.
The trail ride and the pause by the creek had been just what each of them had needed. They’d needed to talk, though not to resolve anything. Now their visit was finished and once again they rode quietly, exchanging few words.
Carole thought over what Stevie had said. She dismissed the idea that Ben was interested in her as being a fabrication of Stevie’s hyperactive imagination, but she knew Stevie was right that at some level Ben envied Scott. Who wouldn’t? And what else was there to know about Ben?
Her mind was working on these thoughts as they emerged from the woods and entered the fields that surrounded Pine Hollow. There was often a magical quality about being in the woods, as if they defined another world where everything was protected, safe, different. The glaring sun that greeted them when they came out of the trees made it hard to see. Carole, in the lead, drew Starlight to a halt and waited for her eyes to adjust. Stevie came up next to her, blinking.
The Trail Home Page 5