Setting the Pace

by Bonnie Bryant

  She didn’t take a full breath again until she was safely inside Scooby’s stall with her back pressed against the wall. The horse gazed at her curiously for a moment before turning to take a drink out of his water bucket.

  Callie stood there for several minutes, waiting for the pounding of her heart to slow. She prayed that Stevie wouldn’t be worried enough to come looking for her. She wasn’t sure she could explain what was going on inside her own head right now even if she wanted to, which she most definitely didn’t.

  “Okay, Scoob,” she said when she had control of herself again. “Let’s get going. Enough messing around.”

  After quickly tacking up her horse and checking the aisle for familiar faces, she headed outside. Soon she was mounted and adjusting her stirrups as she glanced around, wondering what to do next. She couldn’t quite bring herself to hit the trails again, though she felt like the world’s biggest loser for being afraid.

  What am I going to do? she thought sarcastically. Only enter races that don’t go into any woods? That’s going to limit me just a tad.

  She grimaced, irritated with herself anew. Still, she decided that she wouldn’t push it that day. The important thing was that she was there at Pine Hollow, in the saddle again. She and Scooby could just do some schooling in the far corner of the back pasture. That would be enough for the moment.

  “Okay, let’s get moving, then,” she murmured, sending Scooby into a walk. As they crossed the stable yard, Callie tried to gather her thoughts and form a plan of action. She would warm him up on the way out to the pasture, then get straight to work on some exercises to loosen him up. Then—

  She froze in mid-thought as she happened to glance toward the driveway. A white car had just pulled in. A very familiar white car belonging to George’s mother, with a very familiar round face just visible behind the wheel.

  Callie didn’t think. She just reacted. “Yee-hah!” she cried, kicking her heels into Scooby’s sides.

  The Appaloosa, who had been ambling along willingly, let out a startled snort. With a slight buck, he took off at a gallop, racing across the yard at top speed. Almost too late Callie realized that the pasture fence—five and a half feet tall and very, very solid—was just a few strides ahead. Pulling Scooby around, she nearly knocked her knee on the fence as he careened alongside it, nostrils flared. In a matter of seconds they reached the corner of the fence, crossed a small open area beyond, and entered the woods.

  Realizing the danger of crashing through the underbrush at top speed, Callie sat back and pulled back on the reins. For a second Scooby shook his head and seemed inclined to race on, but then his pace slowed to a canter, then a trot. Finally he stopped, his breath coming in loud snorts.

  Callie slumped in the saddle, her head pounding. “What’s wrong with me?” she whispered as guilt washed over her, deep and bitter. Taking off like that had been a truly stupid move. Scooby wasn’t even properly warmed up yet, and there she was, spurring him on like a racehorse in the homestretch.

  What if he’d stumbled? she thought furiously. What if he’d snapped a cannon bone or thrown me or run right into that fence or tried to jump it and crashed or—

  She stopped herself. The list of possible disasters was just too long. Besides, none of it mattered. The important thing was that it was over now.

  Callie slid out of the saddle and spent a few minutes stroking and comforting Scooby, who seemed to have recovered from their sudden flight faster than she had. Then she bent over each of his legs in turn, making sure all was well.

  When she was satisfied that he was really all right, she gave him a pat and then remounted. Now what? she wondered, feeling a stab of apprehension as she glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the pasture.

  The question had barely formed in her mind when she knew the answer. She couldn’t go back out there. Her horse, with his dramatic black-and-white leopard-spotted coat, was just too noticeable. Even tucked away in the far corner, Scooby would be all too visible in the pasture to anyone who so much as glanced in that direction.

  Like George, for instance, Callie thought grimly. What if he saw us out there? What if he decided to ride out and join us?

  She really didn’t know how she would react to that. But she didn’t want to find out.

  “Come on, Scoob,” she said wearily. “Let’s just take a little hack through the woods here.”

  She urged him down the trail at a walk. The area they were in was a familiar one, with wide, straight trails and no tricky spots. Usually it was an easy ride, even for beginners. But Callie was so distracted by thinking about what had just happened—What if George had seen them on his way up the driveway? What if he was tacking up his horse right that very minute, preparing to ride out after them?—that she was having a hard time concentrating on her riding. Scooby was clearly picking up on her nerves, since he kept shaking his head and spooking at nothing.

  Finally, after the horse nearly unseated her jumping over a twig on the trail as if it were a Grand Prix oxer, Callie gave up. Patting Scooby apologetically, she dismounted and led him off the trail into a small clearing with a few tufts of winter-brittle grass.

  Soon Scooby was grazing calmly. Callie felt anything but calm. Sitting down with her back against a tree, she buried her face in her knees. Taking deep breaths, she tried to figure out exactly what was wrong with her. Because until she knew, she had no idea how to fix it.

  SEVEN

  Pine Hollow’s entryway was empty when Lisa stepped into it a little later that day. She felt silly for coming to the stable again—she hadn’t been a daily visitor to Pine Hollow, even during school vacations, since sometime around ninth grade. But somehow, now that her whole life could be changing so soon, Pine Hollow was where she wanted to be. It was the place that held most of her fondest memories—the place where she and her best friends had met and bonded over their common love of horses.

  Unfortunately, neither of her best friends seemed to be around at the moment. Lisa poked her head into the student locker room, where several younger riders were gossiping as they changed into their boots. Then she walked down the hallway to check the tack room and office. There was no sign of her friends there, either, though Denise was doing paperwork in the office.

  “Hey,” Lisa greeted the stable manager. “Have you seen Carole or Stevie lately?”

  Denise glanced up. “I think Stevie’s out on the trails with Phil. And I haven’t seen Carole at all.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Lisa sighed and left the office, feeling restless and lonely. There was no telling when Stevie would be back—when she and Phil got out there in the woods together, they could sometimes rival Callie in the length of time they spent on the trail. Still, Lisa didn’t want to leave the stable. Where else would she go?

  She wandered across the entryway into the stable aisle opposite. On her way in, she had noticed that only a handful of horses were turned out, probably because of the weather. Half a dozen more were probably in use. That meant a good number of heads poked out over the half doors of their stalls as she walked down the aisle.

  Lisa paused at the first occupied stall, where a big bay gelding was gazing at her placidly and munching on a mouthful of hay. “Hi there, Topside,” she murmured, reaching up to stroke the horse on the cheek. She smiled as Topside nuzzled her, clearly hoping for a carrot or other treat.

  Lisa still remembered the days before Stevie had gotten Belle, when she had ridden the handsome Thoroughbred regularly in lessons and on the trail. She also remembered the time even longer ago when Topside had been a champion show jumper, winning national competitions for his previous owner.

  Hearing a snort from across the aisle, Lisa turned to see Barq watching her curiously. She stepped over to give the spirited Arabian a pat. “Hi, guy,” she crooned. She had a special fondness for Barq, since he had been one of the first horses she had ridden.

  After spending a few minutes scratching and patting the friendly gelding, Lisa moved on down the aisl
e, stopping in turn to visit several other horses.

  “You know, I hadn’t really thought about it,” Lisa whispered to Carole’s horse, Starlight, as she scratched his topknot. “But it’s not just my human friends I’m going to miss. It’s all of you guys, too.”

  She took a step back from the stall, startled as she realized what she’d just said. I’m talking as if this move were a done deal, she thought uneasily. I think I’m starting to accept it—to assume that it’s definitely going to happen, for real.

  That was a disturbing idea. For a moment Lisa tried to convince herself that it didn’t have to be that way. She clutched the edge of Starlight’s stall door. Stevie was right—they just hadn’t tried hard enough. There had to be a way.…

  But then Lisa sighed and relaxed, leaning against the wall as Starlight nudged at her curiously. What was the use? Her mother was going to do what she wanted to do; she’d made that pretty clear. It would be a lot easier if Lisa just accepted that and started dealing with it.

  Glancing across the aisle, she saw that she had almost reached the stall where her favorite horse, a beautiful Thoroughbred mare named Prancer, had spent the last few months of her life. Prancer had died less than two months earlier, and Lisa still missed her every day.

  She walked over to the stall, which had been vacated recently when Max moved a few of the horses around. The half door was open, and Lisa stepped through it tentatively. Suddenly she was overwhelmed by an image of Prancer coming forward to meet her, her soft brown eyes eager and joyful. That was all it took to bring the tears to Lisa’s eyes.

  Sliding to the floor, Lisa buried her face in her hands, crying first for Prancer and then for herself. But soon the tears stopped, leaving her feeling a little better than she had in days.

  This doesn’t have to be a huge deal, she told herself as she wiped the moisture from her face with one sleeve. Really, it’s all just temporary if you think about it. Yes, it will suck big-time to have to start school somewhere new, especially in the middle of my senior year. But it’s just for a few months, and then I’ll be off to college anyway. So I’ll be back in this area by August at the latest.

  She blinked and sat up straight, suddenly realizing just how true that was. Earlier that fall, she had committed to attending Northern Virginia University, a good local college located an easy forty-minute drive from Willow Creek.

  And no matter what Mom and Dad think, I’m not changing my mind about that, Lisa thought fiercely. Her parents hadn’t been able to agree on much since their divorce, but they had been unanimous in their anger and dismay after discovering that Lisa had sent back her acceptance to NVU without consulting them. Lisa was still a little surprised at their reaction—it was her life, after all, and she was the one who would have to spend four years living with her decision, not them.

  Six to eight months. That was all the time she’d have to spend in New Jersey. Still, six to eight months seemed like forever.

  As she took a deep breath, trying to avoid crying again, Lisa wrinkled her nose. What was that smell?

  She sniffed again and climbed to her feet. “Is that smoke?” she murmured, suddenly forgetting all about her own problems. The smell of smoke in a stable was a serious thing. A stray spark from an electrical short could set the hayloft ablaze in a matter of moments.

  Her heart pounding, Lisa hurried out of the stall and grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher, which was hanging on the wall halfway down the aisle. Then she followed her nose, praying she would remember how to use the extinguisher if she needed to.

  Of course, it could be a false alarm, she reminded herself, trying not to panic. It’s pretty windy today, and the smell could just be blowing in from a neighbor’s chimney or—

  She stopped short as she turned the corner of the U-shaped stable aisle and glanced toward the back entrance, which led out to the sheltered area between the stable and the path to the Regnerys’ farmhouse. Thick gray smoke was clearly visible drifting in through the propped-open doorway.

  Frowning slightly, Lisa walked toward the door. Glancing outside, she saw Maureen leaning on the fence of the back paddock and puffing on a cigarette.

  Lisa scowled, too angry to react for a second. “What are you doing?” she blurted out at last. “Are you clinical? You can’t smoke here!”

  Maureen frowned and puffed out a smoky breath. “Why not?” she retorted sharply. “The rule is, no smoking in the stable.” She gestured expansively around her. “Am I in the stable?”

  Lisa couldn’t believe her ears. Did Maureen really think that excuse would fly? True, she was a good dozen yards from the stable building. That was still way too close for comfort, at least as far as Lisa was concerned. But before she could say a word, the sound of voices came from just around the corner of the building. Lisa glanced over her shoulder, recognizing Stevie’s distinctive laugh.

  “Excuse me, but I have work to do,” Maureen muttered, quickly grinding out her cigarette on the gravel path and then kicking away the ashes. She grabbed the handles of a nearby wheelbarrow and pushed past Lisa before she realized what was happening.

  “Wait!” Lisa exclaimed, unwilling to let it drop.

  But it was too late. Maureen was already disappearing around the corner into the stable, only one last puff of smoke lingering to mark her departure. Lisa waved a hand in front of her face to chase away the foul-smelling cloud, wondering what to do. Once she thought about it, she realized that the stable hand was technically right—she hadn’t actually broken any stable rules. Max hated smoking in general, but Lisa knew that he overcame his personal feelings enough to allow some of the adult riders to smoke in certain areas near the stable, including the parking area and the driveway. Did that mean he wouldn’t mind Maureen’s behavior?

  Maybe Stevie will have some idea about what to do. Lisa hoisted the fire extinguisher and headed inside to hook it back in place on the wall.

  Stevie was glad she’d decided to take a nice, relaxing trail ride that day instead of attempting another schooling session. She and Belle had both enjoyed themselves, and it had been great spending time alone with Phil. She always loved getting together with friends, but sometimes it seemed as if she and her boyfriend were left with practically no time together, just the two of them.

  “This was nice,” she said, patting her mare on the neck as she waited for Phil to lead his mount, a Pine Hollow school horse named Rusty, into his stall.

  Phil glanced over his shoulder with a grin. “It didn’t suck,” he agreed. “Except for the weather, that is.”

  “I know.” Stevie grimaced and flexed her gloved fingers on Belle’s reins. “I’ll be lucky if I don’t end up with frostbite after …” Her voice trailed off as she spotted Lisa hurrying toward them.

  “Stevie!” Lisa called breathlessly. “I’m glad you’re here. I—”

  “I’m glad I’m here, too,” Stevie said. Lisa’s eyes were red and puffy, and a telltale smudge of eyeliner told Stevie as clearly as words that her friend had been crying. Phil had just emerged with Rusty’s tack, and Stevie tossed him Belle’s reins. Rushing to Lisa’s side, Stevie put an arm around her shoulders. “You look terrible! What’s wrong?”

  “I’m fine,” Lisa said. “Never mind that. Did you know Maureen smokes?”

  Stevie hardly heard her. “Huh?” she said. “Yeah, I guess. But listen, what’s up with you? You look totally bummed.” As she said it, the image of Alex and Nicole making out popped into her head. Had Lisa somehow heard that the two of them were an item? Was that why she was so upset?

  But Stevie almost immediately realized that probably wasn’t it. This had to be about the move. Feeling a little guilty—she’d vowed to come up with a solution but had barely thought about the problem all day—she squeezed Lisa’s shoulder tighter.

  Lisa sighed. “Um, I guess I was a little upset before. You know, about Mom and … you know. But then after that—”

  “Hey, Stevie,” Phil broke in. “Belle looks a little bored. How abo
ut if I take her down to her stall for you?”

  Stevie shot her boyfriend a grateful glance. She knew he wasn’t making the offer for Belle’s sake. The mare was tired from the long trail ride and seemed perfectly content to stand in the aisle. But her stall was in the opposite arm of the stable aisle, which would give Stevie and Lisa some privacy.

  “Thanks,” she told Phil simply, vowing to show him later how grateful she was.

  He headed off down the aisle with the mare in tow. As soon as he was out of earshot, Stevie turned to face Lisa. “Okay, what’s your mother up to now?” she asked bluntly.

  Lisa blinked. “Mom? Nothing. She’s not even here.”

  “Huh?” Stevie peeled off her gloves and glanced at Lisa in confusion. “Where did she go? Don’t tell me she decided to move to New Jersey without you.

  “Not exactly.” Lisa sighed. “I meant to tell you guys earlier. Um, she drove up to New Jersey to look at houses and stuff.”

  Stevie gulped. That sounded serious. They could be running out of time, which meant it was way past time to start doing something about it. As Lisa started to say something else about Maureen, Stevie waved her hands in the air. “Wait,” she demanded. “Are you serious? She’s in New Jersey now?”

  “Uh-huh. She’s spending the weekend with my aunt. She left on Friday and she’s coming back tomorrow morning.”

  “Yikes,” Stevie said succinctly, her mind working fast. Enough was enough. It sounded as though Mrs. Atwood wasn’t going to change her mind on her own. That meant Stevie would have to change it for her. But how? This was going to require some thought. “Um, listen, Lisa. Are you okay? Because I really need to go groom Belle, and then I have to rush home—it’s my turn to cook.”

  “Oh. Okay.” Lisa shrugged, looking disappointed. “I mean, sure, I’m fine. I should probably get going, too.”

  “Good. Then I’ll catch you later, okay?” Stevie felt bad about ditching Lisa when she was obviously in such a sad mood, but she figured it would all be worth it if she could come up with a plan to keep her in Willow Creek.