Setting the Pace

by Bonnie Bryant

  Realizing that made her feel a little better. I’ll just have to talk to him about this tonight at the wedding, she told herself, hardly seeing the cars on the road around her. I’ll explain that I need to take the, um, physical side of our relationship a little slower, at least for now. He’ll understand.

  She smiled slightly, feeling better still. Cam would understand, she was sure of it. Her smile faded and her face started to burn again as she remembered the shocked look on Mrs. Nelson’s face.

  Yes, Cam would understand. Nevertheless, Carole planned to stay out of his mother’s way for a long time.

  THIRTEEN

  “Wow!” Stevie let out a whistle as she and Phil walked into the Regnerys’ house that evening. “Is this really the same old grungy living room I remember?” She winked at Phil and glanced over her shoulder at Alex, who had followed them inside.

  Max gave her a sour look. “Welcome, Stevie. I think.”

  Stevie grinned at the stable owner apologetically. “Seriously, Max,” she said. “This place looks totally fabu. I mean it. You and Deborah did great.”

  Max nodded brusquely, then smiled. “Thanks, Stevie,” he said. “In that case, you can stay.”

  He turned away to greet some more newcomers, and Stevie dragged the two guys farther into the spacious room, looking around in genuine amazement. She had been kidding in saying the living room was usually grungy. In fact, Deborah’s good decorating taste meant that the large space, which had been created by knocking down most of the walls on the first floor of the house, was cozy and inviting. That evening, though, it looked downright amazing. Most of the furniture had disappeared, replaced by tables laden with food and drink and candles. Small, twinkling white Christmas lights were strung from the rough-hewn wooden beams overhead, setting off the fresh flowers that decorated every available surface. A plush red carpet led the way from the bottom of the turned oak staircase across the room and down an aisle created by two columns of folding chairs. A wooden arch, which Stevie recognized as one that had until recently decorated Deborah’s herb garden, stood at the head of the aisle, draped with white ribbons and still more flowers.

  “Wow,” Stevie said again, impressed. “When Max and Deborah throw a wedding, they really go all out, don’t they?”

  “Come on, let’s grab some seats,” Phil suggested as he shrugged off his coat and turned to catch Stevie’s as she took off hers. “We want a good view.”

  “Definitely.” Stevie surveyed the crowd. About a dozen people were already seated, while the rest milled around the room talking. “Look, there’s Lisa.” Stevie waved to her friend, who was seated near the front and had just turned and spotted them.

  “I’m thirsty,” Alex said abruptly. “I think I’ll grab a soda before this thing gets started.”

  Stevie glanced at him anxiously, wondering what he was thinking. “Okay,” she said. “We’ll save you a seat if you want.”

  “That’s okay.” Alex didn’t meet her eye. “I’m sure I’ll be able to find one.”

  Stevie nodded and sighed, then grabbed Phil’s hand. “Come on, let’s go sit with Lisa,” she said. “But remember, not a word about, you know, my little errand yesterday.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m a vault.” Phil squeezed her hand.

  Stevie smiled at him gratefully. He was the only one she’d told about her awkward little visit with Mrs. Atwood the day before. She wasn’t sure she wanted Lisa to know about it at all—after all, it probably hadn’t done any good—but in any case, the last thing Stevie wanted to do was distract her tonight, right before her big talk with Alex.

  As they reached Lisa’s row, she stood up. “Hey,” she greeted them. “You guys look great.”

  “You’re looking pretty spiffy yourself,” Stevie replied, taking in the shimmering green silk dress that Lisa was wearing.

  “Thanks.” Lisa glanced down at herself shyly. “Um, could you save my seat for a second? I want to … I’ll be right back.”

  “Sure.” Stevie smiled blandly as Lisa stepped past her and made her way quickly up the aisle. Then she turned to Phil and poked him in the shoulder so hard that he jumped and yelped in pain. “Check it out,” she whispered, her eyes following Lisa across the room. “She’s going to talk to Alex. It won’t be long now until they’re back together.”

  “Or split apart for good,” Phil reminded her gently.

  “Right,” Stevie said shortly, not allowing herself to consider that possibility too much. “Or that.”

  Lisa caught up with Alex. “Hi,” she said softly to his back.

  He turned and nodded somberly. “Hi.”

  Lisa gulped, her mind suddenly blank. It was weird being face to face with Alex again after so long apart. She ran her eyes over the familiar planes and angles of his face, feeling as if the last few weeks had been some kind of bizarre dream. Had they really decided to stop seeing each other? It just didn’t quite seem real.

  There was a long, slightly tense moment of silence as they stood there staring at each other. The spell was broken when Deborah clapped her hands loudly from the foot of the stairs, just a few feet away from where Lisa and Alex were standing.

  “Thank you all for coming!” Deborah said loudly as conversation hushed around the room. “We’re so glad you all could be with Red and Denise on this very special night. We’ll be getting things under way shortly, so if you could all please take your seats…”

  “I guess we’d better go sit down,” Alex said.

  “Right,” Lisa agreed. She glanced at him, gathering up her courage. “Um, but maybe we should meet up right after the ceremony. You know, to talk.”

  Alex nodded quickly. “Okay.”

  “Okay, then.” Lisa cleared her throat. At that very moment, the front door opened and Scott strode in with a loud laugh and a hearty greeting for Max, who had let him in. Callie was beside her brother, but Lisa hardly noticed her. She gulped, feeling herself blush at Scott’s grand entrance. “Well, I’ll see you afterward, then,” she told Alex hastily, scurrying off toward her seat.

  I hope he didn’t notice the way I totally overreacted right then, she thought.

  It wasn’t until she was sitting down beside Stevie that she realized she wasn’t sure which “he” she meant—Alex or Scott.

  Callie glanced around nervously as she followed Scott into the room, hardly noticing the decorations. She still wasn’t sure she’d done the right thing by coming. What was she going to do when she encountered George? How would he act when he saw her?

  She didn’t have long to wait before she found out the answer to that last question. “Callie!” a familiar breathless voice exclaimed from the direction of a small knot of people near the stairs.

  Callie gulped. She barely had time to turn her head and look before George was barreling toward her. He was dressed in a navy suit for the occasion but still managed to look pudgy and sweaty and slightly unkempt. His blond hair was slicked back with some kind of gel, but a few pale tufts stuck up just above his high forehead.

  “Callie! I’m so glad you’re here!” George exclaimed brightly. “I’ve been looking for you at the stable for days, wanting to thank you.”

  “Th-Thank me?” Callie repeated helplessly. Beside her, she was aware of Scott gulping anxiously: He seemed just as startled as she was and didn’t say a word.

  George smiled. “Uh-huh,” he said. “You know—for getting help when I tripped and knocked myself out last week. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t been there!”

  If I hadn’t been there, you wouldn’t have been there, either, Callie thought, though she didn’t say it out loud. Her heart was pounding so fast she wasn’t sure she could speak if she wanted to. Whatever she had expected of her first encounter with George after the accident, this wasn’t it.

  “Anyway, I really appreciate it,” George went on, clearly oblivious to Callie’s discomfort. “Also, thanks a bunch for looking out for Joy while I was out of commission. She’s pretty high-strung
sometimes, and I hate to think what might have happened to her if you hadn’t been there to take her out. She would’ve scratched up her legs or tossed a shoe at the very least.”

  Callie winced at the mention of George’s horse’s shoes. How could he keep babbling on, thanking her for helping him, without so much as mentioning the way he’d practically wrenched Scooby’s shoe off? That was what had caused all the problems in the first place. Didn’t he remember that?

  “Seriously,” George continued, hardly seeming to notice that Callie hadn’t responded, “if there’s anything I can do for you, Callie, anything at all, just ask. I really owe you one, and I’m not going to forget it.”

  Finally Scott seemed to recover from his surprise and remember his earlier promise to Callie. “Hey, George, buddy,” he said jovially, patting George on the back. “You must’ve been to Max’s house before. Want to give me a little tour? This is my first time, and I don’t want to bother Max or Deborah.”

  “Sure!” George said immediately. “Come on. Callie, you’ll come, too, won’t you?”

  Callie gave him a tight smile, the best she could manage under the circumstances. “Thanks, but I’d really like to go say hi to, um”—she scanned the crowd quickly, looking for a familiar face—“uh, Carole. She’s right over there. But you two go ahead.”

  George blinked, then shot Callie a slightly disappointed look. “Um, okay,” he said to Scott. “Follow me.”

  As the two guys made their way across the room toward the kitchen at the back of the house, Callie slumped against the wall with relief. But that emotion soon changed to anger. How dare George act as if nothing terribly unusual had happened out there in the woods—that it had all been some sort of ordinary, understandable accident? How dare he think that they could possibly still be friends, or even friendly acquaintances, after what he’d done?

  Carole smiled shyly as Cam stepped aside to let her enter the row of folding chairs. She sat down, smoothing the skirt of her yellow dress. “Thanks. This place looks great, doesn’t it?” She glanced forward at the graceful wooden arch at the head of the aisle, imagining how beautiful Denise would look standing beneath it in her wedding gown. She shivered slightly in anticipation.

  “Yeah, it’s amazing,” Cam agreed as he took his seat beside her.

  Carole shivered again as the sleeve of his dark suit brushed her bare elbow. She still felt strange about what had happened earlier, though Cam hadn’t so much as hinted at it.

  Maybe that means it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought, Carole told herself hopefully. Maybe he understands already. Maybe he realizes why I acted the way I did without my even having to tell him.

  She shot a glance over at Cam, liking that idea. After all, Cam knew that she hadn’t dated much before him. He had to realize that she wasn’t very experienced compared to a lot of people their age.…

  Her thoughts trailed off as her eye wandered past Cam toward the door. Ben Marlow had just entered. He was removing his coat, nodding at something Deborah was saying to him.

  Carole winced. Ben looked so uncomfortable it was almost painful to watch. Why had he come, anyway? She knew he was friendly enough with Red and Denise, but it wasn’t as though the couple would be heartbroken if he didn’t show up. Carole doubted they would even have noticed.

  And it’s not as if Ben’s very good in social situations, she thought. Any social situations. She grimaced slightly as she remembered the one brief kiss they had shared at that horse show back in the autumn. Thinking of that confusing encounter—when Ben had spent five minutes acting as if he really cared about her and then the next several weeks pretending he barely noticed she was alive—still made Carole’s face flush slightly with humiliation. But then Cam turned to smile at her, and she felt a little better immediately.

  I’m really lucky to have him, she thought, touching the silver pendant at her throat as she returned Cam’s smile. And I should probably just stop worrying about what happened this afternoon. It really wasn’t that big a deal—I should be able to tell that just by the way Cam is acting tonight. He’s being his usual wonderful self.

  She continued to smile at Cam gratefully. He blinked. “What?” he asked, looking slightly worried. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “Oh, nothing much.” Carole reached over and took his arm in hers. “I was just thinking what a lucky girlfriend you have.”

  “That’s funny,” Cam replied, putting a hand on her knee and squeezing. “Because I happen to think that your boyfriend is the luckiest guy in the world.”

  Carole leaned her head on his shoulder, too happy to speak. I was right, she thought. I really shouldn’t make a bigger deal than I need to out of little problems and misunderstandings like the one this afternoon. Cam and I can work things out, because we love each other and know how to communicate. She tilted her head slightly, catching another glimpse of Ben as he hung up his coat in the closet near the door. Unlike some other people I could mention.

  She pushed all thoughts of Ben out of her mind as she spotted Callie coming toward them. Sitting up straight, she waved at her friend. “Hi!” she called. “Long time no see.”

  Callie took a seat in the row ahead of Carole and Cam. “Hi, you two.” She smiled at them, though Carole couldn’t help noticing that she looked sort of tired. “Having fun?”

  “Absolutely.” Cam slung an arm around Carole’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “How about you, Callie?”

  “Sure,” Callie said shortly, though she seemed to be looking at something over Cam’s right shoulder.

  Carole blinked, wondering if something was wrong. She had noticed a few days earlier that Callie hadn’t been spending much time at Pine Hollow lately, which was very strange for her in general, but even stranger for someone with a brand-new, much anticipated horse.

  She bit her lip, wondering if she should ask Callie if everything was okay. What if she was having problems with Scooby or was doubting herself or her horse? Callie wasn’t exactly a blabbermouth—Carole hated to think that her friend could be suffering in silence because she was too proud to share her problems with anyone. Still, Carole hesitated. She had tried to speak to Callie when she’d first noticed that she wasn’t acting quite like herself, and Callie had made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t interested in discussing it. Why should Carole think that anything had changed?

  Before Carole could decide whether or not to say anything, Stevie and Phil hurried over to them. “Yo!” Stevie said with a grin. “What are you guys doing over here on the bride’s side? We were saving seats for you on Red’s side.”

  “Red’s side?” Carole repeated blankly, not sure what Stevie was talking about and still a little distracted by her earlier thoughts.

  “You know, sweetie. Usually at weddings, the bride’s family and friends sit on this side of the aisle, and the groom’s people are over there,” Cam explained, gesturing first at their own seats and then at the ones across the way. Then he turned to Stevie. “But I don’t get it. I thought you guys were tight with both bride and groom.”

  Stevie shrugged. “Yeah, I know,” she said. “But we’ve known Red longer. Plus, Denise has all her friends from grad school here, and poor old Red hardly has anyone.”

  Carole grinned, imagining what Red would say to that if he were close enough to overhear. “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” she said, glancing around the crowded room. The seats on both sides of the aisle were filling fast. “But I’m sure Red would totally appreciate your loyalty.”

  Stevie and Phil took the empty seats beside Carole. “Hey, by the way, what’s the deal?” Stevie murmured as Cam started chatting with Phil about some sporting event they’d both watched on TV earlier that day. “I thought you were going to wear that hot little red number tonight.”

  “Um, I—it had a spot on it,” Carole lied, feeling uncomfortable. She hated fibbing to her friend, but there wasn’t time to go into the real reasons just then. Especially since Carole wasn’t even sure what the
real reasons were. Somehow, she just hadn’t been able to bring herself to put that dress back on. Not after what had happened that afternoon at Cam’s house.

  That was totally stupid, though, she thought, a little annoyed with herself for being such a baby. Cam would have loved that dress.

  Still, she was glad that she’d ended up wearing her familiar, comfortable old yellow dress to the wedding instead. That way she was able to just relax and enjoy herself without worrying that her skirt was riding up too far or her buttons were about to pop.

  “Look,” she said, pushing all thoughts of her clothes, that afternoon’s misunderstanding, and Callie’s possible problems out of her mind as she spotted Red walking toward the flower-bedecked arch, looking handsome and a little nervous in his tuxedo. “I think they’re just about ready to start.”

  FOURTEEN

  “It really was a lovely ceremony, wasn’t it?” Lisa said politely, smiling at the woman in the peach pantsuit standing in front of her. She wasn’t completely sure, but she thought the woman might be Red and Denise’s landlord. She had a vague memory of being introduced before the ceremony, but she’d been a little distracted at the time. Actually, she’d been distracted during the entire evening so far, thinking about what she had to do before the night was over.

  Spotting Alex hovering nearby, Lisa took a deep breath. It was time.

  “Excuse me,” she told the woman. “I need to go say hello to someone.”

  She walked toward Alex, who was watching her with an unreadable expression on his face. “Hi,” she greeted him when she reached him.

  “Hi,” he responded softly. “Um, it’s not too cold out tonight. Want to take a walk?”

  “Sounds good. I’ll get my coat.”

  Lisa headed toward the closet near the door, with Alex at her heels. This was the moment she’d known was coming for the past few weeks, the one she’d been dreading, mostly because she hadn’t known what she was going to say when it came. She hadn’t even been sure what she wanted to say.