FIFTEEN
“There’s the turn up ahead,” Lisa said, leaning forward to tap Scott on the shoulder. “Thanks.” He smiled and winked at her in the rearview mirror before hitting his turn signal. “But I’ve been to the hospital a few times myself lately, remember? I think I know the way.”
Lisa blushed, glancing at Callie, who was in the front passenger seat. Of course the Forester family knew the way to the hospital. Scott’s words were humorous, with no touch of irritation. But Lisa was aware that she’d been babbling worriedly during the entire ride. Ever since Alex had called her twenty minutes earlier, Lisa had been fretting over her friends’ condition. According to her twin’s report, Stevie swore that it had been a minor mishap and that everyone was going to be fine. But Lisa’s pain over losing Prancer was too fresh and raw for her to believe it fully. She wouldn’t be satisfied until she saw for herself that Stevie, Phil, and A.J. really were alive and well. Lisa was glad that Scott had offered to drive them all to the hospital, since she really wasn’t sure she would have been capable of concentrating on the road at the moment. And Alex’s parents had taken both of their cars to their lawyers lecture a little while earlier, while Stevie had driven her and Alex’s car to Cross County.
Reaching across the backseat of Scott’s car for Alex’s hand, Lisa squeezed it tight. He glanced over at her and smiled. “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’re almost there. Soon you’ll be able to see that they’re just fine.”
Lisa nodded. Alex knew her so well, and she loved him for it. “I know,” she said softly.
Callie twisted around in her seat. “So what do you think happened?” she asked. “Did Stevie give you any details, Alex? I mean, I didn’t even know they were out on the trails today. I didn’t see any sign of them at Pine Hollow.”
“They weren’t at Pine Hollow,” Alex explained. “She went over to Cross County, and they left from there.”
Lisa nodded, remembering the many trail rides she’d taken at Cross County Stables. “A lot of the trails over there are rougher than the ones we’re used to,” she told Callie and Scott. “Because of the river and the mountains. Around Pine Hollow, most of the land is farmland or sort of gently rolling forests with nice little streams running through them. Even the state parkland isn’t too wild. But if you go a mile or so past Cross County’s land into the part of the state forest that heads into the foothills, it can get pretty extreme.”
“Hmm. Sounds like something I should check out once I start training again,” Callie said thoughtfully. “It’s always good to ride on different sorts of terrain.”
Lisa shot her a quick, slightly surprised glance. She had almost forgotten that Callie had been a competitive endurance rider before her accident. I guess her leg must be feeling stronger if she’s thinking about training, Lisa thought idly.
She didn’t follow the train of thought any further, though. Scott had just pulled into the hospital parking lot. He found a space quickly, and all four of them hopped out of the car and moved toward the entrance.
“Shouldn’t we be bringing flowers or something?” Scott commented.
Alex laughed. “For my sister? You’ve got to be kidding,” he said. “And if I got flowers for Phil and A.J., they might get the wrong idea, know what I’m saying?”
It made Lisa feel a bit better to hear Alex joking around. After all, he was the one who’d actually spoken to Stevie. He couldn’t be too worried if he was cracking jokes at her expense.
As they entered the hospital lobby, Callie nodded toward the gift shop on one side. “If we want flowers …” she began.
“I’ll go grab some,” Scott offered. “Although I can’t claim to have the most refined taste in bouquets or anything.”
Lisa smiled. “I’ll help you,” she said. She looked at Callie and Alex. “You guys find out what room they’re in, okay?”
Alex nodded. “We’re on it. See you by the elevator in a few.”
Lisa felt a little impatient at the delay, but she thought it was a nice idea to bring flowers. Walking across the lobby with Scott, she scanned the display in the store window. “That one looks really nice,” she said, pointing at a mixed bouquet of roses and hydrangeas. “What do you think?”
“I think you have excellent taste,” Scott replied, giving Lisa an appreciative smile. “I also think it’s a good thing you came along to help. I probably would have picked that one over there.”
Lisa looked where he was pointing and laughed out loud. The bouquet in question was a bunch of bright pink plastic daisies with a tacky sign poking out of their midst, proclaiming IT’S A GIRL!
“Very nice,” she joked. “Very tasteful.”
“Hey, I know how to pick ’em,” Scott retorted with a grin.
After paying for the flowers, the two of them hurried back to meet the others. A moment later Lisa spotted Alex and Callie coming toward them from the direction of the admissions desk. Alex was walking fast, but Lisa noticed that Callie had no trouble keeping up with him on her crutches. She really does look a lot better, Lisa thought. She’ll be walking without those things before we know it.
“Second floor,” Alex reported when he reached them. “Room two-oh-five. Phil and A.J. are roomies, and Stevie was never admitted—just treated and released.”
Lisa was happy to hear that, though she still wanted to see for herself that Stevie was okay. “Why were the guys admitted?” she asked. “Do they have to stay here?”
“Just overnight, I think,” Alex said, slipping his arm around her shoulders as Scott pressed the elevator button. “For observation or whatever. I guess we’ll find out.”
Soon they were on the second floor, where a friendly nurse pointed them toward the right room. The door was open, and voices drifted out into the hallway. “Hello! Anybody home?” Alex sang out.
Stevie jumped up from the visitors chair between the two beds. The room’s privacy curtains were drawn all the way back, and Phil and A.J. were both sitting up against their crisp white hospital pillows. “Hi!” Stevie cried, hurrying around the end of A.J.’s bed. “Boy, you guys got here fast. None of the parents are even here yet.”
“Including ours,” Alex put in. “But Mom and Dad are probably on their way by now. I called and left a message for them at that lecture they went to.” He grinned. “The way Dad was complaining this morning about how boring it was going to be, they’re probably glad of the interruption.”
Pushing him aside, Lisa stepped into the room to get a better look at Stevie. “So are you really all right?” she asked. Noticing a large bandage wrapped around most of Stevie’s right hand, she pointed. “What’s that?”
“Oh.” Stevie held up her hand and grinned. “It’s my excuse for not being able to take any tests at school for the rest of the week. I’m not allowed to write with this hand until the bandages come off. And when I try to write left-handed, it’s just pathetic.”
“Your regular handwriting’s pathetic enough,” Alex remarked.
“Hey!” Phil called, tugging at the collar of his pale green hospital gown. “Isn’t anyone going to say hello to A.J. and me? We’re the bedridden ones here, you know.”
With that, everyone gathered around the two beds, asking a million questions at once. Meanwhile, Lisa pulled Stevie aside. “Did you call Carole?” she asked.
Stevie nodded. “I talked to the colonel,” she said. “When I explained what happened, he let her come to the phone to say hi and hear the nutshell version of what’s going on. But I don’t think he would’ve let her out of the house to visit us for anything short of a coma.”
Lisa shook her head sadly. “Poor Carole,” she muttered. But there was no time at the moment to ponder Carole’s crime and punishment. She turned her attention to Phil and A.J. “So are you two okay?” she asked, sizing them up. Both guys seemed a little paler and more subdued than usual, and A.J. had some nasty-looking bruises up and down one arm. Otherwise they seemed alive and healthy, aside from a few small cuts and scrapes on their
faces. “I mean, what happened to you guys, anyway?”
“It’s a long story,” Phil said.
“Yeah,” A.J. agreed. His voice sounded a little hoarse and scratchy. “And I don’t come out very well in it.”
Stevie shot him a look, then turned to the visitors. “We’ll tell you everything,” she promised. “But first the important details. I’m fine except for my hand. Phil has a few bumps and scrapes and is running a slight fever, so they’re keeping him here overnight for observation in case it turns out to be pneumonia or something. And A.J. has more of those bumps and scrapes, along with a sprained ankle.” She glanced over at him again. “Oh yeah, and a monster hangover.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. She shot A.J. a look, remembering the day the week before when she’d caught him drinking in a college bar. “Oh.”
A.J. looked embarrassed. “Right,” he said. “It’s all part of the story. So why don’t we get it over with?”
“If you insist,” Phil agreed cheerfully. Scooting up a little farther in his bed, he cleared his throat. “It was a dark and stormy afternoon—”
“No it wasn’t,” Stevie interrupted, rolling her eyes. She returned to her seat between the guys’ beds, waving Callie toward the second guest chair in the corner. Everyone else found perches on the edges of the beds or against the cabinets along the wall. “It was a gorgeous fall day. As most of you know, Phil and A.J. and I had decided to go for a nice, leisurely trail ride out at Cross County.…”
She went on to tell the whole story, with Phil breaking in occasionally to make corrections or additions. A.J. didn’t say much, though he paid close attention and nodded now and then.
After describing how Phil had finally freed A.J.’s leg from the stirrup, Stevie paused dramatically. “And that’s when I knew we were all going to make it,” she told her audience.
“Wow. But how did you get him out of there?” Alex asked. “I mean, even once his foot was free…”
“Oh, the rest was easy,” Stevie said breezily, waving one hand in the air. “I pulled Crystal’s blindfold off and gave her a slap on the rump, and she was out of the river like a flash. The only challenging part was holding Blue back so she wouldn’t follow her—she was pretty sick of all that water by that point, too.”
“Then what?” Lisa shuddered as she imagined trying to control a cold, wet, impatient horse in the middle of a rushing river, especially with a bleeding hand and numb, half-frozen legs.
“Stevie’s being modest for a change.” Phil spoke up from his bed. “Blue just about freaked out on her when Crystal went tearing out of the river. She was halfway after her before Stevie got her under control and turned around to come back for us.” He shot Stevie an unabashedly admiring look. “And all while buckets of blood were gushing out of her hand where she’d cut it.”
Lisa wrinkled her nose. “Eew,” she said.
Stevie grinned, holding up her heavily bandaged hand. “Yeah,” she said. “Wanna see?”
“No thank you,” Scott answered for all of them. “So come on, don’t keep us in suspense. What happened next?”
“Oh, right.” Stevie sat back and glanced at Phil. “So anyway, good old Blue finally figured out that I was serious about going back in, and she turned right around and headed back to the big rock. I still had that blindfold, so I tossed one end of it to Phil. He grabbed it and got A.J. in a hammerlock with the other arm, and Blue and I dragged them right back to shore. Then we wrapped A.J. up in the rest of Phil’s jacket, and I hopped on Teddy and went for help.”
She didn’t quite meet any of her friends’ eyes as she finished, hoping they wouldn’t press for more details about the last part. That ride through the darkening woods—trying to hurry without endangering herself or Teddy, worrying that she would get lost or not be able to direct help back to the guys, who were lying helpless, cold, and alone on the riverbank—had been a pretty intense experience. She really didn’t feel like talking about it yet.
Callie glanced around. “Okay, since Carole’s not here, I’ll be the one to ask,” she said. “Are the horses okay?”
“I can answer that,” Phil said. “I called Mr. Baker just before you got here to make sure he could get Teddy back to my place for me. He said Blue and Crystal are both going to be fine. They both had a few scratches from that wild ride through the woods—so did Teddy. And Crystal also had some huge, pointy stone stuck up in one shoe—he guessed that was why she didn’t try to run out of the river sooner, and I’m guessing it may also explain why she didn’t try to kick me while I was messing with that stirrup buckle.” He shrugged. “She’s got a pretty badly bruised sole from it, but he thinks it will heal just fine.”
A.J. bit his lip. “Thank goodness,” he said, so quietly that Lisa barely heard him.
Phil shot his friend a sympathetic glance. “Both mares were pretty well chilled, too,” he told the others. “But they’re tough. They aren’t running a fever or showing any other lingering symptoms, so Mr. B. thinks they’re going to be okay.”
There was a moment of silence, everyone thinking. For her part, Lisa was trying simply to be thankful that everyone was okay, without imagining what might have happened if things had gone just a bit differently. If Phil hadn’t been brave enough to plunge into the river after his friend. If Stevie hadn’t stuck that knife in her pocket and it had been left behind with the other picnic things. If Crystal had broken a leg during that wild run. If Stevie hadn’t been such a skilled rider, or if she’d been riding a more timid or skittish horse than steady old Blue. So many things could have changed the outcome of the day’s adventure.…
A.J. was the first to speak. “Well,” he said quietly. “You’re probably all wondering if I’ve finally learned my lesson from this.”
Lisa glanced at him quickly. She hadn’t really thought about that yet, but now she did. All this had happened because of A.J.’s drinking. He’d put himself, his friends, and their horses in grave danger, all for a Thermos of vodka.
“Well?” Alex asked. “Did you?”
A.J. nodded. “For sure. This totally scared me straight.” He grinned, but his smile faded almost before it began. “Actually, I guess I shouldn’t kid around about this. I’ve been really stupid, and I just want to say I’m sorry. To all of you, but especially to Phil and Stevie.” He looked over at the two of them, blinking rapidly several times. “I really owe you guys. Big-time.”
For a second Stevie had the strongest urge to reach over and strangle him. Did he really think he could just apologize and everything would be okay? That words could make up for everything that had happened? How could he expect them all to forgive him for what he’d put them through?
Get a grip, girl, she told herself, digging her fingernails into her knees to keep herself from saying anything she might regret as the rage flooded through her, sharp and bitter. Let it go. Just let it go. Everyone deserves a second chance—maybe a third and a fourth, even. Blowing up at him won’t do any of us any good. It’s all over now, and by some miracle, everybody’s alive. That’s all that matters.
At that thought, the anger left as quickly as it had come. She leaned over and squeezed A.J.’s shoulder. “You don’t owe us anything,” she told him somberly. “That’s what friends are for.”
“Thanks.” A.J. stared down at his bruised forearm for a moment before speaking again. “But anyway, you should all know that this is it for me. I’m not going to drink anymore. It’s just not worth it.”
“That’s great,” Lisa told him, more relieved than she could imagine to hear him say it. She just hoped he had the strength to stick to his vow. “It might be hard, though,” she told him hesitantly. “Um, especially if, you know—”
“Lisa’s being too tactful,” Stevie broke in bluntly. “What she’s trying to say is you’ve got to talk to your parents about this adoption thing. Or things aren’t likely to get any better for you, drinking or not.”
“I know.” A.J. didn’t quite meet anyone’s eye. “I know. You’re
right. I’m going to—to talk to them. Soon.”
“That won’t be easy, either,” Phil reminded him quietly.
A.J. rolled his eyes and chuckled weakly. “You’re telling me,” he said. “But I mean it. I’m going to do it—I have to. There’s no way I can go on like this.”
Lisa nodded, feeling proud of him. It had taken a long time, but A.J. had finally figured out that he was hurting himself with his behavior, as well as everyone who cared about him. Phil was right—it wouldn’t be easy for A.J. to move on from here. Thanks to her parents’ divorce, she knew as well as anyone how difficult it could be to pick up the pieces and face the future after everything you’d thought you could count on had changed. But Alex and her other friends had stood by her, and they would stand by A.J., too. Now that he was talking to them again, and as long as he kept talking to them, there would be plenty of support whenever he needed it. Lisa was sure that would give him the strength to go forward, just as it had done for her.
“Okay, I know I said no more drinking,” A.J. said, his voice hoarser than ever after his little speech. He grinned. “But I could really use a glass of water right about now. Phil’s been hogging the pitcher over by his bed and I’m totally parched.”
Lisa glanced over and saw the pitcher in question on a small table on the far side of Phil’s bed. “I’ll get it,” she said, noting that she was the closest except for Callie.
Callie had just noticed the same thing. “No,” she said quickly, not giving herself a chance to chicken out. “Let me get it.”
“Are you sure?” Lisa looked at her doubtfully. “I mean, are you sure you can manage?”
In response, Callie pushed herself out of the chair, leaving her crutches leaning against the wall. Okay, this is it, she told herself. No looking back.
She focused on the water pitcher and took a step forward. Then another. And another. Left, right, left … Before she quite knew what was happening, her hand was reaching out for the handle. She hoisted the pitcher, being careful not to throw herself off balance, and turned, handing it to a gaping Phil so that he could pass it over to A.J.
Ground Training Page 14
