Changing Leads

by Bonnie Bryant

  Carole sighed, tucked her hat under one arm, and led the gelding toward the stable door. She should have known that Ben wouldn’t want to come along on Saturday. He had a truly special rapport with horses, but when it came to people, he wasn’t exactly the king of social skills. He made a point of avoiding places where two people or more were gathered—except, sometimes, when those two people were Max and Carole. Even then, he never had much to say. On the other hand, he had come to a barbecue at the Foresters’ house several weeks before and had seemed to enjoy himself. Still, that outing had been an exception.

  Maybe I should just accept the simple truth, Carole told herself. I’ll never understand Ben, he’ll never understand me, and that’s that. We should just stick to business and forget about being friends.

  She did her best to put the whole subject out of her mind as she and her horse headed down the stable aisle. “And now,” she said out loud, addressing Starlight again, “it’s time to put you in your stall and go see what Max wants.”

  “Want a bite?” Alex scooped up some chocolate ice cream and whipped cream with his spoon and held it out.

  Lisa leaned across the table and accepted the offering, closing her eyes as the rich chocolate melted on her tongue. “Mmm,” she said with feeling. “This is wonderful.”

  “The ice cream?” Alex grinned at her devilishly.

  She opened her eyes and stuck out her tongue at him. “Very funny,” she said. “You know what I mean. You. Us. Being here together.”

  “I know.” Alex leaned forward and gave her a quick, chocolatey kiss. Then he settled back to his ice cream once again. “Believe me, I was missing this all summer while you were gone. In a big way.”

  “Me too. I can still hardly believe we were apart for so long.” Lisa took a sip of her vanilla milk shake. “So how was your first day of school?”

  Alex rolled his eyes. “You know how it is at good old Fenton Hall. Same old teachers, same old kids …” He shrugged and licked his spoon.

  “I always thought going to a private school like Fenton Hall would be kind of neat,” Lisa said. “Those thick stone walls, the old leaded windows on the top floor—it’s pretty romantic-looking, actually.”

  Alex shrugged. “I don’t know about that,” he said. “I don’t think it can hold a candle to Willow Creek High in the romance department. After all, how can you call a school romantic when you’re not there?”

  “Easily,” Lisa countered with a smile. “I can call it that because you’re there.” She loved this feeling—the comfortable feeling of joking around with her boyfriend, enjoying his company, relaxing completely into their warm, familiar relationship, and knowing that he understood her better than anyone else ever had before—that their love for each other was stronger, deeper, richer than she had ever believed possible. Lisa had always been an honest, caring person. But she had never opened up so completely to anyone before Alex. Not even her best friends, not even her family, knew her the way he did.

  Alex grinned and settled back in his seat. “Well, if you’d gone there since kindergarten like I have, you’d realize that romantic-looking doesn’t mean a thing. Fenton Hall is like any other school. It never changes.”

  Lisa rested her elbows on the table and looked around her. “Kind of like this place, huh?” They were sitting at their favorite table for two at TD’s, an ice cream parlor in a small strip mall about a mile from Pine Hollow. Lisa and her friends had been going there for ages—it had once been a favorite spot for their Saddle Club meetings, which usually turned into hours-long gab sessions. Now it was a favorite place for Lisa to meet Alex in the afternoons, since it was convenient to their schools and their homes.

  “That’s different.” Alex’s gaze wandered over the glossy white walls and brightly colored booths of the small restaurant. “Places like this aren’t supposed to change. Some things you just want to be able to count on.”

  “You can count on one thing for sure,” she said lightly. “We’re going to have fun on Saturday. Right?”

  “Definitely.” Alex’s face brightened. “I can’t wait. Out on the trail, in the woods, you and me …”

  “And Carole, and Phil, and A.J., and Julianna,” Lisa went on teasingly. “And don’t forget your very own beloved twin sister, Stevie.”

  Alex let out a mock groan and covered his eyes with one hand. “Don’t remind me,” he said. “I sometimes think the only thing that isn’t absolutely perfect about you is your taste in friends. Specifically, my crazy sister.”

  Lisa grinned, knowing he was kidding. Stevie and Alex had once spent most of their time fighting and playing elaborate practical jokes on each other. So had Stevie and her other brothers, Chad and Michael. But all four of the Lake siblings had matured over the past few years, and by now they had reached the point where they actually enjoyed one another’s company most of the time. Well, except maybe for Michael, Lisa added to herself with a secret smile. He’s only thirteen, and it can’t be easy for him, being the youngest in that wacky family!

  “Don’t worry,” she told Alex. “I’m sure Stevie will be too busy hanging out with Phil to bother you. Much, anyway.”

  “Well, all I can say is that my darling sister isn’t getting anywhere near the grill if I have anything to say about it,” Alex joked. “The last time Stevie tried to cook a hamburger on my dad’s grill by the pool, the outside ended up totally charred but the inside was still mooing.”

  “Stevie has many talents, but cooking has never been one of them,” Lisa admitted. “Don’t worry, though—I’ll be in charge of the grill. We had a bunch of picnics on the beach over the summer, and I learned a few tricks I’ve been dying to show off.”

  “Really?” Alex was still smiling, but suddenly his eyes had taken on a slightly wary look, one that Lisa had come to recognize in the few days she’d been home. He hadn’t wanted her to go to California, but she’d thought he understood why she’d had to go. Now he was acting weird about it. “Who taught you?”

  “Evelyn,” Lisa replied firmly, guessing what he was thinking. “She’s a great cook, and she’s been grilling since she was my age. She makes the best barbecued chicken I’ve ever tasted.” Why can’t he get it through his head? she thought with a twinge of annoyance. I’ve told him often enough that Skye and I are just friends.

  She didn’t like having to reassure him over and over on that point. Yes, Skye Ransom was a famous, wealthy, handsome TV and movie star. Yes, Lisa had been friends with Skye for years. Yes, she had spent a lot of time with Skye over the summer while working as a stable hand on the set of his new show, Paradise Ranch. But as she had explained to Alex many times, that didn’t mean he had anything to worry about. She was in love with Alex, not Skye.

  “Well, that’s great.” Alex shrugged and glanced at his sundae. “I guess barbecues on the beach are just one more wonderful thing about life on the West Coast.”

  His words were normal, almost playful, but they still made Lisa’s stomach contract. Why was it that anytime she said something about California, Alex seemed to withdraw from her a little?

  She concentrated on her milk shake, trying to figure it out. It couldn’t just be jealousy about Skye. Could it? Sure, Alex had seemed pretty insecure about that while she was actually in California. She had understood that, or at least accepted it. But now she was back. They were together. And he could see—or he should be able to see—that she was just as devoted to him as she had been before she left. The summer was over.

  Or maybe it wasn’t over, not really. Maybe she was asking too much when she expected Alex to simply forget about the time they had spent apart and move on. After all, it wasn’t as if Lisa herself had forgotten those two months. On the contrary, she cherished the memory of them.

  Maybe that’s it, she told herself. Maybe what’s making Alex jealous and weird isn’t Skye at all. Maybe it’s the whole idea of my going to California in the first place, of leaving him behind for the whole summer.

  That was a new thoug
ht, and one that made her more than a little uncomfortable. She still hadn’t told Alex how close she’d come to staying in California after the end of the summer—going to school there, living with her father. She had planned to share her thoughts with him, as she had with Stevie and Carole, but so far the right moment hadn’t presented itself. Now she wondered if it ever would.

  I knew he didn’t want me to go, she thought. But I never considered that he might actually resent it.

  She decided to test her new theory. “California is a pretty cool place,” she said carefully. “It’s really different from Virginia. I’m glad I got to try living there. Even though it was really hard to leave my life here for two whole months. Especially you.”

  Alex shrugged. “Whatever. You’re back now, and that’s what matters.” He paused and wiped chocolate off his chin with a paper napkin. “So anyway, did you check with Max about a horse for me to ride on Saturday?”

  Lisa held back a sigh. It seemed that her theory was right. He still doesn’t get it, she thought in despair. He doesn’t understand how I could voluntarily leave him behind for two months. He doesn’t even want to talk about it. But if he doesn’t understand why I went, how will he ever understand everything that my time in California taught me? How will he still be able to really understand me?

  Realizing that Alex was waiting for her to speak, Lisa forced herself to smile as if nothing were wrong. Nothing is wrong, she told herself firmly. Even the best couples don’t have to share every single thought and feeling they have. The most important thing right now is to reassure Alex—make him realize how important he is to me. And if that means not talking about California with him, so be it. It’s not that big a deal. I’m sure we’ll be able to discuss it someday, after we’ve both had some time to readjust.

  “I think you’re going to be riding Congo on Saturday,” she told Alex. “Max says you’ve improved a lot lately. Actually, he said something about how living with Stevie all these years must have finally rubbed off on you.”

  “Hey,” Alex protested, pretending to pout. “That wasn’t very nice of him. The part about Stevie, I mean.”

  Lisa giggled, though it felt a bit forced. Stop it, she told herself sternly. This is Alex you’re talking to, remember? Nothing has changed.

  But deep in her heart, she couldn’t help thinking that for the first time since they’d fallen in love, something had changed between them. And she wasn’t quite sure how to fix it.

  THREE

  As Lisa pulled into the driveway of Pine Hollow on Saturday morning, she spotted Carole turning in right behind her. Coasting into a spot in the parking area under the shade of a large oak tree, she cut the ignition, hopped out of the car, and retrieved a bagful of picnic supplies from her trunk. By the time she had closed the trunk, Carole was climbing out of her own car.

  “Well, we survived our first week of school!” Lisa called to Carole.

  Carole groaned as she reached into her backseat and grabbed her backpack. “Just barely,” she said. “I’m trying to convince Dad to lend me his mobile phone during the school day. I figure I might need it to call nine-one-one if I start to die of boredom.”

  Lisa laughed. “Maybe you should skip the phone and just get one of those medical alert devices,” she teased. “You know, the kind that gives you a direct hookup to the paramedics. ‘Help! I’ve fallen asleep and I can’t wake up!’”

  Lisa had long since accepted the fact that she and her two best friends would never agree on some things. One of those things was schoolwork. Stevie had always been the least serious of the three when it came to classes and grades, often just sliding by. Lisa had never quite understood that, since Stevie’s quick and creative mind should have guaranteed her straight A’s with only minimum effort.

  As for Carole, she had always seemed to regard schoolwork as a necessary evil—although lately, Lisa had noticed, she was starting to stress the evil part a lot more than the necessary part. School had always seemed a little like the place Carole stopped between home and the stable, and these days that was truer than ever.

  Lisa herself had always done very well in school, earning a long and almost unbroken series of A’s along with numerous academic honors. She was aware that her friends thought her good grades were primarily the result of her perfectionism, and that had certainly been a part of it. But there was a little more to it than that. Earning good grades, learning new things, and keeping her teachers’ approval had always been a real source of comfort and pride to Lisa, much the way Carole’s work at the stable and love of horses were to her.

  “Most of my classes seem pretty interesting, now that my teachers have finally started teaching,” Lisa said, leading the way toward the stable entrance. “But I have to admit, I’m glad the weekend is here. I’m looking forward to spending a whole day’s worth of quality time with Prancer.”

  “Prancer?” Carole repeated.

  Lisa shot her an amused look. “Yeah, you know, Prancer. Prancer, the horse I’ve been riding for the last few years. I was gone so long that I’m afraid she’s forgotten who I am!”

  “No way,” Carole said loyally. She paused, then went on. “Actually, though, I was thinking about something on my way over.”

  “What?” Lisa asked absently. She had gone back to thinking about her friends’ strange attitudes toward school. It never ceased to amaze her that the three of them could have been so close for so many years and yet be such totally different people in some ways. Still, I guess we’ve always had one thing in common, she thought. We all feel the same way about horses.

  Carole hesitated. “Well, you know Calypso?”

  “Of course.”

  “I was just wondering if you might consider, um, riding her today. Instead of Prancer.”

  Lisa furrowed her brow, her attention finally focused on her friend. “Why would I want to do that?” Hadn’t Carole been listening to what she had said just now about spending time with Prancer?

  Carole shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable. “It’s just that Max was saying the other day that Calypso could use some more trail experience. I mean, he’s bred her almost every year since he bought her, so she hasn’t been ridden as much as some of the other horses. And she’s such a nice horse, it would be great if he could start using her more in classes and stuff. I just thought you might like to help out—you know, especially since Calypso is a pretty Thoroughbred mare, just like Prancer. You two would probably get along great.”

  Lisa waved her hands. “Wait,” she commanded. “Are my ears deceiving me? Are you—you, Carole Hanson, of all people—actually trying to convince me to give up a ride on the horse I’ve been missing like crazy all summer? The horse I’ve only had a chance to ride once—that’s one lousy time—since I got back? What’s the deal?”

  “Nothing, forget it,” Carole said quickly. “Never mind. It was just a thought. A dumb idea. I’ll work with Calypso myself next week.”

  Lisa shrugged. “Okay,” she said, giving Carole one last puzzled look. But she didn’t think about her friend’s silly suggestion for long. She was too busy looking forward to starting their ride—on her favorite horse in the whole world, Prancer.

  “… so I told Max you should probably ride Nickel today,” Stevie told Phil. “That way, when you fall off every few steps, it’s not such a long way to the ground.”

  “Funny.” Phil grinned and leaned on the half door of the stall. “Did you also tell him that I’m planning to lose you in the woods so I can find myself a girlfriend who doesn’t make fun of me all the time?”

  Inside the stall, Stevie smoothed the hair on the broad back of her horse, a feisty bay mare named Belle. “Nope,” she replied seriously. “That’s not going to happen. You’re too much fun to make fun of. No girl could resist. You should just be glad that my quips are always so witty and clever.” She grinned at him briefly, then turned her attention back to Belle. “Hand me the saddle pad, will you?” She gestured toward Belle’s green fabric saddle pad, w
hich she had hung over the stall door atop her well-worn leather saddle.

  “Fine.” Phil grabbed the saddle pad and held it behind his back. “But not unless you admit that I’m the best rider in the entire known universe and give me a kiss to prove you mean it.”

  Stevie pretended to pout, but she walked over and kissed him lightly on the lips. “There’s your kiss,” she said. “As for the other part, forget it. Now hand it over.”

  Phil pretended to hesitate, but then he took a step into the stall and held out the saddle pad. When Stevie reached to take it, Phil grabbed her hand and planted a big, wet, noisy kiss right in the middle of her palm.

  “Ick.” Stevie giggled. “I just cleaned out Belle’s feet with that hand.”

  “Really?” Phil raised one eyebrow and licked his lips. “Well, her hooves are just divine. Wanna taste?” With that, he grabbed her and planted another kiss right on her mouth.

  She broke away quickly and wiped her mouth, pretending to be disgusted but hardly able to stop laughing.

  When Stevie thought about how many years she had been kissing Phil, it sometimes amazed her. To most people their age, Stevie and Phil’s three-year relationship was more than an oddity—it was virtually unique. Stevie herself could hardly remember a time when they hadn’t been together. But to her, that didn’t seem strange at all. From the moment she had met Phil at riding camp the summer they were both thirteen, the world had suddenly seemed brighter and even more fun. He had always known how to make her laugh, and unlike a lot of guys, he also understood when she occasionally needed to cry or yell.

  I really am lucky to have him, she thought with satisfaction as she smoothed the saddle pad over Belle’s withers. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He didn’t notice, since he was busy searching his jeans pockets for something. And I’m doubly lucky that such a great guy also happens to be totally cute!