High Stakes

by Bonnie Bryant

  “Carole, my darling wife and partner,” Cam said gallantly. “I’m so proud of you for winning that Olympic gold medal with the U.S. Equestrian Team last week. But are you sure you have the energy to finish training that promising dressage horse and then acting as Master of the Hunt for our foxhunting club?”

  “Absolutely,” Carole replied, straightening the collar of her custom-made shadbelly coat. “Your love gives me all the energy I need. Now if you’ll excuse me, darling, I’d better go teach that beginners’ riding class.”

  Cam took her hand, gently peeled back the expensive deerskin glove covering it, and kissed the palm. “Of course, darling. Meanwhile, I’ll go get started training those polo ponies our clients dropped off yesterday.”

  Then Carole walked out of their three-room office suite into the wide, clean-swept aisle of their two-hundred-stall stable, lit by large skylights overhead. As she walked toward the stadium-sized, heated indoor ring, she passed the flawlessly organized, well-appointed tack room, the warehouse-like feed room, and the roomy, cement-floored wash stall. Pausing just long enough to pat Starlight on the nose as he lounged in his sixteen-by-sixteen box stall, eating hay gathered from the lush fields surrounding Cam ’N Carole Stables by their full-time staff of fifty people, she then continued on to the ring to greet her adoring students. “Ms. Hanson! Ms. Hanson!” they cried eagerly. Carole was just trying to remember why she’d decided not to take Cam’s name when they got married when—

  “Ms. Hanson!” Mr. Whiteside’s pale, bespectacled face frowned down at her with obvious annoyance. “Are you going to answer the question, or just sit there gaping like a fish?”

  Carole gulped and sat up straight in her chair, trying to ignore the titters erupting all around as her classmates stared at her with amusement. Yikes, she thought sheepishly. I guess I slipped a little farther into that daydream than I realized.

  “Um—I’m sorry,” she stammered, deciding that honesty was the best policy. Well, partial honesty, at least. “I’m not sure about that answer.”

  Mr. Whiteside frowned, but nodded and moved on, stepping across the aisle and glancing down at the guy sitting there. “All right then,” he said. “Mr. Levine, what about you? Do you have an answer?”

  Whew! Carole thought. That was close. I’d better watch it from now on, and pay more attention in class. In all my classes. Otherwise I’ll be right back where I started again with my grades. And I definitely don’t want that. Especially now.

  Unbidden, the image of Cam’s smiling face floated into her mind. Not the way he’d appeared in her daydream, but the way he’d looked in real life as he’d fed her a strawberry and then leaned forward to kiss the juice off her lips.

  Who needs crazy fantasy daydreams, anyway? Carole thought contentedly. These days my real life’s seeming a lot like some kind of amazing fantasy just the way it is.

  Realizing that she was slipping away again into her own head, she quickly picked up her pencil and blinked at Mr. Whiteside, who was at the board scribbling equations. She knew that Cam would want her to do well in school. He wanted her to do whatever she needed to do to be able to go back to riding full-time again. Not to mention being able to date full-time …

  That’s why he put Starlight away for me after our ride, Carole thought, feeling her cheeks go pink. He didn’t want me to get in trouble, because if I did, Dad might not let me go out with him again. And he’s right—I’ve got to shape up and keep my grades and stuff under control. My whole social life is at stake now, not just my time at Pine Hollow.

  She did her best to stop thinking about Cam and focus on her teacher, who was talking about variables, as far as Carole could tell. But it wasn’t long before her mind started to wander again. She couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Cam and the way he made her feel. Special. Appreciated. Beautiful. Being with him was so easy, so natural and right, with no confusion or awkwardness or constant wondering about what the other person was thinking …

  For a split second, Ben Marlow’s face swam into her consciousness. But she shook her head quickly, not wanting to get all muddled up and anxious as she always did when she started thinking about Ben.

  It was much easier to just lean back in her seat and return her thoughts to Cam. After all, she needed to remember all the wonderful things he’d said to her the previous day so that she could report them to Stevie and Lisa later. And then of course there was the big decision about what to wear for their date to the CARL party on Friday …

  “Gesundheit,” the town records clerk said, glancing at Stevie over the tops of her bifocals.

  “Thanks.” Stevie sniffled and wiped her nose with a crumpled tissue she found in her pocket, then smiled apologetically at the clerk, hoping that the woman would at least appreciate the fact that Stevie hadn’t blown her nose on the stack of boring old zoning permits and yellowed deeds stacked in front of her. “I guess I’m allergic to dust.”

  The woman went back to her work, and Stevie looked down at her pile of musty papers and sighed. She’d been buried in deadly dull research ever since school had let out half an hour earlier, and she decided it was time for a break.

  If I don’t get out of here soon, I’ll go completely insane, she thought grimly. And that won’t reflect very well on the vaunted history of dear old Fenton Hall, will it? Besides, if they lock me in the loony bin, Cassidy would probably just figure I had even more time on my hands, and she’d come by to drop off a few old Willow Creek phone books or twenty-year-old attendance reports for me to read.

  Her mind made up, she stacked the materials she’d used and returned them to the clerk, promising to return on another day to finish looking through them. She was tempted to race for the door like a stall-sour horse heading for pasture, but she forced herself to maintain a sedate walk until she got outside.

  She had to pause and blink a few times to allow her eyes to adjust to the bright yellow-orange glare of the afternoon sun after the dim, dusty overheads inside. Then she glanced at her watch. She had promised to meet Cassidy back at school as soon as she finished at the records office, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to return just yet.

  “Everybody needs food for thought, right?” she muttered, staring at the doughnut shop across the street. Then she had a better idea. “Pizza!” she exclaimed, her stomach letting out a hopeful grumble.

  Checking her watch again, she decided she had time for a quick slice before returning to her drudgery. There was a pizza place across the street from Fenton Hall, so technically it was right on her way. Cassidy couldn’t possibly object to that, could she?

  It didn’t take much for Stevie to convince herself. She headed down the street at a rapid walk, her mouth already watering at the thought of a thick, gooey slice of extra-cheese-and-mushrooms, fresh from Giordanos’ authentic stone pizza oven.

  Less than ten minutes later, she was pushing open the door of Giordano’s Authentic Pizza and Pasta. Inhaling deeply as the aroma of garlic and oregano surrounded her like a warm cloud, Stevie stepped inside. Giordano’s was one of two popular pizza restaurants in Willow Creek, and the one Stevie preferred for a couple of reasons. First of all, its location made it extremely convenient for after-school pit stops—especially on days when the Fenton Hall cafeteria was serving its infamous Mystery Stew—the one that made students double-check the whereabouts of the janitor’s dog. Second, Stevie had spent a couple of months the previous summer working at the other place, Pizza Manor, and visiting there now always made her feel strangely anxious, as if the manager, Mr. Andrews, was going to yell at her for sitting around stuffing her face instead of working.

  The sign at the hostess’s stand read Please Seat Yourself, so Stevie stepped farther in and glanced around for an empty table. As her gaze swept past a row of cozy, candlelit booths, she did a double take. Her twin brother was sitting there holding up a large slice of cheese pizza. But that wasn’t the strange part. The strange part was that Nicole Adams was leaning forward to take a bite, giggling as
the stringy cheese dripped down her chin. She and Alex were both squeezed into the same side of the booth, despite the fact that there was nobody at all sitting on the opposite side of the table.

  Stevie just stared blankly for a moment, not really comprehending what she was seeing. What are they doing? she wondered. Why are they sitting like that?

  Then Alex picked up a napkin and carefully wiped the cheese off Nicole’s chin, and Stevie snapped out of it. Fury shot through her body as she remembered Alex’s late return the previous Saturday night. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen much of her brother that whole week. Had he been spending even more time with Nicole than she had realized?

  There was only one way to find out. One date is one thing—that would just be following the rules, she thought grimly, already racing toward the booth. But this is too much!

  Alex glanced up in surprise as Stevie skidded to a stop at the end of the table. “Oh!” he said. “Stevie. I was hoping you were the waitress bringing our refills.” He gestured toward his empty soda glass.

  Stevie hardly heard him. “What do you think you’re doing!” she exclaimed hotly. “How can you do this to Lisa, you jerk? How do you think she would feel if she saw you here with … with …” She glanced at Nicole with utter disdain.

  Alex looked startled for a second, then his expression darkened into annoyance and then anger. “I don’t know, Stevie,” he said coldly. “But in any case, it would be none of your business. So why don’t you go take a flying leap?”

  “Fine.” Stevie tossed her head, too aggravated to come up with a decent retort. “You’re right. If you want to ruin your own life, it’s your business. Just don’t ask me to plead your desperate, pathetic case with Lisa when you realize your mistake.” With that, she spun on her heel and stomped away.

  She’d completely lost her appetite, so she didn’t stop until she’d burst out the door onto the sidewalk. She stopped and hovered uncertainly for a moment—she was far too worked up to return to Fenton Hall but not sure where else she should go. It was too cold to just stand around thinking about it, so she started to walk, wandering aimlessly past the shops and offices on Convent Street without really seeing anything except the image of Alex and Nicole together.

  After a moment, the chilly December weather helped to cool Stevie’s temper as well as her hot, flushed face. Before she’d gone half a block, she was starting to realize that she might have been a little out of line. I guess maybe Alex was right to be mad, she thought with a shrug. It really is none of my business who he wants to go out with. It’s just that I don’t want to see Lisa get hurt …

  As she thought about that for a second, it occurred to her that she was forgetting one very important fact. The whole breakup thing had been Lisa’s idea. True, Alex had been expressing a few doubts even before that, but he hadn’t been the one who’d insisted on giving the relationship a rest. That was what Lisa had wanted. She had wanted them to see other people for a while to gain some perspective on what they had together.

  Still, I doubt she expected Alex to start seeing some total bimbo like Nicole, Stevie thought with a slight frown. Nicole’s practically the polar opposite of Lisa. Lisa is smart, Nicole’s an airhead. Lisa is pretty in a classy, elegant way, while Nicole has to rely on tons of hair bleach and makeup and a push-up bra to get guys to notice her. Lisa really cares about Alex, and Nicole is probably just in it for laughs.

  Stevie paused at the corner, glancing both ways before heading across. As she stepped up on the opposite curb, she shoved her hands into her jacket pockets for warmth.

  Okay, okay, she admitted reluctantly, feeling sheepish, I guess it’s not up to me to decide who Alex should date. He’s a big boy, and he can make his own decisions. Even if they are incredibly stupid.

  She bit her lip, knowing what she had to do. Even if the thought of Alex dating Nicole turned her stomach, Stevie had to apologize to her brother for butting in and making a scene. Of course, that didn’t mean she was eager to rush back to Giordano’s and beg his forgiveness right then and there.

  I’ll give him a few hours to cool off, she decided. Maybe I can catch him at home before dinner. In any case, I’ll definitely make things right sometime tonight. She felt a little better as soon as she’d reached that decision.

  But only for a second. That was how long it took her to remember that there was one more person involved in the whole situation. Lisa. Should Stevie tell her what she’d seen or not? Lisa was her best friend. How could she keep something like that from her? Then again, maybe it would only make Lisa feel worse. Would Stevie be a better friend by filling her in or by keeping quiet?

  She wasn’t sure what the answer was. But thinking about it made her think about another confused friendship. There was one way that Stevie definitely was not being a good friend these days. That was by letting Scott continue under the impression that he had any chance at all with her.

  I’ve been putting it off too long, but I’ve got to talk to him, she told herself. I have to be honest with him—tell him that I’m crazy about him as a friend, but my heart belongs to Phil. Scott will have to accept that if he wants our friendship to continue.

  She bit her lip again, dreading the whole conversation. But as much as she would have loved to avoid it, she knew she couldn’t. If she wanted to be a good friend to Scott, it was something she simply had to do—and soon.

  Turning around, she started walking briskly back toward Fenton Hall, figuring that she’d wasted enough time avoiding her duty. And she wasn’t only thinking about Cassidy.

  Scott will just have to find a way to deal, she thought. All I can do is try to break it to him gently.

  NINE

  “Tanner Finnegan’s kind of cute,” Lisa murmured into the gray mare’s ear, switching her body brush to the other hand. “But I don’t know if I could deal with his constant wisecracking on a date. Then there’s Gary Korman—he’s always seemed like a really nice guy, even if he’s not my usual type. But I’m pretty sure he has a crush on that new girl in our physics class. Then there’s that Fenton Hall guy I met at Stevie’s party. What was his name again? Kevin, Ken …?” She trailed off with a sigh.

  What am I doing? she wondered, giving Eve a pat and then bending down to exchange the body brush for a grooming cloth. I’m standing here talking to a horse about which guys I should date. Of course, the way I’m feeling, Eve just might have a better handle on that particular topic than I do.

  Smiling at the image that popped into her head—herself lying on a psychiatrist’s couch while Eve sat in a chair tapping her chin thoughtfully with one hoof as she gave advice—Lisa got back to work on her grooming. She’d just returned from taking a quick ride in the schooling ring; she hadn’t quite worked up the nerve to go back out on the trails after what had happened the day before.

  Now she was trying to psych herself up to ask someone out. But so far she wasn’t having much success. “I don’t have to be madly in love with someone to invite him out for a burger, right?” Lisa asked Eve as she polished the mare’s coat to a sheen. “I just have to start somewhere. Get right back on the horse, so to speak.”

  She was still smiling at her own bad joke when she heard footsteps approaching. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Scott and Callie. “Hey, Lisa!” Scott called. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine,” Lisa said. “What are you guys up to?”

  “I have an appointment to see a couple of horses at a farm over toward Quantico,” Callie replied.

  “And as usual, I’m playing chauffeur.” Scott smiled. Then he cocked his head to one side and studied Lisa’s face. “Hey, are you okay? You look kind of glum.”

  Lisa shrugged, not wanting to get into it. “I’m just at loose ends, I guess,” she said lightly.

  “Why don’t you come with us?” Scott suggested. “There’s always room in the car for one more. Not much room, but hey, you don’t take up that much space, right?” He grinned. People were always giving him a hard ti
me about the tiny, cramped backseat of his sporty little car.

  Lisa hesitated. It was tempting to accept his offer, just for the sake of having something social to do. “Are you sure I won’t be in the way?”

  “Of course not,” Callie replied with a smile. “You can back me up when I refuse to buy whatever they show me today. They’re supposed to be some pretty nice Arabians, but the way my luck’s been going, they’ll probably be Percherons. Or maybe goats.”

  Lisa laughed. “Okay,” she said. “In that case, it’s a deal. Just let me finish up here—it should only take a minute.”

  Soon Eve’s grooming was complete and the three of them piled into Scott’s car. At the end of Pine Hollow’s gravel driveway, Scott turned left, heading for the highway. During the drive, the conversation centered around Callie’s horse search. Lisa didn’t know a whole lot about long-distance riding—she’d gone on one endurance ride when she was younger, but she still had lots of questions for Callie about what kind of horse she wanted and what her plans were once she found the right one.

  When they arrived at the stable, Scott parked the car while Lisa and Callie went to meet the owner, who was waiting for them in front of the main building. The place was a fairly large facility specializing in Arabians, and the owner had three endurance prospects to show Callie. As Scott joined the two girls at the fence of a roomy paddock, the stable owner led out a stunning dapple gray gelding with a dark mane and an alert expression. “Nice,” Callie said, looking at the horse appraisingly.

  Lisa was inclined to agree with that sentiment. She had seen a lot of expensive horseflesh in her day—Topside, for instance, had been a champion show jumper before his owner had retired him, and the Thoroughbred mare Calypso had been a star of the racetrack before coming to live at Pine Hollow.

  But it’s not like I would ever consider owning a super-fancy horse like that myself, Lisa thought, shooting Callie a glance out of the corner of her eye as the stable owner began explaining the horse’s finer points. I can’t believe Callie’s looking at this kind of quality. I mean, I knew she was serious about endurance riding, but this …