Reining In

by Bonnie Bryant

  “When we first met you were, what, twelve? thirteen?” Skye smiled at the memory. “Definitely too young for a cool teenager like I was then to even consider as, well, you know. No matter how cute you were. Somehow, though, a few years’ difference in our ages just doesn’t seem that important anymore. You know?”

  “I guess so,” Lisa said softly, her head spinning. This was too weird! She and Skye were friends. They had always been friends. Even if she, too, had harbored a few thoughts about … well, anyway, that was all in the past now. “I have a boyfriend, Skye. And I love him a lot.”

  “I know.” Skye nodded quickly, still looking at her intently. “You and Alex are serious about each other, and I respect that. I’m glad you found someone to care about. And I definitely don’t want to make things awkward between us. I hope we’ll always be friends, Lisa. I’m counting on it. All I’m trying to say here is that I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what might have been.” He paused and looked away, avoiding her eyes. “And what could maybe be right now if things were different.”

  “Oh,” Lisa said again, flustered. She couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. It was flattering but terribly confusing at the same time. Because if she wanted to be honest with herself, she had to admit that she had always noticed a special attraction between herself and Skye, something more than the simple, caring friendship the actor had with Carole and Stevie.

  But what did that matter now? She was in love with Alex. She knew that as surely as she knew her heart was still beating.

  “Anyway, I hope I haven’t freaked you out too much.” Skye stood up and gave Lisa a slightly sheepish smile. “I didn’t mean to. But we’ve always been honest with each other, so I just thought you should know how things stand. I guess I could have played it safe and left it unsaid, but sometimes playing it safe just isn’t the right thing to do. That doesn’t mean I expect anything to change between us, though. I know that’s not going to happen. I just wanted to get it out in the open.”

  “I understand.” She did, too—at least from Skye’s point of view. He really hadn’t told her anything she didn’t already know or at least suspect. And she did respect him for taking the risk of being honest. A lot of guys wouldn’t have had the guts to reveal their feelings that way.

  Her own point of view was more complicated, however. As she said goodbye and watched Skye walk out of the tack room, Lisa’s head was still spinning. She loved Alex. She loved her mother. She loved her home in Willow Creek. But things just didn’t seem to be as simple as all that. Everywhere she turned these days she seemed to encounter tempting choices, new and interesting people, other ways of living that she hadn’t known existed two months before. In a way, it would be easier if she’d never found out about them. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to wish for that. Yes, maybe she could have spent a week or two with her father and then returned home to her nice, comfortable life in Willow Creek. That would have been playing it safe, as Skye might say. But she knew it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do. She would have missed out on so much.…

  She sighed and grabbed a dirty throatlatch from the rack beside her, hoping to distract herself with work.

  Why did her life have to be full of such difficult choices?

  ELEVEN

  “Stevie, if you’re having trouble keeping up, we could just meet you later,” Jeremiah suggested casually.

  Stevie shot him a dirty look. “I wouldn’t be having trouble if you didn’t rush off every time I stopped to look in a window.”

  Carole giggled. “Hey, Stevie, since when are you so into shopping?”

  Stevie didn’t answer. She was hot, tired, and annoyed. Here she was on L.A.’s famous shopping strip, Rodeo Drive—which didn’t impress her all that much—and she was having all she could do to keep Jeremiah and Carole in sight. Jeremiah was clearly determined to ditch her if he could, and Carole seemed totally oblivious to it. Stevie suspected that her friend was so intent on making this a romantic, glamorous afternoon to remember that she’d put her brain on hold and was just going with the flow. That was the only explanation. Otherwise she’d surely see the nasty looks Jeremiah kept giving Stevie and hear the snide little comments he made whenever he thought Carole wasn’t listening.

  Jeremiah was on the move again. He had just grabbed Carole by the elbow and propelled her into a clothing store. Stevie rolled her eyes and followed as quickly as she could, pausing just long enough to let an elderly woman pass in front of her. She couldn’t afford to be slow. She wouldn’t put it past Jeremiah to duck into a dressing room or out the back door to get away from her. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t put it past Carole to follow cluelessly without even noticing whether Stevie was still with them.

  Stevie knew Carole had been working hard all summer. Taking care of horses was what she loved to do more than anything in the world, but even Carole couldn’t really call it glamorous or romantic. So Stevie was willing to cut her some slack if she wanted to kick back for a while and have fun flirting with a good-looking TV star. Still, after what Skye had told her, Stevie didn’t want things to go too far. That was why she had invited herself along, and why she had been gritting her teeth and putting up with Jeremiah’s obnoxious behavior so far.

  Stevie glanced around the clothing store, searching for Carole’s familiar dark curls. The store wasn’t very large or crowded, but there was no sign of Carole or Jeremiah.

  Stevie frowned. There was only one door that she could see, and she knew they hadn’t gone past her to go out. So where were they?

  “Dressing rooms,” she murmured, spotting a sign pointing down a hallway in the back. She hurried over, but all the stalls in the small changing area at the end of the short hall were empty. Where could they have gone?

  Stevie returned to the main part of the store. It was empty except for the sales clerks. She bit her lip. Now what should she do?

  She hurried to the door and looked out. Crowds strolled past on the sidewalk. The afternoon sun beat down on the scene. There was no sign of Carole.

  “I really don’t need this right now,” Stevie muttered irritably. She stuck her hand in her jeans pocket, fingering the scrap of paper with Lisa’s father’s address and phone number. She could call Evelyn and ask her to come pick her up. Or she could call Lisa on the lot—no matter how busy she was cleaning bridles or whatever, she would surely come to Stevie’s rescue.

  Stevie sighed. No matter how tempting the thought, she couldn’t abandon Carole. She wasn’t acting very sensible right now, and she didn’t have much experience with guys. She didn’t know how rotten some of them could be, and she was obviously so blinded by Jeremiah’s good looks that she couldn’t see what a jerk he was.

  She glanced down the street in one direction, then the other. This was going to be like finding a couple of lovestruck needles in a haystack. Still, she had to start somewhere.

  I’ll try going back the way we came, she decided. If Jeremiah’s half as sneaky as I think he is, he’ll go that way just because he’ll think I won’t expect it. She smiled grimly as she set off. And if that’s the case he’ll find out pretty soon I’m not as easy to dupe as poor Carole is!

  She hurried down the block, scanning the crowds for familiar faces. As she walked, she also glanced into each store.

  Despite her careful searching, she almost missed them. She was walking right past a bench on the sidewalk when she noticed them sitting there. They didn’t notice her at all. That was because they were too wrapped up in each other. They were kissing passionately, their eyes closed and their arms holding each other tight.

  At Stevie’s loud gasp of surprise, Carole started and looked up, pulling back from Jeremiah’s embrace. “Stevie!” she cried.

  Jeremiah looked up, too. “Stevie,” he said flatly.

  Stevie noticed that his hand was still caressing Carole’s back. She felt stupid for interrupting so bluntly, especially since she could tell that Carole was annoyed. Still, she couldn’t feel that
guilty about it when she glanced at Jeremiah and saw the look of pure venom on his face. She shuddered. Whatever Carole thought about it, Stevie couldn’t feel too bad about interrupting her makeout session with him. It was becoming painfully obvious—to Stevie, anyway—that Skye was right. TV star or not, Jeremiah Jamison was trouble. She was glad she and her friends would never have to see him again after this trip was over.

  Well, except on TV, she added to herself ruefully.

  “Um, hi,” she said, feeling awkward. “I was looking for you guys.”

  “Obviously.” Jeremiah’s voice was full of scorn. He abruptly withdrew his arms from around Carole and stood up. Stevie just glared at him. She was tired of pretending she didn’t know what he was all about.

  Carole jumped to her feet, too. She looked flustered. “Sorry we got separated, Stevie,” she said breathlessly, obviously trying to smooth things over. “We figured we’d wait here until you caught up. Right, Jeremiah?”

  Jeremiah just shot Carole a cold glance. “Whatever,” he muttered. “See you around.” He stalked away.

  Carole’s jaw dropped. “Wait!” she called uncertainly. “What about the tour? You promised to show us …” Her voice trailed off. He was already lost in the crowd. She turned to Stevie with a look of confusion on her face.

  Stevie felt bad for her, but she couldn’t help feeling relieved, too. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll have a better time without him.”

  “Do you think it was something I said?” Carole stared off again in the direction Jeremiah had gone. “I mean, he left so suddenly.”

  Stevie shrugged. The last thing she felt like doing was making excuses for Jeremiah, though she suspected that was what Carole wanted. “Who knows? But like I said, we’re probably better off without him.” We’d all be a lot better off without any of these California people messing up our lives, she added silently. If only Lisa’s parents had never gotten divorced. If only Lisa’s dad had never moved out here.

  She sighed and averted her eyes from Carole’s perplexed, hurt expression and completed the thought.

  Most important of all, if only Lisa—and the rest of us—had stayed home in Willow Creek where we belong!

  TWELVE

  “I mean, it must have been some kind of misunderstanding,” Carole mused later that evening. She was sitting with her friends on the small porch off the kitchen of the Atwoods’ house, looking at the stars and digesting the delicious dinner they had all helped make.

  “Sure, Carole,” Stevie said lazily, leaning back more comfortably in her chair. “That was probably it.”

  Carole nodded. She had already convinced herself that Jeremiah’s abrupt departure had all been a silly mistake. Secretly she suspected that Stevie was probably to blame for it somehow. Still, she wasn’t going to hold a grudge about it. It had been clear that Stevie and Jeremiah weren’t getting along, and Carole was pretty sure it was because Jeremiah hadn’t wanted Stevie to come along on their tour. He had wanted Carole all to himself.

  She closed her eyes and sighed happily, allowing herself to sink into another daydream about their kiss. She had only kissed a few other guys before this, but she was sure that Jeremiah had to be the best kisser in the world. His arms had been so strong but gentle as they pulled her close, and his eyes had looked so gentle as they drew her toward him. … It had been a magical moment that Carole wanted to savor fully so that she would never forget a single detail. She knew she was going to fall asleep that night already dreaming of Jeremiah.

  Stevie cast Carole a worried glance. She had that dreamy look on her face again—the look that told the world she was thinking about Jeremiah. Stevie didn’t much care for that look, but there didn’t seem to be a lot she could do about it. She hadn’t had the heart to burst Carole’s bubble by telling her what Skye had said. Instead, she had held a brief, whispered conference with Lisa while Carole was in the shower before dinner. But Lisa had seemed almost as distracted as Carole herself and hadn’t had much to contribute.

  Well, we’re only here for two more days, Stevie told herself. I’ll just have to do my best to keep an eye on Carole tomorrow. The girls had already decided to go to work with Lisa again the next day.

  Lisa was worried about Carole, too. But she was even more worried about herself. The strangest thoughts had been popping into her mind for the past few days, and especially since her talk with Skye. The strangest one of all was the one that told her that heading back to Willow Creek wasn’t her only option. She didn’t want to just slide along with the current, playing it safe and doing what everyone expected her to do. If she went back to Willow Creek, she wanted it to be her choice. And if she decided to talk to her father about staying with him and going to school in California in the fall … well, that was simply another option to consider.

  She checked her watch. Nine o’clock.

  What do you think I should do, Alex? she wondered, raising her eyes to the moon. She missed him so much. But she knew very well what his answer would be. Like Skye, he was too biased to give her any useful advice. So were her friends—that was why she hadn’t said anything to them yet about her thoughts. But she knew she would have to bring it up soon. They had already asked a few times about the exact date of her return, and she hadn’t given them an answer.

  Lisa sighed. She was going to have to make her decision quickly. And she was going to have to do it on her own.

  When the girls arrived on the set the next day, Carole immediately began looking for Jeremiah. She wanted to thank him for the day before, maybe feel him out about getting together again that evening. Lisa had said something about going dancing at a teen club on the beach, and Carole couldn’t imagine anything more romantic than dancing the night away with her very own teen heartthrob.

  She didn’t see him for the first couple of hours. Luckily she was kept so busy helping with the horses that the time passed quickly. Finally, as she was picking out the feet of a tall chestnut, she heard his voice coming from nearby.

  “What is this, anyway, a self-service stable?” Jeremiah was saying rather peevishly. “I’m supposed to be starting my run-through in fifteen minutes.”

  Carole dropped the chestnut’s hoof and poked her head out of the stall. She saw Jeremiah standing a few yards down the aisle with his hands on his hips, glaring at Lisa. His mouth was twisted into an angry scowl.

  “It’s okay, Jeremiah,” Lisa said soothingly. “I was just going to get the tack. Jeeves will be ready in plenty of time.”

  “Jeremiah!” Carole called, quickly letting herself out of the stall and latching it behind her. She hurried down the aisle toward him, a big smile on her face.

  The smile faded when she got a closer look at his expression. It hadn’t changed as he turned his attention from Lisa to her. “Oh, it’s you,” he said coldly.

  Carole stopped short. This wasn’t the greeting she had expected, not after yesterday. Not after his lips had explored her own so tenderly. Not after he had told her she was the prettiest and sweetest and most interesting girl he’d met in a long, long time.

  “Urn, hi,” she went on uncertainly. “How are you today?”

  Jeremiah didn’t bother to respond. A tall, striking brunette, an actress who played one of the minor characters on the show, had just turned down the stable aisle. Jeremiah was staring at her intently, an appreciative smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “How’s it going, Erica?” he called casually as she came a few steps closer.

  The actress looked surprised for a second but quickly composed her face into a nonchalant smile. “Hey, Jeremiah. Could be worse, I guess.”

  A strange feeling was taking over Carole’s mind, making her feel as though she were watching the scene from the middle of a dense smog that kept her from seeing things clearly. Was this really the same guy she had spent the afternoon with just yesterday? How could his attitude toward her have changed so dramatically from one day to the next? Had she done or said something awful without realizing it?

&nbs
p; “Jeremiah?” she said hesitantly, glancing nervously from Jeremiah to Erica to Lisa, her gaze finally settling on Jeremiah once again. She had to find out what was going on. That was all she could concentrate on. Something was terribly wrong, and she couldn’t fix it until she knew what it was. “Um, do you think we could talk?”

  “Carole, no!” Lisa’s whisper was barely audible, though when Carole glanced at her, her face was stricken. But why? What was happening here?

  Jeremiah finally tore his gaze away from Erica and turned to look at Carole once again. “Why would I waste my time talking to a kid like you?” His tone was still casual, almost lazy. But his gaze never wavered from her face. As she watched, almost mesmerized, he gave her an ice-cold smile that never reached his eyes. “By the way, could you thank your friend Stevie for me?”

  “Stevie?” Carole felt numb and stupid as she struggled to keep up with this strange conversation. “Why?”

  This time his eyes were downright cruel. He paused briefly, glancing at Erica and Lisa as if to be sure they were hearing every word. “For rescuing me yesterday, of course,” he said. “As soon as we kissed, I knew it was a mistake. You were slobbering all over me like some kind of preteen who’s been practicing on her pillow a little too much.”

  The words hit her like a rough slap. Carole felt her eyes well up with tears, though she fought to keep them from spilling over. From somewhere very far away, she heard Lisa gasp and Erica titter nervously. But the sounds didn’t really register. She was too stunned.

  Lisa was the first to react. “You—You jerk!” she said to Jeremiah through her teeth, taking a step forward with clenched fists. “How dare you talk to her like that!”

  Jeremiah ignored her. He turned toward Erica, his nasty sneer replaced with a brilliant smile that seemed to show off every one of his even white teeth. “Sorry you had to see that,” he said smoothly. “I just can’t help losing my temper sometimes when these girls won’t take no for an answer. Know what I mean?”