English Rider (2 page)

“Me too.” Tessa frowned. “As I said, I’d never forgive myself if I got you suspended from riding.”

Lisa could tell that Tessa was really worried about the whole situation. That wasn’t fair, since it wasn’t her fault. But Lisa suspected that it would be next to impossible to convince her of that right now. “Enough about Veronica,” she said briskly. “We should be talking about more interesting topics. Like the point-to-point.”

The Willow Creek Country Club was sponsoring an event called a point-to-point to raise money for charity. Lisa’s mother and Mrs. diAngelo were both on the committee in charge of the fund-raiser. A point-to-point was a sort of amateur steeplechasing event. It would consist of an entire day of jumping races, including one limited to young riders like the members of The Saddle Club.

“If we’re going to talk about the point-to-point, we’re going to have to talk about Veronica again,” Stevie said. “After all, she’s the one who fixed things so that Tessa can’t ride in the junior hurdle.”

Lisa frowned, realizing that Stevie was right. In all the excitement of the previous night’s prank, she’d almost forgotten that Veronica had arranged for Tessa to be a
fence judge for the race, thereby eliminating her as a competitor. No matter how hard they thought about it, The Saddle Club couldn’t seem to find a solution to that predicament.

“Don’t worry about me,” Tessa put in quickly. “I’m resigned to being a judge, really. It’s not worth getting you in trouble.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Carole shrugged and smiled. “Anyway, we’ll still have fun together watching the other races and stuff.”

“Right.” Tessa looked relieved. “And I’ll be right there to cheer all of you on in your race.” She glanced over at Lisa. “You and Derby seem to be getting on famously.”

Lisa could tell that Tessa was trying to change the subject. She decided to let her. “We are,” she said, leaning over once again to pat her horse. “He’s been wonderful.” Lisa normally rode a Pine Hollow stable horse named Prancer, and she loved the beautiful Thoroughbred mare. However, Prancer had an inherited weakness in her leg that had ended her earlier career as a racehorse. Max and Lisa had agreed that it would be too dangerous for the mare to race in the point-to-point. Even though it was just an informal race, running and jumping at full speed might put too much strain on her bad leg. Instead, Lisa planned to ride Derby, a recent arrival at Pine Hollow. She had been practicing on the big gelding all week.

“Come on,” Carole said. “Starlight still feels pretty lively. Why don’t we canter the rest of the way home?”

Her friends didn’t bother to answer. All three of them immediately signaled to their horses, and all three horses immediately broke into a swift canter. Once again, Carole and Starlight had to hurry to catch up.

“D
ID YOU HEAR
the news?” Stevie asked, walking into the tack room an hour later.

Carole, Lisa, and Tessa looked up. All three of them had already made their horses comfortable, and now they were busy cleaning the tack they had used on their trail ride. One of Max’s strictest rules was that his riders had to help out with stable chores. For one thing, it kept expenses down. For another, it taught the riders that riding didn’t begin and end with sitting in the saddle. A lot of work went into running a stable and caring for horses, from mucking out stalls to mixing feed and cleaning tack. Some students—including Veronica—grumbled about all the work. But The Saddle Club never minded, even the part about cleaning tack. Sitting together in the cozy leather-and-soap-scented tack room gave them the perfect opportunity to hold nice long Saddle Club meetings.

“What news?” Carole asked, leaning over to pick up a container of metal polish.

Stevie set Belle’s saddle on an empty rack and grabbed some saddle soap out of the bucket near the door. “I just
ran into Mrs. Pennington and Miles,” she said. “They were coming in to talk to Max, and Mrs. Pennington looked pretty excited, so of course I couldn’t resist asking her what was going on—”

Her friends laughed. Stevie was famous for never being able to resist trying to find out what was going on. Her parents liked to say that Stevie was twice as curious as any cat and three times less shy about showing it.

“Anyway,” Stevie went on, ignoring her friends’ laughter, “Mrs. Pennington said that the rest of her carriage-driving stuff just arrived.”

“Really?” Carole looked interested. Mrs. Pennington had been a talented show jumper when she was younger. These days her arthritis kept her out of the saddle, but it didn’t keep her away from horses. She was deeply involved in a whole new equine sport, competitive driving. The week before, she had given a very interesting talk and demonstration to Pine Hollow’s Pony Club meeting. Her matched Cleveland Bays, Hodge and Podge, were staying at Pine Hollow while the old stable on the Penningtons’ property was being repaired. Mrs. Pennington had hitched the two large geldings to Max’s pony cart for the demonstration, since her own vehicles hadn’t yet arrived at her new home.

Stevie nodded as she buffed her saddle. “If we hurry up and finish here, we can go find out more. She and Miles are with Hodge and Podge right now.”

“You mean you didn’t get all the details?” Carole asked in surprise.

Tessa looked worried. “I hope you’re not still feeling awkward talking to her because of what happened.” For a while after the water balloon incident, Stevie, Carole, and Lisa had done their best to stay away from Mrs. Pennington and her grandson.

“Oh, no, it’s nothing like that.” Stevie waved one hand, almost upsetting the saddle soap, which she had balanced precariously on the saddle rack. She gave her friends a sheepish look. “It’s just that Max came along and shooed me away before I could ask any questions. He was muttering something about filthy tack …”

“Say no more,” Carole said, nodding wisely.

Stevie sighed. “It really stinks to have Max mad at us,” she said. “I can’t believe he’s holding a grudge for this long.”

“But Stevie,” Lisa pointed out logically, “Max always grumbles at us about cleaning our tack right away.”

“But it was the
way
he grumbled,” Stevie insisted. “It was so … so
cold
. Not the friendly way he usually does it.”

Carole smiled at that. As far as she could tell, Max never sounded particularly friendly when he was trying to get his riders to do their work. Still, she thought she knew what Stevie meant. Max had been really angry about the water balloon incident, and he still didn’t seem to be over
it. Carole felt terrible about that, and she knew her friends did, too. Max was one of The Saddle Club’s favorite people, and usually the feeling was mutual. She hoped they could regain his trust and respect soon. Until they did, their situation was like being on probation twice over—probation regarding their riding privileges, and probation regarding their friendship with Max.

“I’m just about finished.” Tessa stood to return Topside’s bridle to its spot on the tack room wall. “Give me that bridle, Stevie, and we’ll be out of here twice as fast.”

Soon after that, all the girls’ tack was sparkling clean. They put it away, then headed toward the large box stalls where Hodge and Podge were staying.

When they arrived, they found that the big bays already had a visitor. Veronica was leaning into Podge’s stall. From where they were standing, the Saddle Club girls could see a hand holding a brush and grooming the gelding’s body, but they couldn’t see the rest of the groomer. “He’s such an adorable horse,” Veronica was crooning, stroking Podge’s broad head.

Stevie rolled her eyes. “Guess who’s still sucking up to the new rich boy in town?” she whispered to her friends sarcastically.

“Are you sure it’s Miles?” Carole whispered back with a giggle. “Maybe Veronica’s secretly in love with Mrs. Pennington.”

“Shhh!” Lisa cautioned her friends, shooting a worried look forward. Veronica knew all about The Saddle Club’s
probation, and she had been doing her best to provoke them into violating it. Lisa knew that the snobby girl would love nothing more than to see The Saddle Club barred from riding for a couple of weeks.

Hodge, who was stabled across the aisle from his brother, had come to the front of his stall to watch The Saddle Club’s approach. Luckily, Veronica didn’t seem to have heard them coming. She was leaning even farther into Podge’s stall to talk to Miles. “You’re so good with these horses, Miles,” she said admiringly. “You must work with them a lot.”

“Actually, Hodge and Podge are Grandmother’s babies,” Miles said. “Grandmother only lets me groom them when her arthritis is really acting up. Besides, she thinks I don’t have enough to do since our second team is still in Pennsylvania. Most of the time I work with them.”

“Well, you really know what you’re doing,” Veronica cooed. “And you have such strong hands!”

Stevie pretended to gag. Carole elbowed her in the ribs.

“Maybe we should come back later,” Tessa murmured.

This time Veronica heard them. She turned around and saw The Saddle Club standing in the aisle.

Carole braced herself for Veronica’s usual obnoxious comments. After the events of the previous evening, she was sure Veronica would be positively furious at all of them—especially Tessa. But something very surprising happened. Veronica smiled!

“Oh, hello,” she said.

Carole gulped, not sure how to respond. She glanced at Lisa. Lisa was looking over at Stevie. Stevie was just staring at Veronica in astonishment.

Veronica wasn’t looking at any of them. She was directing her smile straight at Tessa. “Hold on a second, okay?” she said. “I need to talk to you.”

“Uh-oh,” Carole muttered. But she still felt confused. Veronica’s voice didn’t sound threatening at all. In fact, it sounded—could it be?—
friendly
!

Veronica leaned into Podge’s stall again. “I’ll see you later, Miles,” she called. “Thanks so much for telling me more about Cleveland Bays. I really learned a lot.”

“Sure, anytime,” Miles called back from inside the stall.

Veronica turned, and Carole caught a glimpse of her self-satisfied smile. She could guess what was going on—Veronica was trying to make Miles forget what had happened at the midnight steeplechase. And she obviously thought she was succeeding.

Veronica hurried toward The Saddle Club. “Listen, Tessa,” she said. “I was thinking about something this morning.”

“Uh, yes?” Tessa said uncertainly.

“I really think we got off on the wrong foot last week.” Veronica still wasn’t looking at the other members of The Saddle Club. “I’m afraid I wasn’t quite as welcoming as I
should have been. I feel kind of bad about it—especially since you’re a visitor to my country and everything.”

Stevie let out a strangled snort. Carole elbowed her in the ribs again.

Veronica ignored them. “Anyway, I was thinking we should try to start over and forget about the past. I mean, it would be a shame to let a few little misunderstandings keep us from being friends.” She shrugged and smiled. “You know, since we probably have a lot in common and everything.”

Tessa looked slightly stunned. But her good manners took over. “Why, certainly, Veronica,” she said politely. “That’s very nice of you.”

As she watched the whole scene, Stevie had to bite her lip to keep from saying something sarcastic. She had no idea what was going on, but she was definitely suspicious. Since when was Veronica so forgiving and friendly? Was she still hoping to wheedle her way into an invitation to a royal garden party? Or was she up to something even sneakier?

“Oh, good.” Veronica took a step closer to Tessa. “I’m so glad you feel that way. And I have a great idea. I was just about to head home—why don’t you join me for a spot of tea?”

“Oh!” This time Tessa looked pleased. “Thank you so much. That would be lovely.” She turned to her friends. “Do you mind? I’m sure I’ll be back in plenty of time for
our sleepover.” The four girls were planning to stay at Lisa’s house that night.

For the first time, Veronica glanced at Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. “Oh,” she said flatly. “Um, I would invite you all, but I really think Tessa and I need a chance to get to know each other. You know, one on one.”

Stevie didn’t bother to respond. “Hey, Tessa?” she said instead, grabbing her friend’s arm. “Can we see you for a second? Alone?”

“Certainly.” Tessa smiled apologetically at Veronica. “Would you excuse us?”

“Sure,” Veronica replied generously. She started down the hall. “I’ll meet you in the locker room in a few minutes, okay?”

Moments later The Saddle Club was huddled in a corner of Starlight’s stall. “Are you crazy?” Stevie whispered. “You can’t go to Veronica’s house! It’s got to be a trick!”

Lisa glanced over the stall door to make sure Veronica wasn’t eavesdropping. “For once, Stevie’s not just being paranoid,” she agreed. “Veronica is up to something. You can count on it.”

“I don’t know …,” Tessa said uncertainly. “She looked so sincere.” She shrugged. “And if she is being sincere, maybe there’s some hope for peace for the rest of my visit. That would be a relief, wouldn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Carole said. “But only
if
she’s sincere. Which she isn’t. Veronica is never nice for no reason.”

Tessa still looked confused, but before she could
say anything else, the girls heard Veronica calling her name.

“I’d better go,” Tessa whispered to her friends. “Don’t worry—it will be all right. If she’s up to something, I’ll figure it out soon enough. And if she’s not …” She shrugged again, looking hopeful. Then she led the way out of the stall.

“Oh, there you are,” Veronica said when she spotted them. “Sorry to interrupt your little meeting or whatever. But I just thought of something, Tessa—I’d love for you to meet our daytime maid, Julie.” She smiled. “She’s from England, too. I’m sure she’d love to chat with you about all the news from back home. But we have to hurry. Her shift ends in half an hour, and we don’t want to miss her.”

“All right,” Tessa said. “I’m ready.” She paused just long enough to give her friends one last hopeful look. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “It will be fine.” Then she turned and hurried off after Veronica.