Horse Tale (14 page)

Stevie got back to work. “You’re right. Even if we’re stuck cleaning out these stalls, at least now we can think back on the great time we had at The Bar None.”

“True,” Lisa agreed dreamily. “And we can look forward to the next time we go back.” She let out a sigh. Stevie and Carole looked at her curiously.

“Are we missing something here, Lisa?” Stevie asked. “Why do you look so funny?”

Carole gasped and put a hand to her mouth. “It’s John, right?” she exclaimed. “I meant to keep an eye out to see if things were going well between you two. But with all the excitement about the auction, and Stevie buying Stewball and everything—I guess I forgot all about it.”

Lisa blushed. “Don’t worry. Things went well.”

“Really?” Stevie said. “Does this mean he’s your boyfriend now? That’s so romantic!”

“No, he’s not my boyfriend,” Lisa said. “We’re just good friends. It would be too hard to be boyfriend and girlfriend over such a long distance.”

Stevie shrugged. “I guess you’re right, although it
would
be pretty romantic.…”

“And difficult,” Lisa finished for her. She sighed again and smiled. “No, he’s not my boyfriend. But we had an awfully nice time while I was there.”

After a little more urging, her friends managed to drag the whole story out of her—kisses and all.

“Bob Harris will be jealous if he finds out,” Carole commented. “I still can’t believe this was all going on right under my nose—
again,”
she added, shaking her head in wonder.

“I can believe that,” Stevie said. “I just can’t believe
I
didn’t notice.”

Carole gave her a withering look. “I can
definitely
believe that. You only had eyes for Stewball.” She grinned. “By the way, Stevie, I’m glad to see that you’re not holding any
grudges about what we did. We were sure you’d be annoyed when you realized.”

“Realized what?” Stevie asked, looking mystified.

Carole and Lisa looked at each other. “You know,” Lisa said. “The way we worked so hard to show you that Stewball wasn’t the right horse for you to have at Pine Hollow.”

Stevie stopped working and gazed at her friends in surprise. “You did?”

“You mean you didn’t even notice?” Carole exclaimed. She and Lisa burst out laughing.

“So much for that Saddle Club project!” Lisa said. She and Carole took turns explaining their scheme to convince Stevie that Stewball was a Western horse at heart.

“Well, that was an okay plan,” Stevie commented when they had finished. “But it would have been better if I’d been in on it.”

Carole and Lisa laughed. They were relieved that Stevie wasn’t annoyed. “By the way, Stevie, if you’re finished with that stall, Max wants us to do Romeo’s before Polly brings him in from their trail ride,” Lisa said.

“Okay, I’ll do it,” Stevie said agreeably. She finished spreading out the straw in the stall she had just finished cleaning and then headed across the corridor to Romeo’s.

Carole waited for her to start grumbling. “Aren’t you still mad that Polly has her own horse and you don’t?” Carole asked when she realized that no grumbling was forthcoming from Stevie, at least not at the moment.

“No,” Stevie said absentmindedly. “You know, I think I
figured out something important on that trip. I realized that it’s really important to look for a partnership that’s good in every possible way.”

“You mean you and Stewball weren’t a good partnership because your interest is in English riding and his talents are for Western?” Carole guessed.

“Exactly,” Stevie said. “And more than that—he never could have been as happy an English horse as he is a Western one. That fact was like the one piece of a puzzle that doesn’t fit.” She shrugged. “I guess I just kind of took that stuff for granted. It’s probably because you and Starlight are so perfect for each other, and Phil and Teddy too.”

“Sometimes there’s just one thing that keeps something from being perfect,” Lisa said thoughtfully. Stevie and Carole had the feeling she wasn’t talking about Stewball. When she started blushing again, they knew they were right. Lisa was thinking about John, and how they could possibly have been more than just good friends if they didn’t live so far apart.

Stevie decided not to ask her and embarrass her further. Instead she kept the conversation on Stewball. “The bottom line is, I had to do what I did because I knew it would be best for him. I had to put his needs ahead of my wish to own him.”

“And you don’t regret it?” Carole asked. She stepped out of the stall she had just finished and leaned on the open half door of Romeo’s to talk to Stevie.

“No way,” Stevie said. “I’m very happy with my decision.

And after all, I can still ride Stewball whenever we go to The Bar None.” She began to whistle as she worked.

Carole was a little surprised that Stevie was taking this so well. “But you still don’t have your own horse,” she said. “I can’t believe you’re not just a little bit upset about that.”

“Yeah,” Lisa agreed, joining Carole outside Romeo’s stall. “You came so close to getting one. It must be awfully disappointing.”

Stevie stopped whistling and grinned. “Nope,” she replied. Then she started whistling again.

Carole and Lisa exchanged a glance. “How can you say that?” Carole asked. “I thought you really wanted your own horse.”

“I do,” Stevie said. “But think about it. If I convinced my parents to buy me a horse this time, it shouldn’t be too hard to break them down when the
really
perfect right horse comes along. It’s just a matter of time.”

“True,” Carole agreed. She hadn’t thought of it that way. “So I guess all you really have to do is find the perfect horse and you’re all set.”

Lisa smiled. “Now
that’s
a Saddle Club project worth working on!”

B
ONNIE
B
RYANT
is the author of more than a hundred books about horses, including The Saddle Club series, Saddle Club Super Editions, the Pony Tails series, and Pine Hollow, which follows the Saddle Club girls into their teens. She has also written novels and movie novelizations under her married name, B. B. Hiller.

Ms. Bryant began writing The Saddle Club in 1986. Although she had done some riding before that, she intensified her studies then and found herself learning right along with her characters Stevie, Carole, and Lisa. She claims that they are all much better riders than she is.

Ms. Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She still lives there, in Greenwich Village, with her two sons.