Stable Groom (6 page)

T
HE FOLLOWING
T
UESDAY
, The Saddle Club reported for their regular afternoon lesson at Pine Hollow. The class was working on relaxation for the horse and rider. Denise was back, helping Max with the instructing. While he ran the lesson, she took students down to the far end of the outdoor ring to work with them individually. Max and Denise seemed to enjoy teaching together, and all the students got attention.

Veronica showed up fifteen minutes after class started. Max spoke to her sharply. He seemed to have decided that since Denise was going to be a regular member of Pine Hollow, he could go ahead and reprimand his students in front of her. “Everyone is on
summer vacation, so I don’t want to hear any excuses,” he said.

“But it’s not my fault!” Veronica wailed. “Red didn’t have Garnet ready when I got here. How can I help that?”

The Saddle Club exchanged glances. About a half hour before, all three of them had seen the chestnut Arabian waiting in her stall, fully tacked up. Veronica, however, had been nowhere in sight.

“It’s not my fault that the employees at this stable can’t be trusted. It’s not my fault—” In the middle of her whining complaint, Veronica stopped short.

Stevie, Lisa, and Carole whipped around in their saddles to see what had stopped her. They followed her glance to the other end of the ring, where Denise stood, giving Veronica a big grin. “Hello, Veronica!” she called, waving.

Veronica smiled wanly and waved back. She looked uneasily at the rest of the group. Then, without another word of complaint against Red, she turned and began pulling down her stirrups to mount. It was clear that she had somehow put two and two together and realized that blaming the stable hand wouldn’t endear her to the new instructor. By now everyone knew that Denise herself had been a stable hand and groom.

When Veronica had mounted, class resumed. Carole
had just gone to work Starlight with Denise. Max had everyone else walking in a large circle on a loose rein while they did stretching exercises. First they rolled their shoulders back several times; then they took their feet out of the stirrups and rotated them slowly. They did a number of other stretches for relaxation, like toe-touching and touching their ears to their shoulders. At first some of the riders, including Lisa, were afraid to do the exercises fully.

“I don’t think Prancer likes me leaning down like this,” she told Max as the bay mare started to fuss. Prancer was a young Thoroughbred off the track. Lisa had been riding her in lessons and Pony Club for some time now, but she was still green, and new things tended to upset her.

“That’s because she’s not used to it,” Max responded. “But don’t worry, she will be soon: I want you all to practice warming up with these new exercises every time you ride to see how your being relaxed affects your horses.”

When Carole rejoined the group, Max sent Veronica down to Denise. “Oh, Denise, I’m so happy to be working with you!” Veronica called as she trotted off.

Carole was absolutely glowing. She fell into place behind Lisa and Stevie, whispering to them that Denise
was even better at teaching riding than she was at unmounted lessons.

A
FTER CLASS
L
ISA
and Stevie echoed Carole’s praise of Denise. “She has a way of explaining things that really makes sense,” Lisa said reflectively as she hopped off Prancer.

Stevie agreed. “And no matter how great Max is, it’s always good to get a fresh opinion, isn’t it, Belle?” Stevie gave the sweaty chestnut’s neck a good pat. “By the way, before class I spread the word about the Groom’s Bath. Everyone wants to help. We’re going to meet in the grain room after untacking to plan it. No one should be there at this time of day, and if Max comes in, we’ll just say Denise is making us review Saturday’s Horse Wise topic, okay?”

Before Lisa and Carole could respond, Veronica strode by, complaining loudly. Since Denise and Max had both gone in right after the class ended, Veronica obviously thought she now had full license to attack Red.

“You could step on it for a change, you know,” she called to the stable hand. “I’ve been waiting for five minutes, and in case you don’t realize it, I’ve got better things to do with my time than stand here all day.”

Red, who had appeared at the rail, said nothing as
usual, but calmly and with a hint of a smile took Garnet’s reins from Veronica. After lodging a few more complaints about Garnet’s care, Veronica left the ring. Red scratched the horse between her ears for a minute. Then he rolled up the stirrups, loosened the girth, and, with a wave of greeting at The Saddle Club, headed back to the stable.

Lisa, Carole, and Stevie had watched the scene with a mixture of bemusement and annoyance. It was funny, in a way, that Veronica harped on everything that Red did wrong, yet never failed to expect him to do her work. Red’s half-smile seemed to indicate that he felt the same way. The only consolation was that a cure was on the way. The Equestrian Center would receive the letter this week. In fact, they probably had it already.

“Stevie, you did say that you spoke to everyone about the Groom’s Bath before the lesson, right?” Lisa asked.

Stevie smiled, understanding Lisa’s point perfectly. “That’s what I said, Lisa. So everyone who was there on time, tacking up for the lesson, knows about it.”

“And the people who were late?” Carole asked, joining in.

Stevie grinned. “It’s not my fault!” she wailed.

“A
LL RIGHT
! P
IPE
down, everybody!” Stevie announced a half hour later. Instead of just the people in their lesson, everyone who was at Pine Hollow that afternoon seemed to have shown up for the Bath meeting. “In case I didn’t tell you, this is supposed to be a secret. You know? S-e-c-r-e-t, secret?” Stevie said in a stage whisper.

As soon as the din in the grain room had subsided, Stevie turned the floor over to Lisa. Lisa explained that the Groom’s Bath was a party to celebrate Max’s upcoming wedding to Deborah Hale and that they had decided the name “bridal shower” wouldn’t do. Then she asked for volunteers to cook things, bring things, and decorate things on the twentieth.

Polly Giacomin waved her hand. “But why are you having it then? Max may not get married for another year—or ten years, for all we know.”

Stevie spoke up. “Actually, Max is just about definitely getting married on the twenty-seventh of the month.”

A buzz went through the crowd. Even though he had been engaged for several months, it was a different thing entirely to imagine Max married—and even stranger to think about a Mrs. Max living at Pine Hollow.

“How do you know he’s getting married on the twenty-seventh?” Polly persisted.

“We have it on, ah”—Stevie paused to clear her throat—“on very good authority that this is exactly what’s going to happen,” she said. There was no need to explain that this “very good authority” was her snooping on Max’s desk.

Coming to Stevie’s rescue, Carole said firmly, “Lisa, tell us what food we need to bring.”

“Right. Okay: cookies, chips, soda …”

In a matter of minutes Lisa had everyone signed up to bring something or to help with the preparations. Compared to some of the events that The Saddle Club had planned, the Bath was a fairly simple party. Still, it would be a nice gesture that Max and Deborah would appreciate. At the same time, it would remind them of certain people whom they had—no doubt mistakenly—left off their wedding invitation list.

After signing up to help with the Bath, the riders wandered off to tend to their horses or meet their rides home. The Saddle Club stayed behind in the grain room to go over the party plans.

“Looks to me like this ‘bath’ is going to be a big splash,” Stevie said, attempting to keep a straight face.

Lisa and Carole groaned at her bad pun. “As long
as it’s a surprise,” Lisa said. “Because if it’s not, it could be a complete
washout
.”

“If you don’t watch out, I’ll wash you both out!” Carole threatened. The girls doubled over, holding their sides from laughing too much.

Without warning, the grain room door swung open. The Saddle Club immediately dropped all talk of the Bath when they saw the person standing in the doorway: It was Max’s fiancée, Deborah Hale. She was dressed in breeches and boots and had her long red hair pulled back in a ponytail. When she saw The Saddle Club, she smiled. “Have you guys been eating the sweet feed again?” she kidded.

“Deborah!” the three of them fairly yelled.

“We haven’t seen you in so long,” Carole said, giving the woman a hug. It was great to see her, especially since she was dressed in riding clothes. When she had first come to Pine Hollow, Deborah hadn’t known anything about horses. She wouldn’t have known a few months ago that sweet feed is a mixture of pellets, oats, corn, and molasses, let alone been able to make a joke about it.

“I’ve been so busy at the newspaper that I haven’t been able to get out here anywhere near as often as I would like. Poor Max usually ends up driving into D.C. to see me,” Deborah explained. As a top investigative
reporter for
The Washington Times
, Deborah was a busy career woman. In fact, it was through her job that she had met Max. She had been investigating a drug ring at the racetrack and had been given Max’s name as someone to consult for background information on horses.

“But, judging from the clothes you’re in, I’ll bet you’re here to ride today,” Lisa said.

Deborah glanced behind her. Lowering her voice to a near whisper, she said, “Don’t tell anyone, but Red has given me the best wedding present I could imagine. He knows how much I want to share Max’s love of horses. To make a long story short, he offered to give me riding lessons. Things have slowed down a little at the paper, so I’ll be coming out a few afternoons a week.”

The girls were delighted with Deborah’s news. “That’s a fantastic idea!” Carole breathed. “Max will be so happy.”

“Red sure knows how to pick the perfect gift,” Lisa added.

“Just remember, the lessons are a surprise for Max. He doesn’t even know I want to learn to ride,” Deborah told them.

The Saddle Club swore to secrecy.

“How are you going to keep Max from finding out,
though?” Stevie asked. A person on a horse wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to keep hidden.

“Red has it all worked out. He’s going to try to teach me while Max is busy teaching other lessons, and we’re going to have our lessons in the old schooling ring out back. I’ve told Max that I want to come out to Pine Hollow more often in the next few weeks. He assumes it’s just to see him and hang out. But,” Deborah added, “I was hoping that if we need to distract Max, you three might be able to concoct something.”

“You mean you’re kind of—well, asking us to play tricks on Max?” Stevie whispered, her eyes sparkling at the very thought.

Deborah nodded. Then, with a glance at Stevie’s avid expression, she added a warning. “Of course, you wouldn’t have to do anything too drastic. I do want to marry this man!” In her previous visits to Pine Hollow, Deborah had had plenty of opportunity to witness the mad confusion that The Saddle Club was capable of creating.

With a pointed look at Stevie, Carole and Lisa quickly assured her that nothing would get out of hand. “Great. Then I guess I’ll see you on horseback,” Deborah said excitedly. She went off to find Red,
leaving the three girls to discuss this latest development.

“Now I’m more sure than ever that we were right about the wedding being on the twenty-seventh,” Stevie said triumphantly. “And do you realize what this means?”

“Yes. It means that Deborah is even more in love with Max and more perfect for him than we realized,” Carole said. To Carole, whose life revolved around her love for horses, learning to ride was the best present a woman could give her future, horsey husband.

“It also means that Red is even smarter and nicer than we realized,” Lisa put in. “He saw that Deborah wanted to learn to ride and so he volunteered to teach her.”

“Okay, okay—Red’s great, Deborah’s great, they’re all great,” Stevie said. “But the incredible thing about Deborah’s riding lessons is that with the Groom’s Bath and Red’s certification”—she paused dramatically—“I now have three secrets to keep!”