Autumn Trail (13 page)

“Uh-oh,” Carole whispered to Lisa. Stevie was famous for the bizarre and frequently revolting combinations of ice cream and toppings she always ordered at TD’s, and Carole and Lisa had a feeling they knew what was coming.

And they were right. “… so I’d like the half-dozen flapjack special,” Stevie continued sweetly.

“Gotcha,” the waiter said cheerfully, jotting a note on his pad.

“Wait, I’m not finished,” Stevie said as the young man started to turn away. “I’d like to make a couple of adjustments to the special.”

“No problem,” the waiter said. “What would you like?”

“First of all,” Stevie said briskly, “I’d like two of those pancakes to be blueberry, two to be buckwheat, and the other two to be raisin-walnut. Then, on top of them all, I’d like some honey, some boysenberry syrup, some peach jam, and some mint sauce. Oh, and do you happen to have any chocolate syrup?”

The waiter nodded weakly.

“Good. Add a double portion of that. Oh, and maple syrup, too, of course, and some fresh strawberries.”

“Of course,” the waiter said with a gulp, writing it down. “Will—will that be all?”

“Well, let’s see,” Stevie mused. “Do you have any maraschino cherries, by any chance?”

“Uh, I’ll have to check with the kitchen,” the waiter
said, rushing away before Stevie had the chance to say another word.

“That wasn’t very nice of you, Stevie,” said Lisa, trying to keep from smiling. “Where’s your Thanksgiving spirit?”

“That poor guy probably thought those Cub Scouts were going to be his toughest customers of the day,” Carole said, shaking her head. “He didn’t even see it coming. At least the waitress at TD’s knows what to expect. More or less.” The regular waitress at TD’s had heard Stevie order so many of her crazy concoctions that she paled as soon as she saw The Saddle Club enter the ice-cream parlor.

Stevie just grinned again. “And my brothers are always telling me that men have stronger stomachs than women,” she commented. “I think we’ve just proved them wrong. Isn’t that wonderful?”

And in spite of themselves, Carole and Lisa had to admit that it was.

T
HE NEXT DAY
, much to Carole’s relief, the diAngelos returned from the Bahamas and Veronica went home. Veronica had returned to being nice after the incident about Pepper’s stall, but Carole was glad that her life would now be able to return to normal. Veronica hadn’t really demanded caviar for breakfast and daily massages as Stevie still seemed to suspect, but her presence had meant some life-style changes for Carole, who was used to being an only child and not having to share her father with anyone.

When she told her father what she was thinking after Veronica left, he gave her a hug and told her he was glad he didn’t have to share her anymore, either. He also said that he was proud of her for inviting Veronica to share their Thanksgiving. It was quite obvious to him that
Veronica’s home life was far from perfect, and he just hoped that being with them had helped her a little. Carole agreed, thinking—not for the first time—that her father was a very wise man. She gave him another big hug for that.

Carole was also glad that she wouldn’t have to bring Veronica along with her to Pine Hollow that day. Max and Mrs. Reg were scheduled to return at around three o’clock in the afternoon, and Carole, Stevie, and Lisa had arranged to meet shortly before that time so they could greet them upon their return. For one thing, The Saddle Club wanted to be able to tell Max and Mrs. Reg about Pepper in person. For another thing, The Saddle Club wanted to hear all about Max’s romantic weekend in person, and meet his girlfriend if he brought her back with him as they were hoping he would.

Carole arrived half an hour early so she’d have enough time to give Starlight a quick grooming before her friends arrived. She’d been so busy lately with Veronica and Thanksgiving and everything else that she hadn’t been able to spend as much time as usual with her horse, and she missed him. He seemed to miss her, too, since he nuzzled her as she entered his stall—although that could have been because of the carrots she had in her pocket. Carole didn’t believe in spoiling horses with a lot of treats, but this time she felt that Starlight deserved it. Part of the reason was that she hadn’t spent enough time with him for the past few days.
But she knew that another part of it was that she wanted to thank him just for being there.

Carole had been so busy worrying about how Lisa was feeling that Pepper’s death hadn’t really hit her until that morning, when she had arrived at the stable and walked past his empty stall. Even at her young age, Carole felt that she’d already had more than her share of experience with death. Her mother’s death from cancer had been the worst thing that had ever happened to Carole. When Cobalt had died, Carole hadn’t been sure she could handle that kind of pain again, but somehow, she had.

Since then, working with Judy, Carole had seen other horses die, and she had felt the same kind of painful sadness for every single one of them. No matter how many times it happened, it never got any easier to take. When she had seen Pepper’s empty stall, the knowledge that she would never again see his familiar gray face looking out at her over the half door hit her heart like a fist in the stomach. The most comforting thing she could think of to do, luckily, was what she’d been planning to do anyway. She could take care of her own horse, to make sure that his life was as comfortable and happy as she could make it—as comfortable and happy as Pepper’s long life had been, thanks to Lisa and Carole and Stevie and Max and Mrs. Reg and Red and a whole list of other people who had loved and cared for him.

As Carole set to work brushing the straw and dust
from Starlight’s rich reddish-brown coat, she found herself thinking about Lisa again, and how very different the two of them were from each other in some ways. She remembered how upset she had been after Cobalt had died. Even her friends hadn’t been able to make her feel better at first. Although Carole knew that Lisa was very sad about Pepper’s death, she seemed to be handling it a lot better than Carole had handled Cobalt’s. She had been able to talk and laugh with her friends at breakfast, and in her typically logical way had even begun to sort out and analyze her own feelings about what had happened.

Still, Carole reminded herself, the two situations had been very different. Cobalt’s death had been a tragic accident, caused by human carelessness, that had cut his life short while he was still very much in his prime. Carole had never even had a chance to say good-bye to him. Pepper, on the other hand, had simply reached the natural end of a long life. What’s more, Lisa had been able to take part in bringing that life to a humane end, and that was something she could feel good about even in her sadness.

The situations were very different, Carole decided, but she and Lisa were very different as well. And that was okay. More than okay, it was what made The Saddle Club such a wonderful group. Each member had different strengths, so that together they were stronger than the sum of their parts.

When Stevie and Lisa arrived shortly before three, they found Carole just finishing Starlight’s grooming. “Come on,” Lisa said. “If you’re finished with Starlight, let’s go wait out front.”

“All right,” Carole said. After giving Starlight a last affectionate pat, she picked up her grooming bucket and let herself out of the stall. She suspected that Lisa was anxious about what she was going to say to Max about Pepper. “I’m finished.”

The girls settled down in the locker area, where they could hear the sounds of approaching cars. They didn’t have long to wait before they heard one turning into the drive. They hurried outside and spotted Max’s car coming to a stop in front of Pine Hollow, pulling the smaller of the stable’s two horse vans behind it.

Max and Mrs. Reg barely had time to step out of the car before Stevie started talking at them a mile a minute. She wanted to tell them about everything she’d done as an assistant stable hand.

“Nice to see you, too, Stevie,” Max said with a laugh. Carole noticed that he seemed to be in a good mood. She wondered if that meant he’d had a good weekend with his girlfriend. She hoped it did.

Lisa took a deep breath and stepped forward. Stevie stopped talking in midsentence, remembering that Lisa wanted to be the one to tell Max about Pepper. “Oh, here’s Lisa,” Stevie said awkwardly.

“Hello, Lisa,” Max said to her.

“Hi, Max. Hi, Mrs. Reg,” Lisa replied automatically. “I wanted to tell you about … about Pepper.”

Mrs. Reg stepped forward and laid one hand on Lisa’s arm. “We know, Lisa. Judy called us.”

“I know that,” Lisa said. “But I just wanted to say …” Then she stopped, as she realized she really didn’t know what she wanted to say.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Max said. “But I want to say thank you.”

“What?” Lisa was startled. “Why?” She had been trying to figure out how to tell Max how sorry she was for what had happened. She was sure that he would be upset about it, maybe even angry that she had taken matters into her own hands.

“What you did was very brave, and very smart,” Max said. “Most of all, it was very kind. You saw that Pepper was in a lot of pain, and you took responsibility for making the tough decision to end that pain for him. I’m just glad you had the guts to do it.”

Lisa still didn’t know what to say. She wanted to tell Max that she didn’t deserve his thanks, because she almost hadn’t had the courage to do what she had done. She had almost let her own selfish wish to keep Pepper with her forever get in the way.

Luckily, Max saved her from answering by turning to Carole and Stevie. “And I guess you two probably deserve some thanks, too,” he said. “You three girls always
help each other out. I’m sure Lisa was glad for your support.”

“That’s true,” Lisa said, giving her friends a grateful smile.

“No problem,” said Stevie. Lisa and Carole both noticed the devilish gleam in her eyes as she gave Max a sidelong glance. “Now, why don’t you tell us about
your
weekend?”

“Oh, we will,” Max said casually. “But first I want to hear more about what happened here while I was away.”

Carole tried to hide a grin at Stevie’s frustrated look. She knew that Stevie was hoping to get some news about Max’s mystery woman. But she also knew that it was awfully hard to get Max to talk about anything before he was good and ready to do so.

“Well, there’s not much to tell, really—” Stevie began.

Mrs. Reg interrupted her. “How’s Samson doing?” she asked briskly. “Did you have a chance to continue his training while we were gone? You know how important it is to reinforce what he’s already learned.”

“I know,” Stevie said. “I think Red did some work with him the other day, and I worked with him on the lunge line for a few minutes yesterday in the indoor ring.”

“Where is Red, anyway?” Max asked, glancing around. “I’m going to need his help in a few minutes.” “I think he went out to get some lunch,” Carole volunteered.
“The other stable hands aren’t back yet, so he waited to go until we got here, and I don’t think he’s come back yet.”

“Hmmm,” Max said, stroking his chin. “Well, I suppose you girls can help me instead.”

“Help with what?” Stevie asked, instantly curious.

“In a minute,” Max said. “First, tell me how Barq is doing. Is that scratch on his flank healing all right?”

“You can hardly see it anymore,” Stevie answered impatiently. “But, Max …”

“And what about Harry?” Mrs. Reg inquired. “He seemed to be getting a little bit of a cold before we left.…”

“All cleared up,” Stevie said. “Judy checked him over and said he’s fine.”

“Good,” Max said. “I hope you and Red exercised each horse at least once over the weekend. I know how worked up Garnet gets if she’s cooped up for too long. Not to mention Geronimo—I hope you let him out in the paddock to let off some steam once in a while. And Diablo is always a little wild after a few days without a saddle on his back.…”

“Don’t worry,” Stevie said, gritting her teeth. “Red took most of the horses out at least once while you were gone, and we let the others out in the paddock during the afternoons when it wasn’t too cold.”

Carole and Lisa could hardly keep from laughing at their friend’s frustration, even though they were almost
as curious as she was about Max’s holiday. Finally, after a few more questions, Max seemed satisfied that things had gone smoothly in his absence.

“Good job, Stevie,” he proclaimed at last. “It sounds as though I left things in good hands. I’ll have to start going on vacation more often.”

Stevie groaned. “Not
too
often, I hope,” she said. “I don’t want to have to work that hard again for a long time. I have blisters on top of blisters. And more blisters on top of those!”

Max laughed. “Well, I think you
and
your blisters will forgive me when you see what I’ve brought back with me,” he said mysteriously.

“What?” asked Stevie, Carole, and Lisa in one voice.

Max and Mrs. Reg exchanged a glance. “Should we introduce them now?” Max asked his mother.

Mrs. Reg nodded. “I think now would be a perfect time,” she said. “I just hope they hit it off.”