Holiday Horse (4 page)

“Don’t be silly,” Stevie said quickly. “This is the best—the
only
—choice in the whole area.”

Lisa laughed. “You’d better not let Phil hear you say that, Stevie,” she teased. Phil rode at a stable called Cross County, which sometimes competed against Pine Hollow at Pony Club rallies.

“Or the people at Hedgerow,” Carole added. Hedgerow Farms was another nearby stable. Max was friends with the manager there, a woman named Elaine, and The Saddle Club knew that Hedgerow was a lovely, well-run establishment.

“Seriously, though,” Lisa told Ms. Lynn. “I’m sure Britt will be happy here. Maybe she’ll find a horse she likes almost as much as Toledo.”

The woman glanced over at her daughter, who was still mounted on Nero. Britt had pulled the old horse to a halt and was nodding as Max talked to her. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you girls about that,” Ms. Lynn said quietly. “I want to get Britt a new horse. It won’t replace
Toledo in her heart, but I can tell she really wants one.” She grinned mischievously. “Somehow, though, she’s gotten it in her head that we don’t have enough money right now because of the move, so she won’t just come right out and ask me about getting a new horse. My Britt is anything but selfish. That’s why I want to surprise her if I can.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Carole said quickly. “If she’s going to ride the horse, she should be the one to pick it out. Otherwise—”

Ms. Lynn cut her off. “I know, I know,” she said with a smile. “Believe me, I haven’t lived with my daughter all these years without picking up a little bit of horse sense. But if I can, I’d like her to pick out her next horse without realizing that’s what she’s doing. If you know what I mean.”

Carole and Lisa looked a little confused, but Stevie nodded immediately. “I get it,” she said. “But I think you’re going to need some help.”

Ms. Lynn smiled at Stevie hopefully. “I know,” she said. “And I know I just met you three, but …”

“Say no more,” Stevie said. “The Saddle Club is on the case.”

Now it was Ms. Lynn’s turn to look confused. The girls quickly explained what The Saddle Club was. And they all promised to help track down promising horses that were for sale.

“We can just happen to arrange for her to ride a bunch
of different horses and see how she likes them,” Stevie explained to her friends.

“Oh, I see,” Lisa said as she caught on. “It makes perfect sense. A rider who’s new to the stable ought to try a number of horses anyway, right?”

“Right,” Carole confirmed. “It sounds like fun.” She smiled at Ms. Lynn. “Don’t worry. With us on the job, Britt will have the perfect horse in no time.”

“Great,” Ms. Lynn said, smiling back. “I’d love to help her find a horse before the vacation is over. I think it would make it easier for her to start in her new school.”

Lisa knew that the woman’s logic probably wouldn’t make sense to some people. What did having a horse have to do with going to school? But she herself had no trouble understanding exactly what Ms. Lynn meant. “We’ll do whatever we can,” she promised.

“Thank you so much,” the woman said. “I just know this will be the best holiday present Britt could have.”

They had to change the subject after that because Britt had dismounted and was walking toward them. Max and Deborah were right behind her.

“What do you think, honey?” Ms. Lynn asked. “Do you want to give Pine Hollow a try?”

Britt nodded. She still didn’t seem to have much to say, but now she was definitely smiling.

“I was just telling your daughter,” Max said to Ms. Lynn, “that what we can do, if you like, is have Britt start coming here on a trial basis for a few weeks. Sort of a
guest membership, if you will. That way she’ll be able to get a better idea of what this place is all about.”

“Wonderful,” Ms. Lynn said. She put an arm around Britt’s shoulders and squeezed her tightly. “I’m sure she’ll love it here. Right, honey?”

Britt blushed and looked a little embarrassed. But she also looked happy.

Carole felt happy, too. She loved meeting people who loved horses as much as she did. And even though Britt hadn’t been terribly friendly today, Carole was sure she would loosen up once she started coming to Pine Hollow regularly. The Saddle Club would see to that.

Besides, it would be a lot of fun to help Ms. Lynn find Britt the perfect horse. That kind of project was right up The Saddle Club’s alley!

Ms. Lynn gave the three girls a wink as she and Britt said good-bye and got ready to leave. “I’ll be in touch,” she whispered as she passed Carole. When Britt wasn’t looking, the woman tucked a small piece of paper into Carole’s hand.

Carole looked down. It was a business card with Ms. Lynn’s phone number on it. “I guess she’s serious about wanting our help,” she said, showing it to her friends after the Lynns had gone.

“She’d better be,” Stevie said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. “Because we’re on the case now.”

As Max started walking around the ring with Nero to
cool him down, Deborah came over to the girls. “Thanks again for everything,” she told them. “I know Max appreciates it, too. I can take Maxi back now.”

Lisa gave the baby a quick hug before unfastening the carrier. “I hate to give her up,” she said. “She’s been a perfect angel. I think she really likes it in the stable.”

Deborah rolled her eyes, and the girls laughed. “Don’t fight it, Deborah,” Stevie advised her with a twinkle in her eye. “Maxi was born to be in a barn. It’s in her blood.” Max wasn’t the first one in his family to run Pine Hollow. His father had done it before him, and his grandfather had started the place. The Saddle Club was sure that Maxi was destined to be the next Regnery to take over the family business.

“Maybe I should try letting her sleep in a stall,” Deborah said. “She might let me get some rest that way.” She gave the girls a quick wave and walked out of the ring.

“She was joking about that stall thing, wasn’t she?” Carole said.

Stevie shrugged. “It was hard to tell,” she said with a grin. “Who knows—maybe it would work. Maxi
is
a Regnery, after all. But enough about Deborah. We’ve got a Saddle Club project to work on, remember? We’ve got to find Britt a horse.”

Carole nodded and led the way out of the ring. The girls paused in the hallway just outside. “I know a few places I can call,” Carole said. She sometimes volunteered
as an assistant to Judy Barker, the local equine vet. Judy visited most of the horse farms in the area on her rounds.

“We should definitely check at Hedgerow,” Stevie suggested. “And I’ll have Phil ask around at Cross County when he gets back from his vacation.”

Lisa was only half listening to her friends. She was still thinking about their previous topic. “I think Deborah is working too hard,” she said suddenly.

Her friends turned to stare at her. “What?” Stevie said.

Lisa told them what she had been thinking. “Deborah seems really tired. Not only does she have to take care of Maxi and keep up with her job at the newspaper, but she’s also pitching in more around here this week while Mrs. Reg is away. I think it’s really getting to her. And I don’t think she and Max are even planning to go out on New Year’s Eve.”

“So what are you saying?” Carole asked.

Lisa leaned against the stable wall. “Isn’t it obvious? Deborah needs a break. Max does, too, for that matter. You know he hardly ever takes any time off.”

“You’re not thinking about staging that coup Max was talking about, are you?” Stevie asked with a grin.

Lisa laughed. “No way,” she said. “But I do have an idea. All this talk about holiday gifts—you know, Britt’s new horse—made me realize something. We gave Maxi a present this year, but we didn’t give Max and Deborah anything.”

“You’re right,” Carole said. She shrugged and picked at a splinter on the wall she was leaning against. “I guess maybe we should have. But Maxi’s stuffed pony used up all our money, and I’m sure Max and Deborah didn’t really expect anything from us. Anyway, I’m still not sure what you’re driving at, Lisa.”

Lisa sighed. “Isn’t it obvious?” she said again. “The perfect gift for Deborah and Max is right in front of our noses—”

She bit off her next words when Max emerged from the indoor ring with Nero strolling sedately behind him.

“I’ll tell you later,” Lisa whispered to her friends.

Max spotted the three girls and asked, “What is this, a tea party? What are you girls doing standing around chatting? Didn’t I see a pile of dirty saddles in the tack room?”

Stevie’s eyes widened. “How does he do that?” she said wonderingly as Max continued on his way. The girls scurried back to their unfinished cleaning task. “I was with him on our way back here, remember? And we didn’t go anywhere near the tack room!”

“C
AN
I
RESERVE
another table for two?” Colonel Hanson said into the phone. He paused, listening to the person on the other end of the line. Carole held her breath and crossed her fingers.

A moment later, her father gave her a wink and a thumbs-up sign. “Great,” he told the person on the phone. “Thank you very much. The name is Regnery. They’ll be there at seven-fifteen.”

He hung up the phone and grinned. “Okay, sweetheart,” he told Carole. “Max and Deborah have a reservation for New Year’s Eve. Whether they want one or not.”

“They want one,” Carole assured him, giving him a
quick thank-you hug. “Or they will, once we get through with them.”

Colonel Hanson laughed. “Somehow I have no trouble believing that,” he said. He grinned. “And don’t worry—Linda and I will keep an eye on them for you. We’ll make sure they’re having fun.”

Linda was Colonel Hanson’s date for New Year’s Eve. The two of them were going to the same New Year’s Eve dinner theater in Washington, D.C., where Max and Deborah now had reservations. All the couples would be served a gourmet meal, then see a stage show, and then end the evening with a special celebration and dancing at midnight.

Colonel Hanson went into the living room and sank into his favorite chair. Carole perched on the arm of the couch next to him. “I can’t wait to see their faces when we tell them,” she said eagerly.

“I’m sure they’ll be thrilled,” her father said. “Having a baby is wonderful, but sometimes it can be just as wonderful to get away and talk to other adults for an evening.” He grinned and winked. “Not that your mom and I ever felt that way about
you
, of course.”

Carole stuck out her tongue at him playfully. “I certainly hope not,” she said.

“So whose idea was this plot, anyway?” Colonel Hanson asked. “No, don’t tell me. Let me guess. This has the look of a Stevie Lake scheme.”

“Guess again,” Carole said. “Lisa came up with the idea.”

Colonel Hanson put his hands behind his head and stretched out more comfortably. “Lisa? Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said. “All three of you girls manage to come up with some pretty interesting ideas when you get together.”

A
T HER HOUSE
, Lisa was thinking the same thing. She was sitting in front of her family’s computer, working in a greeting-card design program.

She tilted her head and looked critically at the image on the screen.
Happy Holidays, Max and Deborah
, the card read in curly script.
From The Saddle Club
.

Below that, the card continued:

That last line had been Stevie’s idea. Lisa giggled as she read it.

The card looked good. Lisa nodded with satisfaction and typed one more line at the bottom in smaller print:

That had been Stevie’s idea, too. Lisa wasn’t sure whether it came from Stevie’s sense of humor or from the fact that both her parents were lawyers. But she decided it didn’t matter. She was sure Max and Deborah would be amused, and that was all that counted.

Lisa hit Save, then Print. She sat back and waited for the card to emerge from the printer.

She was still proud of herself for realizing that Max and Deborah needed an evening to themselves. They had both been a bit moody and irritable lately, and Lisa was sure it was because they were working too hard. They needed to get away from all their responsibilities for a while and just concentrate on having a good time.

And The Saddle Club was going to make sure it happened. Carole and Stevie had immediately been enthusiastic about Lisa’s idea to give the Regnerys a free night of baby-sitting on New Year’s Eve. And both of them had added their own ideas, making it even better. Carole had suggested making reservations at the place in Washington. That way, it would be harder for Max and Deborah to make excuses not to go. And it had been Stevie’s idea to surprise the couple with a card—though she had been happy to let Lisa, the most artistic member of the group, design it.