Horse-Sitters (11 page)

“Uh-oh,” Stevie said. “She’s really excited about this stupid tea party thing, huh?”

Carole nodded. “All I can say is we’d better make sure it’s just as lovely as she’s expecting it to be. We’re still on for grocery shopping tomorrow, right?”

“Yep,” Lisa confirmed. “My mom will pick us all up right after school. We’ll have to hurry, though, if we don’t want to be late for riding class.” She sighed. “Boy, will I be glad when this week is over. Money or no money, it will be nice to have a life again.”

And this time, even Stevie couldn’t help agreeing.

“D
ON
’
T EVEN BOTHER
to park,” Stevie told Mrs. Atwood on Tuesday afternoon. “We’ll be out in five minutes flat.”

“All right, dear,” Mrs. Atwood said. She pulled the car into the loading lane in front of the supermarket and turned off the engine. “I’ll wait right here.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Lisa said. She, Carole, and Stevie jumped out of the car and rushed inside. The girls were glad to see that the store wasn’t crowded.

“All right, where’s that list you made?” Carole asked Lisa.

Lisa dug it out of her pocket. “The things Aunt Eugenia specifically asked for I marked with a star, see?”

“If we’re going to get everything and still make it to riding
lessons on time, we’re going to have to split up,” Stevie decided, scanning the list. Grabbing it from Lisa’s hand, she carefully ripped it into three equal pieces. “Here we go. Now let’s get started.”

Carole read over her section as her friends hurried off. “Scones,” she read. She paused. She had no idea what that was, but it was one of the starred items. “Scones,” she said again, glancing around desperately. Maybe she should skip that one and ask Lisa about it when she saw her. The next item on the list was cucumber. Carole nodded happily. She knew what that was.

A few minutes later Stevie was scowling at her list in frustration. She had already found sugar cubes, lemons, and gingersnaps, but the next item had her stumped. She didn’t even know how to pronounce it, let alone what it looked like or which aisle it might be in. “Pet—” she muttered, trying to sound it out. “Pet—it—”

“How are you doing, Stevie?” Lisa said, turning into the aisle and hurrying over, pausing just long enough to grab a box of crackers off the shelf. “I’m more than halfway through my list. We might just make it to lessons on time after all.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Stevie said. She pointed to the mystery item on her list. “What on earth is this?”

Lisa looked. “Petit fours,” she read. “Oh, yeah, Aunt Eugenia was awfully definite about wanting those. They’re like little frosted cakes, about this big.” She held her thumb and forefinger about an inch and a half apart. “My mom always gets them for
her bridge parties. They sell them here somewhere—maybe in the fancy-foods aisle? Come on, let’s check. I have to go there next myself.”

“Great,” Stevie said. “Let’s go.”

They didn’t even notice Carole as they hurried past the beverage aisle. She was standing in front of a huge wall of tea, dumbfounded. The list specified “loose tea.” Carole didn’t know what that was, but she would be surprised if they didn’t have it here, since they seemed to stock every type of tea ever invented or imagined. She glanced at her watch and gulped. They had already been in the store for much longer than the five minutes Stevie had promised. If they didn’t hurry, they would be late for their lesson. They still had to take all this food to the house before tacking up. After all, it wouldn’t do to let Eugenia’s lemon sorbet melt all over the locker room. Carole closed her eyes and grabbed a few boxes of tea. The ladies would have to make do with what they got.

Carole caught up with her friends in the fancy-foods aisle just in time to hear Lisa talking Stevie out of buying a can of smoked oysters for the party. They had found the petit fours and several other items there, finishing both their lists.

“Are you done?” Stevie asked when she saw Carole.

“Almost,” Carole replied. “What’s a scone?”

“Come on,” Lisa said, turning immediately and heading for the back of the store, where the bakery was. “This way. It’s a fancy kind of biscuit-type thing.”

Stevie and Carole followed obediently. “How do you know this stuff?” Stevie asked.

“My mother,” Lisa said. “She always serves stuff like this when she has people over. She’s had a few tea parties in her day herself, you know.”

Stevie stopped stock-still in the middle of the aisle and started laughing. The others stopped, too, and stared at her.

“What is it?” Carole asked.

Stevie managed to control herself. “It just struck me as funny all of a sudden,” she explained. “Mrs. Atwood probably knows exactly where all this stuff we need is. I bet she could have found it all in ten seconds flat. And we left her sitting outside in the car!”

T
HE NEXT DAY
after school found The Saddle Club back at Pine Hollow once again. If they had felt pressure the day before—they had made it to their riding lesson on time, but just barely—today was even worse. It was the day of the tea party.

“Sorry about the rush, handsome,” Carole told Nighthawk as she mucked out the polo pony’s stall in record time, leaving him cross tied just outside. “No time for a grooming now, I’m afraid. But I promise, right after the tea party we’ll come back and make sure you all get a chance to stretch your legs. Then we’ll give you the brushing of your life. And then it’s only one more day until you get to go home to your own barn. How will that be?” It sounded good to Carole, especially the part about the horses going home—although she hated to think of the beautiful creatures being under the care of that horrible Luke.

The horse tossed his head from side to side, rolling his eyes at her as she talked. Carole bit her lip. She knew the polo ponies
must be restless after being cooped up all day, but there was no time to exercise them right now. They would just have to wait a few more hours.

She finished the job and returned the bay to his stall. “See you soon,” she said, giving him a pat. “Be good.” As she rushed toward Tempest’s stall, she almost collided with Lisa, who came barreling around the corner from the tack room.

“Oh, there you are,” Lisa said breathlessly. “I was looking for you. We’ve got to get up to the house. It’s time to start getting the food ready. Aunt Eugenia is waiting for us.”

“But we haven’t even looked in at all the polo ponies yet,” Carole protested. “I just mucked out two of the stalls, but the others must be filthy. And poor Memphis—”

“They’ll have to wait,” Lisa said. “Don’t worry, I checked on all the polo ponies, and their stalls aren’t that bad. They can wait a little while. And Memphis is fine. Red said he turned her out in the paddock this afternoon.”

“All right,” Carole said reluctantly. She didn’t like it, but Lisa was right. They would have to let the horses wait while they dealt with the tea party. She sighed. “Since when did this horse-sitting thing turn into Stevie’s party-planning idea?” she muttered, following Lisa out of the stable.

“It’ll all be over soon,” Lisa promised her. “And look on the bright side. At least Stevie’s English teacher didn’t give her detention when she fell asleep in class today.”

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, all was chaos. As soon as Eugenia had looked over the girls’ purchases, she had become hysterical. “What is this?” she exclaimed, shoving several boxes of tea in
Stevie’s face. “This is not what I specified! I wanted
loose
tea!
Loose
tea! Do you know what that is?”

“Uh, I guess not,” Stevie said.

“Aunt Genie, calm down,” Deborah scolded. “There’s nothing you can do about it now. Anyway, tea is tea. I’m sure your friends won’t even notice the difference.”

Eugenia tipped her nose into the air. “Perhaps not,” she huffed. “But
I
will notice.”

“What is loose tea, anyway?” Stevie asked Deborah.

Deborah rolled her eyes. “It’s just a different way of making it,” she explained. “Instead of putting a tea bag in the pot, you put in loose tea leaves.”

“Ugh,” Stevie said. “You drink your tea with little things floating in it?”

Deborah laughed. “Well, no. You pour it through a strainer first.” She held up a little silver object with holes in the bottom. “It all becomes part of the ceremony of serving the tea.”

“Oh, is that all loose tea is?” Stevie said. “Why didn’t you say so?” She ripped open the nearest box, pulled out a few tea bags, and looked around for a pair of scissors. Then she cut open the bags and poured the tea leaves out into a bowl. “Voilà! Loose tea!”

Eugenia frowned, but she didn’t say anything. Stevie took that to mean she was satisfied with her solution. She was still cutting open tea bags when Carole and Lisa entered.

“Here we are,” Lisa announced. “What do you want us to do?”

“Well, first of all, take off those filthy boots,” Eugenia said,
pointing to Carole’s feet. Carole had wiped them on the mat before coming inside, but a few pieces of straw still clung to the sides.

“Aunt Genie, I think we can handle things from here,” Deborah said tactfully, taking a pile of plates from the old woman and setting them on the counter. “Why don’t you run down and see how Max and Red are getting along? Red must have finished mowing the lawn by now. They’ll want you to advise them on where to place the table.”

Stevie tried to hide a grin as she snipped the end off another bag. She had the funniest feeling that the last thing Max and Red wanted was to have Eugenia directing them.

“What do you mean,
we
?” Eugenia said. “You shouldn’t be helping these girls at all, Deborah. They are getting paid for this, you know.”

“I know,” Deborah said. “But I don’t mind. Besides, they need me here to show them where everything is in the kitchen.”

“Hmmph,” Eugenia replied. But she allowed Deborah to guide her to the door.

When she was gone, Carole let out a sigh of relief. She grabbed a paper towel and carefully wiped off her boots. “All right, tell me what to do,” she said.

Under Deborah’s direction, The Saddle Club put together cucumber and butter sandwiches, arranged the scones and other pastries on trays, and set several kettles of water on the stove, ready for boiling.

“Don’t forget, once this is done we still have to get Honeybee ready for her grand entrance,” Carole reminded her friends.

Lisa nodded. “We’ll do it after we carry everything down and arrange the table,” she said. She turned to Deborah. “You don’t think she’ll want to show her to her friends right away, do you?”

“No way,” Deborah replied with a smile. “If I know Aunt Genie, she’ll want a dramatic entrance. I’m sure she’ll wait until they’re all settled and a few cups of tea have been had.”

“Good,” Stevie said. She picked up a plate full of sandwiches in one hand and a pile of napkins in the other. “I guess I’m ready to make the first trip down there.”

Deborah picked up a folded tablecloth and tucked it under Stevie’s arm. “There. Now you’re ready.”

While Carole and Deborah finished the last of the preparations in the kitchen, Stevie and Lisa started carrying things to the shady spot behind the stable, where Max and Red had set up a folding table and chairs. As soon as the girls appeared Red made his escape, saying something about a horse needing to be exercised. But when Max tried to sidle away after him, Eugenia called him back sharply.

As Stevie spread the cheerful flowered tablecloth over the table, she heard Eugenia scolding Max. “That horrible big machine is sitting there in plain view,” she said irritably. She pointed over to a nearby spot of lawn where the riding mower was standing. “What sort of scenic background is that for a tea party, I ask you?”

Max shrugged. “Sorry, Aunt Eugenia. We just finished the lawn. You wanted it mowed right before the party, remember?”

“I know what I wanted, young man,” she snapped. “And I
know what I didn’t want, too. I didn’t want a large ugly vehicle parked where my friends could see it.”

“Don’t worry,” Max said quietly. “I’ll go move it right now.”

“I’ll do it, Max,” Stevie offered. Her parents had the same kind of mower, so Stevie knew how to drive it.

“Thanks, Stevie,” Max said gratefully. “But don’t bother to put it back in the shed. Red needs to use it again later. Just drive it around the side of the barn where it will be out of sight.” He hurried off to follow Eugenia’s next order.

Stevie was frowning as she climbed aboard the mower and started the engine. She hated seeing Max acting so meek and mild. As much as she sometimes complained about his strictness, the truth was she liked the fact that he always seemed confident and in control. It was different when he got flustered after he first met Deborah. That was understandable—he was falling in love. But now he was acting completely ridiculous around Eugenia, and Stevie had no idea why. She just hoped it would stop when the old lady left. It would be nice to have the real Max back again.

When Stevie finished parking the mower and returned to the party scene, her frown grew deeper. Veronica had turned up from somewhere and was leaning against the apple tree, watching the proceedings. “Having fun, Stevie?” she sang out when she spotted her.