Horse Love (13 page)

It was a lively game. The ball swooped back and forth over the net and the teams were fairly well matched—until Shelley rotated into the front row of Lisa’s team. She was wearing the skimpiest of string bikinis. In fact, it was the same one Lisa had seen her wearing the first time she’d seen her in the swimming pool. It might have been proper wear for a swim, but it hardly seemed adequate for a volleyball game. Shelley jumped and twisted, bumping and spiking. She was actually quite a good athlete, but Lisa was dead sure that that was the last thing that any of the boys on the other team—or even on her own team—were thinking about as her lithe, skinny body did those amazing things to the volleyball.

“Fifteen to four!” Brian declared. They’d won handily. Lisa was glad her team had won, but considering their secret weapon, she wasn’t convinced any boy on the other team even noticed.

They played another game with approximately the same result. By then it was nine-thirty, and some of the kids—including Shelley—were talking about changing their clothes before going to the disco. The group dispersed
with vague promises of
see you later
s, leaving Lisa and Tec and the volleyball, which had to be returned to the game room. They walked there together.

“How was the cruise?” she asked.

“Uh, oh, right. It was okay,” he said.

“Were most of the kids there?”

“A lot of that crowd. I don’t remember who, exactly. I missed you.”

“Well, I missed you, too,” said Lisa, smiling at him.

“What was it you were doing?” he asked. Lisa wondered why he didn’t remember, but decided to take advantage of it with a surprise when the talent show came along. “You’ll see, all in good time,” she said. “On Saturday,” she added.

“A surprise?”

“I think so,” she said. She handed the volleyball to the clerk in the game room and the two of them turned toward the ocean. Tec took her hand and they began another wonderful walk in the starry moonlit night.

“It’s hard to imagine this is all almost over,” said Lisa. “It’s going so fast!”

“Sure is,” said Tec. “And even though I’m staying longer, it still seems like it’s flying by.”

“That’s the way it is when you’re having fun,” said Lisa.

“Definitely,” Tec agreed, squeezing her hand.

Lisa slipped out of her sneakers and began sloshing in the gentle waves that lapped at the shore. Tec joined her, taking her hand again.

“One of the things I haven’t had a chance to do is teach you how to ride,” Lisa said.

“Oh, right,” said Tec.

“There’ll be time when we get back to Virginia, though,” she said.

He looked at her curiously. “We may be in the same state, but we live pretty far apart,” he said.

“We’ll find a way,” she said, certain that somehow their love for one another would surpass the miles.

“My best friend’s boyfriend lives far away, too,” she told him. “And he comes over to our stable to ride all the time.”

“Really?” said Tec. “Horses?”

“Sure, that’s what we ride at Pine Hollow. You’re going to love the place. The owner is a guy named Max and he’s the greatest instructor. I mean, I can give you an idea of what you should be doing, but Max’ll have you in top form in no time. There are a lot of great horses there. You’ll probably start on Patch. Everybody does. But when you get a little better, Max might let you ride Topside. He’s a Thoroughbred, like the horse I usually ride, Prancer. Both of them belong to the stable.”

Lisa could have gone on, but something told her that
Tec wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying. Was it possible he’d just said he wanted to learn to ride horses because he thought she’d like him to say that—that he’d never love horses the way she did? Maybe. It didn’t matter, though. There were a lot of couples who enjoyed doing different things and then had things they liked doing together. Like her parents, for example. They had a good time playing golf and bridge together. Her father couldn’t stand shopping, and her mother hated it when he had business to do, even though he loved the work he did. She and Tec might be like that.

When she stopped talking, he looked at her. “You seem tired,” he said.

“I am,” she told him. “I’ve had a very long day, but I’m glad to be here with you now.”

“And I’m glad you’re here, too, but it’s almost eleven now, and if you don’t get some rest, you’ll resent me in the morning.”

“Never,” she said.

“Tomorrow,” he said. She wondered if he had any idea that he’d just said the very word she’d be singing to him in such a short time. She didn’t ask. Nor did she have time to. He took her chin in his hand and tilted it up so that it was at the perfect angle for a perfect kiss.

Lisa’s head was still full of moonlight, stars, and warm
tropical breezes when the door to her room closed behind her. This time, however, it only took her about four seconds to realize she’d forgotten to ask Tec about riding in the morning.

She opened the door and looked in the direction of his cabin. He wasn’t there. She looked around the corner. He was heading back in the direction of the lounge.

“Tec!” she called. He stopped and turned around, walking back toward her.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“I forgot to remind you that there’s a trail ride in the morning. Would you like to come along?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I guess riding isn’t for me.”

“That’s all right,” she said. “I just wanted you to know you’d be welcome.”

“Thanks, but I’ll see you later then, okay?”

“Okay—and, um, good night.”

She went back to her room, ready for a good night’s sleep.

“W
E
’
RE WONDERFUL
. F
ABULOUS
. Miraculous. Unbelievable,” Stevie announced.

“Does that mean we’re finished?” Meg Durham asked.

“Finally, completely, and totally,” Stevie said.

She stood and looked at the feed room. The last bin was back where it belonged, the final bale of hay was back in the stack against the freshly painted wall.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to paint the ladies’ room?” Betsy asked.

“Does it need it?” Stevie asked in response.

“No!” Adam and Joe declared in a single voice. “At least, I don’t think so,” said Adam.

“It’s tiled,” April informed them. “No paint anywhere.”

“Whew!”

Mrs. Reg appeared with a large tray of cookies and apple cider. “This is the very least I could do for this remarkable crew. Thank you one and all, and especially, thank you, Stevie.”

“You’re more than welcome, Mrs. Reg, but I’ve got to tell you it never could have been done without everybody pitching in. Just a couple of days ago, Carole and I thought we were sunk. Today, well, we’re standing here in the middle of this freshly painted feed room, just feet away from a tack room that’s the envy of every stable in the state of Virginia, and we couldn’t have finished it in time without you. In fact, I’m not sure we could have done it at all. You all pitched in in a way that—well, it shows what teamwork can do. I can’t thank you enough.”

“It’s okay, Stevie. You don’t have to say anything else,” Meg said. “Actually, I think we’ve all had enough speeches from you over the last few days!”

Everybody laughed, but everybody also knew that she meant that in the nicest possible way. Stevie had been a boss, but she’d also been the chief cheerleader and organizer. They held up their glasses of cider in a toast to her as she thanked each of them.

Red O’Malley appeared in the feed room and told Stevie she had a phone call.

She excused herself, wondering who would be calling her there.

It was Phil again.

“We’re back. I thought we’d be back a couple of days ago, but we couldn’t get a flight until this morning. Anyway, I’ve talked my mother into driving me over to Willow Creek this afternoon. I’ll be there by two, and A.J. is coming, too. We’re both wearing our painting clothes and we’ll do anything—even the windows.”

“You don’t have to, Phil,” Stevie began.

“No, I was really a fink,” he said. “I made you a promise and then I broke it. I’ve been thinking about you and Carole slaving over those buckets of paint, and I felt just awful.”

“So bad you couldn’t ski?” she asked. She couldn’t help herself.

“The rain saw to that,” he said. “The whole vacation was a bust. We’d have done much better staying here and working with you. But I promise you, we’re there for you now—or we will be. I mean, I know it isn’t much at this point, what with Max getting back tomorrow, but maybe we can get a wall or two done. It’ll be a start.”

“You don’t have to come,” Stevie said.

“I know I don’t
have
to. I
want
to,” he told her.

“Don’t worry about it,” Stevie said. “Really.”

“I’m not worried. And we’ll both stay as long as you want.”

“No, I mean you don’t have to,” Stevie said. “Some other people helped.”

“Well, we can help, too,” he said.

“There isn’t anything to do,” she told him.

“We really want to help,” Phil said insistently. “What I did wasn’t fair to you.”

“Thanks, Phil, but it’s just a tiny bit possible that I wasn’t exactly fair to you, either.”

“You weren’t?”

“Not totally,” she said. “See, what I hadn’t realized was that it might be possible to get a couple of other people to pitch in over here.”

“How many people have been helping you?” he asked.

Stevie glanced at her clipboard and the schedule that she still held in her hand. It took her a moment to count. “A dozen,” she said finally. “We usually had four working here at a time, plus Carole and me, so that makes six, in three shifts each day—sometimes people stayed for double shifts—so that was a dozen workers. Oh, and it would have gone faster if it weren’t for Dr. Faisal.”

“Dr. Who?”

“The orthodontist,” Stevie explained.

“What?”

“It’s complicated, Phil.”

“It always is with you, Stevie.” He began to laugh a little.

“Anyway, I’m pretty sure I overreacted when I was so angry with you.”

“I’m sorry, too,” he said. Those were the words she’d been waiting to hear.

“It’s okay, Phil. And it’s worked out okay, too. Wait’ll you see the place. We even painted the feed room!”

“I think I’d like to see it,” said Phil.

“Why don’t you come over next weekend and have a ride with us?”

“I’ll be there—and I can’t wait,” he said.

“Me either,” she answered truthfully.

I
F
L
ISA THOUGHT
the first part of her vacation had gone quickly, she was totally unprepared for how fast the rest of it went. The days were a whirl of volleyball, swims, delicious meals, rehearsals, and morning trail rides. She’d even seen her parents a couple of times—and each time they’d been as cheerful as the last. This vacation had definitely been good for the whole Atwood family.

She’d spent more time with Tec, too, though not as much as she would have liked, and, she suspected, not as much as he would have liked, either. With her morning
trail rides and her afternoon rehearsals, she’d missed a couple of trips he’d taken with the other kids. But that had still left time for moonlight walks and swims, one more snorkeling picnic by themselves, and lots of time with the other kids. Lisa wasn’t finding that she liked most of them much better than she had at first, but she was getting used to them and they were getting used to her. She knew she’d never see most of them ever again, and that was fine, too.

And now it was Saturday—her last day on San Felipe. Tonight was the performance. Since she had to be at the theater early, she’d left Tec at the beach to get ready and eat an early dinner. She hadn’t told him what she was up to, but she did tell him that she was about ready for his surprise and he should meet her at the talent show that night.
That ought to entice him
, she thought.

Lisa got to the dining room early enough that most of the other occupants were families with young children, and she didn’t know any of them. It didn’t matter that she didn’t have friends to eat with; she wasn’t very hungry and wasn’t going to eat very much in any event. If she’d learned one thing about performing, it was that she shouldn’t do it on a full stomach. Nerves could cause butterflies, and butterflies could cause indigestion. That was the last thing she’d need tonight!

She ate a banana and some toast and made her excuses
to the other people at the table, who had barely noticed her presence anyway. She knew there would be a cast party after the show, and there would be plenty to eat and drink there—and it would be more fun eating with Tec, who could join her there, than with anyone else.

As she walked toward the theater she spotted him in the lounge, where he was getting himself a soda at the bar. She slipped in and greeted him.

“There you are!” he said. “Come join us.”

“No, I’ve got to get going,” she told him. “Remember, I’ve got a surprise for you tonight.”

“How could I forget a promise like that?” he asked, smiling that smile that melted her knees.

“I’ll see you at the show, okay?”

“Definitely,” he told her. “I’m looking forward to it.” And then his lips brushed her cheek before he returned to the circle where the other kids were waiting for him. For a moment, Lisa wondered how it was that she’d made it through all the years she’d lived so far without Tec Morrison.