Sidesaddle Page 4

  There they were—and sitting right next to them was Phil! Stevie smiled broadly and waved eagerly as she made her way through the seated Pony Club members to join her friends.

  That Phil was there was good news any day, but today it was A-1, perfect, wonderful, terrific, great news. As long as her boyfriend was making a surprise visit, anyone, even Tiffani, would understand why she just had to cancel the trail ride.

  With a warm, happy feeling, Stevie settled down onto the floor of Max’s office just as Max called the meeting to order.

  This was a mounted meeting, which meant that soon most or all of the members would be on their ponies and horses. Max wanted everyone to gather in his office first for announcements. His main announcement was actually more of a question.

  “I’d like to know, if you can tell me, what each of you has decided to take up in our Learn Something New project. I’m asking this question primarily because I will need to know if you need any extra equipment or a special setup next week for your demonstrations. The other reason I’m asking, of course, is that I’m curious.”

  The riders laughed at his honesty. Max looked around the room for someone to volunteer.

  “I’m trying to learn something about sidesaddle riding,” said Jessica, one of the younger riders.

  “Me too,” said another.

  Lisa nodded as if in agreement.

  It didn’t surprise Stevie that that was Lisa’s project. Lisa had been excited on Tuesday after she’d ridden Diamond. And then she’d talked about the Web site.

  It did surprise Stevie, however, that Tiffani had inspired about a quarter of the riders to take up sidesaddle riding. Maybe that was just because it wasn’t all that hard. If you were going to learn something new, it might as well be something easy.

  “Cart driving,” said another rider. Two other members raised their hands on that, too.

  “Bareback riding,” said Meg.

  “Good for balance,” Max said approvingly. “But don’t forget your riding helmet.”

  “I promise.”

  “Research on the Bureau of Land Management,” said Joe Novick, referring to the care the government gives to horses and burros living in the wild on federal land in the West.

  “Good,” Max said.

  “Polo,” said Veronica. There were a few snickers. Although polo was a very rugged sport that required excellent horsemanship and athletic skills, it was usually reserved for the extremely wealthy—people who could afford to own a lot of ponies. Although Veronica was very wealthy, she wasn’t that wealthy, but she clearly wanted to be.

  “I think she means Ralph Lauren,” Phil whispered to Stevie. That made Stevie smile. Veronica was definitely fashion-conscious.

  “Carole and Tiffani, I guess your horse breed report will qualify as something new, right?” Max asked.

  “That’s what we were hoping you’d say,” said Carole. Carole was never one to avoid learning about horses, but the time for one project was all she could devote outside her schoolwork.

  Max looked at Stevie then. Stevie had been so interested in everybody else’s projects that she’d hardly had time to notice that she didn’t have one of her own. Even if she was still working on the black-socks-in-the-laundry prank, and even though she was pretty sure Max would welcome the end of the pink jodhpurs, she wasn’t convinced that he would think that qualified as learning something new.

  Stevie cast her eyes to the dust on her riding boots. Max didn’t say anything else.

  “Okay, now, let’s all get tacked up. We’re going to work on very specific skills today: We’re going to play games!”

  There was a general round of applause. Mounted games were pure fun for everybody. Stevie decided that although the day had begun with a giant cloud over it, everything was turning out rosy. Phil was there, she didn’t have to go on a trail ride with Tiffani, and now she’d even have a chance to beat Phil at games.

  Max had a long list of games for the meeting, and he even let the games run over into the class time, since everybody seemed to be having so much fun. The only cloud came when Tiffani had difficulty picking up a flag on the right side. Leaning over so far made her lose her balance, and she tumbled out of her sidesaddle.

  Stevie didn’t mind that part at all because Tiffani wasn’t hurt in the least and it got a gigantic mud smear on her usually clean jodhpurs. What did bother Stevie was that almost everybody else in the class immediately rode over to help her.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Did you hurt yourself?”

  “Are you cut anywhere?”

  “Ooooooh, that must hurt!”

  All that sympathy for one little fall seemed more than excessive.

  Tiffani seemed to think so, too, and simply said, “I’m fine,” and climbed back into the saddle as quickly as she could. She was embarrassed, as, Stevie thought, she should be. Nobody should fall out of the saddle doing something so simple!

  Finally, after the meeting turned into class and after the class was over, Max dismissed the riders. It was time for a late lunch—fortunately Phil was prepared for that—and then …

  “Well,” Tiffani declared, placing her sandwich neatly on the napkin she’d laid out on the ground in front her. “We should be able to start our trail ride in about an hour. That’s a nice time, because it’ll give my Diamond and his cousin Belle a chance to rest before we go off into the woods.”

  “Well, gee, Tiffani,” Stevie began, smiling at Phil. “You know Phil is here for the whole afternoon—”

  “I know, he told me while he was walking Diamond for me this morning. Isn’t that just great?”

  “Sure, but I guess that means we can’t have our trail ride.”

  “Why, didn’t he tell you? He’s comin’ along! And I was so sorry that you hadn’t had a chance to invite Carole and Lisa along with us, so I just took the bull by the horns—or should I say, the horse by the mane—and told them it wouldn’t be the same without them. Right?”

  “Right,” Lisa agreed. “And Max told me I should ride Comanche because he knows one of the sidesaddles fits him, so I can try that out on the trail. What do you think of that?”

  For the second time that day, Stevie didn’t have an answer to a question.

  IT WOULD BE HARD to stay disagreeable, Stevie thought. Although she was on a trail ride with Tiffani, who was all sidesaddled up and everything, she also had her three favorite people in the whole wide world right there with her. Carole, Lisa, and Phil would be plenty of cushioning against anything Tiffani had to dish out to her.

  “Oh, Stevie, Belle is such a lovely horse!” Tiffani said.

  Stevie smiled and nodded. There was hardly any way to disagree with that. “And Diamond is, too,” Stevie told her. Her mother had instilled good manners far too deeply in Stevie for her not to feel obliged to return the compliment.

  “Say, Stevie, what are you doing for Learn Something New?” Lisa asked.

  That seemed like a pretty neutral topic, but of course Lisa didn’t know about the sock plan. Before Stevie could answer, Carole added, “I was thinking you might do something about reining.”

  “Maybe,” Stevie said noncommittally.

  “Well, I’m planning some historical research,” said Lisa, clucking her tongue so that Comanche, who seemed slightly nonresponsive to one-sided aids, would keep up with the other riders while they crossed the field. The trails were in the woods on the other side.

  “I thought you were studying sidesaddle riding,” said Stevie, nodding to the tack on Comanche.

  “Oh, no, that’s just to try something out. I don’t really think of it as learning something new. I wanted to study up on some of the things that Carole’s talked about—the history of horses in the military and the influence that has had on the way we ride today.”

  “Even down to mounting the horse on the left,” said Carole.

  “How’s that?” Lisa asked.

  “Oh, I know about that,” said Tiffani.

  “Wel
l, tell us,” Phil said. “I’m interested.”

  “Just imagine you’re a soldier,” said Tiffani. “I mean, not that that’s so hard to imagine, you being so big and all that.”

  Stevie gagged. Nobody noticed.

  “Since you’re going to use your right hand to hold your sword, you have to wear it on your left side, or else you would never get it out of the scabbard. So, there it is, hanging down your left leg, and it would be the biggest ole nuisance in the world to get it up and over the horse if you were mounting from the right, so the soldiers mounted from the left.”

  “Why, I never would have thought of that,” said Phil. “You certainly know an awful lot about horses and riding!”

  Stevie gagged again.

  “Are you okay, Stevie?” Tiffani asked.

  “I’m fine,” Stevie muttered, holding Belle’s reins a little tighter to slow the mare down. She didn’t really need to be so close to Tiffani, and if her friends, most especially her boyfriend, were going to be so gushy over Miss Pink Jodhpurs, Stevie wasn’t at all sure she needed to be anywhere close to any of them.

  It didn’t work, however. Tiffani turned to her as they approached the woods. “Now, tell me, Stevie, which one of these trails should we try first?”

  Stevie sighed. She was stuck and she knew it. Just as she was too polite to ignore a compliment, she was too nice to upset an afternoon for her friends. They seemed to be having an easier time than she was at being nice to Tiffani, but in spite of the frilly pink, fuzzy-sweatered, lace-ornamented newcomer, Stevie was on a trail ride, and when it came to trail rides, she always had definite ideas.

  “To the creek, of course,” she said. Carole, Lisa, and Phil nodded in agreement, and the horses all walked along jauntily.

  Most of the trail was narrow, and the riders had to go in single file and at a walk. Carole took the lead. Lisa was behind her, followed by Tiffani and then Phil. Stevie was at the rear. That suited her just fine. Nobody would expect to hear from her, and she could almost be by herself.

  Words and phrases drifted back to her.

  Lisa asked for help and advice on her sidesaddle. Tiffani was only too happy to provide it. Carole asked her for information about breeds for their all-important report, due the following week.

  Then, to Lisa’s delight, Phil began asking Tiffani more questions about military riding. It turned out that this was another one of those areas where Tiffani knew a great deal. Lisa’s report was well under way.

  “Hey, Stevie, you okay back there?” Tiffani asked, looking over her shoulder.

  “Fit as a fiddle,” said Stevie, wondering vaguely where she had ever come up with such a fatuous phrase.

  “Oh, Stevie, you’re so funny!” Tiffani responded.

  Stevie rolled her eyes.

  “Say, Phil, do you have any idea how lucky you are to have a wonderful girlfriend like Stevie?” Tiffani asked. “I just don’t know how I would have made it through my first day at Pine Hollow without her. I mean, not that Pine Hollow is a hard place to be or anything, but Stevie just made me feel so welcome from the very first minute I saw her that I knew I was right at home?”

  “Oh, she’s a great girl, all right,” Phil agreed.

  “Better than great,” said Tiffani.

  “Yes, better,” said Phil

  “And then for her to agree to show me the trails in the woods! Why, it was a whole ’nother nice thing for sweet Stevie to do.”

  “Definitely sweet,” said Phil. “And speaking of sweet, I’m really curious about how you got to riding sidesaddle in the first place and what it’s like and how you trained Diamond there?”

  Did Stevie’s ears deceive her or was her very normal Phil beginning to talk like Tiffani? Had he actually just ended a sentence that wasn’t a question with a question mark?

  “Oh, yes, do tell,” Carole said eagerly. “I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

  It turned out to be a long story, something involving one of Tiffani’s first instructors who’d had a sore right foot. Stevie wasn’t very interested in the question, and she was certainly not interested in the answer. She turned her attention inward, because she was afraid if she didn’t, she would either blow up or throw up, and neither seemed likely to please her companions at this point.

  Who did Phil think he was, talking with Tiffani about Stevie as if she weren’t there? And having to be reminded that Stevie was more than great! As long as she’d known him, he’d never told her she was “sweet,” as in “sweet li’l ole Stevie.” Why did he have to be discussing that now, with someone who was almost a stranger? Tiffani was flirting—with Phil!

  Now that they’d been on the trail for twenty minutes, it wasn’t as hard to be disagreeable as it had been when they’d first started out. Stevie found that she was no longer seeing pink—she was starting to see red.

  Every time Tiffani opened her mouth, she batted her eyes, smiling, flattering, and flirting—with Stevie’s boyfriend.

  And the worst part was that Phil didn’t seem to mind a bit.

  Stevie rode in silence, unwilling to make a scene, uncertain what mattered and what didn’t. She barely noticed the trees, the plants, the birds, the soft forest floor. She almost didn’t even notice when Belle started to nibble at some weeds—the kind that would make her very sick.

  “Stevie!” Lisa called back.

  Stevie tugged at her reins. Belle lifted her head and continued walking.

  When they got to the creek, everybody dismounted. It was too cool to go wading, but it wasn’t too cool to sit on the rock and chat. Stevie sat with her friends, but if someone had asked her later what they had talked about, she wouldn’t have had the vaguest idea. It was a blur. All she saw was Tiffani, smiling at Phil, blinking sweetly, teasing, putting her hand on his arm. “Oh, Phil!” Tiffani exclaimed. And Stevie saw Phil smiling back, blinking back, and never once moving his arm out of Tiffani’s reach.

  He likes it, he likes it, he likes it. The words coursed through Stevie’s mind like a poison.

  “We ought to be heading back about now,” Carole said in her usual businesslike manner. “After all, the horses have been working for a while, what with all the games and then the lesson and now the trail ride. They must be as ready for some rest as we are—not that I’m really tired.”

  “You’re never tired,” said Lisa. “But I’m getting that way now. I think it must be the sidesaddle. Do you get more tired sidesaddle than astride?” she asked Tiffani.

  “Oh no, but I’m used to it. It’s like my muscles just know?”

  “I guess mine haven’t graduated from school yet,” said Lisa. Tiffani must have thought that was awfully funny, because it made her laugh very hard, almost as hard as she laughed when she realized how much trouble she and Lisa were going to have remounting without a mounting block.

  Fortunately Phil was there to help them. It was almost more than Stevie could bear, watching her boyfriend lift Tiffani Thomas into the saddle.

  Stevie led the way back to the stable at the fastest safe speed she and Belle could manage.

  STEVIE’S HEAD WAS SPINNING. She couldn’t believe how totally unhappy she was. She was angry with her friends, furious at Phil, and inconsolable about Tiffani.

  Stevie knew herself pretty well, and she knew that although she was more than capable of being annoyed by annoying people, this went well beyond that. She even understood that it wasn’t totally rational. There was something about Tiffani that irked her more than she could say, and every time someone she liked didn’t feel the same way, she got irked at them, too. When that included the three people she cared the most about in the world, she was in trouble.

  She had to find a way out, a solution, a resolution. She thought about all these things as she groomed Belle, totally ignoring, insofar as she could, the buzz of activity across the hall. Riders stopped by to admire Diamond and to ask Tiffani about sidesaddle riding.

  Was that what bothered her? Stevie asked herself. Was it because Tiffani was getting
a lot of attention? Stevie liked attention, but she never begrudged it to anyone else who deserved it, and she could genuinely understand that people were curious about Tiffani and Diamond. Also, there was no question that Tiffani was someone who genuinely cared about other people. She’d learned absolutely everyone’s name in a day and had a knack for recalling horses’ names and details—“Why, I never saw anyone jump so smoothly as you did on Comanche. Was that really the first time you’d ridden him, Amy?”

  And the pink and frills? Stevie shrugged. What a rider wore was no more important than the color of the horse she rode. It meant nothing.

  So why did these things irk her? It was sort of like she’d been taken over by some kind of demon, and when it came to how Tiffani and Phil got along, the demon had a specific name: jealousy. But how on earth could Stevie be jealous? Phil was way too smart to fall for pink and frills, and she knew Phil too well to think his flirting with Tiffani meant anything. What mattered was how Stevie and Phil felt about one another, not about how Tiffani flirted or how Phil flirted back.

  The only way to rout out a demon like jealousy was to bring it out in the open, talk about it, understand it. Once it was understood, it couldn’t possibly have any meaning. That was the answer. The one thing that would really make Stevie feel better was to spend some time with Phil.

  It turned out to be easy to arrange that. There had been a lot of talk about TD’s as their trail ride had come to an end. Carole and Lisa were eager to spend more time talking with Tiffani—the repository of all horse information in the world, Stevie grumbled to herself, momentarily forgetting her resolve—about their research projects. This would not be good for Stevie and she knew it. She was saved from disaster by her own white knight. While she was stammering and trying to come up with a reasonable excuse, Phil supplied her with one.

  “I just can’t today,” he said. “Much as I would like a sundae and some good horse talk, my mother is picking me up at Stevie’s place at four o’clock. That doesn’t give us time to eat a sundae, even in a hurry.” Then he turned to Stevie. “You can go with them if you’d like—” he began.