English Rider (5 page)

L
ISA FELT FROZEN
in place. She tried to open her mouth to say something to distract Max, but her vocal chords wouldn’t obey.

It was too late anyway. Max was glaring suspiciously at Stevie. “Stevie Lake,” he barked. “What are you doing?”

Lisa gulped. Stevie couldn’t have looked guiltier if she’d had a flashing neon sign on her forehead reading Prank in Progress. She was leaning forward with the gooey, dripping sandwich in one hand and the other hand stretched toward Veronica’s boots.

As usual, Stevie reacted quickly. She smiled innocently at Max. Then she grabbed Veronica’s boots and pushed them aside. “Don’t worry, Max,” she asked cheerfully. “I
was just moving these boots. I wouldn’t want my sandwich to drip on them.”

Lisa gulped and glanced at Max. Would he really fall for that story?

It didn’t look like it. Max folded his arms across his chest and glowered suspiciously. Veronica smirked. Tessa looked confused.

Then Stevie did the only thing she could do. Lisa knew she couldn’t have done it herself. She doubted Carole could have, either. In fact, she strongly suspected that Stevie Lake was the only person in the world who would actually have been able to raise that awful-looking sandwich to her mouth and take a big bite.

“Mmm,” Stevie said, chewing and swallowing quickly. “That hits the spot. Mucking out Belle’s stall and doing all those other stable chores really wakes up the old appetite.”

Max was still frowning, but he shrugged. Then he turned to face Veronica. “Okay, Veronica,” he said. “What did you drag me in here for? I was in the middle of something.”

Veronica glared at Stevie. “Actually, Max …,” she began loudly.

Lisa opened her mouth again to interrupt before Veronica could say anything incriminating. She doubted that Veronica would admit to picking that sandwich out of the trash and planting it temptingly on the bench for Stevie to find—though Lisa was sure that was exactly what had
happened. Still, if Max knew that those were Veronica’s boots by Stevie’s feet, his suspicions might be raised once again. Especially if Veronica made him take a good, close look at the flecks of trash and dirty fingerprints on the sandwich.

“Max!” she shouted suddenly. “I have to ask you something!”

Max turned to stare at her in surprise. Lisa felt her cheeks flush as she struggled to figure out what to say next.

Carole came to her rescue. “Um, Max,” she said. “What Lisa was about to say is, we were just watching Mrs. Pennington driving her phaeton outside.”

“That’s very interesting,” Veronica said sarcastically. “Now, as I was saying—”

Lisa didn’t let her finish. “That’s right, Max,” she added hurriedly, shooting Carole a grateful look. “Miles was telling us more about driving, and it was really interesting. We were wondering if you were planning to take Mrs. Pennington up on her offer to come talk to us again sometime after her equipment arrived.”

“Right,” Carole added cheerfully. “Because now it’s here!”

Max nodded thoughtfully. “That’s right, she did offer to speak to Horse Wise again.” Horse Wise was the name of Pine Hollow’s branch of the United States Pony Club. It met every Saturday morning, and Max often invited speakers to teach the group about different aspects of
horses and horse care. Mrs. Pennington had spoken about driving the week before.

“Whatever,” Veronica broke in. “So anyway, Max, I wanted to tell you—”

“When do you think she could come?” Stevie interrupted, catching on to what her friends were doing. She surreptitiously set the remains of the sandwich on the bench and shoved it out of sight behind her.

Max didn’t notice. “Well, the sooner the better, I suppose,” he said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “It would certainly be more convenient for her to do it before her stable is finished and Hodge and Podge move out of Pine Hollow. Obviously Saturday is out because of the point-to-point, though.” The Horse Wise meeting was canceled because most of the members would be riding in or at least attending the point-to-point.

“How about tomorrow’s lessons?” Carole spoke up.

Max looked surprised. “Tomorrow?” he said slowly. “Well, that’s not much notice. But it would be nice to give you a little bit of a break from all the jumping we’ve been doing lately. Besides—”

“The sooner the better, right?” Lisa finished for him. She glanced at her watch. “Uh-oh. The Penningtons were just finishing up when we left them a little while ago. If you want to catch them before they leave—”

Max nodded briskly. “Right,” he agreed. “I’d better go now.” With that, he hurried out of the room.

When he was gone, Veronica gave Stevie, Carole, and
Lisa a sour look. “You three are just full of clever ideas, aren’t you?” she said cryptically. Then she turned to smile at Tessa. “Listen, Tessa,” she said in a friendlier voice. “I was just thinking. I’d really like for you to see the rest of my riding clothes. Maybe you could find more stuff to borrow. Do you want to come over this afternoon after we’re finished here? We could have tea again. I asked the maid to make some real English-style scones.”

“Smashing,” Tessa began agreeably. “That sounds like—” Then she glanced at Lisa and stopped herself. “Oh, but I can’t this afternoon,” she corrected. “Lisa’s mum is taking us to the mall. Perhaps another time.”

“Sure.” Veronica gave Lisa an irritated glance. Then she smiled at Tessa and shrugged. “Far be it from me to stand in the way of shopping.” She said good-bye to Tessa, mumbled something relatively polite to the rest of The Saddle Club, then left.

“Wow,” Stevie said when she was gone. “That was close.”

“What was that all about?” Tessa asked. She set down the silky white shirt she was holding and sat beside Stevie. “Veronica and I were chatting in the tack room, and suddenly she insisted on rushing in here with Max in tow.”

“Oh, nothing much.” Carole rolled her eyes. “Just another one of Veronica’s nasty little tricks.” She told Tessa the whole story.

At the end, Tessa looked unconvinced. “Are you sure she set it up?” she said skeptically. “It sounds a bit farfetched.”

“Not for Veronica.” Stevie wiped a glob of peanut butter off her fingers onto her jeans. “She’ll do anything to make us look bad. Especially now, when she knows Max is on our case.”

“Oh, well,” Tessa said with a shrug. “In any case, no harm done.” She winked and grinned. “Perhaps one of us will come up with a sneaky way to get back at her sometime soon.”

Carole looked surprised. “I thought you wanted to keep things friendly,” she said. “I thought that’s why you’ve been putting up with her boring conversation for the past two days.”

“Well, I do want to keep things calm,” Tessa admitted. “Besides, she’s really not as dull as you all seem to think. I’ve found some of the things she says very, very interesting.”

Lisa shrugged. She didn’t feel like arguing about it right then—especially since it was almost time for her mother to pick them up for their trip to the mall.

She grabbed the peanut butter sandwich from behind Stevie and tossed it into the trash can with a shudder. “Well, I just have one more thing to say about all this,” she told Stevie.

“What’s that?” Stevie asked.

Lisa grinned weakly. “After watching you eat that horrible
sandwich, I think it’s a good thing you’re going to the doctor today anyway.”

“O
H, LOOK AT
this lovely silk shirt, dear!” Mrs. Atwood exclaimed, holding up a bright turquoise-and-magenta-checked blouse for Lisa’s inspection. “Isn’t it stylish? And it looks just like those outfits professional jockeys wear. Wouldn’t it be fun for you to wear it in your race on Saturday?”

Lisa sighed. It was a couple of hours later. Mrs. Atwood had arrived right on schedule to pick up Lisa and Tessa, and ever since they had arrived at the mall she had been doing her usual thing—namely, trying to interest Lisa in all sorts of clothes and accessories she didn’t want or need.

“I’m not certain, Mrs. Atwood,” Tessa said politely, “but that may not be appropriate for this sort of event. I think most of the riders will be dressed in traditional hunting-style clothing rather than jockey’s silks.”

Lisa shot her a grateful look. She had Tessa to thank for the fact that she was only
half
miserable rather than completely miserable. Tessa had managed to distract Mrs. Atwood just enough to keep her from driving Lisa totally crazy. Lisa knew that her mother was terribly impressed by Tessa’s title, her manners, and her upper-class British accent. Because of all that, Mrs. Atwood was actually paying much more attention to Tessa than she was to Lisa, and for that Lisa was thankful.

Mrs. Atwood reluctantly hung the silk blouse back on its rack. “Well, if you say so, dear,” she told Tessa. “You’re much more of an expert on these matters than I am, of course.” She headed for the next rack. “Oh, but what about these wonderful tweed jackets …,” she began eagerly.

“Well, hello!” a familiar voice called cheerfully. “Fancy meeting you here!”

“Veronica?” Lisa muttered. She turned, and sure enough, Veronica was hurrying toward them across the wide center aisle of the department store.

“Hello, Veronica,” Mrs. Atwood said. “What a pleasant surprise! Are you doing some shopping for the point-to-point? Your mother tells me you’re entered in the junior hurdle race.”

“That’s right,” Veronica said pleasantly. “Actually, I was just trying to figure out what I should wear.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, I’m having some trouble. That’s why I was so excited when I saw Tessa over here. She knows so much about riding clothes.”

Tessa looked a little surprised. Lisa thought she knew why. Tessa actually did know quite a bit about riding attire—all the girls did—but unlike Veronica, she wasn’t really very interested in the subject. As long as her clothes were comfortable and safe for riding, she was content.

But Mrs. Atwood was nodding agreeably. “Oh, yes,”
she told Veronica. “Dear Tessa has been such a help to us today.”

“I’m sure she has,” Veronica said smoothly. Then she smiled beseechingly at Tessa and Mrs. Atwood, completely ignoring Lisa. “It’s such a nice coincidence that I ran into you. I wonder if I could steal Tessa away for a little while? There’s a pair of breeches in another store that I’d just love to show her.”

“Certainly,” Mrs. Atwood said. She patted Tessa on the arm. “Lisa and I can make do by ourselves if you’d like to run along and help Veronica. We could meet you by the entrance when it’s time to go.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Veronica said quickly. “I can drop Tessa off at your house when we’re finished. Is that okay?”

“It’s fine with me,” Mrs. Atwood said. “Tessa?”

Tessa hesitated, glancing at Lisa. Lisa forced herself to keep her expression neutral, since her mother was looking at her. If Mrs. Atwood knew that she absolutely hated the thought of Tessa and Veronica spending any more time together, Lisa would never hear the end of it. Besides, Lisa was sure Tessa would manage to back out of Veronica’s invitation gracefully all on her own.

But to her surprise, Tessa’s face broke into an eager grin. “Sure, I’d love to,” she said. She stepped forward and slipped her hand cozily into the crook of Veronica’s arm. “Lead the way.”

Veronica smiled with satisfaction. “Great,” she said. “Let’s go.”

Tessa glanced back over her shoulder and winked at Lisa as she hurried off with Veronica. “See you at home,” she called.

Lisa didn’t bother to reply. Her shoulders slumped as she realized that her mother was already gathering a whole new set of clothes to show her.

She was doomed.

“D
ID YOU ACTUALLY
end up buying anything after all that?” Carole asked.

Lisa sighed and leaned back against the wall of the upstairs hallway. She was on the phone with Carole and Stevie. Stevie’s family had three-way calling, which came in handy for telephone Saddle Club meetings like this one. “Not much,” she said. “Just a few new pairs of socks and a shirt. At least I talked her out of that stock pin. You wouldn’t believe how much it cost.”

“What I can’t believe is that Tessa isn’t back yet,” Stevie said. “What time did you say she went off with Veronica?”

“Hours ago,” Lisa replied.

“Poor Tessa.” Carole sounded sympathetic. “She must be bored stiff.”

Lisa sighed again and played with the buttons on her shirt. “To be honest, I’m not feeling all that sorry for her
right now,” she admitted. “I mean, it wasn’t as though Veronica dragged her off kicking and screaming. She didn’t even have to beg very hard. Tessa practically jumped at the chance to go off with her.”

“Are you sure she wasn’t just sick of your mom?” Stevie asked. “Uh, no offense or anything.”

“None taken,” Lisa said. “And I thought of that. Mom was being her usual self, more or less. But still, I wouldn’t have expected Tessa to abandon me. She knew I was counting on her to help me survive the shopping marathon.”

“Good point,” Carole said. “It was practically her duty as a member of The Saddle Club to stay with you. Besides, getting away from your mom to shop with Veronica would just be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.”

“A roaring bonfire,” Stevie agreed wholeheartedly. She paused, and Lisa could almost hear the wheels turning in her head. “No, I think there must be something else going on here.”