Horse Games (13 page)

“We’re all wonderful!” Stevie said. “Aren’t we?”

Everyone could agree on that.

“Uh, Stevie, could I talk to you for a moment, in private?” Phil asked. “It’s about our bet. Remember?” he whispered in her ear.

“Oh, yes. Excuse me, guys. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She secured Barq to the fence and followed Phil to the far side of the stable building. She even let him help support her as she walked.

When they were sure they were out of sight of the excited crowds, Stevie turned to face Phil. She put her arms up around his neck and stood on her tiptoes as high as her sore ankle would allow. He encircled her with his
arms, and leaned down. Then, to alleviate further strain on her ankle, he picked her up. Their lips met.

Kissing Phil was just plain wonderful as far as Stevie was concerned and this time was no exception. He held her tightly and warmly for a few more seconds. Then they kissed again and he put her back down on the ground.

“Hey, that was a great bet,” Stevie said. “We’ll have to do that again more often!”

Phil grinned. His green eyes sparkled. She loved it when he looked at her that way.

“Just one thing, though,” Stevie said.

“What’s that?”

“Who won?”

Phil began laughing.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing!”

“Y
OU WERE GREAT
!” Carole told Stevie. Lisa nodded agreement.

“So were you two,” Stevie said. “And I realized the whole thing was about teamwork, right guys?”

The three of them were sitting at their favorite table at TD’s, talking about The Game. They still all felt the thrill of their success.

“I can’t believe how good it was to be playing together.”

“It’s what you taught us,” Lisa said. “You were a really good coach.”

The waitress arrived then. “The usual?” she asked. She disappeared before they could even answer.

“What do you suppose that means?” Lisa asked.

Carole and Stevie shrugged. “I guess we’ll see soon enough,” Stevie said.

“What were you and Max talking about on the way home in the van? You were yakking away in the front seat about something, but I just couldn’t hear what it was,” Lisa said.

“Oh, we were discussing our future tournament schedule. See, there are a couple of other Pony Clubs in the area, and some 4-H’s, too, that might have polocrosse teams. I wanted to know what he thought about having a full-blown invitational tournament.”

“And what did he say?” Carole asked.

“He said we ought to have more players on our team before we do that so that if somebody gets sick, we won’t have to find some poor girl, still on crutches, to fill in for that person.”

“Makes sense to me,” Carole said.

“Don’t worry,” Lisa said. “Polocrosse is a lot of fun and pretty soon a lot of people are going to know about it and will be dying to play. We won’t have any trouble expanding our team. You’ll see.”

The waitress approached the table, balancing a tray above her shoulder.

“Now, first, I thought you might want to try the banana frozen yogurt with honey.” She placed the dish in front of Lisa.

“Looks good,” Lisa said.

“And, I decided that caramel topping on chocolate ice cream was for you.” That was for Carole.

“Interesting,” Carole said.

“For you, we have something extremely exotic: a dish of vanilla.”

She lowered the plate in front of Stevie, who couldn’t hide her disappointment, until the waitress finished her description: “And strawberry, and bubble gum royale, with a Turkish-taffy topping, and peanut-crunch bits.”

“Oh, wow!” Stevie said, obviously delighted at the waitress’s idea of “the usual.”

“Enjoy,” the woman said. She left.

Carole leaned forward on the table and spoke conspir-atorially to her friends. “I think she’s hiding behind the pillar there,” she said.

“Whatever for?” Stevie asked.

“To see if you will actually eat it.”

“I will,” Stevie promised. “Every last bite of it. Unless you guys want a taste. You’re welcome, you know.” She offered them the dish.

“No thanks,” they said at once. All of them picked up their spoons then and began eating “the usual.”

“Speaking of thanks, wasn’t Marie just great today?” Lisa asked.

“Yes, she was,” Carole said. “See how much riding has done for her? I just knew it would.”

“And how is our little distraction plot coming along?” Stevie asked.

“Well, my father and her mother had a real date one night this week. I got the impression that Dad thinks Mrs. Dana is pretty cool.”

“Do you suppose that’s why he tried to put two halters on one horse today?” Lisa asked. “Now
that’s
what I call distracted!”

“And speaking of distracted,” Carole said, changing the subject, “what was all that stuff Phil was whispering to you today after the game?”

Stevie realized she hadn’t told her friends about what had been going on between her and Phil. She left out a few personal details, but she brought them up-to-date on the things they needed to know.

“Boy, The Saddle Club is really something,” Lisa said.

“How’s that?”

“Well, in a few short weeks, we help rehabilitate a girl who’s been in a car accident, we dabble in matchmaking, we learn a whole new sport, and we patch up a quarrel between Stevie and Phil. We sure did a lot, didn’t we?”

“We sure did,” Stevie agreed. “Now, I’m going to ask you guys to tell me something, honestly.”

“What’s that?” Carole asked.

Stevie looked at each of her friends. She was obviously uncomfortable with the question.

“Go ahead. Ask. What is it?” Lisa encouraged her.

“Tell me who won the game today?”

“You really don’t know?”

Stevie shook her head.

Lisa and Carole looked at each other and broke into laughter. “She’s recovering,” Lisa said. “Definitely improved!”

“So?” Stevie persisted.

“It was a tie. Six to six.”

Stevie grinned. “Here’s to everybody, then,” she said, raising her water glass in a toast.

“But mostly, here’s to us,” Carole added. Their glasses clinked. Some water even spilled on Stevie’s sundae, but Stevie assured them she wouldn’t notice the additional flavor.

Bonnie Bryant is the author of nearly a hundred books about horses, including the Saddle Club series, the Saddle Club Super Editions, and the Pony Tales series.