Stable Hearts (11 page)

“Mr. Stowe acts young, too,” Stevie said, thinking of the glitter ball and all the work he had so cheerfully done around the stable. “Think about it. We might have broken them up before they had a chance to get together!” She couldn’t believe she’d been so blind.

“At least we didn’t,” Carole said. “That’s one Saddle Club project that I’m glad failed.”

Stevie bit her lip. She longed to be out on the dance floor—with Phil. She wanted to feel as happy as Mrs. Reg looked. More than anything else, she realized, she wanted to be with Phil.

“I made a big mistake,” she said slowly. “I shouldn’t have insisted that Phil come here. He
probably shouldn’t have insisted I go to his dance, either, but at least I’ve figured it out now. The important thing isn’t which dance we go to. More than anything else, I wish I were with him right now.”

Carole and Lisa looked at her sympathetically. “We thought you might feel like that in the end,” Lisa said.

“It’s not that I don’t want to be with you guys—”

“Of course not,” Carole said. “We know we’re your best friends.”

“I think I still can be with Phil,” Stevie said determinedly. “I’m going to go use Mrs. Reg’s phone. This is an emergency if I ever saw one.”

Carole and Lisa smiled. Mrs. Reg’s phone was strictly off-limits, except for emergencies.

“I’m going to call my mom and ask her to come get me,” Stevie continued. “I’m going to Phil’s dance.”

M
R
. S
TOWE CAME
up to Lisa and made a deep bow. “May I have the honor of a waltz?” he asked in a courtly tone.

Lisa giggled. Even without Stevie, she and Carole were having a marvelous time. They had danced to some of the faster tunes, and during the slow dances they had had the fun of watching Simon twirl his date around the floor while Veronica glared from the sidelines in fury.

“I’d love to dance the way you do,” Lisa said, “but I don’t know how.” She’d been admiring Mr. Stowe’s elegance for half an hour. He and Mrs. Reg both danced very well.

Mr. Stowe held out his hand. “If you don’t know the waltz, I’ll teach you,” he said. He led her to an open space on the floor, then showed her how to place her hands. “Up on your toes,” he commanded. Lisa, surprised, lifted her heels off the floor. She hadn’t thought waltzing would be like ballet. “Now, follow my lead,” he said. “
One
-two-three,
one
-two-three.” Mr. Stowe counted to the music, and he and Lisa spun across the floor. Lisa hadn’t known waltzing could be so much fun. She felt as if she had wings.

“Thank you,” she said when the dance was over. She bit her lip. “Mr. Stowe—my friends and I didn’t realize that you and Mrs. Reg—I mean—I mean, we’re sorry we made you work so much.”

Mr. Stowe smiled. “I always liked to work,” he said. “I still do. But I guess Elizabeth kind of got the impression I was
only
interested in working. I talked to her and we’ve got that straightened out now, so don’t worry about it.”

Lisa was very glad The Saddle Club hadn’t messed things up permanently. “Thank you for showing me the waltz.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied. “Now I’ll take Carole for a spin, if she’d like. Where’s Stevie?”

“She left a little bit ago. She had another dance to go to.” Lisa got herself a drink and watched Mr. Stowe sweep Carole around the floor. From the look on Carole’s face, she was enjoying it just as much as Lisa had.

Lisa put down her drink. “Hey, Max,” she said. “Want to waltz?”

Max had spent most of the evening with his wife, Deborah, but had only danced once so far. At Lisa’s suggestion Deborah laughed, and Max looked a little sheepish. “I managed to duck dance classes when I was young,” he said. “I don’t know how to waltz.”

“That’s okay,” Lisa said. “I’ll teach you.”

Max laughingly agreed, but Lisa discovered that it was much harder to waltz when neither person knew what he or she was doing. “You’re supposed to lead me around,” she instructed. “
One
-two-three,
one
-two-three. Like that.” She pointed at Mr. Stowe and Carole.

Max shook his head. “I can’t do that. You lead.”

“Okay.” Lisa took a deep breath. “Get up on your toes.”

“No way,” said Max.

“Okay, just walk normally. Ready?” She tried to steer Max. First she stepped on his foot, then he stepped on hers, then they both tripped.

Max grinned and dropped his hands. “Why don’t I buy you a drink?” he joked. He walked with her over to the hay-bale table where free drinks had been set out for everyone. In a moment the dance ended, and Carole joined them.

“Phew, that was fun!” she said. To Max she added, “I saw you out there with Lisa. Maybe you should get Mr. Stowe to show you how to do it.”

Max roared with laughter. “No, I think I’ll just watch from now on,” he said. He went to rejoin Deborah, but Deborah shook her head at him and waltzed with Mr. Stowe. Mrs. Reg adjusted the volume on the stereo, then walked out to the dance floor and cut in on Deborah. Deborah laughed, patted Mrs. Reg on the shoulder, and walked back to Max.

Carole and Lisa sat down on a hay bale. “Do you think it’s true love?” Lisa asked, nodding toward Mrs. Reg.

“Too soon to tell,” Carole said. “But it’s a happy Valentine’s Day.”

A skinny boy who looked a few years younger
than the girls sat down on the hay bale next to Lisa. “Hi,” he said nervously. He took a few sips of his drink.

Lisa looked at Carole, who shook her head. Neither of them recognized him.

“Hi,” Carole said. “I’m Carole and this is Lisa. Are you one of the Cross County riders?”

The boy nodded enthusiastically. “I’m Dusty,” he said. “I remember you, Lisa.” He looked at her adoringly. “You fell off twice last weekend at our games.”

Lisa felt a blush creep up her neck. “How nice of you to remember,” she told him.

“Thanks.” The boy nodded and scooted a little closer to her. “I saw you dancing. Would you show me how to waltz?”

Lisa didn’t know what to say that wouldn’t hurt his feelings. She didn’t want to dance with him.

Carole suddenly coughed, then choked. “Choking—on a—chip!” she wheezed. She hacked a few more times, grabbed Lisa’s hand, and gasped, “Lisa—help!” They raced to the other side of the room and disappeared behind a stack of hay bales near the door.

“I’d try the Heimlich maneuver,” Lisa said,
rolling with silent laughter, “except that you can’t be choking. You weren’t eating any chips!”

Carole grinned. “Maybe I was choking on my diet soda?” she suggested.

“Maybe,” Lisa said. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re all right now. And thanks. Are we going to have to dodge Dusty for the rest of the evening?”

“I don’t think we both are,” Carole said. “Just you.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “I’m the one that stands out, after all—you didn’t fall off!”

“No,” Carole said. “Penny was running away with me so fast last weekend that Dusty probably never got to see my face at all.”

“Trade you,” offered Lisa. “I’ll take the run-away, you can have the falls and Dusty.”

“Nope,” said Carole. “But I’m willing to choke on imaginary potato chips all night long, whenever you need me.”

A flash of headlights shone through the windows, and they heard a car come to an abrupt stop on the gravel drive. A few seconds later someone threw open the door.

“Phil!” Lisa said, scrambling to her feet. She and Carole ran to meet him. “What are you doing here? Where’s Stevie?”

Phil looked startled, as well as out of breath. “Dancing?” he guessed. “Sitting on a hay bale? Talking to you guys? I don’t know! You tell me.”

“She’s at your school,” Carole said. “She came here and decided she missed you too much, so she left for your dance.”

Phil groaned. He staggered over to a hay bale, sat down, and covered his face with his hands. When he uncovered it he was laughing. “I went to my dance,” he said. “And when I got there I saw all these couples dancing, and I thought,
This is really stupid
. More than anything else, I just wanted to be with Stevie. So I called my mom and had her drive me over here.”

“That’s really ironic,” said Lisa. “When you think about it—”

“—it’s really nice,” Carole interrupted. “You both did the right thing.”

“Yeah, but …” Phil shook his head. “Stevie doesn’t know very many people from my school, and my dance was really crowded. She’s not going to know where I am!”

Carole looked at Lisa. “Definitely,” Lisa said in response to Carole’s unspoken question. “This definitely counts as an emergency.”

“Come on,” Carole said, pulling Phil to his feet. “Mrs. Reg has a phone in her office.”

When they reached the office, they found to their surprise that the phone was already ringing. Lisa grabbed it. “Good evening, Pine Hollow Stables,” she said politely. She was greeted with hysterical laughter—laughter she knew very well.

“Phil, it’s Stevie,” Lisa said, holding the phone out to him. “I think she’s figured out where you are.”

I
N THE CROWDED
, noisy hallway of Phil’s school, Stevie pressed the phone closer to her ear. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” she shouted.

“Happy Valentine’s Day to you, too!” Phil shouted back.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“So am I!” he replied. “And I’m sorry we’re not at the same dance, too. Have you found anyone you know?”

“Oh, sure,” Stevie said cheerfully. “I saw A.J. and Bart as soon as I walked in—that’s how I knew where you were. They’re right here.” She waved her fingers at Phil’s two closest friends. They were in Cross County, so she’d hung around them a lot at Pony Club events.

“I hate to say this, Stevie,” Phil continued, “but my mom is absolutely going to die if I ask her to come get me again.”

“Mine too,” Stevie said. “Are you having an awful time?”

“No. I can hang around Carole and Lisa, if they don’t mind.”

Lisa grabbed the phone. “Of course we don’t mind,” she said, just as a male voice on the other end said, “We’ll take care of her, Phil.”

“Hi, A.J.!” Lisa said.

“Hi, Lisa!” he answered.

Stevie grabbed the phone back. “Hi, Lisa! Put Phil back on, please. Hi, Phil. Hey, next time I’ll plan to go to your dance from the start, okay?”

“No, I’ll plan to go to
yours
,” Phil said.

Stevie laughed. “Whatever. Let’s just both plan to go to the same one.”

“Okay.”

They talked a bit more and then Stevie hung up the phone. It was a good Valentine’s Day after all.

Carole and Lisa had stepped outside the office to give Phil a few moments to talk to Stevie alone. When he rejoined them, they grinned at each other.

“Do you guys have any food here?” he asked. “I was too busy hanging streamers—and being upset about Stevie—to eat any dinner.”

“We’ve got chips,” Lisa said.

“Real and imaginary,” Carole added, and both girls broke out laughing. Phil looked mystified.

“Never mind,” Carole said. “What can you tell us about a kid in your Pony Club named Dusty?”

Phil laughed. “Dusty? Is he here? First of all, he’s only in the sixth grade. And Dusty’s not his real name. We call him Dusty because he falls off his horse so often the seat of his breeches is always dusty.”

Lisa and Carole howled. “That explains his attraction to Lisa,” Carole said when she could speak.

“Phil,” Lisa said with a shake of her head, “why couldn’t you have brought a friend? It would make dodging Dusty so much easier!”

C
AROLE LOOKED OUT
the window of Lisa’s bedroom. “Here’s Stevie now,” she announced.

“Oh, good.” Lisa joined Carole at the window. They watched Stevie get out of her mother’s car and run up the steps to Lisa’s house, and they watched Mrs. Lake drive away.

Carole and Lisa had come home from Pine Hollow first, half an hour before. They’d changed into comfy sweatpants and shirts, then stockpiled snacks in Lisa’s room. Of course, they couldn’t really discuss the whole night until Stevie arrived.

Stevie burst through the door. “I’m back!” she cried. “How was your dance? Did you have fun?”
She tossed her coat on the floor and pulled off her boots.

“We really did,” Carole replied. “Phil is always fun to hang around, and Mr. Stowe waltzed with both of us twice—”