Playing for Keeps Read online

  Mrs. LeFleur gazed at her kindly. “You have a point,” she admitted.

  “Could you just give me two more weeks to work with Prince Albert? Daphne is helping me, and she’s so great with horses. And we could offer pony rides on Pixie.”

  “We could, but it wouldn’t bring in much money.”

  “I’ll put up signs and ask around at school. Maybe someone will want to board a horse here,” Taylor suggested.

  “Getting a few boards would be a good start,” Mrs. LeFleur agreed. “I’ve exhausted most of my savings. I have a little left to keep the ranch going for about a month, but if I don’t have lessons booked and boarders in these stalls by then, I’ll have to close it down.”

  A tall, slim, blonde woman appeared in the open doorway of the office. “Hello. I’m Beverly Mason. We spoke on the phone?”

  Mrs. LeFleur extended her hand graciously. “Yes. Bernice LeFleur. You were interested in a horse lease for your daughter, I believe.”

  Taylor tightened her hands into nervous fists, waiting for what Mrs. LeFleur would say next.

  Taylor was glad to see Daphne still sitting on the fence watching Prince Albert and Pixie in the corral. “What happened?” Daphne asked, her delicate eyebrows knit in concern, when Taylor hopped up onto the fence railing beside her.

  Glancing around, Taylor saw that Plum was sitting in her gleaming black Cadillac SUV with her mother. The next moment, they drove off toward Wildwood Lane. Taylor sighed with relief as the vehicle disappeared around the turn in the road.

  “So that was the evil Plum, huh?” Daphne prompted. “I’ve seen her over at Ross River, but I didn’t know her name.”

  “Did she lease a horse over there?” Taylor asked.

  Daphne shook her head. “I heard the barn manager, Bob Haynes, telling Mrs. Ross that he wouldn’t do it.”

  Taylor sat up straighter, eager to hear this news. “Why not?” she asked excitedly.

  “When he tried to correct some of her riding and aftercare habits, she didn’t want to hear it.”

  “That’s Plum, all right.”

  “He didn’t feel she should be trusted with one of their gorgeous purebred horses — or any horse for that matter.”

  “Would you tell that to Mrs. L.?” Taylor requested.

  “Sure,” Daphne agreed. “But first, you still haven’t told me — what did Mrs. L. have to say to Plum’s mother?”

  “That Wildwood Stables wasn’t officially open for business yet. She said to come back in a week.”

  “A week!” Daphne was incredulous. “That doesn’t give us any time at all!”

  “I know,” Taylor agreed.

  Daphne hopped off the fence and began to pace. “I need to book lessons fast, but I can’t unless I have a horse to give lessons on.”

  Taylor nodded sadly. “It’s kind of a huge problem.”

  Daphne suddenly faced Taylor, her eyes bright. “That’s it!”

  “What’s it?” Taylor asked.

  “This has forced me to make up my mind. I’ve been thinking about bringing Mandy over here. Now I’ve decided to definitely do it.” Mandy was Daphne’s gray, mostly barb mare. Daphne boarded Mandy over at the expensive Ross River Ranch.

  “The price just went up over there, and it wasn’t cheap to begin with,” Daphne said. “If I’m going to be here giving lessons, it just makes sense that she should be close by. I’ll get to ride her more often this way, and I can use her for lessons, at least until we get Prince Albert straightened out.”

  “That’s a great idea!” Taylor cried, suddenly feeling her spirits lift. Taylor’s mother was a caterer, and she had just gotten a job at Ross River Ranch. But Taylor had never been to the stables, only seen them briefly from the school bus. “What’s it like there?” she asked Daphne.

  “Come over and see for yourself,” Daphne suggested. “Mandy’s board is paid up until the end of the month. I have to go there tomorrow and tell them I’ll be moving her. We can go for a ride.”

  “Awesome,” Taylor said. “What time?”

  “How about right after school?”

  “You’ll have to wait for me — the middle school gets out later than the high school. But my bus goes right past there, so getting a ride won’t be a problem.”

  “Okay, let’s do it,” Daphne agreed. “I’d better go in and talk to Mrs. LeFleur to double-check that it’s okay to bring Mandy.”

  “And tell her about Plum,” Taylor called after her as Daphne headed toward the main building.

  Taylor had wanted to see the exclusive horse ranch for a long time. And now she would even get to ride there, something she thought would never happen. Wildwood Stables really was the best place in the world, a place where unexpected good things just kept happening.

  Swiveling around to face the corral, Taylor watched Pixie contentedly grazing on patches of rough grass growing at the fence posts. Prince Albert stood calmly, still saddled for riding. Seized with an overwhelming urge to be near them, Taylor swung her legs around and dropped into the corral.

  “Hey, guys, are you up for a trail ride?” Taylor asked as she approached Pixie and Prince Albert. She tightened the girth of Prince Albert’s saddle and readjusted the stirrups to fit her legs. It wasn’t necessary to even harness Pixie; wherever Prince Albert went, his loyal friend would always follow.

  Taylor had mounted and was walking Prince Albert to the gate when Daphne and Mrs. LeFleur came out of the main building. “Where are you going?” Mrs. LeFleur asked from the other side of the fence.

  “I want to explore the trails behind the corral,” Taylor replied.

  “Is it safe for you to go alone?” Mrs. LeFleur questioned.

  Before Taylor could reply, Daphne took out her cell phone. “What’s your number?” When Taylor told her, Daphne quickly phoned it. “There, now you have my cell number and I have yours. If you don’t call me in a half hour, I’m coming out looking for you.”

  What will you ride? Taylor wanted to ask, but she decided not to. There was no sense bringing up the point when Daphne was just trying to help her.

  “I’ll take your bike, if I have to,” Daphne said, seeming to read Taylor’s mind.

  Mrs. LeFleur’s expression remained fretful, but she sighed and nodded. “I suppose the cell phones make it all right,” she said. “I always forget that everyone can be contacted all the time these days.”

  “I won’t forget to call,” Taylor said with a wave as Daphne opened the gate for her.

  With the pony following them, Taylor walked the horse onto a dirt trail at the back of the stable. Off to the right, pale blue mountains rose in the distance. Directly behind them, the dusty path went straight into the thick woods.

  They passed an empty paddock with a broken section of fence. “Maybe someday you’ll both have lots of friends here at the ranch. We’ll have to fix that fence because we need the space for them all.” Taylor imagined the ranch full of activity: lessons being given, trail rides going in and out, veterinarians, farriers, all sorts of people coming and going.

  As they entered the woods, Taylor kept their pace to a walk to let Prince Albert and Pixie warm up. She felt a chill as soon as they were hidden from most of the sunlight. In about a half mile she broke into a jog, and a half mile later let loose into a lope.

  To be on Prince Albert out here in nature, without anyone else around — it was so perfect it felt like a dream. Being here like this was more pure happiness than she’d ever imagined she’d have, especially a few months back when she’d had to stop her riding lessons at Westheimer’s because of money problems at home. Her parents’ divorce had meant a tighter budget. Out here, though, she felt free and so happy.

  Taylor turned back to check on Pixie. The small pony was puffing hard, struggling to keep up, her short legs moving in double time.

  When she turned forward again, a low hanging pine branch hit Taylor in the face, and she started sliding off to the right. Tightening the muscles in her abdomen and legs, Taylor right
ed into the saddle once more. She gently pulled to a halt for a moment to calm her startled nerves and also to allow Pixie to catch up.

  As she sat atop Prince Albert, Taylor listened to the thick silence of the woods. Within minutes, sounds emerged: birds calling to one another, the gurgling of a creek, snapping twigs caused by racing squirrels.

  Pixie neighed as she joined them. “I know. It’s so beautiful,” Taylor responded as the coolness and tranquility flooded her senses.

  Taylor stayed there listening to the natural sounds until she was sure Pixie and Prince Albert were sufficiently cooled down. Flicking the reins once more, Taylor guided them toward the sound of moving water. In minutes she came to a slight incline leading to a shallow creek where the water danced along, surging from one flat-topped rock to another.

  Stopping by the side of the creek, Taylor dismounted. She took off Prince Albert’s bridle so he could drink more easily. “Go, drink,” she told them.

  As Taylor watched Pixie and Prince Albert at the water’s edge, noses dipped in the sparkling stream, she realized that her socks were soggy. Looking down, she groaned. The bottom of her well-worn right cowboy boot had separated from the upper part and was sunk in the mud at her feet. Checking the left boot, she saw that it, too, was starting to come apart.

  Why did this have to happen? And especially when she’d been feeling as if all her cares had been left behind, at least for the moment. Now she’d have to ask her mother for new boots, which cost a lot. Taylor did not welcome the thought of having that conversation.

  That evening, Taylor sat at the kitchen table in the small farmhouse-style home she shared with her mother, Jennifer Henry. “Mom, the sole split on my brown cowboy boots. Can we go to the mall?”

  Taylor’s mom stood at the kitchen counter. Her blonde curls were clipped up behind her head as she fussed with one of the beaters in her handheld mixer. “Why won’t this thing go in?” she muttered.

  “Mom!” Taylor cried.

  Jennifer looked up at Taylor, perplexed. “I’m sorry — what?”

  “Spaceships have landed in the backyard, and they want me to go back to their home planet with them. So I just wanted to say good-bye,” Taylor told her.

  Jennifer stared blankly for a moment, and then one side of her mouth curled into an ironic grin. “Ha-ha! Very funny,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’m preoccupied by this luncheon at Mrs. Ross’s next Saturday. It’s a huge deal and I’m not nearly ready. Okay, so tell me again: What happened? I heard something about boots.”

  “My boots are no good anymore. I can’t possibly wear them to Ross River Ranch. They probably won’t even let me in — I’ll look like a clown with my socks sticking out of the toes.”

  “Why are you going over to Ross River Ranch?” Jennifer asked, looking confused again.

  Taylor explained how Daphne had invited her to ride. “I only want to look like I fit in,” Taylor said. “I’m not even asking for riding boots, just decent heeled shoes that I can ride in — though boots would be nice.”

  “Okay, I suppose I can probably afford new shoes,” Jennifer said, giving in.

  “Thank you so much!” Taylor said, getting out of her chair to give her mother a grateful hug. “Can we go to PetFeed?”

  “Why not a shoe store?”

  Taylor grinned sheepishly. “Because they have an equestrian section at PetFeed,” she admitted.

  “And you really want the riding boots,” her mom surmised.

  “If I could,” Taylor agreed, putting on her most adorable big-eyed puppy-dog-pleading face.

  “Okay. I can’t buy the most expensive boots they have, though. You understand that, right?”

  “Definitely!” Taylor assured her. “You’re the best — the best of the best!”

  “I’m always the best when I’m spending money,” Jennifer quipped.

  “No, no, no! That’s not true. You’re always the best!” Taylor made a mental note to tell her mother how much she appreciated her at times when she wasn’t asking for something.

  “Do you have homework?”

  Taylor nodded. “I guess I should get started.”

  “I guess so,” her mother said with a touch of sarcasm.

  “I’m going,” Taylor said, sliding off her chair.

  “You know our deal about keeping Albert.”

  “Prince Albert,” Taylor corrected.

  “Whatever,” Jennifer said. “If your grades don’t stay in the eighty to one hundred range, you will not be spending so much time down at the ranch.”

  “I get it, Mom,” Taylor said just a little impatiently. “You’ve only told me a gazillion times.”

  “Then go!” Jennifer exclaimed, raising her voice forcefully. “Get your homework done.”

  Despite Taylor’s casually annoyed tone, alarms were going off in her head. She’d missed a few homework assignments, and her last quiz grades hadn’t been so wonderful. She’d promised herself that she’d make it all up, but so far she hadn’t found the time.

  Taylor scrambled out of the kitchen, snapping up her school pack from the sofa as she went. At the top of the stairs, she realized her backpack was buzzing. Fishing through it, she pulled out her cell phone and found a text message alert. Clicking onto it, she read the text from her best pal since third grade, Travis Ryan.

  GO ONLINE!

  Taylor’s throat went dry. For some reason this text worried her. Travis sounded serious.

  Taylor hurried to the computer and logged on.

  She sent an instant message to Travis: WUZ UP? RU HOME?

  NO. @ FRNDS. GO 2 EMAIL, he responded. SENT U VIDEO FROM PLUM’S WEB PG.

  What friend? Taylor wondered. And how had he gotten onto Plum’s webpage? Plum would never have accepted him as a friend if he tried to get on.

  Taylor was dying to call Travis, but she didn’t want to disturb him at his mysterious “friend’s” house. So she logged into her e-mail account and found the message from Travis. Clicking on the video link, she was on the edge of her seat waiting for the black box that formed on the screen to reveal the video.

  The moment it came on, Taylor clapped her hand over her gaping mouth.

  The video’s title was: THE NEW HORSE IN MY LIFE.

  It showed Prince Albert grazing in the corral at Wildwood Stables.

  Taylor sat on the school bus with Travis the next morning. “I know you told me, but I still don’t understand how you got hold of that video. Plum would never let you onto her webpage.”

  Travis rubbed his hand along the top of his white-blond crew cut. He puffed his cheeks in exasperation, which made his wide face look even rounder. “I told you already. One of Plum’s friends sent the video to Plum’s ex-boyfriend, Jake. He wrote some nasty comments about it and sent it to some of his friends. I’m friends with one of those guys, and I sent it to you.”

  “I can’t believe she’s so sure of herself. Prince Albert is my horse, you know. I have the papers.”

  “At least she’s not buying him,” Travis pointed out.

  Taylor covered her face with her hands as if to block out the idea. “Don’t say that! I would never sell him to her.”

  “What if you had to?” Travis asked.

  Taylor’s head swung around to stare at him with an expression of horror. “Why would I ever have to?” she demanded.

  Travis opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again. But Taylor stared into his deep blue eyes and felt that she could read her friend’s thoughts. She might have to sell Prince Albert if he couldn’t be trained to take a rider and Mrs. LeFleur couldn’t use him. If Plum was the only one who wanted him, she might have to turn him over.

  Taylor folded her arms stubbornly and turned away so she was staring out the window. “Prince Albert would never let Plum ride him,” she muttered stubbornly.

  “I guess she’s not worried about that,” Travis remarked, “or she wouldn’t have put that video online.”

  “By the way, what friend sent you that video?” Tayl
or asked, turning back toward him. Travis didn’t have a ton of friends other than her.

  “George Santos. I was at his house yesterday, and he showed it to me.”

  “I didn’t know you were such good friends with George Santos. Since when?”

  “Since you spend all your time at Wildwood Stables now,” Travis said sullenly. He pulled a Wolverine comic from his pack and opened it.

  “Travis! You know I’ve had a lot going on. Anyway, now you’re going to spend all your time there, too.” Taylor had convinced Travis to help with the repairs of Wildwood Stables, and when he’d come down with a box of tools, Mrs. LeFleur had appointed him Junior Head of Buildings and Grounds. Mrs. LeFleur was the Senior Head.

  “Mrs. LeFleur has all those people working there. She doesn’t need me,” Travis grumbled.

  “Yes, she does. Those workers are only there one more week, and there are tons of things still to be fixed.”

  “I don’t even like horses,” Travis insisted.

  “You do so. You just haven’t discovered the horse-loving part of yourself yet.”

  “I haven’t discovered it because it’s not there.”

  * * *

  By the time Taylor arrived at Pheasant Valley Middle School, she had pushed the Plum problem out of her mind. The night before, fueled by her furious indignation over the video posting, Taylor had made and printed up flyers advertising Daphne’s riding lessons. She figured that mentioning Daphne Chang was a plus, since Daphne was popular and well liked. Two years earlier she’d been student body president.

  After dropping her books in her locker, Taylor grabbed a thick stack of the folded flyers and began stuffing them into locker vents or handing them to students who were still putting their books away.

  Taylor was about to come upon Jake Richards, a tall, athletic guy who was generally considered the best-looking boy in the eighth grade. Jake was Plum Mason’s ex-boyfriend. With a sudden loss of nerve, she crossed the hallway, trying to seem as if this move had nothing at all to do with him.