A Summer Without Horses Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked, assuming I’d misheard Skye. I unsnapped my hard hat so I could hear better.
    “Yours. He’s
yours.
”
    “Mine?”
    I couldn’t believe it. What Skye was telling me was that he’d just arranged with Mr. Ward to buy the horse for me. Mr. Ward was working on hiring a plane to fly Kip back to Virginia to Pine Hollow the following week.
    Mine? Skye had bought the horse for me? He said it was because I’d helped him with Chris Oliver. It was the most incredible moment of my life. I know I started crying, but I didn’t pay any attention to the tears. There was too much else to think about. Kip wasn’t just some nag. Hewas a really good horse and Skye was chartering a whole airplane just to have him flown to Virginia! For
me
!
    Suddenly I felt like a different person. I wasn’t just Lisa Atwood, rider. I was Lisa Atwood, horse owner. Better still, Lisa Atwood, Kip owner. The words began to sink in. I leaned way forward in the saddle and gave Kip the biggest hug around his neck that I could manage. It also gave me a chance to wipe my tears of happiness off in Kip’s mane. I didn’t want Skye to think he’d just gone to a lot of trouble to buy a wonderful horse for a baby.
    For a minute, I tried to protest.
    “You don’t have to do that, Skye. I don’t really need a horse. This is much too expensive a gift. I couldn’t possibly repay you.”
    “Lisa,” he said. “You’re my friend. I can afford a generous present for a girl who’s generous with her friendship. Elvis used to buy Cadillacs for strangers. The least Skye can do is to buy a horse for a friend. Please?”
    What could I say, but “Thank you”? And then a minute later, “Thank you very much. More than I can tell you.” Then I hugged Kip again and told him he was going to have to learn to whinny with a gentle Southern drawl because he was moving to Virginia!

“B E CAREFUL WHAT you wish for. It may come true.”
    I’d always thought that was a dumb proverb until it happened to me. My dream of a lifetime was about to be fulfilled and by the time I got out of Skye’s limousine at the hotel, I was beginning to see the bad side of it all.
    I should have seen it right away, but it’s hard to be logical when a movie star gives you a horse and tells you he’s going to have it flown across the country for you. When something that wonderful happens, it’s hard to remember that there is any bad news anywhere in the world.
    But there was bad news—and it was that Veronica diAngelo was about to become a member of The Saddle Club.
    That was the thought that filled my mind as I walkedinto the hotel lobby that afternoon. In the elevator, I began manufacturing stories in my mind. What could I possibly tell Stevie and Carole so they wouldn’t know I’d been riding in California? It seemed so cruel, like something out of a horror movie: Now that I finally had my own horse, I’d be stuck with Veronica diAngelo in The Saddle Club!
    By the time I reached our floor I realized lying to my two best friends would feel terrible. I opened the door to our room and saw my mother sitting reading a book. Oh no, I thought. How are my parents ever going to afford what it will cost to feed and board Kip? Horses are expensive to own.
    “How was your ride?” Mom asked.
    “Great,” I answered truthfully. “Skye is the most wonderful, generous person I’ve ever known.”
    My mother beamed. There’s a part of her that’s just thrilled that her daughter is friends with
the
Skye Ransom, and then there’s another part of her that just plain likes Skye. Skye is one thing she and I agree on totally.
    “He had a picnic made for us and we rode up into the mountains and he kept telling me how much what I’d done had meant to him and I kept telling him how it really wasn’t any big deal and we just had a good time.”
    Of course I didn’t tell her that Skye hadn’t just given me a picnic lunch. He’d also given me a horse. I felt so totally confused about Kip and