Autumn Trail Read Online Free PDF Page B

perfect way to do it. “Never mind Veronica,” she said. “I’ll put up with her somehow. But have I got news for you!” Quickly, she filled them in on what she’d overheard.
    “I can’t believe it!” Lisa exclaimed when Carole had finished. “Our Max has a girlfriend?”
    Stevie thought Lisa sounded a little like a proud parent, and she told her so. “Not that I blame you,” she added. “It
is
pretty exciting to think of Max being in love—maybe even getting married! From what you heard, Carole, it sounds like he wants to bring this Lillian woman back here with him, maybe permanently. Just think, we could be having another wedding at Pine Hollow before too long!” The past April Fool’s Day, Stevie had planned a mock wedding between two of the horses at Pine Hollow, a stallion named Geronimo and a mare named Delilah. At the last minute the fake wedding had been turned into a real wedding to save the day for a human couple.
    “Or eloping,” Carole said. “That’s my guess. I bet Mrs. Reg doesn’t even know.” She sighed wistfully. “Lillian is such a pretty name.”
    Lisa, always the practical one of the group, brought them back down to earth. “We shouldn’t blow this out of proportion,” she cautioned them. “After all, from what you heard, we don’t know how serious things are. This could even be Max’s first date with this woman.”
    “Well, maybe,” Carole said doubtfully. “But Max sounded pretty serious about her on the phone. I mean, he said he wanted to bring her back here with him. I wonder exactly when he’s going to visit her.… He didn’t really say; he just said he’d see her soon.”
    “It was smart of you not to let on that you’d heard,” Stevie told Carole. “If he knew we knew about it, we’d never be able to find out anything from him. This way he won’t be suspicious, so if we ask him the right questions, maybe …” She let her voice trail off mysteriously, but her friends knew what she meant. Maybe they could find out more about Max’s mystery woman, Lillian.
    “I think finding out all we can about Max’s new romance should be our next Saddle Club project,” Carole declared.
    “I definitely agree,” Stevie said. “I just wish I had an idea of what to do for my part of our other project. I’m leaving for my aunt’s house tomorrow, and I still haven’t come up with anything good at all. I just can’t think of anything to do.”
    “Me, neither,” Lisa said. “But I do have a pretty good idea of what we should be doing right now, and that’stacking up our horses. We only have fifteen minutes until class starts.”
    Carole glanced at her watch. “Uh-oh, you’re right. Let’s go!” The girls hurried off in separate directions to get their horses ready for riding class. Fifteen minutes was plenty of time to tack up a horse, but they didn’t want to take a chance of being late. They all knew how annoyed Max got when someone was late for class, and they also knew that they liked him a lot better when he
wasn’t
annoyed.
    A T THE END of class that day, Max announced that he had a favor to ask. “As you all know,” he began, “Thanksgiving is this week. I know most of you have some time off from school, and a lot of you probably have special plans with your families. I was hoping to make a pretty special trip myself to visit a good friend, but I’m having some problems arranging it.”
    Stevie glanced furtively at Lisa and Carole. They both knew what she was thinking, because they were both thinking the same thing: This must be the special trip to visit Lillian that Carole had just overheard Max planning on the phone!
    “In any case,” Max was saying, “Red won’t be able to do all the work himself, and I’m having trouble finding anyone who wants to work. I know it’s short notice, but if any of you knows anyone with stable experience who would be willing to work then, please let me know assoon as possible. Thanks, and that’s all for