Stable Farewell by Bonnie Bryant Page A

awkward. The Saddle Club had done so much work over the past couple of weeks to sell Garnet that it almost seemed as if she were their horse. Veronica seemed to recognize that. She came in quietly and greeted everyone. “I just got off the phone with the Kingsleys,” she confided to the girls.
    “Were they upset about Garnet?” Carole asked, feeling she had to, to be polite.
    “Actually, no. It turns out Henrietta had decided to takeup waterskiing instead of riding. Who knows? They may have never sent their vet up.” With that, Veronica seemed to have run out of things to say. She got herself a piece of cake and, looking almost embarrassed, went to stand with Garnet. When Stevie and Lisa looked over a few minutes later, Veronica had an arm on Garnet’s neck and was talking softly to her.
    “She’s certainly behaving herself today,” Lisa commented.
    “Yeah, they both are: Garnet and Veronica,” Stevie joked. “Imagine that.”
    Carole had retreated across the ring so that she could be alone and think. She noticed her friends laughing with each other. She wanted to join in, but she was having a hard time getting into the festivities. Every night that week she had talked to Cam, but he had been too busy packing to come see her or to have her come see him. Besides, his parents were too busy to drive him anywhere.
    The whole thing had become final faster than Carole could have believed. Duffy was already on his way to California in a horse transport van; Cam would leave tomorrow. His parents had hired someone to drive their car across country so that the whole family could fly out to L.A. together. Several times Cam had promised that hewould write, but Carole knew that even if he did, things would never be the same between them. They still didn’t know each other all that well. Now they never would.
    Lost in her brooding, Carole leaned back against one of the jumps and closed her eyes. She hardly knew how long she’d been there when she felt a hand tap her lightly on the shoulder. “Hey, sleepyhead. Worn out from all the horse selling?” a voice behind her asked.
    Carole spun around. It was Cam! He looked happy to see her and pleased with his surprise presence at the party. “You came!” Carole cried.
    Cam nodded. “Yup. Stevie invited me—I guess she wanted to keep it a secret. My mom had a few last-minute errands in Willow Creek anyway, so she dropped me off for a little while.”
    “I can’t believe it!” Carole said. “I mean, I can’t believe that you—or, Stevie—oh, never mind! You’re really here!” She was so thrilled at seeing Cam one last time that she couldn’t seem to say anything normal.
    “I’m really here, and I really wanted to come,” Cam assured her.
    “Really?” Carole asked.
    “Really,” said Cam. He cleared his throat. “I wanted to come so I could give you this.”
    Carole felt her jaw drop as Cam reached into his pocket and held out a small box wrapped in paper with horses on it. “I have something for you, too. I was going to mail it, but now I can give it to you in person. Come on, it’s in my cubby.”
    Carole noticed that Cam looked shyly pleased. Obviously he was glad that she had thought of him, too. Without further ado, she led him out of the ring and into the changing room. She fished around in her cubby and brought it out. She hadn’t had time to wrap it, so she made Cam close his eyes and stick out his hand. Then she placed her gift in his palm. It was a Saddle Club pin—the kind that Phil and A.J., as honorary Saddle Club members, already had. Carole had talked the gift idea over with Lisa and Stevie, and they had agreed that Cam definitely deserved to be an out-of-town Saddle Club member. He more than met the requirements: He was horse-crazy, and he’d always been a good friend.
    “Okay, open your eyes,” Carole said.
    Cam opened his eyes. His expression changed from curious to delighted. “It’s a Saddle Club pin, isn’t it?” he asked.
    Carole