Stable Groom Read Free

British Equestrian Team member Nigel Hawthorne. The Saddle Club had planned and taken part in the ceremony, which had been a horse lover’s dream.
    “Hey, wait a minute,” Carole said, sitting up suddenly. “If Max hasn’t told us when he’s going to get married—even though it’s a month away—that means we aren’t going to be in the wedding.”
    Lisa and Stevie sat up more slowly, beginning to look worried. “It means we probably aren’t even invited. You’re supposed to send the invitations out six weeks ahead of time,” Lisa said. Because of her socially conscious mother, Lisa knew all sorts of rules of etiquette.
    “I never thought of that,” Stevie said.
    The three girls stared glumly at the remains of their lunches. They knew that Max and Deborah would probably want to invite lots of people their own age, but they had sort of assumed they would be included in the celebration, too. After all that had gone on, they had grown close to Deborah and felt that she was genuinely fond of them. And they had thought that Max would naturally want to invite some of his students, namely, The Saddle Club.
    “It’s too bad we’re not invited, because we’re good at weddings,” Stevie said finally. “If we hadn’t been there for Dorothy, who knows if she and Nigel would ever have gotten married.”
    “And besides, we could have helped Mrs. Reg out with the food or the punch or something,” Carole said. Max’s mother was a favorite among The Saddle Club. The older woman usually lost no time in getting them to help out at special Pine Hollow events.
    “But they might not be having the wedding at PineHollow,” Lisa pointed out. “After all, sometimes the bride decides to— Hey, maybe that’s it.”
    “What?” Carole and Stevie asked in unison.
    “I was just thinking about what the bride and the groom each do at a wedding, and I remember that they usually have separate invitation lists. I’ll bet Deborah’s assuming that Max is inviting us, since we’ve been friends with him longer. But Max can be so absentminded that he’s probably just forgotten to ask us.”
    Stevie nodded in agreement. “I’ll bet you’re right. He’s got so much on his mind, with Pine Hollow and the honeymoon arrangements and everything, that I’m sure it just slipped his mind. So that means all we have to do is find some way to remind him.”
    They thought for a minute, trying to come up with a solution. “I know—how about a shower?” Lisa suggested.
    Stevie gave her a withering glance. “Max seems pretty clean to me. Besides, how would that—”
    Lisa cut in, laughing. “Not that kind of a shower. I meant maybe we could give him a kind of bridal shower with food and gifts and stuff.”
    “But he’s not the bride,” Stevie said, pointing out the obvious.
    Carole grinned. “Then how about a b-r-i-d-l-e shower?” she proposed.
    “Ha-ha,” Stevie said.
    “All right. We’ll call it a ‘groomal’ shower for the time being,” Lisa decided.
    “Huh?” Stevie said.
    Ever logical, Lisa explained to Stevie that showers were usually given for the bride, but in this case it seemed fair that they should have a party for the person in the wedding whom they knew best. “We could invite all of Horse Wise plus the younger riders, and Mrs. Reg, Red, Denise—maybe even Deborah.”
    “Right. And since it’s a
groomal
shower, everyone will bring gifts of curry combs and body brushes,” Stevie couldn’t resist adding.
    Doing her best imitation of Max when he was annoyed, Lisa raised her right eyebrow at Stevie. “Ahem. Can we get on with the planning now, Miss Lake?” she asked. She took up the notebook she always brought to unmounted meetings and began scribbling a list of things to be done. The girls had a million ideas for the shower. They all loved to plan parties, especially a party for someone like Max, who had done so much for them over the years.
    At first The Saddle Club had been worried about Max’s future