Free Broken Horse by Bonnie Bryant Page A

broke in. He speared a piece of cucumber on the end of his fork and held it up. “I found another piece of cucumber for my little cucumber. Ready?”
    “Of course,” Paige replied. She opened her mouth, and Alex popped the fork into it.
    Stevie rolled her eyes and turned back to David. “How come you guys aren’t playing at the Christmas dance?” sheasked. “I’m kind of glad you’re not, since I’m not going. I mean I’d hate to miss it. But I’m surprised they didn’t ask you back after the last dance.”
    “They did ask us,” David said. “But we’d already booked a gig at a bowling alley over in Hazelton for the same night, so we had to pass.”
    “You guys must be awfully popular if you have to turn down jobs,” Carole commented.
    “Well, it’s not like we’re getting dozens of offers every weekend or anything,” David said with a grin. “But I guess we’re doing all right.”
    “He’s just being modest,” Paige put in. “Rotting Meat is the most popular band in town.”
    “Hey, Alex, would you please pass the pepper?” Stevie said. “I mean, would my little pepper please pass the pepper?”
    Alex didn’t seem to have heard her, so Michael reached around him and shoved the pepper mill toward Stevie.
    Lisa helped herself to another piece of lasagna. “How long have you been in, uh, Rotting Meat?” she asked David.
    “We got together last summer,” he replied. “But it took a while for people to get to know us. Now we’re finally starting to get some regular gigs.”
    “Where else do you play besides bowling alleys, David?” Mr. Lake asked.
    “You played at the harvest festival over at the mall, didn’t you?” Paige put in suddenly.
    Stevie glanced at her, surprised that she was actually paying attention to the conversation.
    Alex seemed surprised, too. “Hey, what are you guys talking about?” he asked.
    “Your brother’s friend is the lead singer of Rotting Meat,” Paige explained.
    “Are you a fan? Paige, isn’t it?” David asked, smiling at her.
    She nodded, smiling back shyly. “Totally. You guys are the coolest.”
    “You go to Fenton Hall, too, don’t you?” David asked Paige. She nodded, still smiling.
    Alex glanced from his girlfriend to David and back again. “Yeah, she’s in my class,” he said. He grabbed Paige’s hand. “That dance where his band played was where we first got together, remember?”
    Paige shrugged. “Well, we danced together a few times. But we really didn’t get together until much later,” she corrected him. She pulled her hand away and reached for her water glass.
    Stevie kicked Lisa under the table. Then she kicked Carole. Something was going on here, and it was looking very interesting to Stevie. “So you’re a huge fan of David’s band, huh, Paige?” she asked innocently.
    Paige blushed a little. “Well, I wouldn’t say that,” she said quickly, glancing at Alex. “But they’re pretty good.”
    “Just pretty good?” Stevie said. “Or
really
good?”
    “Shut up, Stevie,” Alex said testily. “What difference does it make how good she thinks they are?”
    “Oh, none at all,” Stevie replied. “Not to me, anyway.” She took a large mouthful of lasagna and chewed busily.
    “That’s enough, Stevie,” Mr. Lake said warningly.
    Stevie obeyed and kept quiet, but the warning was completely lost on Paige. She was gazing at David with the same look she had so recently directed at Alex. And he was gazing right back, smiling as he chewed his garlic bread.
    Chad glanced from one to the other, looking dismayed. It was clear that he saw what was going on, too, and that he didn’t like it. He turned to Carole. “So what’s new at that stable of yours these days?” he asked loudly. “Any new horses or anything?”
    Stevie could hardly keep herself from laughing out loud. When one of her brothers actually asked about Pine Hollow, she knew that something strange was going on. She was about to change the topic back to