Free Horse Whispers by Bonnie Bryant

bright and bitter cold. Kate, John, Lisa, and Stevie climbed into the ranch van. They were off to town to do some shopping for the Devines. Nobody had the heart to wake Carole.
    “She must be exhausted from yesterday,” Kate said.
    “I’ll say. And she was tossing and turning all night,” commented Stevie.
    Lisa raised her eyebrows. “Do you think it’s the mare?”
    Stevie nodded.
    “But she’s back safe and sound,” said John. “Why should Carole worry?”
    Stevie and Lisa exchanged glances. Taking turns, theytold Kate and John the story of Cobalt. “And the black mare looks exactly like him,” Lisa finished.
    “I still don’t get what the problem is,” John said. He turned out of the long ranch driveway and onto the one road that led into town.
    “There is no problem—yet,” Stevie said.
    “It’s just that Carole’s gotten pretty attached to the mare already,” Lisa explained.
    “And the mare seems to be getting pretty attached to her,” Kate added speculatively.
    “Carole does have a way with her,” John agreed.
    “We just don’t want her to get, you know, overly involved,” Stevie concluded.
    “Sounds to me like you guys are getting overly involved,” John remarked, his eyes on the road.
    The girls exchanged glances. They were all thinking the same thing: What a typical thing for a guy to say. It wasn’t even worth a response.
    W HEN THEY GOT to town, Kate and John headed for the hardware store, leaving Stevie and Lisa to tackle the grocery list.
    “Meet back in an hour?” asked Kate.
    “Sounds good,” Stevie answered.
    John took Lisa aside for a second. “Maybe you should get some more apples,” he suggested.
    “They’re not on the list, but sure, why not? Everyone likes apples,” Lisa said.
    “I meant so that you could make some more of that pie,” John explained. “You know what they say about the way to a man’s heart …” He grinned.
    Lisa felt herself blushing. “I’ll try to remember,” she said.
    “F IRST ITEM ON the list: condensed milk,” Stevie read. They were standing in the fruits and vegetables aisle of the Super-Shop. “Wait.
Condensed
milk? What do you think that is?”
    Lisa looked over Stevie’s shoulder at the list. “Weird. I have no idea. I guess we should go look in dairy, though.”
    They trooped to the end of the aisle. “Skim milk, one percent, two percent, whole, organic skim, organic whole, lactose aid, skim plus … Gee, they have every kind
but
condensed,” Lisa said.
    Stevie picked up several cartons and inspected them. “Maybe regular milk would be okay.”
    Lisa wasn’t so sure. If there was one thing she had learned in home ec, it was that beginning cooks should stick to recipes. Somehow she had a feeling that beginning shoppers should stick to lists.
    “Oh, I bet I know what Phyllis means!” Stevie said suddenly. “She probably wants the little pints of milk for putting into the guests’ lunches.”
    Lisa smiled. “Brilliant. That’s got to be it. How many should we get?” She started tossing pints of whole milk into their cart.
    “At least four. There are four guests, aren’t there?”
    “Yeah, so we’d better get eight to be safe. My mom always says it’s better to get a couple extra rather than go short. And eight will take care of two lunches,” Lisa pointed out. “Okay, let’s see. What’s next? Pastry and flour.”
    “Pastry? That’s
all
it says?”
    Lisa held out the list. “Yeah, see?”
    This, thought Stevie, was total insanity. “But—But what kind does she want? I mean, you can’t just say
pastry
when there’s doughnuts, danishes, turnovers—”
    “It must be for dessert. Why don’t you go to the bakery and see what they have? Get a couple of each.”
    Stevie was more than happy to oblige. Bakery sections usually had samples. It took her all of about ten seconds to spot the tray of goodies. She paused, planning her attack. Then, with a quick glance right and left, she went into action.