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surprise, when she dared to look up from her pizza, Stevie and Bob were chatting away as if the situation were completely normal.
    “That’s too bad about the earrings,” Bob was saying. “They sound nice.” Lisa eyed his profile cautiously. It was as nice as she remembered—blond hair brushed carelessly off his face, a straight, longish nose, and brown eyes. Suddenly the brown eyes turned and focused on her. “Some friends are hard to buy for,” he said.
    “Yes,” Lisa managed to croak out. Her throat seemed to have lost all moisture.
    “So do you ride at Pine Hollow, too?” Bob asked.
    “Yes, I mean, I ride there, I do go riding at Pine Hollow. We went riding there today, didn’t we, Stevie?”
    Stevie grinned. “Sure, Lisa.”
    “So you must know Veronica diAngelo,” Bob said.
    Lisa and Stevie flinched. “We know her,” Lisa said. Her stomach turned. She prepared for the worst.
    “You know, at school she seemed like such a great girl.”
    Stevie raised her eyebrows. At Fenton Hall, Veronica was even worse than at Pine Hollow, if that was possible.
    “But now …” Bob’s voice trailed off. He seemed to be debating whether he should talk about Veronica with them. Stevie and Lisa prayed that he would. “But now,” he finally went on, “I’ve had it with her.”
    Lisa’s heart started beating again. “Oh?” she said, copying the innocently interested tone Stevie usually adopted in these circumstances.
    “You see, I’ve been saving up for a mountain bike. My allowance won’t cover it, so I decided to baby-sit to make some extra cash. My neighbor has a little boy, a great little kid, and it’s been fun. But Veronica acts like it’s the funniest thing she’s ever heard—that a
boy
would baby-sit.” Bob shook his head ruefully. “Last week was the last straw. She comes up to me at practice and says, right in front of the whole soccer team, ‘All that baby-sitting hasn’t made you too delicate for playing defense?’ So of course I’ve been getting ragged on by the rest of the team and the coach all week. She just
had
to go and try to wreck a good thing.”
    “What does she know?” Stevie asked.
    “Exactly,” Bob replied fiercely. “So now I guess I’ll know better than to fall for her type,” he concluded.
    How could Veronica be so obnoxious? Lisa wondered.
    She
loved the idea that Bob baby-sat. Most guys she knew wouldn’t admit to having fun with a little kid. She wanted to tell Bob that she didn’t think it was funny at all. Her tongue, however, felt like it was tied in a knot.
    Stevie once again took command of the situation. “You know what the best cure for a broken heart is, don’t you?” she teased.
    Bob shook his head. “What?”
    “A good party.”
    Bob grinned.
    “Luckily, our friend Carole—the one whose present we’ve been shopping for—is having one on Saturday night. And I’m sure she’d love to have you come.”
    “Really?” Bob said. He looked pleased.
    “It’s a hayride birthday party,” Lisa said.
    Bob gave her a big smile. “Sounds fantastic. I’ll be there. And now I’ve got to run, because I have to be at the Appletons’ in an hour.”
    “Have fun,” Stevie said.
    “Don’t worry—it’ll be easy tonight. Nicholas has a friend over to keep him occupied.” He got up with his tray and headed toward the door. Halfway there he turned around and called back, “Nice to see you again, Lisa!” He flashed them both a crooked grin and was gone.
    “Oh, Stevie,” Lisa breathed, watching him leave. “Can you believe he baby-sits? How
adorable
!”
    “My mother always says it’s important for a man to have a job,” Stevie pointed out.
    “He’s perfect,” Lisa said with a loud sigh.
    “He
is
perfect—perfect for
you
,” Stevie told her. “So why the sigh? You heard him: Veronica’s completely out of the picture.”
    “Maybe Veronica,” Lisa said. “But what about all the other millions of girls out there?”
    “Don’t worry,