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Veronica, then turned back to Stevie. “Anyway, George has acted like he’s resented me from the first day of filming. And now Shev and Marcella are acting weird, too.”
    “Weird like how?” asked Carole.
    Skye shrugged. “I don’t know. They aren’t friendly at all. If a take doesn’t go well, they always blame me.Yesterday a couple of horses messed up a scene that I wasn’t even in, and they told everybody it was my fault!”
    Lisa reached over and gave Skye’s hand a supportive squeeze. “I bet they’re just jealous,” she said. “You’ve got more talent in your little finger than they do in their whole bodies, and they’re just envious!”
    “She’s right, Skye,” agreed Carole. “After all, isn’t moviemaking a pretty cutthroat business?”
    Skye laughed. “You’ve got that right. I guess this is just the first time my throat’s been the one getting cut!” He made a funny face, then a whole fleet of waiters streamed out of the kitchen, bringing their dinner to the table.
    “Wow,” said Lisa after five huge plates of scrumptious-looking food had been spread out before them. “This looks wonderful.”
    “Everything smells delicious!” Carole said as she took a bite of perfectly cooked trout.
    Stevie looked over at Veronica’s plate, which was covered in a strange multicolored stew. “What did you say that was again, Veronica?”
    “
Ragoût fin
,” Veronica replied, lifting up one pale green morsel of food with her fork. “We often have it at home. I’m sure you’re familiar with it, Skye—”
    “Hey, look,” said Skye as a group of people sat down at a nearby table. “There are some people from the production. Excuse me for a moment, girls.”
    They watched as Skye got up and greeted the newcomers. None of their faces looked familiar. Apparently, these were people they had not met earlier.
    “I guess that’s all we’ll find out about Skye’s set problems tonight,” whispered Stevie as Skye shook hands with a heavyset gray-haired man.
    “I think we’ve found out enough,” said Lisa. “I mean, he definitely needs some Saddle Club help.”
    “Maybe if we can help him work out his problems with Mabel, then the other problems will go away,” suggested Carole.
    “Well, that’s something The Saddle Club can certainly do,” Stevie replied, shooting a look at Veronica. “We may not know movies, but we sure know about difficult horses.”
    “Then we’ll have to do everything we can to help him with Mabel,” said Lisa.
    They returned to their meals as Skye came back to the table.
    “Sorry,” he said, replacing his napkin on his lap. That was my producer. I had to go and say hello.”
    “I understand perfectly,” cooed Veronica, daintily taking a bite of her stew. “Business always comes before pleasure. That’s the way it is when you’re successful. Why, if I could tell you the number of times Daddy—”
    “Anyway,” Skye continued. “That’s the story. If I would just figure out what’s wrong with Mabel, thenmaybe certain people on the set would stop thinking I was a jerk.”
    “I bet we could figure out what’s bugging Mabel,” Stevie said.
    “You think so?” Skye grinned his famous movie-star smile. “Anything you could do would really help me out.”
    “Well, first we have to figure out exactly what her bad habits are,” said Carole.
    “Yes,” Veronica chimed in. “Like when Red O’Malley figured out that Danny didn’t like to pull on the right side of a cart.”
    “What does Mabel like to eat?” asked Stevie. “I broke one of Belle’s bad habits by treating her with bits of carrot.”
    “So far her favorite snack has been me.” Skye laughed and held up one nipped finger.
    “Well, we’ll have to break her of that,” said Carole. “But that’s easy. What else does she do?”
    Skye sighed. “She kicks and bites around other horses, she can’t stand to have her ears touched, and once you dismount, she tries to run away.”
    “Whoa,”