The A Circuit

by Georgina Bloomberg

  Kate felt her cheeks go pink as she avoided her friend’s gaze. “He’s cool, I guess,” she said. “I mean, we’re just friends, if that’s what you’re implying.”

  “I’m not implying anything. I’m asking.”

  “Okay, then I’m telling you. Fitz isn’t my type. As if you had to ask.”

  “Good.” Tommi sat back in her seat, looking oddly relieved. “Because you’re way too good for him. I’m glad his ridiculous ninja flirting hasn’t overwhelmed you like it seems to do with everyone else. I hope you keep it that way.”

  Kate grabbed her own water glass, taking a long drink to avoid responding. Yeah, she could tell that Tommi thought she was looking out for her. And that made sense—Tommi had a lot more experience with guys, which wasn’t difficult, since Kate had practically, oh, none. But still, who was Tommi to tell her who was “good enough” for her to date?

  Or could it be Kate who wasn’t good enough? The thought slipped in before she could stop it, slippery as an oiled snake. Fitz came from serious money. Tommi didn’t seem to care about stuff like that, but maybe …

  No. Kate did her best to shake off the notion. But the sick little knot in the pit of her stomach was still there when the waitress returned to take their order, making it easy to stick to her plan of ordering nothing but a small salad and another glass of water.

  “Zara’s horses are still here,” Dani announced, stopping at the end of the aisle with her horse trailing behind her. “At least Ellie is. I didn’t see her jumper, but there’s hay and fresh shavings in his stall, so he’s probably in turnout or something.”

  Kate shrugged as she tightened Fable’s girth, dodging the big gelding’s annoyed nip. “It only happened yesterday,” she pointed out. “I’m sure Jamie gave her time to arrange to take the horses somewhere else.”

  Summer was leaning against the wall with Whiskey in her arms, watching Javier adjust her horse’s saddle in the next set of cross-ties. “Yeah,” she said. “I wonder where she’ll go?”

  “I’m sure we’ll find out. We’ll probably still see her at shows.” Tommi glanced up briefly, then returned to fiddling over Legs’s jumping boots.

  At that moment Fitz rushed in, breathless and dressed in shorts and flip-flops. “Am I late?” he cried. “My watch stopped, and I overslept, and then there was this heinous traffic on the bridge.”

  “Chill, you’re okay,” Dani said. “We’ve still got plenty of time. I don’t think Marissa’s even here yet.”

  “Whew!” Fitz collapsed against the wall. Noticing Kate looking his way, he grinned and waggled his eyebrows playfully. “Hey, sexy.”

  Kate smiled tightly and turned away, feeling self-conscious. She was all too aware that Tommi was standing nearby, probably watching for any signs of her succumbing to Fitz’s nefarious flirtation.

  Fitz didn’t seem to notice her reaction. His eyes had turned to Tommi’s horse. “So hey—is it official, Aaronson?” he asked, stepping over to give Legs a rub on the neck. “You a for-reals horse wheeler-dealer now?”

  “If you want to call it that.” Tommi rolled her eyes. “Yeah. My dad wired Jamie the money this morning. Legs is officially mine—for better or for worse.”

  “Congrats!” As Tommi straightened up, Fitz grabbed her arm to look at her watch. “Whoa! I’d better hustle. If I’m late one more time, Jamie threatened to make me ride without stirrups for the entire summer.”

  A few minutes later Kate, Tommi, and Summer were leading their horses up the path toward the main ring. They weren’t exactly late, but they weren’t early, either, thanks to Summer’s stubborn refusal to move out of the way until Javier found the polos that exactly matched the shirt she was wearing that day. Glancing forward, Kate saw that Jamie was already perched on the fence watching three riders warm up. Dani and Marissa were two of them.

  “Who’s that?” Summer asked, staring at the third.

  Kate’s eyes widened as she recognized the horse. “I think it’s—”

  “Zara!” Tommi finished for her. “What the hell?”

  Zara kept her gaze on Keeper’s neck as the other riders filed into the ring. She could feel the stares hitting her like shrapnel, though nobody said a word. Probably only because Jamie was right there. None of his loyal little riderbots would ever dare to question him.

  But Zara could imagine what they were all thinking.

  Then Fitz rushed up to the ring with his horse trotting along behind him. “Zara!” he blurted out when he spotted her. “Um, hi?”

  “Hi,” she muttered as she walked Keeper past the gate.

  “Wow,” Fitz said, for once clearly at a loss for words. “I, um …”

  “Are you here to ride or to chat?” Jamie asked him pointedly.

  Fitz shot Zara another glance and shrugged. “I’m here to ride,” he said, yanking his left stirrup down and swinging aboard.

  If Zara thought she’d feel less self-conscious once the lesson started, she’d thought wrong. She might as well have had a neon sign hanging over her head reading LOOK AT ME. Or maybe CLASS LOSER. At least she was riding Keeper today instead of Ellie, and the big chestnut gelding was a saint as always. Still, by the third time Dani shot her a curious look as she rode by, Zara almost wished Jamie had kicked her out of the barn after all.

  Almost.

  Why had he let her stay, anyway? She still wasn’t sure. He claimed it had nothing to do with who her parents were. Right. It always had something to do with that.

  With Jamie, though, she wasn’t sure that was the whole story. He’d spent an awful lot of time talking about her potential as a rider. Raving about her natural gifts. And she was pretty sure he didn’t mean the natural gifts most people noticed on her. For one thing, he obviously didn’t roll that way.

  So what did he mean? She spent so much time brooding over it that she almost missed when everyone started to canter. Luckily Keeper was paying more attention than she was. He stepped into a smooth depart, swinging along on the rail after Marissa’s horse.

  “Easy, Tommi!” Jamie called.

  Glancing back, Zara saw that Tommi was having trouble with her horse, the lean, fiery-looking bay she’d been riding at the shows lately. He was tossing his head, trying to bolt away from her at the canter.

  So Little Miss Perfect wasn’t having a perfect ride for a change. Zara allowed herself the smallest of smirks. Served her right for narcing her out.

  But she couldn’t blame Tommi for this. Not really. Why had Zara let that idiot Sean talk her into toking in the barn, anyway? She knew better. Risking her own neck was one thing. She never had a problem with that. But endangering all those innocent horses—not cool.

  Jamie called for a halt. Keeper stopped promptly and Zara gave him a loose rein, staring moodily out over the ring fence at Summer’s bratty little dog. It was wandering around with its nose to the ground, probably looking for some expensive tack to chew on.

  But Zara wasn’t really paying attention to the dog. She was wondering if she was going crazy. So she’d made a mistake. Big whoop—the barn hadn’t burned down, no horses had been hurt, it was over. Why was she still worrying about it? It wasn’t as if she’d never been on probation before.

  The difference was, this time she was pretty sure Jamie meant it. Not like all those other trainers, teachers, even her parents, who rarely followed through on their threats. No, Jamie had made it pretty clear that this was her last chance. That she’d better not screw up again or she was out, no matter who her parents were.

  And so the hell what? She wasn’t even sure she liked it here anyway. So why had she put up with Jamie’s lecture? Maybe she shouldn’t have told her dad she’d be skipping that trip to Europe. This place wasn’t worth all the drama. Was it?

  “Okay, everyone,” Jamie said. “Sitting trot on the rail. I want to see those butts hugging the saddle.”

  The flatwork portion of the lesson continued. Zara was vaguely aware that Tommi was still having trouble with her horse, though she was too
focused on her own problems to pay much attention.

  Jamie decided to end with a gymnastic exercise. He set up a series of four low jumps, then sent them through one by one. Keeper nailed it the first time through, but a couple of the other horses had some trouble, including Tommi’s.

  “Let’s try that again,” Jamie said after everyone had taken a turn. “Tommi, you’re up first this time. Make sure Legs comes in at a steady pace and then just let him find the distance to the second jump.”

  Tommi had a determined look on her face as she rode the horse toward the first obstacle. He was wriggly going in, but she kept him balanced between her hands and legs and got him over the first element. He landed and tried to spook and bolt forward as he’d done the first time. This time Tommi was ready for him, though, steadying him with a firm half-halt and then letting him go forward.

  “Nice,” Zara murmured as she watched the bay meet the second fence perfectly.

  As the horse landed after the second jump, ears pricked toward the third, there was a sudden flurry of barking from just outside the ring. Zara glanced over just in time to see a small, furry creature dash into the ring followed by a slightly larger furry creature. Summer’s dog chasing a squirrel.

  “Whoa!” Marissa cried as her normally placid horse pricked his ears and took a quick couple of steps backward. Some of the other horses reacted as well, though Keeper barely flicked an ear.

  Tommi’s horse was another story. Flinging up his head, he spooked hard to the left and then bolted again, clearly too panicked to see the next jump just ahead. He crashed into the standard, then belatedly tried to jump, twisting his body awkwardly in the air and ejecting Tommi right into the next fence.

  FOURTEEN

  “Tommi! Are you okay?” someone cried. Tommi was too shaken up to notice who, though she thought it might have been Kate.

  Jamie was already running toward her. “Stay still,” he ordered, kicking aside one of the fallen rails. “Can you feel all your limbs?”

  “I’m okay. I didn’t hit my head or anything.” Tommi started carefully wriggling various body parts, checking that everything was still in working order. She’d clocked one of her shoulders on the jump standard and landed on her hip on a rail, but she was pretty sure nothing was broken. “Is Legs all right?” she asked.

  She glanced across the ring. Fitz had jumped off, leaving Dani holding his horse while he went after Legs. The bay gelding pranced nervously, his nostrils flared and his eyes rolling, but allowed himself to be caught without much trouble.

  “Take it easy,” Jamie warned, putting out a hand to steady Tommi as she climbed to her feet. “You want to sit out the rest of this one? I can hop on Legs for you.”

  “No, I’m fine.” Tommi did her best to shake it off. That was the hardest fall she’d taken in a long time. Adrenaline was still pumping through her, but she knew when it wore off she was going to be sore.

  Fitz led Legs over. “I think he’s okay,” he offered. “I jogged him a few steps.”

  “Thanks,” Jamie said, taking the reins. As Fitz headed back to his own horse, the trainer glanced at Tommi. “Sure you don’t want me to get on first?”

  For a fraction of a second, Tommi wanted to say yes. Wasn’t that what a trainer was for? To help you through the tough moments?

  But no. Legs was supposed to be her project now. If she let Jamie take over every time things got tricky, what was the point?

  “I’m fine,” she said firmly, pasting on her game face as she grabbed the reins. “I want to do it.”

  Jamie stared at her for a second, then nodded. “Show’s over, everyone,” he said briskly, striding to the center of the ring. “Kate, you’re up next.”

  Tommi walked Legs over to the mounting block, checked the girth, then swung aboard. The gelding jigged a little but settled quickly. When Tommi asked him for a trot, she held her breath for the first few steps. He felt a little tense, but otherwise normal. Sound. Thank God. What would she do if that crash had made him lame?

  But it hadn’t, she reminded herself. Everything was fine. The best way to handle it—for her and the horse—was to move on and act as if nothing had happened. Act normal, even if she wasn’t feeling it.

  That turned out not to be so easy. As soon as the rest of the class had their chance at the gymnastic, Jamie moved on to more flatwork. That was weird, and Tommi had the distinct feeling that she was the reason for it. Didn’t he know by now that he didn’t have to take it easy on her? It was almost insulting—like she was one of those Adult Ammies who were half scared of their horses and needed Jamie to hold their hands after every spook or snort.

  As she trotted along the rail, she shot a glance at the jump she was passing, a good-sized oxer left over from a different lesson. For one crazy second she was tempted to pull out of line, gallop over, and take it just like Zara the other day. She could picture the shocked look on Jamie’s face if she did it …

  But no. She was no Zara. Shaking off the stupid little fantasy, she focused again on her work.

  “I still can’t believe she’s still here,” Kate whispered as Zara walked past the end of the aisle where Kate and Tommi were untacking their horses after the lesson.

  Tommi glanced that way and saw that Zara had already changed out of her riding clothes into a strapless sundress and beaded sandals. Interesting fashion choice for the barn, and probably not the best way to get back in Jamie’s good graces if he noticed.

  But Tommi was too distracted by her fall to care much about Zara. “I still can’t believe I came off today,” she told Kate with a sigh. “I’m going to be one huge walking bruise tomorrow.”

  “That dog of Summer’s shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a barn,” Kate said with a frown.

  “Probably true.” Tommi shrugged. “But shit happens. It’s not like Legs won’t ever have to deal with spooky stuff at a show. I should have handled it better.”

  Kate tossed her a sympathetic glance as she pulled Fable’s saddle off his broad back. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Everyone comes off sometimes. Even Jamie.”

  “I know.” Tommi sighed and rubbed her face. “It just seems like kind of a bad omen, you know? This was literally my first ride on Legs since he officially became mine.”

  Before Kate could respond, Zara reappeared. This time she turned down the aisle and walked toward them.

  “Hi,” she said, her voice a little brusque and her face unsmiling.

  Tommi wondered if she was there to ream her out for ratting on her yesterday. If so, she wasn’t in the mood.

  “Hi,” she retorted cautiously.

  Zara shifted her weight from one sandal to the other. “So you okay?” she asked. “That looked like a hard fall.”

  Okay, that wasn’t the comment Tommi was expecting. But she tried not to let her surprise show. “Yeah, I’ll live,” she said. “Thanks.”

  Zara nodded. She glanced over at Kate. She’d been staring, but quickly busied herself with her horse’s saddle pads. After that Zara just stood there for a few seconds as the awkward silence grew.

  “Um, okay,” she said at last. “See you.”

  “That was weird,” Kate said as soon as Zara was gone.

  “Yeah. It’s almost like she was trying to be human.”

  Kate smiled. “Be nice. Jamie must see something in her or she wouldn’t still be here.”

  “You’re right. I wonder what it is?” Tommi bent down to unhook Legs’s boots. “All I can see in her so far is some spoiled celebrity’s kid who’s only out for fun and doesn’t care who she hurts on the way. What happened yesterday was just Exhibit B.”

  “Really? What’s Exhibit A?”

  Oops. Tommi realized she’d been thinking about Zara’s little makeout session with Fitz. But Kate still didn’t know about that.

  “Um, just the way she took that jump after her fall that time,” Tommi said, thinking quickly. “She could have hurt her horse with a stunt like that.”

  Kate wasn’t looking a
t her anymore. She was staring down the aisle. “Hey, it’s your cute friend who came to the show last weekend,” she said. “Is there something you haven’t told me, Tommi?”

  “What friend?” Tommi glanced back. “Grant!” she exclaimed when she saw who was coming. “What are you doing here?”

  Grant grinned as he reached them. Hugo, who was always the first to greet any newcomer to the barn, was frisking eagerly around his feet. “Surprise!” Grant said, reaching down to rub the dog’s ears. “I was in the neighborhood, so I decided to stop in and check out the place where you spend all your free time.”

  “In the neighborhood?” Tommi echoed.

  “Yeah. Buddy of mine wanted me to come check out his new Lexus. I took the train up this morning to Larchmont.” Grant took a step closer. “I figured since we were planning to hang out tonight, you wouldn’t mind giving me a ride back to the city, so I had him drop me off here.”

  Tommi felt a jolt. She’d almost forgotten about their plans that night. After that fall, the only thing she’d had in mind was soaking her aches and pains away in a hot bath, followed by an early bedtime.

  She was tempted to ask Grant if they could reschedule. But she hated to disappoint him, especially now that he was already here.

  “Sure, no problem,” she said. “I just need to finish up a few things here before we go.”

  “That’s cool. I don’t mind hanging around as long as you want.” Grant noticed Kate watching from nearby and smiled. “Hi,” he said. “It’s Kate, right? I’m Grant. We met at the show, remember?”

  “Sure, of course.” Kate returned his smile shyly.

  Just then Summer careened around the corner. “Kate!” she yelled. “Where are you? I need you to clean off my—Oh! Hello!” she interrupted herself, her entire demeanor changing as she spotted Grant.

  “Hi,” Grant said.

  “Summer, this is my friend Grant,” Tommi said. “Grant, Summer. She rides here, too.”

  “Nice to meet you, Grant,” Summer said sweetly. “So you and Tommi are friends, huh? I haven’t seen you around here before.”