She liked Fitz, and he seemed to like her. So what was the worst that could happen?
SEVENTEEN
“Bag, boots, helmet case,” Kate muttered under her breath as she dashed out of her bedroom and took the stairs two at a time. “Bag, boots, helmet case …”
It was very early the next morning, and Kate was rushing to get out of the house and over to the barn. She was trying hard not to forget anything important—always a difficult task on four hours’ sleep. Today it was made extra challenging because every time she slowed down, she caught herself thinking about Fitz. Had last night really happened? She was pretty sure it had, because she was even more sleep-deprived than normal for a show morning. But it was still hard to believe someone like Fitz could really be interested in her.
As she reached the first floor, she heard her brother’s voice shouting in the kitchen. Uh-oh. That couldn’t be good.
She stepped into the room just in time to see Andy slam his hand down on the counter. “I don’t care what you say!” he yelled. “I can do what I want!”
Their mother shuddered as if he’d physically slapped her. “Keep your voice down, Andrew,” she said. “You’ll wake your father, and he needs his sleep. He worked the late shift last night.”
“What’s happening?” Kate asked, since neither of them had noticed her standing there.
Andy whirled around and glared at her, as if whatever had wounded his fourteen-year-old being to the core this time was somehow her fault. “Mom’s being a Nazi, that’s all,” he spat out.
“Andrew!” Their mother looked shocked. Stepping over to the sink, she touched a glass sitting in the drying rack. Once, twice, three, four times. Then she moved on to the next glass. And the next.
“Seriously, what’d you do?” Kate asked her brother, mostly for an excuse not to watch her mother’s rituals.
Andy shrugged. For a second she thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“Went out with my friends, lost track of time,” he muttered at last. “Got in a little late. So sue me.”
His mother paused in her rituals long enough to shoot him an accusing look. “A little late? You only got home ten minutes ago.”
Kate felt her stomach clench. Now Andy was staying out all night? Who knew what kind of trouble he was getting into with those loser friends he’d been hanging around with lately.
“What’s going on out there?” Kate’s father bellowed from the master bedroom. “Some people are trying to sleep!”
“Gotta go.” Kate grabbed a banana out of the bowl on the counter and her boots from their spot beside the back door. “Don’t forget, I’ll be at the show all week. Back Sunday night.”
“Have fun, sweetheart,” her mother said without looking at her. “Don’t forget to leave your phone on in case we want to reach you.”
“I always do. Bye.” Hearing her father’s grumbled curses coming closer, Kate slipped out the back door quickly, relieved for the excuse to escape.
“So what divisions are you doing?” Marissa asked.
Zara leaned on the fence of the warm-up ring, watching the usual chaos in there. “Junior Hunters with Ellie,” she said. “Jumpers with Keeper. You?”
“Hunters and maybe Eq,” Marissa said. “If I don’t die of nervousness first. I hate doing eq at huge shows like this—it totally freaks me out for some reason.”
Zara glanced around and shrugged. Yeah, the show was bigger than the first one she’d done with Jamie’s barn. There were three rings going full-time, hundreds of horses, tons of vendors. But it was nothing compared to some of the biggies out on the West Coast.
“I thought you guys did all the big shows,” she said. “This one doesn’t seem that huge to me.”
“I know, right?” Marissa laughed, rolling her eyes. “Ignore me. I do this every time. Dani says I should, like, buy stock in Xanax.”
Zara shrugged again. If Marissa got so freaked out by showing, why did she bother? But she didn’t ask. People usually got offended by questions like that for some reason.
It was Thursday morning, and Mickey had dropped her off a little while ago. She’d run into Marissa within minutes and been hanging out with her ever since. The girl talked too much, laughed too much, and seemed a little clingy. But hanging with her was better than feeling invisible like last time.
Zara’s eyes stopped on one particular rider in the crowd. “Hey,” she said, “I heard Tommi bought that horse she’s riding right now.”
“You mean Legs?” Marissa turned to scan the ring. “Yep, that’s him. She and her dad bought him together. Like a business deal, or something.”
“Really? Wow, how totally Wall Street of her.” Zara watched as Tommi trotted past them, dodging an out-of-control pony rider.
She was pretty sure Tommi hadn’t noticed her and Marissa standing there. Every bit of her attention appeared to be on her horse. Not that it was doing her much good. Legs looked majorly tense. He kicked out every time she asked for a transition and tossed his head every few seconds.
“Looks like she’s having some trouble with him today.” Marissa sounded sympathetic. “Maybe he doesn’t like all these other horses so close.”
Zara had a feeling that wasn’t it. Legs wasn’t the only one who looked tense—Tommi did, too. Zara could see that she was riding defensively. No wonder, after that fall she’d taken in the lesson last week. That one would take a while to shake off.
“Hi, guys. Have either of you seen Max?”
It was Kate, looking harried and freaked out as usual. Zara was pretty sure she hadn’t seen the girl stand still for more than two seconds since she’d met her.
“Haven’t seen him,” she said as Marissa shook her head.
Meanwhile Kate had spotted Tommi. “Legs looks cranky,” she commented. “What happened?”
“Nothing that we saw,” Marissa said. “Maybe he’s just having a bad day.”
Zara shook her head, though she didn’t say anything. She could see why the gelding was acting up. Tommi was sitting way too deep, and it was pissing him off. Zara recognized all the signs, mostly because Jamie had gotten after her about the exact same thing a couple of lessons ago.
Still, none of her business. Tommi was a big girl, and pretty much the barn superstar from what Zara could tell. Let her figure it out for herself. Why should Zara help the girl who’d busted her, gotten her in deep doo-doo with Jamie?
She watched as Tommi brought the gelding back to a walk, then asked for a canter depart. Legs planted his front legs, shaking his head. Then he popped up in a half rear and jumped sideways, almost crashing into a girl on a fat bay gelding.
“Watch it!” the other rider exclaimed.
“Sorry,” Tommi muttered, wrestling Legs over to the rail, then letting him walk on a long rein. Her expression was fierce and frustrated, and Zara felt a twinge of sympathy. She’d been there.
“Hey,” she called when Tommi and Legs neared the spot where she and the others were standing. “Ellie was doing the same thing with me last week. Try lightening up your seat a little and let him stretch his neck and relax, see if that helps.”
Tommi shot her a dark look. “When I need a riding lesson from you, I’ll let you know, okay?”
Zara scowled. “Whatevs,” she snapped. “Sorry I said anything.” She spun on her heel and stormed away, ready to go back to being invisible.
Tommi barely noticed Zara’s departure. The last thing she was in the mood for right now was riding advice from Miss Rebel Without a Clue. She half-halted strongly as Legs started jigging.
“Stand, dammit,” she muttered, keeping her hands firm as the horse flung his head all over creation.
Only when he finally stopped for a second did Tommi realize that Marissa and Kate were standing at the rail, too. Kate had a troubled expression on her face. The girl was pretty much an open book.
“What?” Tommi snapped.
Kate bit her lip. “Don’t kill me, okay?” she said. “But Zara might be right. You’
re the one who’s always saying Legs needs a soft touch until he gets into the groove. Sort of like Ellie. It looks like you’re sitting pretty heavy right now, and he’s getting frazzled.”
Tommi scowled, ready to bite her head off, too. But she forced herself to stop and think. Kate wasn’t Zara. She actually knew what she was talking about. Could she be right?
As soon as she asked herself the question, the answer was right there staring her in the face. “Duh,” she said, more to herself than to Kate. “How stupid am I?” She shot Kate a rueful smile. “Thanks, I’ll give it a try.”
Tommi gave Legs a pat as she slipped out of his show stall. “Sorry about before, buddy,” she said, fishing in her pocket for a peppermint. “Good thing you aren’t the type to hold a grudge.”
She’d taken Kate’s advice and relaxed, giving Legs the freedom to loosen up his back and neck—and his restless mind—before picking up more contact again. They’d done fine after that, ending the warm-up on a much better note than they’d started it.
But it wasn’t really Kate’s advice, Tommi reminded herself. It had been Zara’s first. Zara might not be her favorite person in the barn, but she deserved an apology. She’d seen what Tommi herself had been missing. Thanks to the change in plans, Tommi hadn’t had to scratch from their first class as she’d been seriously considering. She and Legs hadn’t gone in and made a spectacle of themselves, either. An unlucky rail had blown their shot at a ribbon, but overall Tommi was pleased with the way the gelding had risen to the occasion. She smiled as she glanced back at his head hanging out over the stall guard, suddenly looking forward to seeing what they could do together when they took it to the next level.
Tommi checked Zara’s horses’ stalls, the tack stall, and everywhere else she could think of. But Zara was nowhere to be found. Nobody had seen her since she’d left the warm-up ring.
“What do you want with her, anyway?” Summer asked.
“Nothing. It can wait.” Maybe the middle of a busy show wasn’t the ideal spot for an apology anyway. Tommi could find a moment to talk to her back at the hotel.
Just then her phone buzzed. It was a text from Grant, asking what time she was riding the next day.
“Who’s that?” Summer asked, as tactless as always.
“A friend of mine. He wants to come watch me ride tomorrow.”
“A friend?” Summer’s eyes lit up. “You’re not talking about that yummy dark-haired guy who came to watch you at the last show, are you?”
“I’m not sure who you mean,” Tommi lied. The last thing she wanted was to get some ridiculous rumor started about her love life. “I’d better go get ready for my next class. See you later.”
After putting a safe distance between herself and Summer, Tommi stopped and stared at the text message. She couldn’t believe Grant wanted to drive four hours to see her ride. Yeah, it was time to let him down easy. Past time. But she’d fix that tomorrow.
EIGHTEEN
It was Friday afternoon, and Zara was feeling good. She leaned on the door of Ellie’s stall, allowing the mare to delicately lip small pieces of carrot off her hand while Jamie’s big bulldog watched and drooled.
“You’re a superstar,” Zara told the horse. “I knew it the first time I rode you.”
The mare seemed much more interested in the treats than the compliment. But Zara didn’t mind.
Jamie had ridden Ellie in the pro classes earlier in the week, and when Zara had ridden her into the ring for the Small Juniors the mare had been perfect. For once Zara didn’t even wonder if they’d pin as she left the ring, because it didn’t matter. They’d kicked ass, and whether the judge used them or not was almost beside the point. Nobody would be whistling “Golden Girl” at her today!
It had been icing on the cake when she’d discovered that they had, indeed, pinned in one of their three jumping rounds. Only sixth place, but still. On top of that, they’d gotten third in the hack despite a couple of sloppy transitions. Score one for fancy gaits!
“I’m back in the game, baby,” she whispered. She couldn’t wait to take Keeper in the jumpers the next day.
Just then Jamie hurried down the aisle. “Nice job today, Zara,” he said, pausing for a second to smile at her. “Keep it up, and you and Ellie’ll be bringing home the tricolors before long.”
“Thanks.” Zara smiled back, even though the trainer was already moving again. As annoying as the guy could be, she was starting to realize that Jamie really knew his stuff. Her riding had improved more in the past few weeks than it had in the six months before that. Her performance today proved it. Maybe this barn was going to work out after all. She tossed Chaucer a piece of carrot, feeling good.
She heard voices coming her way and glanced around. Tommi was walking toward her with a guy at her side.
“Hi, Zara,” Tommi said. “Remember my friend Grant? You guys met at the club that time.”
“Nice to see you again, Zara.” The guy actually stuck out his hand.
“Hi,” Zara said, already checking him out as they shook. She hadn’t really paid much attention to him before, but now she saw that he was worth a second look. Tall, broad-shouldered, good-looking in a straitlaced preppy kind of way. Pretty much exactly the type Zara would expect a Wall Street tycoon’s daughter to date.
Tommi elbowed him. “Hey, Grant, feel like making a run to the food stand? I could use a soda.” She glanced at Zara. “Want something?”
“Yeah. A Scotch on the rocks.”
Grant chuckled. “Iced tea close enough?”
“Guess it’ll have to do.”
As he headed down the aisle, Zara enjoyed the back view for a second. “Not bad if you like the type,” she commented. Shooting a sidelong look at Tommi, she added, “And I’m guessing you do.”
“Grant and I are just friends,” Tommi said, giving Ellie a pat as the mare nosed at her, hoping for more treats. “But listen, while he’s gone, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah?” Zara was instantly on guard.
“Yeah. I was kind of a jerk to you yesterday, and I’m sorry.”
Whatever Zara had been expecting, that wasn’t it. “Oh. Um, okay,” she said cautiously.
“Seriously,” Tommi said. “I was on edge, and I took it out on you. I know you were only trying to help. And it turns out you were right. I tried what you said, and Legs went way better.”
Zara shrugged. “Thought so.”
Tommi laughed. “Yeah. So thanks, and sorry again, okay?”
“It’s cool.” Maybe it was just her good mood making her feel generous. But at that moment, for the first time, Zara could almost picture hanging out with this girl. Maybe. If she didn’t have anything better to do.
Yeah, it was turning out to be a hell of a day.
Grant pulled into the parking lot of the hotel where Jamie’s barn was staying. “Thanks for the ride,” Tommi said as she unbuckled her seat belt. “And thanks for being so understanding.”
“No worries.” Grant smiled. “Can’t say I’m not a little bummed, but hey.”
Tommi smiled back. She’d pulled him aside after her final class of the day and let him down easy. He’d taken it really well, which somehow had made her feel even worse.
“Anyway,” she said, relieved that he’d be gone soon and she wouldn’t have to think about it, “you’ve got a long drive back, and it’s getting late, so I guess I’ll let you—”
“Hey!” a loud voice interrupted before she could finish. “There’s some more of my Pelham Lane peeps!”
Zara raced up to the car and leaned in the window. Her face was only inches from Tommi’s, making it impossible to miss the smell of beer on her breath.
“Hi,” Tommi said. “I was just saying good-bye to Grant.”
“No way, dude, you can’t leave!” Zara leaned in even farther. She was wearing shorts over a bathing suit, and her boobs were almost spilling out of her bikini top and into Tommi’s lap. Lovely.
“Sorry, I’ve got
to head back. Long drive.” Grant didn’t sound very convinced as he stared at Zara’s cleavage.
Zara pouted. “But we’re having a party! Everybody fun is there. And I want to celebrate my awesome rides today. Just stay for a while, okay?”
It was pretty obvious that for Zara, the party had already started. But Tommi wasn’t in the mood. She was already stressing over tomorrow’s jumper division with Legs. Sure, they’d recovered from that disastrous warm-up yesterday. But were they ready to show? A bad performance at a show like this could give the horse a reputation it would be tough to shake.
But Grant was already grinning at her hopefully. “What do you think?” he asked. “I guess I could stay for a little while if you want to hit this party. I don’t have to get up tomorrow.”
Tommi wanted to say no. But she still felt guilty about the whole Grant situation. Why not go along with it? Maybe then he’d feel like his drive up here hadn’t been a total waste of time.
“Sure,” she said. “I guess. I can’t stay too late, though. I need to be back over at the showgrounds early to lunge Legs.”
“Cool! Then get your asses out to the pool.” Zara shot Grant a wicked grin. “Maybe later we can do some skinny-dipping.”
Soon Tommi was perched on the edge of a lounge chair, a barely touched beer in her hand, watching her barnmates party. It was almost ten o’clock, and the pool was officially closed, though all that really meant was that there was no lifeguard on duty. The pool was located some distance away from the hotel building, on the far side of the parking lot and tennis courts. That was probably a good thing, considering the loud music and the shrieks of laughter.
“Quite a party, huh?” Grant said.
Tommi glanced over at him. He was lounging in the next chair, shirtless and bopping his head to the music. They’d barely spoken since they’d arrived, mostly because her mind kept wandering back to Legs. She’d already moved on from stressing about tomorrow’s jumper class. They’d just do their best and take it from there. If they did well, great. If not, there were plenty of other big shows coming up where they could prove themselves.
The A Circuit Page 17