“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Dani sang out as Zara hurried out of the tack room.
“No promises,” Zara called back over her shoulder with a grin.
A short while later she and Grant were sitting at one of the tables along the diner’s plate-glass front windows. The place was pretty crowded, even though it was almost 3:00 p.m.
“I’m glad this worked out,” Grant said as he reached for his water glass. “I was afraid you guys might be away at another show or something.”
“Nope, off week.” Zara spotted their waitress making her way toward them along the narrow alleyway between tables, a loaded tray balanced against one shoulder. “Awesome, food’s here. I’m starving. Rode three horses this morning.”
“Really? I thought you only had two,” Grant said. “That new one you were talking about, and the one you brought with you from California.”
“Impressive,” Zara said. “Most guys don’t pay much attention to what I say. Especially when I’m wearing something like this.” She leaned forward a little and shook her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing a bra, so the movement resulted in significant jigglage.
The waitress, an older woman with gray-streaked red hair piled atop her head in a messy bun, shot Zara a look of weary disdain as she dropped a couple of plates in front of her and Grant. “Anything else, kids?” she asked, snapping her gum.
“We’re good, thanks.” Grant sounded as polite as ever, even though his face had gone bright red and he was carefully avoiding looking directly at Zara.
Zara grinned at him as the waitress hurried off. “You’re way too easy to mess with,” she told him, reaching for her burger. “Anyway, the third horse I rode was one of Jamie’s sales ponies. He needed someone short to hack it, and I was there.”
She kept her voice casual, still surprised and kind of pleased that the trainer had asked her. That definitely wouldn’t have happened a couple of weeks ago. Not that she cared that much. But hey, it was something.
But Grant wasn’t looking at her anyway. “Aren’t those people from your barn?” he asked.
Twisting around in her seat, Zara saw that Fitz and Kate had just entered and were standing by the hostess stand. “Yeah, but that’s weird,” she said. “I was hanging around the barn most of the day, and I didn’t see either of them there.”
A moment later a different waitress grabbed a couple of menus out of the bin by the door and gestured. Fitz grabbed Kate by the hand and followed the waitress down the aisle. When they neared Zara and Grant, Fitz grinned.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” he said, stopping at the end of their table. “Were you at the barn?”
“Yeah, I was,” Zara replied. “Didn’t see you two there.”
“We weren’t.” Fitz glanced at Kate, who was smiling her wimpy little smile and not saying anything. “We went to watch a show at Kate’s old barn. But we left a little early because we were both starving.”
“Cool. Want to join us?” Grant said.
Zara shot him a look. Okay, so she was getting used to Kate. Maybe even starting to like her, sort of. And Fitz was always fun, of course. But she’d thought the whole point of Grant driving all the way up from the city was to be with her. Was he just being Mr. Super Polite, or what?
“Sounds like fun, but can we do it some other time?” Fitz grinned. “Gotta admit, I’ve been dying to get Kate to myself all day.” He wrapped one long arm around her shoulders and squeezed.
“I hear you, man. Totally. Catch you later.” Grant lifted a hand as the pair hurried off after their waitress. Then he picked up his burger and glanced at Zara. “Cute couple, huh? Like something out of an ad, all tall and thin and blond.”
“I guess.” Zara watched as Fitz and Kate sat down at a table in the next section. She almost wished they’d ended up a little closer so she could eavesdrop. What the hell did the two of them talk about, anyway? When she’d first arrived at Pelham Lane, everyone had warned her that Fitz was a total player. But it didn’t look that way to her. He really seemed to be into Kate, even if Zara couldn’t figure out why. “Maybe skinny chicks just turn him on,” she muttered.
“Huh?” Grant looked up from squirting ketchup on his fries.
Zara shrugged. “Nothing. Just trying to figure out what Fitz sees in Kate.”
“What’s not to like?” Grant glanced over toward the other couple. “She’s gorgeous, and seems sweet. At least I know Tommi really likes her.”
“Gorgeous, huh?” Zara lifted an eyebrow. “No wonder you wanted them to sit with us. Hoping she’d press up against you in the booth?”
“Stop.” He looked uncomfortable. “I so didn’t mean it like that, and you know it. It’s no secret I think you’re the hottest thing going, so don’t get all weird about this, okay?”
“You sure about that?” Zara shot another look at the other couple. “If you’re into the bony, boyish look, Kate’s your girl. She’s got about as many curves as a yardstick.”
“Be nice,” Grant said, looking even more uncomfortable.
Whatever. Zara decided it was time to take control of this whole boring conversation. Get Grant’s attention back where it belonged.
She kicked off her sandal and started running her bare toes up his leg, then inside the hem of his khaki shorts. He gulped, put his fork down, and looked at her. She grinned.
“What do you say we get out of here?” she suggested. “We can get a doggie bag for the burgers.”
He nodded, his face looking red again, then glanced around for their waitress. “Check, please!” he called.
FOURTEEN
The next few days passed quickly for Tommi. Almost before she knew it, it was Thursday afternoon. This weekend’s show was a big, busy, popular one in the northern part of Zone 2. A lot of barns came down for it from Zone 1, which meant there were a lot of people and horses there that Tommi mostly only saw at the big winter shows in Florida.
But she wasn’t focused on socializing this time. She had at least two much more important things on her mind. Legs and Alex.
She was lungeing Legs in a deserted schooling ring, getting him ready for tomorrow’s jumper class, when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw it was another text from Alex: Miss u! Wish your show wasn’t so far away.
Smiling, she quickly texted back: Me too. But I’ll see u when I get home.
She hit Send, then glanced at Legs. He was trotting around steadily, looking sound and fit and ready to go. Good. Maybe all the schooling rides she’d put on him the last few days at home had paid off. Best of all, there was no sign of whatever it was she’d felt the other week. She was starting to wonder if she’d imagined the whole thing. Normally she wasn’t the type to borrow trouble like that, but whatever. Maybe it was time to put that particular stress behind her.
The phone buzzed again in her hand. Would rather see u right now; too bored w/o u.
Sweet. Alex’s parents were still away, so he’d crashed with a friend in the city over the weekend, and he and Tommi had gotten together every night until she left, hitting a few music clubs, going dancing, and just hanging out. They’d had so much fun she’d almost hated to leave town again for this show. Almost. She was really looking forward to proving to herself that Legs was just fine.
“Canter,” she told the horse, adding a cluck and a little swish of the tail end of the line to encourage him. Not that Legs ever needed much encouragement to speed up. He broke into a canter immediately, building speed quickly.
Tommi got him slowed down to a more reasonable pace, then started composing another one-handed response to Alex, spinning on her heel as the horse circled around her. Just then she heard someone call her name.
Glancing up, she saw a girl around her own age standing at the rail. She was dressed in fringed custom chaps over breeches and a Joules polo, and for a second Tommi didn’t recognize her. But then it clicked.
“Hey, Vanessa,” she called. “What’s up?”
She returned her
attention to Legs, expecting the girl to move on. After all, it wasn’t as if they were friends—not even horse-show friends, really. Vanessa was the daughter of some big-time real estate developer in Boston. She rode at one of the nicer barns up there, where she kept a string of winning jumpers. Rarely the same ones from one year to the next, though. She tended to use them up fast by always wanting to jump more, jump higher, jump jump jump. She was an aggressive rider and won a lot, but had a rep for not being quite as talented as she thought she was.
When Tommi brought Legs to a halt and unhooked the lunge line a few minutes later, she was surprised to see Vanessa still standing there. “Cute horse,” Vanessa called. “Yours?”
“Uh-huh. Sale project,” Tommi said. “So your barn decided to come out for this one, huh?”
“Yeah, and I’m glad we did.” Vanessa smoothed her glossy dark hair with one hand. “I already won my first division, not that anyone was surprised. I mean, at the last show I was one-two in the High Juniors, and then my green horse and I just barely missed reserve champion in his first division, and …”
There was more, but Tommi only pretended to listen as she clipped a lead to her horse’s halter, folded up the lunge line, and got ready to go. Now she remembered the other reason Vanessa wasn’t one of her favorite people. The girl was full of herself and seriously obnoxious.
“Congrats,” Tommi said the first chance she had to get a word in edgewise. “Listen, I’d better get this guy back to the barn. See you around.”
“Don’t you ever sit still?” Dani said. “It makes me tired just watching you.”
Kate tightened the girth of the big flea-bitten gray gelding she was tacking up in the cross-ties. Then she glanced at the other girl, who was perched on an overturned bucket in the aisle, fiddling with the laces of her field boots.
“Jamie decided to scratch that new Dutch horse from the Level Threes, so he offered to give Mrs. Walsh a quick extra lesson now that he has a little spare time. Miguel’s still out picking up more shavings and I’m not sure what happened to Javier, so I said I could tack up Moonie before I have to start lungeing those ponies.” Kate patted the gray gelding, who had one hind leg cocked lazily. He barely flicked an ear as she did up the girth one more hole. “Anyway, you know how it is at shows,” she went on. “There’s always way too much to do.”
“Yeah, but you’re the same way at home.” Dani grinned. “I swear, you could run the whole freaking barn all by yourself.”
Just then Mrs. Walsh hurried up to them. She was one of the wealthiest clients in the barn, but that wasn’t why everyone from the grooms to the pony riders to the other adults liked her. She always had a smile and a kind word for everyone, and frequently turned up at shows bearing cookies or cupcakes that she’d baked herself. So maybe she wasn’t the best baker in the world, but somehow nobody minded. It was still better than most horse-show food.
“Thank you so much, Kate,” Mrs. Walsh said, her cheeks dimpling with pleasure as she gazed at her horse. “He looks wonderful.” At the sound of her voice, the gray gelding immediately woke up and stretched his neck toward his owner, nuzzling her for treats. She pulled a peppermint out of the pocket of her high-waisted Pikeur breeches and fed it to him. “Jamie is meeting me at that little ring behind the tack vendor.”
“I’ll bring him up as soon as I get his bridle on, Mrs. Walsh,” Kate promised.
“Wonderful.” Mrs. Walsh beamed at her. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you—I’ve been having a spot of trouble with my mare lately. You know me and my silly nerves.” She laughed ruefully and shook her head. “In any case, I’ve decided I’m not up for showing her this time. It seems a shame to bring her all the way up here just to sit in her stall. Would you have any interest in showing her in the Junior Hunters on Saturday?”
Normally Kate would have jumped at the chance to show Mrs. Walsh’s mare, a fabulously keen and impeccably trained Selle Français with an amazing jump. Today, though, she hesitated.
“Um, that’s really nice of you to offer,” she said. “But I don’t think I can. I already told Jamie I’d ride two of his in the Schooling Hunters, and I think it might run at the same time.”
“Oh, dear. What bad luck.” Mrs. Walsh shrugged. “I suppose I’ll see if Tommi has time for one more, then.”
“I’ll mention it to her for you if I see her first,” Kate promised, already feeling guilty.
As soon as the woman left to find her helmet, Dani stared at Kate. “Are you nuts?” she said. “That horse is amazing! I’m sure Jamie wouldn’t mind shuffling the order so you could do her in the Juniors.”
Kate shrugged. “I know. But like you were just saying, I’m pretty busy,” she mumbled. “I’ve already got those two in the Schoolings, then the eq is right after that, plus a bunch more hunter stuff on Sunday. Oh, and the first one in the Schoolings is that cute little chestnut greenie who takes forever to warm up.”
A nervous shiver ran through her when she mentioned the chestnut horse—her first show-ring trip of the week. Not that she was worried about the ride itself. The chestnut gelding was a sweetheart who tried his heart out every time, even if he didn’t quite know what he was doing yet.
No, it was the showing part that was the problem. Specifically, the fact that when she’d arrived a couple of days ago, Kate had realized that her show clothes weren’t fitting very well. Somehow it seemed she’d lost a bunch of weight over the past couple of weeks without even noticing, to the point that she’d gone down a full size if not two.
She was pretty sure she could get away with the show shirt if she pinned it, and her jacket was dark and structured enough that it didn’t look too bad—plus she only had to slip that on long enough for the actual classes, where nobody would see her up close. Her boots were feeling a little looser than usual, but they would do, too.
The big problem was her breeches. Even at a distance, it was impossible to miss how baggy they were. They were a knock-off of Tailored Sportsmans side-zips, made with the same type of minimal-stretch fabric, which meant they really didn’t conform to her body much at all. If she didn’t cinch them with a belt, they’d slip right down past her hipbones. And they were her only decent pair.
It was lucky that Jamie hadn’t asked her to ride anything earlier in the week. After the way he’d gotten after her for not eating and sleeping enough or whatever it was that time, she definitely didn’t want him to notice she’d lost so much weight. He’d probably get the wrong idea, maybe force her to cut back on working and riding. And she definitely didn’t want that.
As long as she wasn’t actually showing, she’d been able to manage. She’d been wearing jeans while she worked, though even those were so loose that she’d put on a pair of leggings underneath despite the heat. But she couldn’t ignore the problem any longer, not with less than thirty-six hours until that first class.
“Well, your loss is Tommi’s gain, I guess,” Dani said, still looking dubious.
“Yeah, I guess.” Kate quickly slipped the bit into the gray’s mouth, then did up the noseband and throatlatch. “I’d better get Moonie up to the ring. See you.”
“Sure you don’t want to pop an Advil and come along?” Dani checked her makeup in the hotel room mirror, then grabbed her purse. She looked adorable in a V-neck cami and tight denim shorts, her henna-red hair swept back in a perky ponytail. Probably hoping some cute local guys might be hanging around the restaurant trolling for horse-show girls, Kate figured.
“Thanks, but I think my head’ll feel better if I just get some sleep. I’m not that hungry anyway.” Kate adjusted the pillow behind her head.
“Okay. I’ll try to remember to bring you something back in case you feel like eating later.”
“Thanks.” Kate waited until the other girl pulled the door of their shared hotel room shut behind her. Then she hopped to her feet and hurried over to her suitcase. She was running out of time to deal with her clothing emergency. This could be her best chance.
&nb
sp; Pulling out her show breeches, she tossed them on the bed. Then she dug into her cosmetics bag for the little sewing kit that she always carried in there but hardly ever used. Actually, she wasn’t sure she’d ever touched it aside from the little card of safety pins. But when she found it, she saw that it had what she needed—needles and thread, a seam ripper, even a tiny pair of scissors.
She grabbed it, flopped down on the bed with the breeches, then froze, wishing she’d paid more attention in home ec. Sure, she’d repaired the occasional hem on her clothes or patched a saddle pad. But nothing this elaborate. Could she really do this?
“Nat,” she whispered, suddenly realizing exactly where to turn for advice. Natalie loved clothes, and didn’t have much more money to spend on them than Kate did. She was always ripping up anything that was too small or out of style and turning it into something else. Even claimed off and on that she wanted to be a fashion designer when she grew up. Some of her experiments turned out better than others, but at least she had the basics of sewing down pretty well. She’d know what to do if anyone would.
“What’s up, Katie?” Nat said when she answered Kate’s call. “You at your show or whatever?”
“Yeah.” Kate was glad that Natalie seemed to be in a good mood. The two of them hadn’t spoken since last weekend’s Happy Acres show, but they’d texted back and forth a couple of times.
“Too bad—hot party tonight at Jackie’s. Just waiting for my ride now. But hey, what do you need parties for these days? Speaking of which, how’s that cute rich boyfriend of yours?”
Well, at least Fitz had been upgraded from just “rich” to cute and rich. Kate guessed that meant Nat had been impressed.
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