Zara pushed her mother’s hand away. “Very funny. Hey, you’re always ragging on me about keeping my grades up, right? Besides, if I have to watch you two do your usual date-night drool thing, I won’t be able to eat anyway.”
Zac chuckled and stepped over to plant a big, sloppy kiss on his wife’s lips. “Stop!” Gina protested. “You’re smearing my lipstick.”
Zara rolled her eyes. Ever since Gina had finished her location shoot and Zac had returned from his European tour, the two of them had been making a point to go out on the town together as often as possible, often resulting in various paparazzi shots appearing in the papers the next day of the two of them smooching at yet another trendy restaurant or nightclub. It was totally gross, but at least it got them both out of the apartment at the same time.
“Just go already,” Zara said. “You’re distracting me, and I have a test on this stuff tomorrow.”
“All right, my love.” Gina bent and brushed her lips over Zara’s cheek. “Come on, Zac. I’ll redo my lipstick in the car.”
Moments later they were gone. Zara waited until she heard the muffled clank of the elevator arriving, then pushed her Spanish book away. She stood, stretched, and walked over to the wall of windows. It was around seven thirty, and there were quite a few people out and about along with the usual amount of traffic. Still, Zara immediately spotted the limo idling at the curb below, and after a moment she saw her parents emerge from the building. A man walking his dog stopped to stare as Mickey opened the car door to usher Zac and Gina in, but nobody else even slowed down. That was one good thing about their SoHo neighborhood. Most of the people who lived there were too cool to gawk at celebrities. Or at least they liked to act as if they were, which was good enough.
Zara watched the limo pull away and then turn to join the traffic going past on Broome Street. As soon as the car was out of sight, she hurried back to the sofa, grabbed her laptop, and flipped it open. She quickly pulled up HorseShowSecrets and scanned the latest entry—some boring gossip about a junior rider at a barn in North Carolina. Normally Zara wouldn’t give it a second glance, since she didn’t know the people involved and had never even set foot in North Carolina. But this time she studied it carefully before scrolling back to the previous post, and then the one before that.
“Who could know about all this stuff?” she muttered under her breath. “There’s got to be a clue here somewhere.”
Grabbing her Spanish notebook, she flipped to one of the blank pages in the back. Scrolling back to the top of the blog postings, she started going through them again, jotting down how many times each barn appeared. Maybe that would help her narrow down what region the blogger was from, anyway. Of course, the fact that most of the A circuit had been at Cap Challenge last week might make that harder. …
Her phone buzzed, and Zara scrabbled through the papers on the coffee table until she found it. “Hello?” she blurted out, not even bothering to check who was calling.
“Zara? That you?”
It was a male voice, but Zara didn’t recognize it. She finally glanced at the screen, which identified the caller as Hersh Feldman. Who?
“Um, yeah, it’s me,” she said. “Who’s this?”
“Hersh?” the guy said. “We met at that record company party last month, remember?”
“Oh right.” Now Zara did remember, at least vaguely. The party had been pretty boring, but Zara had entertained herself by flirting with the cute son of one of Zac’s session musicians. “How’s it going?”
“Good.” The guy cleared his throat. “Listen, you doing anything this weekend? Because this friend of mine is having a party at this really cool club downtown, and I thought maybe you’d want to check it out.”
“Sorry, no can do.” Zara switched the phone to her other ear so she could scroll through the blog as she talked. “I’m going to be out of town at a horse show.”
“Oh. Too bad.” The guy sounded bummed. “Maybe some other time, huh?”
“Sure, maybe. Later.” Zara hung up and stared at the phone. Something was bothering her, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. It definitely wasn’t because she’d turned down some random date. For one thing, she really was going to be away—all the juniors were riding down to Harrisburg together tomorrow night. And it wasn’t as if she went out with every guy who asked, anyway.
So what then? She scrolled absently through the old messages on her phone, trying to figure it out. She blinked, her thumb frozen over the button as one name popped into view.
Marcus.
Okay, now she got the connection. Sort of. Marcus was another guy she’d met at one of her parents’ functions, another guy who’d asked her out afterward. Was she really still thinking about him? Because there wasn’t much point.
Her face went hot as she recalled how things had ended between them. That stupid blog had been responsible, actually. At least mostly. Zara had misinterpreted something Marcus had said to her, which had led to her accusing him of being behind the blog. As it turned out, he didn’t even know about it and had been totally offended, and Zara hadn’t heard from him since.
So what, though? Why had some random call from some random guy reminded her of that? The whole thing with Marcus shouldn’t still be bothering her. Like, at all. She’d never let one guy—especially one she’d only gone out with for about three hot seconds—mess her up like that. No way.
She frowned and tossed her phone aside, pulling the laptop closer. At least thinking about that whole stupid scene with Marcus had done one good thing. It made her more determined than ever to figure out who was behind that freaking blog.
“Steady,” Kate murmured as she rode Flame around the short side of the indoor ring. His trot felt round and collected under her. When they came out of the corner, she closed her legs softly, asking him to lengthen. For a second he tensed, but then he seemed to figure out what she was asking and his long legs stretched out smoothly, eating up the ground.
Kate smiled. She’d been afraid that Flame might forget everything she’d taught him while she was away at Cap Challenge. But if anything, he’d felt better than ever this week. Of course, it wasn’t as if he’d been sitting around in his stall the whole time she was gone. Joy had promised to school him at least every other day or so.
Thinking about Joy made Kate’s whole body tense up. The horse felt it, and his stride faltered, one ear flicking back toward Kate.
“Easy, buddy,” Kate whispered, asking for a downward transition and then giving him a pat. “It’s okay. Sorry I got distracted.”
She blew out a sigh, glancing around the empty ring. It was late, probably after nine. Kate wasn’t sure exactly, since she’d taken off her watch before bathing a pony in the wash stall earlier and forgotten to put it back on. The barn had been even busier than usual, since everyone was rushing to get ready to leave for Harrisburg the next afternoon. After the juniors’ lesson, Kate had been so busy she’d barely had time to breathe, let alone think about that blog entry.
Now, in the hushed dimness of the indoor, it came creeping back. Could it be true? Kate had dreamed of a career in horses since she was old enough to know what a horse was. For the past two and a half years she’d spent all her spare time and then some right here working toward that goal.
Even so, the very idea of taking over Joy’s job seemed unreal. Impossible. Something that might happen in a movie or something. Not in real life, not to a girl like her. No way.
Flame stopped suddenly and lowered his head, rubbing his nose against his knee and making the bit jingle. Kate realized she’d been riding along like a lump of clay, just sitting there and letting the horse amble at his own pace. Some trainer she was …
Smiling ruefully, she gathered up the reins and clucked, sending the horse into a marching walk and then after a moment asking for the left-lead canter. Flame stepped effortlessly into the gait. For a moment Kate felt his energy build, but a half-halt reminded the horse that this was not the racetrack. He set
tled immediately, his stride smooth and steady as they rounded the next turn.
Kate floated along in half seat, enjoying the ride. She couldn’t wait to see what Flame would do in the show ring someday. It was easy to imagine away the quiet Pelham Lane indoor and pretend that the two of them were cantering softly around the turn to a big square oxer at Harrisburg. …
For a second the vision shifted, and instead of Flame, Kate imagined herself aboard that fancy hunter belonging to Kara Parodi’s client. She’d been too busy to think much about that, either, though she knew she’d have to figure out what to do soon. Tommi and Zara both seemed to think she should do it, that it was nothing out of the ordinary and Jamie wouldn’t mind a bit, and for a while Kate had started to believe them. What was the big deal? She’d almost made up her mind to mention it to Jamie the next time she got a chance.
Now, though, that blog post had made everything much more complicated. How could she ask him about riding for a competitor? Would something like that change his mind, make him wonder if she was loyal enough to be his assistant?
Kate sat back and brought Flame down to a walk. Giving the horse a pat, she was about to turn across the diagonal when she caught a flash of movement by the gate. It was Fitz. He raised a hand and smiled, his face shadowy in the dimness outside the reach of the overhead lights.
“Hi,” Kate said, riding over. “I didn’t see you there.”
“I’ve only been here a few minutes.” Fitz patted Flame as the horse reached over the fence to nose at him. “Didn’t want to interrupt. You guys look gorgeous out there—both of you.”
“Thanks.” Kate gave Flame a scratch on the withers. “He’s really coming along.”
“I can see that.” Fitz watched the horse. “Think he’ll be ready to show by the time we leave for Florida?”
“Um …” Kate wasn’t sure how to respond. Much of Pelham Lane packed up and traveled to Florida every year for the big winter circuit down there. Kate had never gone—for the past two years she’d stayed behind to help Joy take care of things at home. Kate was hoping that if Indoors went well and she could convince her parents and teachers she wouldn’t flunk out, maybe they’d let her go to Florida this year. But there was no guarantee they’d go for it. In fact, she was pretty much assuming she’d be left behind this year as usual.
Fitz noticed her hesitation. “Oh, wait,” he said. “I almost forgot. If you take that assistant trainer job, I guess you’ll have to stay home and teach lessons and stuff.” He frowned and chewed his lower lip, glancing at Flame. “Oh well. We can always bring him out at one of the local shows in the spring. Or maybe you can fly down for the weekend and hop on.”
Kate didn’t bother to remind him that she couldn’t afford a plane ticket to Florida. He would only offer to pay for it, and that kind of thing always made her uncomfortable.
“Nobody’s offering me a job yet,” she said instead.
Fitz leaned on the ring fence. “I know. But you saw that blog. Why would someone make up a story like that if there wasn’t at least a grain of truth to it?”
Kate shrugged, picking at a scrap of hay caught in Flame’s mane. “People make stuff up all the time,” she said softly, thinking of some of the rumors Nat had started over the past couple of months. Like that Kate was on probation for dealing drugs, and the only reason nobody knew about it was that her police officer father had hushed it up. Or that she was sleeping with every guy in school. Or worse, that she was sleeping with Jamie, and that was why she was allowed to ride at Pelham Lane. Which was crazy, of course—Jamie didn’t even like girls. But Nat had never let the facts stand in the way of a good smear campaign. Kate knew that. And now she knew how it felt to have the full force of Nat’s wrath turned against her.
“What?” Fitz reached over and poked Kate’s leg just above the top of her half chaps. “You’re a million miles away all of a sudden. Thinking about how awesome you’d be at that job?”
“Not exactly.” Kate’s gaze skittered toward him, then away. “I mean, you heard what Tommi said earlier. I’d have to drop out of school. My parents would never go for that.”
“It’s your life, not your parents’.” Fitz’s hand was still on her knee, and he squeezed gently. “But listen, don’t let it stress you out, okay? You should talk to Jamie, see if you can work something out. Maybe he’d let you do the job part time so you can stay in school. Or maybe you can do some kind of home-schooling thing—you could do your schoolwork online at night after you get home from the barn, or maybe your mom could teach you or something.”
Kate bit her lip, still playing with Flame’s mane. “I don’t think any of those things will work.”
“Why not?”
Kate could list at least a dozen reasons why not, but she didn’t bother. Sometimes things that were obvious to her seemed completely foreign to Fitz, and vice versa. He came from a world where everything pretty much did work out, while in Kate’s world that definitely wasn’t a guarantee. Not even close.
“Anyway, I’m not saying anything to Jamie,” she told him. “You shouldn’t either, okay? I mean, what if none of it’s true? I’d look like an idiot.”
Fitz just shrugged. “Okay, I’ll keep my mouth shut.” he said. “But you know I’m here for you, no matter what happens.”
“Thanks.” That actually made Kate feel better, at least a little. Who could have guessed that Fitz would turn out to be the most steady and reliable part of her life?
Fitz glanced at his watch. “You almost finished with your ride? Because I want to take you to dinner in the city.”
Kate was still thinking about the job, but now she blinked, wondering if she’d heard him wrong. “Dinner? What, tonight?”
“Yeah, tonight. It’s our last night here, remember?” He grinned. “I thought we could use a last hurrah before the craziness of Indoors gears up again tomorrow.”
“Oh.” Kate realized the two of them hadn’t been out on a real date since before Capital Challenge. There just hadn’t been time. Unfortunately, there really wasn’t time now, either. “Um, that sounds nice. But it’s getting late, and I’ve still got a half day of school tomorrow.”
“Come on.” Fitz blinked up at her with that puppy-dog gaze she found almost impossible to resist, his fingers tiptoeing up her leg. “I need my Kate fix. We’ll make it quick, I swear.”
Kate was tempted to give in and say yes. She could use a break, especially with another solid week of hard work and no sleep coming up. But even the thought of the long drive down to Manhattan made her want to yawn.
“Sorry,” she said reluctantly. “I really can’t. I need to finish my English paper tonight, and I should get started on some of my other homework too. Besides, my dad will flip out if I’m not home before his shift ends at midnight.”
Fitz pursed his lips. “Okay, how’s this,” he said. “No city. Just dinner. Finish up and we can hit the diner, and I’ll have you home by eleven thirty. Promise. What do you say?”
Kate hesitated. She really did need to get on that homework, and she’d planned to try to get to sleep early, since it would definitely be a late night tomorrow by the time the barn finished setting up and settling in at the show. Then again, the diner was only a few miles away, and she did have to eat.
“Sure, sounds good,” she said before she could overthink it any more. “Just let me finish up with Flame, and we can go.”
“Awesome.” Fitz grinned and stepped back. “I’ll help you untack and put him away.”
Kate nodded, trying not to calculate how late she would probably be up finishing that English paper. Sleep was overrated, right?
Then again, maybe she shouldn’t lose sleep over some stupid essay on Macbeth. If she got that assistant trainer job, none of that stuff would matter anymore—she’d never have to read Shakespeare again if she didn’t want to, or learn any of the other useless stuff she was studying in school. The thought made her smile as she nudged Flame into motion.
Chapter Ten
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br /> By the time she reached the barn on Wednesday, Tommi was feeling seriously tense. It didn’t help that Zara had chattered nonstop through the whole long drive up from Manhattan, seeming as giddy as an elementary school kid at getting out of school after a half day. She’d mostly talked about her investigation into the source of that blog, at least as far as Tommi could tell. She’d stopped listening around the time they’d hit the Triborough.
She pulled into one of the spots in the corner of the parking area, where her car would be out of the way during the week. Then she popped the trunk.
“Grab your stuff,” she told Zara. “I want to lock up and drop my keys in the office in case Joy needs to move my car while we’re gone.”
“Aye aye, captain.” Zara performed what was probably supposed to be a salute, though it looked more like some kind of warped disco move. Hoisting her bags out of the trunk, she hurried off toward the barn.
Tommi followed more slowly, her anxiety building. There was something she needed to do before everyone hit the road to Harrisburg in a few hours, and she wasn’t looking forward to it.
When she walked into the barn, Zara was huddled with Marissa and Dani. The three of them abruptly stopped talking when Tommi came in, then laughed with relief.
“Oh, it’s just you.” Marissa smiled at Tommi. “We don’t want Jamie or Joy or any of the other adults to hear what we’re saying. For obvious reasons.” Her gaze fell to the cell phone in Dani’s hand.
“Right,” Tommi muttered. She didn’t have time for this right now. “Have you guys seen Kate?”
“I think she’s finishing up with the last of the baths.” Dani gestured in the general direction of the wash stalls, then nodded toward a pile of suitcases and other gear near the door. “By the way, you can put your stuff there. Miguel’s going to bring the van up and load everything in a bit.”
Tommi did as she said, adding her bags to the pile of luggage. Then she headed down the aisle toward the wash stall area.
The A Circuit 04- Rein It In Page 9