She couldn’t believe this was happening. It should have been one of the best moments of her junior career. Now? She could barely remember how happy she’d been just a few minutes earlier.
“That’s not how it was, I swear.” Scott took a step closer, his dark eyes troubled. “You have to believe me, okay? I mean, think about it—when we met at Cap Challenge, you were still riding your other horse.”
Some tiny part of Tommi’s brain was telling her that was true. But she ignored it.
“Big deal,” she snapped. “So we flirted a little at Cap Challenge. That doesn’t change what just happened.” She couldn’t believe she’d let herself get played like that. And she wanted to be a professional in this business? She’d definitely need to smarten up.
“I know you’re probably really mad about that right now.” Scott ran a hand through his hair, leaving it standing up in tufts. “But you’d do the same thing if it was the other way around—I know you would.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Tommi retorted.
He didn’t look convinced. “You saw my horse out there today. He’s talented, but way too spooky for the eq. And I only have one year left to try for finals—I want to make the most of it. I know you understand that.”
Tommi just shrugged, not willing to concede anything.
“So my trainer and I have been looking for something that could take me to the top next year, and that’s Fable.” He stared at her as if willing her to agree, to understand. “I knew it when I saw you on him that first time, and I was even more sure when I sat on him last night.”
Tommi cringed. “You definitely used me there,” she said. “Now I know why you were asking so many questions about Fable. I thought it was …” She didn’t bother to finish. It was embarrassing enough that they both knew what she’d been about to say. She’d thought he was interested in her, not her mount. She’d thought it was just more flirting. “Now I know why you were so eager to switch horses,” she finished instead. “That was low.”
“Maybe a little.” Scott looked chastened. “But I swear to you, Tommi, this whole Fable deal doesn’t have anything to do with you and me. I thought you were cool from the start, okay? That’s the only reason I even noticed Fable.”
That definitely didn’t make Tommi feel any better. She flashed back to the wounded look on Kate’s face. Fable had been her big chance—her best shot at winning one of those eq finals next year. Now that shot was gone, and it was all Tommi’s fault.
“I’ve got to go,” she muttered, turning away from Scott. She felt his hand on her arm, but shook it off. “Have a nice life.”
“At least this makes one thing easier.” Kate pressed her back against the cool wall behind her. She and Fitz had escaped from the main ring; now they were huddled in an out-of-the-way spot in the hallway outside. Fitz was holding both her hands and watching her closely.
“What?” he asked.
Kate met his concerned gaze for a moment before looking away again. “Since it turns out I won’t be doing the eq next season, there’s really no reason not to take that job if Jamie offers it. Even if it means staying home from all the shows.”
“Who says you won’t be doing the eq?” Fitz squeezed her hands. “Fable’s not the only eq horse in the world, you know. Or even in the state of New York.”
Kate felt weary, wishing that for once she didn’t have to explain it to him. How her life was very different from his, in lots of important ways he seemed not to notice most of the time.
“It doesn’t matter how many eq horses are out there,” she said. “Without Fable’s owners footing the bills, there’s no way I can afford to get anywhere near a big eq class again.”
Fitz still looked unconvinced. “You don’t know that. Maybe Jamie will get in another horse for training or something.”
Kate shook her head. This time she didn’t bother to respond, letting Fitz figure it out for himself. Jamie wasn’t an eq trainer—not really. Yes, some of his students did the big eq, and some even did it well enough to keep up with the kids from the eq specialist barns—Tommi and Fitz had just proved that. But Jamie wasn’t going to start focusing on eq sales just for Kate’s benefit. Most of his sale horses were hunters or jumpers. Even Fable had started out that way.
Fitz was frowning as he dropped her hand to wipe a stray tear off her cheek with his thumb. “Anyway, eq’s not the only game in town, right? Maybe this is a good thing—it means you can focus all your talent on taking Flame to the top instead. I bet you guys will be tearing up the hunter ring at Indoors next year.”
“Maybe.” Kate didn’t even try to sound hopeful. “But who knows if he’ll have what it takes?”
“He will.” Fitz’s optimism was sounding slightly desperate now. “He does. You said so, remember?”
Kate shrugged. “We’ll see. But I can’t let that affect my decision about the job thing. I can’t pin my hopes on one horse, especially one that belongs to someone else.” She shot Fitz a look. “Even if that someone is you.”
Fitz frowned for a second, as if he was about to argue with what she’d just said. Then he shrugged. “Anyway, lots of people make it to eq finals. How many get hired to help manage a barn like Pelham Lane at age sixteen?” He smiled down at her. “It just proves what I’ve always thought—you’re one of a kind, babe.”
Kate smiled back, but her stomach clenched as she thought about what he’d just said. It was one thing to have her own mind made up about that job. But how in the world was she going to break the news to her parents that she was dropping out of high school?
Oh well. She would figure it out. It wasn’t as if she had much choice, right?
That thought was depressing. Kate had never been a fan of difficult decisions, but maybe it was better to have hard choices than none at all. Or was it? She’d spent every day since that blog post came out wondering what to do if Jamie offered her Joy’s job. Worrying that taking over the assistant trainer position would mean giving up on her own dreams of showing. Now the choice had been made for her. She could stop worrying about it.
At that moment Marissa hurried around the corner. She skidded to a stop when she saw Kate and Fitz. “There you guys are,” she said breathlessly. “The horses are loaded, and Elliot already left with the trailer. Miguel’s pulling the van around to pick us up right now.”
Kate dropped Fitz’s hands and straightened up, glancing toward the entrance to the main ring. Even though junior weekend was over, the show had another week to run; Jamie was staying to do the professional and adult divisions, starting with several rides in the First and Second Year Greens the next day. But the juniors were heading home, and Kate felt a weirdly intense flash of nostalgia. Would she ever set foot in the show ring here again?
She had no idea. But she knew one thing. Her show was over. It was time to go home.
Chapter Eighteen
Zara propped her legs up against the seat in front of her and stared out at the highway lights flashing by. Jamie’s old but comfortable GMC passenger van was cruising up Interstate 78 a few car lengths behind Jamie’s largest trailer. They’d caught up to it just a few miles outside Harrisburg, even though Elliot had pulled out of the show a good half hour before them. No surprise there. Elliot drove like someone’s grandma, especially when he was hauling horses.
Miguel had the van’s radio tuned to a Spanish music station; when Dani complained, the groom had reminded her that only the driver got a vote. After that, everyone had talked about the show for a while, but it had been pretty clear that both Kate and Tommi were uncomfortable anytime the conversation strayed too close to the eq finals in general or Fable in particular. Eventually everyone had gone quiet, and now the mood in the van was sleepy and a little somber.
Zara yawned, leaning her forehead against the cool glass of the window. She couldn’t believe Harrisburg was over already. Even though she and Ellie had managed not to embarrass themselves in the ring, Zara felt oddly guilty, as if she’d done something wrong. Probably
because she hadn’t figured out the blogger’s identity as she’d vowed to do.
She tried to shake off the feeling. Since when did she even want to be Nancy Drew? Everyone knew that girl was a goody-goody who liked to stick her nose into everyone else’s business.
“So I still can’t believe I didn’t pin in a single over-fences class,” Summer spoke up suddenly, her voice peevish and too loud in the silence. She turned and looked back from the front passenger seat, which she always insisted on hogging by claiming she got carsick if she sat in the back. “I swear, I think my horse is trying to make me look bad sometimes.”
“Win some, lose some.” Fitz was sitting with Kate and Tommi in the middle seat. “There’s always next year.”
“Maybe.” Summer stared from him to Tommi and back again. “But I’m thinking maybe the hunters isn’t really my thing. I’m going to talk to Jamie about finding me an eq horse.”
Zara rolled her eyes. Leave it to Summer to blame her lack of ribbons on her very nice small junior hunter instead of her own tendency to slow him to a crawl in the last few strides anytime she couldn’t see her spot. If she thought things were going to be any easier in the eq, where all eyes were on her and her riding, she was in for a rude awakening.
“Too bad you didn’t decide this yesterday.” Zara didn’t even try to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “Maybe you could’ve bought Fable instead of that Scott guy.”
Summer frowned at her. “Maybe I could have.”
Tommi let out a snort. “Yeah, right.”
“What?” Summer stared at her, a mulish look coming over her face. “You don’t think I could afford him?”
“Oh, I’m sure you could afford him.” Tommi sounded cranky. “But he’s not a packer like your poor patient horse, you know. Kate just made him look that way.”
“So did you, Tommi,” Marissa put in quickly, obviously trying to smooth things over before the conversation degenerated into more sniping. “You can’t blame anyone for thinking Fable’s a dream ride after those trips you laid down with him today.”
Tommi shrugged and looked down at her hands, but Summer didn’t seem pacified. “Anyway, if I had tons of extra coaching from Jamie all the time like some people, I’m sure I could ride a horse like that, too.”
This time Summer’s glare was directed at Kate. “Whatever,” Dani said. “I’m sure Jamie can find you an eq horse if you’re serious about it.”
“Of course I’m serious. Why wouldn’t I be serious?” Summer frowned at her.
“Um, because you just came up with this idea like five minutes ago?” Dani said.
Summer scowled at her. “What do you know, Dani? You don’t even do the eq, so stay out of it.”
She spun around in her seat and stared out the front window, her pout reflected for all to see. Dani just snorted, speechless for once. Zara closed her eyes, suddenly tired of all the drama.
“Wake me up when we get home, okay?” she said.
Tommi had barely set foot in Drummond’s lobby the next morning when she heard someone calling her name.
“Oh my god, Tommi, welcome back,” Court exclaimed, rushing over. “You’ll never believe the party you missed this weekend, or who was there acting like she—wait, are you okay?”
She peered into Tommi’s face with sudden concern. “I’m fine.” Tommi pasted on a smile.
“Does this mean you didn’t win your big championship thingy?” Court fell into step beside Tommi, both of them heading toward the hall where their lockers were located.
“No, I did fine. Really well, actually.” Tommi shrugged. “Ninth out of like two hundred and fifty in the eq.”
“Wow.” Court looked impressed. “So what’s with the face?”
Tommi hesitated. Court was one of her best friends, and normally she would probably be the first to hear about the disaster with Scott. Somehow, though, Tommi just wasn’t in the mood to get into it right now.
“Nothing,” she said, forcing another smile. “I’m just tired. Didn’t get in until really late, and it’s not like I’m looking forward to that calc test today.”
Court barked out a laugh. “Tell me about it! My eyes were crossing trying to cram for that thing last night.”
“So what’s this about a party?” Tommi asked.
Court’s face lit up. “Oh man, it was legendary …” She started chattering on about the party, though Tommi wasn’t really listening. Her mind drifted back to Scott. He’d sent her a text last night, trying again to apologize for what had happened, insisting again that the thing with Fable hadn’t had anything to do with her.
Could he be telling the truth? Tommi thought back to what he’d said yesterday—that she would have done the same thing if the situation were reversed. At first Tommi had dismissed that. But she’d had lots of time to think about it on that long, mostly quiet ride back to New York last night, and now she wasn’t so sure.
What would she have done differently, after all? What if Scott had been riding a promising young prospect—one that could have been a match for Tommi’s business plans, one that was for sale at a fair price? She would have jumped at the chance, even if it meant being a little cagey. Right? It would have been stupid to do otherwise. So maybe he was right. They really weren’t so different.
Of course, that didn’t make Tommi feel much better about what had happened. Or any less guilty every time she thought about Kate …
“Tommi!” Zara’s excited voice broke into Tommi’s thoughts—and Court’s story.
Court frowned slightly. “Hi, Zara,” she said in her legendary blow-off voice. “Look, Tommi and I are right in the middle of—”
“Not interested.” Pushing past Court, Zara grabbed Tommi by the arm. In her other hand, she was clutching her phone. “Tommi, I need to talk to you about something. Right now.”
Tommi could see that the HorseShowSecrets blog was on the phone’s screen. She frowned. “Can it wait? I’m not really in the mood for—”
“This can’t wait.” Zara yanked impatiently on her arm. “I mean it, girl. I’ve got to show you something—now.”
Kate was late arriving at the barn on Tuesday afternoon because Mr. Barron had insisted that she stay after school to take the quiz she’d missed on Friday. Kate had tried to explain that she was supposed to work every day after school, but when he’d started talking about calling her parents to discuss whether her schedule was too demanding, she’d given in and agreed to stay.
The parking area wasn’t very full. Most of the adult riders wouldn’t be out this week, since their horses were at the show. As Kate pulled into her usual spot, she saw that Tommi and Dani were already there, though there was no sign of Fitz’s car. Kate hadn’t heard from him all day, and she hoped he hadn’t forgotten that the juniors had a lesson that afternoon. Joy might be an easier teacher than Jamie in some ways, but she was just as strict when it came to expecting everyone to be on time. Kate glanced at her watch. Come to think of it, she would have to hurry if she wanted to get anything done before it was time to start tacking up.
She cut her engine and just sat there staring into a space for a moment, realizing that she’d almost added one more word to the last part of that thought: before it was time to start tacking Fable up. For the past few months, she’d ridden the big gray gelding in most of her lessons. It was going to feel weird to go back to switching back and forth onto whichever horse Jamie thought needed more schooling that week.
Kate closed her eyes for a second as an intense feeling of loss washed over her. Not just the loss of Fable—she’d always known he wasn’t really hers. She just hadn’t expected him to go so soon. More importantly, she hadn’t recognized until too late how tied in he was with her hopes for the future.
Shaking her head to clear out those kinds of thoughts, Kate yanked the key out of the ignition, grabbed her boots, and headed inside.
Tommi was perched on the bench in the entryway, fiddling with the laces on her paddock boots, when Kate entered. “Oh,
hi,” she said, glancing up. “Joy asked me to tell you to come see her when you get here.”
“Didn’t she get my text saying I’d be late?” Kate said with a flash of panic. The last thing she needed to do right now was make Joy and Jamie think they couldn’t rely on her.
Tommi gave her laces one last yank and straightened up. “She didn’t say anything about that. She didn’t seem mad or anything, though.”
Kate nodded and relaxed, belatedly remembering that the assistant trainer had responded to that text, saying it was no problem if she was a few minutes late. So what was this about?
“I’d better go find her,” she told Tommi. “See you at our lesson.”
Joy was in the office when Kate peeked in, poring over some paperwork. At Kate’s soft knock on the doorframe, the assistant trainer looked up with her usual cheerful smile.
“Kate!” she said. “How was your quiz?”
“Fine,” Kate lied. “Tommi said you wanted to see me?”
Joy pushed back from the desk and stood. If Kate hadn’t been watching so carefully, she might not have noticed that the assistant trainer was moving a little more carefully than normal.
“Follow me.” Joy brushed past Kate. “Something came for you this morning.”
Confused, Kate trailed behind Joy as she hurried down the aisle to the tack room. “Something came for me? What do you mean—like a letter or something?”
“It’s from Fable’s owners,” Joy explained. “A gift to thank you for the work you put into him?”
“Really?” Kate was touched and surprised. “Wow, they didn’t have to get me anything. That’s really nice of them.”
“No kidding.” Joy grinned, leading the way into the tack room. “Voilà!”
At first Kate didn’t understand. Joy was gesturing toward a saddle sitting on the stand in the center of the room. It looked a lot like Tommi’s best saddle, except that there were no wear marks from the stirrup leathers on the flap.
The A Circuit 04- Rein It In Page 17