Off Course

by Georgina Bloomberg

  Yikes, Zara thought. Tommi was going to flip out when she saw that.

  She thought about forwarding it to her. Would Tommi appreciate that, or would she think Zara was just being obnoxious?

  Before she could decide, the loft’s main door flew open. Someone rushed in, sobbing loudly.

  Zara jumped to her feet so fast she almost dropped her computer. “Stacie!” she blurted out.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kate tensed when she heard a familiar laugh from just outside the tent where Pelham Lane’s stalls were located. Fitz. She’d been wondering when he was going to turn up at the show. Now she knew—he was here.

  She kept her head down, focusing on the bucket she was scrubbing. Would he act like everything was fine, the way he had the other time? Somehow she doubted it. It had been two days since he’d stormed off for his date with Sharon, and he hadn’t so much as texted her.

  A second later he rounded the corner. Kate stayed crouched over the water spigot, but she could see him out of the corner of her eye. And he wasn’t alone. A girl was hanging off his arm, giggling and skipping and tossing her long honey-blond hair around.

  Kate felt as if she’d been punched in the gut. She dumped the water out of the bucket she was working on, grabbed the two she’d already done, and took off around the corner without looking back. Had Fitz seen her? She hoped not, though she suspected she’d been hard to miss with her buckets clanking around.

  Once she was out of sight in the next aisle she stopped, dropped the buckets, and just stood there trembling for a moment. She’d recognized the girl Fitz was with—her name was Hannah, and she was a Big Eq star from a prestigious A barn in northern New Jersey. She was one of the many girls Fitz had hooked up with before getting together with Kate, at least if you believed the rumors. And in this case? Kate did. Hannah was well known as a party girl.

  She was also known as a pretty successful rider, making it as far as the first callback at the Maclay Finals last year. Kate couldn’t argue with that kind of success, though secretly she found Hannah’s riding a little pose-y and stiff. Her horse, a superpacker who was the veteran of countless medal finals himself, didn’t seem to mind, and Kate had never seen the girl ride anything else, at least at a show.

  But Hannah’s riding wasn’t the point. The point was, Fitz had already moved on, replaced Kate just as he’d replaced so many girls before when he got tired of them. Why had she thought she’d be any different?

  “Oh, Fitz, you’re here,” Jamie’s voice came from the next aisle, carrying easily to where Kate was standing. “I was just wondering if we’d have to scratch you from your classes this afternoon.”

  “I’m here,” Fitz responded, sounding as carefree as ever. “And listen, slight change of plans.”

  “Oh?” Jamie sounded distracted. He always had a million things to do on show days.

  “Yeah,” Fitz went on. “You know Hannah, right?”

  “Hi!” Hannah put in with a giggle.

  Jamie didn’t say anything. Kate could picture perfectly his quick, polite nod.

  “So Hannah’s agreed to catch-ride Flame for me during the show,” Fitz said. “Just wanted to let you know.”

  “What?” Jamie sounded disapproving. “Where did this come from? I thought Kate was doing the riding.”

  “Yeah, she was.” Fitz put a slight emphasis on the last word. “But as it turns out, she really doesn’t have time this week. And I’ve got my hands full with my other horses. So—”

  Kate didn’t hear anything else as she grabbed her buckets and took off, half blinded by tears. So far she’d been so focused on the breakup itself that she hadn’t really thought about the fact that Flame was Fitz’s horse, not hers. Not theirs, as Fitz had tried to make her think. It hadn’t even occurred to her when she’d hacked Flame around the show grounds yesterday afternoon, or taken him into one of the schooling rings that morning. The latter of which, she now realized, might have been her last ride on him ever.

  Because it seemed she hadn’t just lost Fitz. She’d lost Flame, too. One of the best horses she’d ever ridden, and now she wouldn’t get to ride him anymore. Or help him develop into the show hunter he was born to be. Or pat his sleek red neck while watching the ringmaster pin a blue ribbon to his bridle …

  Her stomach clenched as she suddenly understood exactly how Nat must be feeling right now. Which made her realize just how much she’d lost lately—her mother was slipping into crazy mode, her brother had turned into someone she didn’t recognize, and now this.

  All those things were out of her control. But there was one loss that might still be in her power to fix. Maybe it was time to suck it up and apologize to Nat, do her best to make things right with her. No guarantees that Nat would forgive her, of course, but at least she could try. She vowed to call or stop by her house as soon as she got home from the show. Now that this had happened, maybe she would even be able to convince Nat that she’d never meant to take Flame away from her. That she wouldn’t wish this kind of pain on her worst enemy, let alone her best friend.

  Okay, so it wasn’t much of a silver lining. But it was the best Kate could come up with at the moment.

  Zara was stunned as she stared at Stacie. Was this really happening?

  Meanwhile Gina had stopped singing again. “Who’s that?” she called from the far end of the room. “Did you say Stacie’s back?”

  Stacie herself didn’t seem to notice anyone else was even in the loft. She’d stopped just inside the main room, flinging her bulging backpack onto a chair and then just standing there with her face buried in her hands, moaning and sobbing loudly.

  Zara knew she had to do something. Now. Otherwise everything she’d worked so hard to build over the past week was going to come crashing down. Right on top of her.

  She rushed over and grabbed Stacie in a big hug. “Welcome back, Stacie!” she said, loudly enough for her mother to hear. “How was Boston?”

  Stacie barely seemed to hear her, though she hugged her back. “Oh, Zara!” she wailed. “You’ll never believe what happened! Steve just totally broke my heart!”

  Zara squeezed her tighter, leaning in until her mouth was about a quarter of an inch from Stacie’s ear. “Shut up and listen to me,” she hissed. “My mom’s back, and she still believes you’re actually a good babysitter. So play along unless you want your skinny white ass shipped back to nowheresville stat.”

  Stacie blinked, pulling away slightly. But she didn’t say anything else. Zara had to hope that meant she’d caught on.

  She turned to face her mother as Gina hurried over. “Look, Stacie’s back from Boston,” Zara told her. “Her old piano teacher, Steve, didn’t make it. Did you just say he passed away this morning, Stacie?”

  Stacie sniffled. “Um, yeah,” she said. “This morning.”

  “Cousin Stacie. I’m so sorry for your loss.” Gina reached out and clasped both of Stacie’s hands in her own. “But it’s good to finally meet you, even if it’s under such tragic circumstances.”

  Zara almost rolled her eyes. Sure, Gina was probably being totally sincere. Too bad everything she said came out like a line in some sappy movie.

  “You probably just need to sit down and chill for a while, right?” Zara tugged on Stacie’s arm. “Come on, I’ll help you bring your stuff upstairs.”

  “Yes, good idea,” Gina said with another sympathetic smile. “Let me know if you need to talk, all right, dear?”

  Stacie nodded and sniffled again, still looking a little confused. But Zara didn’t give her a chance to answer. There was just one person Stacie needed to talk to right now, and that was her.

  “Come on,” she said, smiling through gritted teeth as she grabbed Stacie’s bag. “Upstairs.”

  Tommi stepped into the tack stall. One of the younger grooms, Max, was in there hanging up a couple of ribbons someone had just won.

  “Hi,” Tommi greeted the groom. “Have you seen my gloves? I think I might have dropped them in here e
arlier.”

  Max tossed his thick reddish-brown hair out of his eyes. “Yeah, Miguel found them. I think he put them in there,” he said in a voice that still showed a trace of an Irish accent, even though he’d lived in the States since he was nine years old. He pointed to the wooden tack trunk that served as a table.

  “Thanks.” Tommi picked up the framed photos that were sitting on top of the trunk and opened it. Her gloves were on the tray right inside the lid.

  She was replacing the photos when she heard a loud shriek from just outside. Max glanced that way. “Sounds like Marissa,” he commented.

  “Better go see what’s up.” Tommi headed out of the tack stall and down the aisle. Right outside the entrance, she saw Marissa jumping up and down and hugging Dani, who was still on crutches.

  “Hi,” Tommi greeted Dani with a smile. “Couldn’t stay away, huh?”

  Dani laughed breathlessly and shoved Marissa away. “Quit, before you knock me down and break the other leg,” she told her. Then she glanced at Tommi. “Yeah, I’m going crazy with boredom just sitting around at home waiting for school to start.”

  “She’s driving her parents crazy, too.” Marissa giggled. “That’s probably why they let her come.”

  Dani rolled her eyes. “Are you kidding? They knew they couldn’t let me miss the party of the century.” She glanced at Tommi. “And Marissa offered to let me share her hotel room, so they said I could come down a little early instead of moping around the house all week.” She gave Marissa a nudge with the tip of her crutch. “We’re going to have a blast!”

  The two of them started chattering about Summer’s party, but Tommi wasn’t really listening anymore. She’d just spotted Fitz emerging from the barn. He was walking beside Elliot, who was leading Flame. The horse was tacked up and spit-shined to perfection, and the groom had a couple of rags sticking out of his pockets—the type they all carried for last-minute touch-ups to boots and bits. It looked as if they were heading off to the show ring. But that couldn’t be right, could it?

  “See you guys later, okay?” she said to Dani and Marissa. Then she hurried to catch up with Fitz. “Hey,” she greeted him. “What’s going on? Kate didn’t tell me she’s riding Flame in anything today.”

  Fitz looked over at her. “Kate’s not riding Flame anymore.”

  “What?” Tommi glanced at Elliot, but the groom was fussing with the horse’s bridle and didn’t meet Tommi’s eye. “What’s that supposed to mean? She told me you guys had a fight or whatever, but—”

  “Here I am! Wait up!” A girl raced out of the barn, almost crashing into Tommi as she headed for Fitz. “Okay, I found my helmet, thank God. So let’s do this. Oh! Hi, Tommi.”

  “Hi, Hannah.” Tommi was confused. She knew Hannah, of course—everyone on the circuit did. The girl was pretty much the exact opposite of a shrinking violet. She’d hung out with every girl and made out with every guy at barns up and down the East Coast. She could be fun in the right circumstances—she’d come to a couple of Pelham Lane parties back in the days when she and Fitz were an item—but Tommi had never paid that much attention to her.

  Hannah patted Flame, who nuzzled at her curiously. “Good boy,” she crooned. “Ready to go win your very first blue ribbon?”

  Marissa and Dani wandered over as Hannah, Flame, Elliot, and Fitz hurried off in the direction of the rings. “What’s going on?” Dani asked. “Isn’t that that eq girl from Kara Parodi’s barn?”

  “Yeah, I was just about to tell you.” Marissa smirked. “Guess who’s back with Fitz?”

  “No!” Dani’s eyes widened. “Are you serious? What about Kate?”

  Tommi didn’t stick around to hear any more. She hurried after Flame and his entourage, catching up as they reached the warm-up ring. It was crowded with riders getting ready for the under-eighteen flat eq class that had just started in a nearby ring. Could Fitz have entered Flame in that? He gave Hannah a leg up into the saddle, then opened the gate to let her in.

  “Take it easy out there,” he instructed as Hannah fiddled with her stirrups. “Flame doesn’t have much experience with crowded warm-up rings.”

  “Got it.” Hannah picked up the reins, steering the horse into a walk near the center as the faster-moving horses cantered by on the rail. Fitz spotted Tommi watching and came over to join her at the fence.

  “He’s looking good, huh?” Fitz commented.

  “Sure, Kate’s done good work training him so far.” Tommi shot him a look. “So is Jamie coming to warm them up, or what?”

  Fitz shrugged. “He said he’d be here if he finishes at the jumper ring in time.”

  Tommi narrowed her eyes. Before she could ask any more questions, Marissa and Dani hurried over. “So Hyper Hannah’s riding your horse now, huh?” Marissa said to Fitz.

  “Ssh.” Fitz flapped his hand at them. “Gossip later, okay? I need to pay attention.”

  They all kept quiet and watched the warm-up. Hannah looked tense from the start, and it was obvious that Flame was picking up on it. Tommi could see that he was trying to be good, but within moments his long, flowing stride got quick and short and his nostrils were flaring nervously. Every time a horse passed him at a gait faster than a walk, he spun and tried to follow it.

  “Yikes,” Marissa murmured as Hannah circled Flame right in front of another horse, almost causing a crash. A trainer standing nearby cursed loudly, though Hannah barely seemed aware of it.

  “She really needs to relax—she’s freaking him out,” Tommi said.

  Fitz frowned. “She’s still getting used to him. This is only her second time on him, you know.”

  “Okay. But that’s what a catch rider does, right?” Tommi flicked her eyes toward him. “She gets on and gets the job done, even if she’s never set eyes on the horse before.” She couldn’t resist adding, “I’ve seen Kate do it a million times.”

  “Ooh, burn!” Dani whispered, stifling a giggle when Fitz shot her a sour look.

  Tommi turned to watch again. Flame was fighting Hannah’s rigid hands by twisting his neck and shaking his head. He was so counterbent that he almost ran into another passing horse.

  “This obviously isn’t working,” Tommi said, wincing as Flame spooked at yet another horse coming toward him. “They’re not ready.”

  Marissa and Dani nodded, but Fitz didn’t comment. They all watched Hannah kick Flame into a canter.

  “Uh-oh,” Dani murmured as Flame leaped into a near-gallop.

  Tommi held her breath, almost afraid to watch. Hannah pulled back on the reins, but Flame tossed his head and sped up, his ears pricked toward a couple of bays loping along in front of him.

  “Whoa, whoa!” Hannah shouted. She cranked the horse’s head to one side.

  “Yikes!” Marissa exclaimed as one of the bays veered out into Flame’s path. Luckily Flame managed to dodge around it, though Hannah let out a squeak and grabbed mane as she lost a stirrup. Flame didn’t seem to notice; as soon as he’d passed the bays, he lunged after another horse trotting farther ahead, his stride lengthening and his ears back.

  “Wow,” Dani commented. “And I thought Red had track flashbacks!”

  “Seriously.” Marissa gasped as Hannah teetered in the saddle. Somehow, though, the girl managed to recover, shoving her foot back into the stirrup and gathering up her reins with a grim look on her face. She managed to slow Flame to a rough trot, though he kept snorting and staring around at the other horses.

  “Sorry I’m late. How’s it going?”

  Tommi glanced over her shoulder. Jamie had arrived. Thank God.

  The trainer glanced out at the ring, his keen blue eyes immediately fixing on Flame and his rider. A second later he was striding into the ring to put a stop to the ride. Fitz tried to protest, and Hannah cried a little, but Jamie didn’t pay attention to any of that, insisting they scratch from the class.

  “You can try again in the open flat eq tomorrow if you want,” the trainer said, though it was obvious—to Tommi at l
east—that he didn’t think that was a good idea, either. “But today’s not happening.”

  Fitz scowled. “Fine,” he snapped. “Trainer knows best, right?” He spun away, putting an arm around Hannah, who had dismounted by now. She burst into fresh tears.

  “He just wouldn’t listen to me!” she wailed as Fitz steered her away.

  Jamie gave Flame a pat. “You okay cooling him out?” he asked Elliot, who was running up the stirrups. “I should try to catch the hack in ring three.”

  “Sure, boss,” Elliot said.

  “Wow,” Dani said, watching as the groom led the horse toward the barns and Jamie disappeared in the opposite direction. “That was—exciting.”

  Tommi sighed. “Yeah.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Kate. I need to talk to you.”

  Kate froze, then turned slowly to face Fitz. She was so intent on what she was doing—fixing a couple of trashed braids on a restless pony—that she hadn’t heard him coming.

  “Y-yes?” she said cautiously.

  He looked great, as always. He was ready to step into the show ring from the waist down in breeches and boots, though his shirt was unbuttoned at the top and his tie nowhere in sight. All perfectly normal for a show day. What wasn’t normal was his face. His eyes were serious, and his mouth turned down at the corners.

  “I’m sure Tommi or someone told you what happened when Hannah tried to show Flame yesterday,” he said, his tone cool and weirdly formal. “It didn’t go too well.”

  Kate shrugged. “Yeah, I heard.”

  Tommi had told her all about it, of course. Plus, according to Marissa, the incident had already made that new blog everyone was buzzing about lately. Not that Kate had time to read blogs, even ones about horse showing.

  “Anyway,” Fitz went on, “I’d still like to get Flame in the ring. I was hoping you could take him in open eq on the flat this afternoon.”

  The pony kicked at a fly and then stepped forward, straining against the cross-ties. Kate moved it back into place, using that as an excuse to avoid answering Fitz for a moment. Her first instinct was to say no to his request. She was tired of Fitz’s games; tired of the way he was making her feel.