The a Circuit (10 page)

Then she heard it. One of the spectators standing at the rail nearby, whistling a catchy tune.

Not just any tune. Zara instantly recognized one of her father’s best-known songs, “Golden Girl.” Specifically, the distinctive melody of the bridge, the part with the lyrics that went “
Everything he touches/it always turns to dust/He’s the butt of every joke/his whole life’s just a bust
.”

Her jaw clenched as several people laughed, obviously recognizing the tune—and the rider. She glared at the people lined up on the rail, trying to catch the douchebag who’d whistled. Whoever it was had gotten to her. This time she couldn’t totally hide it. She hated that. She hated it a lot.

She was still totally distracted as she rode back in for her next jumping round. Was the jerkwad whistler still here, watching her, hoping to see her screw up again? She couldn’t resist searching the faces at the rail.

Realizing Ellie was picking up the canter on her own, Zara steered her into their opening circle. As she aimed toward the first fence, an inviting gate, she shot one more look at the spectators.

This time her moment of distraction really cost her. Ellie felt her rider’s lack of attention and took advantage. Her stride wavered and then she surged forward—and darted to the side, running right past the fence!

A moan of sympathy went up from the crowd. Maybe hiding a few nasty giggles? Zara strained her ears as she felt her cheeks go hot. She spun Ellie around hard and fast, nearly unbalancing her. Kicking hard, she sent the mare into a ragged canter that was closer to a hand gallop.

Narrowing her eyes, she glared at the fence as they reapproached it. One stride out she kicked hard again, daring Ellie to try to run out this time.

The mare tossed her head, bobbling the final stride but flinging herself over anyway. They landed hard, and it took them a stride or two to recover. Zara could feel Ellie thinking about stopping at the next jump, but once again she booted her forward and the mare went over.

After that, there was no danger of a stop. Ellie raced around the rest of the course as if it was a jump-off, her ears flattened against her head.

Zara barely managed to pull her up at the end. Ellie was prancing and blowing as they left the ring.

Jamie was waiting for them just outside, his face an emotionless mask. Still, Zara could feel the waves of disapproval wafting off of him.

“That was fun,” she said, loudly enough for half the crowd at the ring to hear. “I always liked the jumpers better than the hunters anyway.”

A few bystanders laughed, but Jamie didn’t look amused. “Let Javier take Ellie,” he said, waving the young groom forward. “You come with me.”

Moments later they were in a quiet spot behind the food stand. “Okay, let’s get it over with,” Zara said. “I suck, right? And you knew I should’ve scratched, and blah blah blah.”

“You don’t suck, Zara. But you do need to understand something. Ellie is a talented horse with a world of potential. But she’s no packer. If you want to do well with her, bring out that potential, you’re going to have to put in some hard work to get there. Not just rely on your natural talent. Be a real partner to her.”

Zara shrugged. “Okay,” she muttered sullenly. He made riding sound like a chemistry test at school or something. All work and no play. Who needed that?

Jamie had more to say, but she’d pretty much stopped listening. What was the point? Showing was supposed to be fun. Wasn’t that why she did it?

“Anybody home?” Tommi called as she entered her family’s town house on Sunday afternoon.

She’d finished showing early. Normally that wouldn’t stop her from hanging out for the rest of the day, watching Kate and her other friends ride, cheering on the barn and helping out as needed.

But today she had something important to do.

She heard a shout from the back of the house and smiled. Good. Her father was home. That was one miracle. Could she hope for two?

Hurrying through the house to her father’s spacious and sunny home office, she found him shuffling through the paperwork on his massive mahogany desk. He glanced at her over the top of his reading glasses as she entered.

“Back so soon?” he asked. “Everything go all right?”

“Yeah, fine,” Tommi said. “Great, actually.”

“Good, good.” Mr. Aaronson grabbed another sheaf of papers. “Callie really enjoyed watching you ride yesterday. She mentioned it right before she left for the airport.”

“So she’s on her way back to DC?” Tommi asked.

Her father nodded. “Wish she could’ve stayed longer. But they can’t spare her any longer down there.”

Tommi smiled tightly. She wasn’t going to get distracted by verse 962 of her father’s Ode to Callie’s Perfection. Not right now. This was too important.

“Listen,” she blurted out before she could lose her nerve. “I need to talk to you about something. You know Legs, that horse you saw me ride yesterday?”

“Of course.” Her father’s gaze was already wandering back to his papers. “Nice-looking animal.”

“I’m glad you liked him.” Tommi took a deep breath. “Because I want to buy him.”

Her father looked up. “Oh, I see.” He set down the papers he was holding. “All right, I’m in a good mood, so why not? Tell Jamie to call me, and I’ll see if we can make a deal.”

“Wait,” Tommi said. “This isn’t like the others. I don’t want Legs as my own personal horse. I want him as a business investment.” She rushed on, not daring to look directly at her father; knowing that if he started laughing at her, she’d either fall apart or start yelling. And neither of those things would gain her any points. “See, I know I could finish his training myself—well, with Jamie’s help, of course, but doing all the riding and the work myself. Then when he’s ready, I could sell him on, and hopefully clear a nice profit. Enough to buy another greenie and start again.”

She finally had to stop for breath. Her father didn’t say anything for a moment; actually, he appeared to be speechless, a very unusual state for him.

“I see,” he said at last. “Is this about that talk at dinner the other night?”

“Sort of,” Tommi admitted. “But I’m really serious about it. I want to find a way to make a career out of showing, and this is one way I think I could do it.”

Her father sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Why insist on a career in this nonsense?” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with riding on the side once you’ve finished college and established yourself in business or law or something practical.”

“But I’m not interested in those things.
You
are. Callie is. But not me.
I’m
interested in riding. You’re not going to talk me out of that, Dad.” Belatedly remembering the sheet of paper she’d been clutching since she entered, she shoved it across the desk at him. “Here—I typed this up on my laptop in the hotel last night, so it’s a little rough. It’s a business plan for how this could work.”

Her father took the paper and scanned it. “I see,” he said again. “Well, I’ll have to take a closer look and think about it.”

Tommi let out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. Okay, he still seemed skeptical. Verging on dismissive. But he said he’d think about it. She figured that was as good as she was going to get.

“Thanks, Dad,” she said. Then she hurried out of the office before he could change his mind.

TEN

Kate couldn’t believe how crowded the mall was on Monday evening. She had to circle the parking lot twice before she found a spot. By the time she made it to the entrance courtyard, Natalie was already waiting.

“About time!” Nat exclaimed when she spotted her, jumping to her feet. “I was starting to think you were ditching me.”

“I know, sorry I’m late. But I’ve got a good excuse.” Kate reached for the door, looking forward to the cold blast of AC. It had been one of those hot and humid summer days when every move felt like swimming through butter. Even the fans in front of the horses’ stalls barely seemed to move the hot air around much.

“Okay, let’s hear it.” Natalie walked into the mall behind Kate, her trendy ribbon flip-flops slapping the tile floor. “It better be something about how you were making out with that cute rich guy you were telling me about.”

Kate’s face was already flushed from the heat, but now it went a little redder. Why had she ever even mentioned Fitz to Natalie? Nat had obviously jumped to the exact wrong conclusion, as usual.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I told you, Fitz and I are just friends. Anyway, he wasn’t even at the barn today—it’s Monday.”

“So?”

“So the barn’s closed to customers on Mondays.” Kate bit her lip, stopping herself just in time from what she was about to add next:
All the big barns around here are
. That was exactly the kind of comment guaranteed to piss Nat off, make her think Kate was looking down on her.

And she definitely didn’t want to start that kind of fight right now. Tonight was supposed to be about the two of them hanging out, reconnecting. That was why Kate was at the mall, even though all she’d really wanted to do after her long day out in the heat was jump into a cool shower and then into bed.

“Anyway, I was totally going to be on time until one of the ponies got loose from the farrier,” she told her friend. “I had to help chase it down.”

“What, is that fancy-ass trainer of yours too good to get his hands dirty?” Natalie said. “I swear to God, Kate, they work you like a dog at that place.”

Kate didn’t bother to remind her that she’d worked just as hard at Happy Acres back in the day. “Jamie wasn’t around. Otherwise he would’ve been right there with us.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Natalie stopped in front of a trendy clothing store. “Let’s go in here. I need some new shorts.”

Soon they were flipping through racks of clothes. Natalie started chattering about guys and parties and the usual, but Kate wasn’t really listening. Her mind was already jumping ahead to tomorrow—lesson day. Her lesson on Fabelhaften, to be specific.

“I’m going to try these on,” Nat’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Grab something for yourself and come with—here, like this. It’ll look great on you! Totally bring out your eyes.”

She shoved a blue spandex minidress into Kate’s hands. Kate stared at it.

“Um, I’m not really planning to buy anything tonight. Besides, I don’t have anywhere to wear something like this.”

“So what? Try it on anyway. It’ll be fun.” Nat grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the dressing rooms in the back of the store. “Come on!”

Soon the two of them were crammed into one of the boxy dressing rooms. Nat had already wriggled into a pair of denim shorts so short and tight that Kate felt a little uncomfortable looking directly at them. Then she’d insisted that Kate try on the dress she’d picked out for her. Kate was a little surprised when she checked out her reflection in the full-length mirror on the dressing room wall. The dress actually looked pretty good, even with her bare feet and messy ponytail. If Fitz thought she was cute in pilled breeches and a polo covered in horse slobber, what would he say if he ever saw her in something like this?

“Kate? Yo, Ground Control to Major Distracto!” Natalie waved both hands in front of Kate’s face. “I know it’s a shock to see yourself in an actual dress for a change, but try to stay in this dimension, okay?”

Kate smiled weakly, already reaching for the zipper to take the dress off. “Sorry, guess I’m a little distracted.”

“Dreaming about strutting your stuff in this for your cute rich so-called friend?” Natalie smirked playfully.

“Not even close,” Kate lied. “I’m just distracted ’cause Jamie wants me to start doing the Big Eq, and tomorrow I have a lesson on the horse he’s letting me ride. Guess I’m a little nervous.”

“Letting you ride?” Natalie echoed as she peeled off one pair of shorts and reached for another. “What do you mean?”

“There’s this horse named Fable at the barn—his owners sent him to Jamie to be sold. He’s not stylish enough to be a top hunter and he’s too slow to make it as a jumper, but Jamie thinks he’d be perfect in the eq. Just needs some mileage. So that’s where I come in.”

“Kind of weird to ride a sales horse in eq, isn’t it?” Natalie wrinkled her nose as she stared into the mirror, though Kate wasn’t sure if it was in reaction to what she’d said or to the current pair of shorts, which bunched at the thighs in an unflattering way.

“Actually, it’s pretty common,” Kate said. “People do it all the time. Tons of people even end up at finals with borrowed or leased horses.”

“Really?” Natalie shrugged. “Still sounds pretty weird to me. I don’t think I could do it.”

Kate didn’t bother to point out that Natalie had never been anywhere near a show with Big Eq classes, so she probably didn’t have to worry about it. She wasn’t that bitchy, even if Nat kind of deserved it sometimes.

“Anyway,” she said instead, “Fable can be a handful, so I’m a little nervous about tomorrow. I mean, I’ve ridden him in a few lessons before this, but now it’s different. You know how barn gossip is. Everyone’s probably heard he’s my new eq ride, so they’ll all be watching us.”

“Yeah.” Nat let out a snort of laughter. “You’ve never been good with people watching you. Remember your first show? They’d just brought that bratty Appaloosa pony home from the auction and everyone was scared of him except you, so you volunteered to take him in the student show. But as soon as you rode into the ring and realized people were looking at you, you totally froze and he bucked you off . ”

Normally that memory made Kate laugh. She’d come a long way since then, that was for sure.

But today, for some reason, her mind flashed to that embarrassing moment when she’d spotted Zara’s father and crashed Ellie through that fence. Come to think of it, maybe she hadn’t come quite as far as she’d thought. She only hoped she’d be able to survive tomorrow’s lesson, or her Big Eq dreams would be over before they’d begun.

“Hold still, would you, you brute?” Kate muttered. It was Tuesday afternoon, and she was tacking up Fabelhaften for the group lesson. Or trying to, at least. The big gray gelding kept slinging his head, shifting his weight, and chewing on the cross-ties. He was full of energy and seemed to have an opinion on everything she did, from currying his neck to picking his feet. And with him being every inch of 17 hands, his opinions were difficult to ignore.

“Need any help?”

Kate spun around and saw Fitz standing there watching her. She’d been so busy with the horse that she hadn’t heard him approach. His reddish hair was a little rumpled and damp, as if he’d just jumped out of the shower.

“Hi!” she blurted out. “Um, thanks. Fable’s being kind of—”

“A big butt-head?” Fitz grinned and gave the gelding a fond pat. “Yeah, that’s him. Likes to throw his weight around.”

Kate smiled. “Usually his goofing off doesn’t bother me, but I guess today it’s getting to me a little.”

Fitz shot her a sympathetic look. “I feel you. I know what this barn is like. Everyone’s going to be looking at you, wondering if you and Fable will turn out to be the next Big Eq stars.”

“I don’t know about that.” Kate wrestled the cross-tie out of the horse’s mouth, and immediately had to duck as Fable swung his huge head around to stare at a barn cat slinking past. “They’ll probably just be wondering if I can stay on.”

Fitz chuckled. “Get real. Everyone knows you can ride the hair off anything in the barn, Kate. Even if some people are too jealous to admit it.”

Kate didn’t answer. She never knew what to say when someone complimented her. Especially someone like Fitz. For a second her mind jumped back to herself in that blue dress. But no—she wasn’t going there. Especially not now.

“Um, thanks,” she said. “But I seriously doubt anyone here would ever be jealous of someone like me.”

“Don’t be so sure.” Fitz reached over to hold Fable’s head as she tightened the girth. As he did, his arm brushed against hers, making her skin tingle. “And not just because you’re gorgeous, either.”

Kate was about to roll her eyes to disguise her blush. But when she glanced at Fitz, his eyes were uncharacteristically serious.

“For real, Kate,” he said softly. “I mean, all the money in the world can’t buy what you’ve got. I’m not even sure what it is—just something really special, like, um …” He let his voice trail off and turned away abruptly, giving Fable such a hearty pat on the neck that the big gelding jumped in place. “Anyway, you can’t put a price on sexy, right?” He checked his watch. “Oops, guess I’d better go find my horse. Need any help with this brute before I go?”

“No, I’m fine. You’d better get going—you know how Jamie gets if we’re late.”

“True. And I’m already on his shit list for running over that brand-new bottle of fly spray with the golf cart last week.” Fitz laughed, then hurried off down the aisle.

Kate watched him go, feeling confused. What had that been all about?

Then Fable nudged at her impatiently with his big nose, bringing her back to her senses. Fitz was a distraction, and she couldn’t afford any distractions today.

Zara’s head was pounding as she walked into the barn. Freaking hangover. She’d stayed out until dawn partying with some new people she’d met at one of her dad’s press things. Fun, but she was paying for it now.

Miguel was walking Ellie up and down the aisle. The mare was tacked up in Zara’s Antares saddle and Eskadron open-front boots.

“You’re late, miss,” the groom informed her. “The others started warming up twenty minutes ago.”

“I’m here now, okay?” Zara muttered, grabbing the reins.

She led the mare out of the barn and up the hill to the huge main jumping ring. The rest of the riders were already warming up their horses. Zara spotted Tommi, Summer, Marissa, Dani. And of course Fitz, who was looking especially hot in his custom chaps. For a second she didn’t recognize Kate, who was on some big gray Zara hadn’t seen before.

Jamie was perched on the portable mounting block in the center of the ring, talking on his cell phone. He hung up when he saw Zara enter.

“You’re late,” he informed her. Like most trainers Zara had encountered, he had a voice that didn’t seem very loud when talking face-to-face, but that really carried across a ring.

“Yeah, I can tell time.” Zara pushed her sunglasses up her nose. “Sorry, my bad. It happens, so let’s get over it, okay?”

She was aware that most of the other riders were watching her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dani roll her eyes.
Bitch.

Jamie frowned at Zara. “Enough,” he snapped. “Every word you say just wastes more time, and you don’t have any to spare. You’ll have to warm up at the far end and join us when you’re ready. I don’t know how things worked at your previous barn, but here we don’t hold up the whole class for one rider.”