My Favorite Mistake (25 page)

Soon she was in the tack stall, changing out of her boots. While she searched for a pair of sandals in her bag, Alex poked around the place, checking out the framed photos and the multicolored mass of ribbons hanging overhead. “Looks like you guys win a lot,” he said. “So does everyone from the barn come to these shows?”

“Not everyone, but most.” Tommi finally located the sandals under her spare breeches. “Jamie has an assistant trainer who stays home to take care of the horses and riders who aren't showing.”

“Hmm.” He stared up at a photo of Jamie. “So what about your friends? You know—the kids you ride with in your group lessons. Are they all here?”

“Yeah.” Tommi shot him a quick look, pretty sure she knew why he'd asked. Was he hoping for a chance to schmooze Zara some more? Was that the real reason he'd driven all the way up here?

She banished the thought immediately. She so wasn't that
girl. If he said he'd come to see her, she was willing to take him at his word.

Besides, so what if he was hoping to take advantage of her friendship with Zara to finagle a meeting with Zac? It was called networking, and it was a big part of what made the world go round. Sort of like her father's standing tennis date with the mayor. Sure, her dad liked tennis. He probably even liked the mayor. That didn't change the fact that being on a first-name basis benefitted both of them.

Alex had liked Tommi before he ever found out she rode with Zara, so it wasn't as if he was using her. So he was ambitious, so what? So was she. Wasn't that the whole reason she was driving herself nuts over this Legs deal?

“I'm ready,” she said, sliding her sandals on and standing up. “Let's go—I'm famished.”

“Are you okay? I sort of feel like I'm talking to myself.”

Tommi blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. Glancing across the table, she saw Alex staring at her. The two of them were in a greasy but picturesque little burger place in the equally picturesque upstate town near the showgrounds. Alex's bacon cheddar burger was half gone, but Tommi had barely taken three bites of her avocado and Swiss.

“Oh, man,” she said, shaking her head. “I'm really sorry. Guess I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Like what?” Alex shrugged. “I mean, I'm no Dr. Phil, but I'm a pretty good listener if you need to talk it out or whatever.”

“It's not really that big a deal.” Tommi picked up her burger
and stared at it. “No, I'm lying. It kind of is a big deal. At least to me.”

“Yeah?” he prompted.

She sighed. “It's Legs,” she said, setting the burger down again. “This girl from a barn up in Boston saw me warming him up the other day, and …”

She went on to tell him the whole story. Vanessa. The test ride. The horse's reaction to her.

“… so it's been a whole day, and I haven't heard a peep from her or her trainer,” she finished. “I'm starting to wonder if she changed her mind.” She bit her lip. “Actually, I'm sort of hoping she did. That way the decision's out of my hands.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “You never struck me as a girl who's afraid of making a decision.”

“Usually I'm not.” Tommi grimaced. “But this time I feel like either decision is going to be wrong, no matter what.”

Alex grabbed his soda and took a sip, looking thoughtful. “Okay,” he said, setting the glass down. “So if you sell him to her and it doesn't work out, is that going to ruin your rep? You know—screw up your good name for this whole horse-selling deal?”

“Maybe,” Tommi said quickly, realizing he could be right. Was this what her instincts had been telling her all along? That this deal, no matter how convenient, wasn't worth the potential fallout?

But just as quickly, she realized she was grasping at straws. That wasn't why she was resisting the deal, and she knew it.

“Actually, I doubt it,” she corrected herself. “I mean, sure, it would be great if the first horse I sell goes on to great things.
But like I said, Vanessa has quite the rep already. Nobody's going to blame me—or the horse—if she fails with him. It might even work out for the best if someone else in her barn ends up with the ride—maybe even her trainer.”

Alex nodded. “That's good. So this really could be your chance to clean up on this deal, impress your father, and move on to bigger and better things.”

“I guess.” Tommi picked up her burger and took a bite, then chewed slowly as she thought about it. After she swallowed, she shook her head. “I don't know, though. I keep getting stuck on the idea that Vanessa so obviously isn't a good match for Legs, even though she doesn't seem to realize it. If she buys him, I just know they'll both end up frustrated.”

“So what? It'll be her problem, not yours.”

“Yeah.” Tommi picked at a blob of cheese on her plate. “But Legs is such a cool horse—he deserves better.”

“And you said he'll probably get it once she gets tired of him, right?” Alex leaned forward and gazed at her. “Look, you can't get caught up in all the what-ifs, okay? You need to do what's best for
you
. Because if you think about it, you really can't control anyone except yourself anyway. And once you sell a horse, it's out of your hands no matter what. Right?”

“Right.”

“So why stress about it?” He sat back in his seat and smiled. “Just do what you need to do to make your own dreams happen, and let the rest take care of itself.”

She thought about that for a second, then smiled back. “Maybe you're right,” she said. “You're not so bad at this Dr. Phil stuff after all. Thanks.”

Alex reached across the table and took her hand in his. “You're welcome.”

She squeezed his hand, grateful that he'd talked her into coming out to lunch, and even more grateful that he cared enough to talk this out with her. Okay, so maybe she still wasn't sure what she was going to do. But he'd made her feel a little better about even considering sending Legs off with Vanessa.
If
she even still wanted to buy him, that is.

It wasn't easy to eat the rest of her lunch with one hand tucked into Alex's. But Tommi managed.

“Watch out for the rollback, it rides trickier than it walks,” Tommi said to Kate as she rode past.

Kate nodded her thanks, too anxious to speak. Tommi had just finished the course on her eq horse. Now it was Kate's turn.

“Ready?” Jamie asked, giving Fable a pat on her neck.

Again, Kate just nodded. Gathering up her reins, she glanced around. Tommi had dismounted and was running up her stirrups; Elliot was standing by, waiting to take the horse from her. Marissa was mounted on her own horse nearby, her face a mask of sheer panic as it always was before an eq class. Zara, Dani, and a few of the other people from the barn were standing at the rail. Tommi's new boyfriend was there, too, standing by Zara, though for some reason Kate couldn't come up with his name just then. And of course Fitz had just ridden over from the warm-up ring on his eq horse. He wasn't going until after Kate and Marissa finished, but Kate knew he didn't want to miss her ride.

“Ready,” she finally managed to croak out at Jamie, even though she was feeling anything but.

She nudged Fable with her calves to send him in through the open gate. As it swung shut behind them, she heard someone—Dani, she guessed—yell “Go, Kate!”

Fable was alert and jigging right away, his ears pricked toward the fences. Kate sent him into a trot, and just like that, the ring came into focus.

That was good. She'd been in kind of a daze since leaving the tack tent a couple of hours earlier. That was the only explanation for everything that had happened since. She'd ducked into an empty stall to change into the new breeches, which fit pretty well. There hadn't been much time to think about it, since it was time to get ready for that schooling hunter division. Kate had asked Max to take Mrs. Walsh her new stuff, then dashed off to tack up.

She barely remembered the trips that had followed—outside line, diagonal, outside, diagonal, what was to remember, really? Luckily Jamie had already decided to skip the hack with both greenies, as there hadn't been time to do more than toss the reins at Javier before rushing off again to get Fable ready.

But now she was finally snapping out of it, and the more she forced herself to think about what she'd done, the more horrified she felt. How could she have done it? Just put the breeches on Mrs. Walsh's tab like that? It was stealing, and she knew it. What would her father say if he knew?

Still, this wasn't the moment to worry about it. Not with Fable feeling like a lit firecracker under her and the first fence
of a tough eq course coming up fast. The best she could do was promise herself that she'd return the breeches right after she finished the eq. Somehow she'd avoided getting them dirty during the earlier rides despite her reputation for attracting manure stains and horse slobber. The tags and receipt were still in the front pocket. All she had to do was convince the clerk to take them back, and she could forget this had ever happened. She'd worry about tomorrow's classes later.

They were at the first fence. Fable leaped over it and surged forward on the landing. When Kate half-halted, he responded with a playful little buck.

“Easy,” Kate murmured. She could already tell that she couldn't go on autopilot as she had with those greenies. Fable was feeling extra strong today. Time to pay attention and ride.

Halfway through the course, she was already exhausted from holding him together. As he cantered around a corner, pulling to the inside, she tried to ignore that her arms were shaking and her legs felt like jelly. Just a few more jumps, and they'd be done.

Fable pricked his ears toward a big oxer, but maintained a steady pace and cleared it handily. He shook his head on the sharp turn to the in-and-out, but listened to Kate's aids and got through that just fine, too. Two more to go.

The second-to-last fence was a narrow gate. Kate saw that they were coming in a little strong and half-halted, reeling him in a bit. The horse shook his head again, swishing his tail in annoyance. He slowed as she asked, but she could feel his muscles coiling like a spring. Uh-oh.

Sure enough, the horse put in an extra-big effort as he left
the ground. Kate tried to hold her position, but the back-cracking jump sent her lurching forward onto Fable's neck. She grabbed for his mane as he started the downward arc, but her fingers couldn't seem to grasp the tiny, slippery braids. She fought for balance and managed to stay aboard as Fable's front hooves hit the ground. But when she tried to push herself back, get her butt in the saddle where it belonged, she saw spots dancing in front of her eyes, bright and sparkly like silver fireflies. The whole world started to tilt sideways, and then everything went black.

“Oh my God!” someone yelled. Zara wasn't sure, but she thought it might have been her.

But they were all staring at the same thing. Kate hitting the ground hard and just lying there.

Fitz was already off his horse and running for the gate. Tommi was right behind him. Zara followed them, pushing past Tommi's annoying friend Alex.

“Move,” she ordered him, in no mood to be polite.

“Wait,” Marissa said, grabbing Zara by the arm before she could follow the others. She'd slid down from her horse, too, tossing the reins to Max. “We can't all run in there.”

Zara glanced into the ring, realizing she was right. Tommi and Fitz were already at Kate's side, along with Jamie. What more could Zara do? It wasn't as if she knew first aid or any crap like that. It wasn't even as if she and Kate were such good friends. Come to think of it, she was supposed to be pissed at the girl right now for that glove thing.

But she couldn't muster up much anger as she stared at Kate lying there in the sand like some limp old rag doll. What was going on with her, anyway? That whole glove incident had been totally weird. Especially the way Kate had looked when Zara had busted her, sort of wild-eyed and gaunt and desperate. And now this.