My Favorite Mistake (28 page)

“Okay, here's the thing,” Tommi blurted out at last, sounding almost angry. “We're really worried about you, Kate. We know you always work really hard and all, but lately you've been pushing yourself way too hard. Like, beyond the breaking point.”

Zara nodded. “Exhibit A? That crazy fall on Saturday. Jamie might believe it was the flu taking you out, but we know better.”

“What are you talking about?” Kate shrugged, inching toward the door. “It's not like I usually go around passing out for no reason. It had to be the flu. No biggie—I took a bunch of vitamin C when I got home, and I feel fine now.”

“Vitamin C, huh?” Zara's green eyes slid from Kate's face to her body. “Eat anything else lately? I'm thinking no.”

“Zara!” Tommi frowned at her, then turned to Kate. “Look, Kate. If you're so busy you forget to eat, that's one thing, but if there's something else going on, you need to, like, get some help before it goes any further.”

“What?” Kate's eyes widened as she caught on to what they were saying. “Are you guys insane? How could you even think something like that?” She glared at Tommi. “Especially you! I thought you knew me better than that.”

She spun around and rushed toward the door. Tommi took two quick steps and caught her by the wrist again.

“Wait,” she said. “I'm sorry, Kate. But we had to ask. We care about you, okay?”

“Yeah. I knew some girls in LA with eating disorders,” Zara put in. “It wasn't pretty.”

“Whatever. I don't have time to stand around listening to your stupid conspiracy theories.” Kate yanked her arm loose from Tommi's grip. “And I'm not about to start blaming my own mistakes on some stupid made-up eating disorder or whatever. Maybe that's how things work in your celebrity-rehab rich people's world. But I'm not like that. I'm handling it, okay? It's all under control.”

She stormed out of the storage room before Tommi and Zara could decide to diagnose her with some other horrible thing. Her mind was churning so much that she didn't notice Fitz coming toward her until he called her name.

“I was hoping I'd run into you,” he said cheerfully, his words coming out a little too loud and fast, like they always did when he was overly distracted or keyed up about something. “Didn't want to text you in case you were home, still sleeping it off or whatever. How're you doing? Feeling better?”

“Um, yeah,” Kate said cautiously. Was Fitz about to get on her case now, too? If so, he seemed weirdly happy about it.

“Good. You scared me when you came tumbling off that
horse.” He reached out and squeezed her arm. “So what do you think? Is it safe to kiss you, or are you still contagious?”

“I don't think I'm contagious.” Kate was relieved. So he bought the flu story. Good. Yeah, she was really trying to be honest with him and all, but it was easier just to go with that than try to make him understand that the stress and lack of sleep had just caught up with her. Especially since even Tommi obviously couldn't comprehend it.

Fitz gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Excellent, because not being able to kiss you all day yesterday was torture,” he said with a grin. “But listen, before I get, like, lost in your lips and forget everything else, I have some big news I've been dying to share with you. I got a new horse!”

“What?” Kate was distracted, her mind already wandering back to the confrontation with Tommi and Zara. “You mean Ford?”

“No, not him. A totally new one, for real. He was delivered over the weekend while we were all away at the show.” Fitz grabbed her hand. “Want to come meet him?”

If this was a joke, Kate didn't get it. Had he really bought a new horse? She hadn't heard anything about it.

He pulled her along the aisle. “He's going to be kind of a project,” he said. “I'm hoping you'll help me out with him.”

They stopped in front of a stall. Kate gasped as she recognized the rather scrawny head and neck hanging out over the stall guard. The horse's dull chestnut coat and ribby barrel stood out among the gleaming, fit show horses.

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “Is that Nat's horse?”

“Not anymore.” Fitz grinned. “Flame's all mine now. When I saw how impressed you were with him, I figured you'd have
a blast helping bring him along, polish up that diamond in the rough.” He shrugged. “Best part is, he was so cheap I didn't even have to ask my folks for the money to buy him. I figure I'll just deal with the surprise extra boarding fees later.”

“Oh my God,” Kate said again. Her mind seemed to be stuck in neutral, and she couldn't quite take in what this meant.

Fitz seemed pleased by her stunned expression. “Anyway, I have plenty of horses to ride already, so I'm hoping you'll do most of the training and riding for me on this one,” he said. “Once I clue my parents in, I'll make sure they work things out with Jamie so you even get a little cash out of the deal.” He spun her to face him and wrapped his arms around her. “Surprised?” he asked.

“Yeah, that's an understatement.” Kate forced a smile. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he'd done this all for her, risking still more parental wrath to make it happen. Another big, dramatic way to show he cared.

It was hard not to be flattered by that, especially after such a rotten weekend. But as Kate glanced at the tall chestnut gelding staring out of the stall at her, her stomach started doing nervous flips. Because she couldn't even begin to imagine what Nat was going to say about this.

Tommi wasn't sorry to see Zara leave a few minutes later. After overhearing Joy mention that she needed to drive over to the feed store, Zara had talked the assistant trainer into dropping her off at the nearest Metro North station on the way. Something about her cousin messing up the apartment; she'd spent most of the ride out to the barn blabbing about it, actually,
though Tommi had been too worried about Kate to pay much attention.

And she was
still
worried about her. As soon as Zara was gone, Tommi went in search of Kate, hoping she'd cooled off by now. Their little intervention definitely hadn't gone as well as Tommi might have hoped. Had it been a huge mistake to ambush her like that? Kate might come across as meek and mild most of the time, but she'd just proved that it was possible to push her too far. Tommi needed to find her, make her understand that they were just trying to help. That they were worried about her—
really
worried.

She rounded the corner and spotted Kate halfway down the aisle with Fitz. The two of them were standing arm in arm in front of a stall, looking at a tall, lean chestnut Tommi didn't recognize. But she barely spared the horse a glance.

“Kate,” she called out, hurrying toward them. “Can I talk to you a sec?”

She held her breath as Kate turned to face her. Her expression was guarded and anxious, but less angry than it had been earlier. Or was that wishful thinking?

“Yo, Tommi,” Fitz said, gesturing toward the horse. “Check out my new ride.”

“Later, okay?” Tommi didn't take her eyes off Kate. “I, um, really need Kate's advice about something.”

“Uh-oh, sounds like girl stuff.” Fitz laughed, clearly in one of his goofy, extra-happy moods and completely unaware of the tension. “Message received.” He leaned down and planted a kiss atop Kate's blond head. “I'll wait for you out by the car, okay?”

“I'll be right there,” Kate replied. “I'm sure this won't take long.”

Fitz gave the chestnut a quick pat, then loped off down the aisle. As soon as he was out of sight, Tommi took a step forward.

“Listen, Kate,” she said. “I'm really sorry Zara and I upset you.”

“How could you do it, Tommi?” Kate said softly, her voice cracking a little. “It's bad enough you'd think something like that about me, without telling some girl I barely know all about it.”

“Actually, Zara was the one who mentioned it to me first.” Tommi shrugged. “But that doesn't really matter. Look, I know you're a superstrong person, Kate, and maybe I'm way out of line here. But it kind of freaked me out that you didn't come to me about the breeches thing, so I just want to say it now. If you're ever in trouble and need help, I've always got your back. Seriously. No limits.”

Kate bit her lip, not quite meeting her eye. “I know you do,” she whispered. “Thanks.”

Tommi waited, hoping for more. But Kate was looking at her watch, maybe already thinking about taking off to meet Fitz.

“So,” Tommi said quickly, not wanting her to go just yet. Things still felt way too unresolved, too uncertain. Definitely not Tommi's favorite feeling. “Who's this guy?” She stepped over to the chestnut, giving him a scratch on the neck as he nosed at her curiously.

“Fitz's new horse.” Kate shot the gelding a look that Tommi couldn't quite figure out. “We saw him at the Happy Acres show last weekend, and, um, I mentioned that he looked pretty
nice. So Fitz decided to buy him, and he wants me to help train him up into a show hunter.”

“If Fitz was looking for a new horse, I wish he'd have told me. I have one I could've sold him.” Tommi forced a grin, though she wasn't really in a joking mood. “But seriously, sounds like a cool project, I'm sure you'll have fun with him.”

“Yeah.” Kate didn't crack a smile. “Anyway, I should probably go—Fitz is taking me to the diner. You know, to celebrate.”

“Oh.” Tommi felt helpless, as if her friend was slipping away from her right in front of her eyes. How could she help if Kate wouldn't even talk to her? “Okay. Um, but maybe we could get together later? You know, just hang out—like old times. If you're up for it.”

Kate had already started to turn away. But she paused, looking back at Tommi. “Sure,” she said softly. “Maybe. That sounds nice, actually.”

“Cool. I'll text you later.” Tommi watched her hurry off down the aisle, still feeling worried—but also oddly relieved.

Okay, maybe the intervention had been a mistake. Maybe not. Either way, Tommi wasn't about to give up on her friend. Not now, not ever.

No limits.

 

The drama is far from over.
Read on for a sneak peek of the next
A
CIRCUIT
novel

“So do you really think you can pull it off? Hide the whole Stacie thing from your mom?” Tommi asked.

“We'll find out, I guess.” Zara was tired of talking about it. It was bad enough she had to live it. “Anyway, I figured I'd better come see my horses just in case I end up grounded for life or something.”

Fitz grinned. “Whatever.” He gave a light tug on the lead line as the tall, skinny chestnut gelding stretched his long neck toward the grass growing beside the path. “Come on, Kate, let's get our big boy inside and cleaned up.”

“Yeah.” Kate smiled and rubbed the horse's face as it turned and nuzzled at her. She looked even spacier than usual, and Zara wondered if she'd heard anything the rest of them had said in the past five minutes.

The barn's big double doors were standing open to catch whatever stray breeze might wander through to help the fans beat back the stifling August heat. Zara hung back to let the
horse and his little band of groupies enter the barn first, then peeled off in the direction of Keeper's stall.

“Later,” she called to the others, not bothering to wait for a response. Even though she was starting to think of them as friends, at least sort of, she didn't like to count on them feeling the same. Too easy to get knocked on your ass that way, and she had enough problems right now as it was.

As she rounded the corner, Zara checked her watch. Two thirty already. She'd have to hurry if she wanted to squeeze in a ride today. Or maybe she should just feed Keeper a few carrots and call it a day. She definitely wanted to be there when her mother got home that evening. Not that she had any clue what she was going to tell her this time …

“Zara! Oh good, you're here!”

Zara winced. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Summer rushing toward her with a big, goofy grin on her face.

Summer skidded to a stop beside her. “Where were you yesterday?” she exclaimed. “You totally missed my big news! I'm having a Sweet Sixteen party at the Washington Crossing show! We're renting out, like, half the old mansion, and there's going to be a band and, like, a million guests and really awesome food and—”

“Yeah, I heard,” Zara cut her off, putting as much excitement as she felt into her voice. Exactly none.

As usual, Summer didn't seem to notice. “Oh, you heard about it already? That's cool.” She beamed. “I guess word spreads fast around here. Especially huge news like this, right? Anyway, you probably heard that, like, the whole barn is invited. But I wanted to make sure to invite you personally,
you know? Oh! And there are going to be lots of adults there and stuff, so, like, if your parents wanted to come they're totally welcome, too.”