The A Circuit 04- Rein It In (23 page)

Kate didn’t trust her voice to speak. She just nodded and allowed him to steer her away through the crowd as the tears started to flow.

“Look, Tommi. You know how stuff works.”

Tommi glared at Scott. The two of them were behind a rack of T-shirts in one of the vendor stalls. Scott had dragged her there to talk while his trainer was working out the details with Jamie out by the gate.

“So you used me, basically.” Tommi’s voice was tight and hard. “Does that sum it up? You pretended to be interested in me just so you could check out Fable?”

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.