The A Circuit

by Georgina Bloomberg

  “Yeah, I guess,” she said, realizing Grant had to be kind of bored. “You don’t have to sit here with me if you want to go dance or something.”

  “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

  There was a sudden ear-piercing shriek of laughter. Glancing over, Tommi saw Zara racing down the diving board.

  “She’s the life of the party, isn’t she?” Grant commented as he watched her cannonball into the pool.

  “Yeah, guess so.”

  A couple of guys tried to grab Zara and dunk her, but she escaped and climbed out of the pool. Noticing Tommi and Grant watching her, she danced over to them.

  “Okay, at first I thought this barn was hardcore boring,” she said, her voice a little too loud as she squeezed water out of her curly hair. “But hey, I’ve been wrong before.”

  “Great party, Zara,” Grant said, sitting up and taking a swig of his beer.

  “Yeah. Where’d you find so many guys at a horse show?” Tommi asked, only half kidding. She recognized the show farrier’s cute young assistant, the source of gossip among the female population of the barn all week, and also spotted one of their own younger grooms, Max. And she was pretty sure the two guys over there doing body shots with Dani were from the barn in the next aisle of stalls. But there were several guys she’d never seen before.

  “Call it a talent.” Zara smirked. “As soon as Jamie and the other tight-asses left for dinner, I rounded up everyone cool I could find.” Her smile faded slightly. “The only one who blew me off was Javier. I don’t know what his problem is.”

  “He’s shy, plus I think he’s kind of self-conscious about his English,” Tommi said. “Anyway, the grooms all work really hard. He probably just wanted to sleep.”

  “Whatever.” Zara took a swig of her beer. “His loss.”

  Suddenly Tommi realized someone else was missing. “Where’s Fitz?”

  “Dunno. Couldn’t find him. I left a message.”

  “Then I’m sure he’ll be here soon. Fitz never misses a party.”

  “Me neither. But you two look like you’ve never been to one before. You need another beer.”

  Grant lifted his beer and shook it. “I think you’re right. Get you one, Tommi?”

  “No thanks, I’m good,” Tommi said.

  “Come on, big guy. Let’s get you liquored up.” Zara grinned and grabbed Grant by the hand. He let her pull him out of his chair, then followed her over toward the cooler by the diving board.

  Tommi was kind of relieved. Now she wouldn’t have to feel as if she needed to entertain him for a while, and she could go back to planning out the rest of Legs’s show season in her head.

  Kate checked her watch and winced. Eleven o’clock. Her 4:00 a.m. wake-up call wasn’t going to be fun.

  It had been a long day, and she was so exhausted that her head was spinning. But she could never let herself leave until everything was done, even though she knew Jamie and the grooms probably thought she’d headed back to the hotel hours ago. They were all long gone themselves except for Elliot and Javier. Security at this show was notoriously lax, and the grooms were taking turns sleeping over at the showgrounds to keep an eye on things. Kate could hear the sounds of snoring drifting out of the tack stall right now. There was never any mistaking when Elliot was sleeping nearby.

  Then she heard another sound: footsteps. Good. Maybe Javier could finish tidying the meds cabinet, and she could head back to the hotel and get at least a few hours’ sleep before she had to get up and do it all again.

  “Javier?” she called. “In here.”

  But it wasn’t the groom’s face that appeared around the corner of the equipment stall. “Kate? That you?”

  “Fitz!” Kate couldn’t help smiling despite her exhaustion. “What are you doing here? I thought everyone went back to the hotel ages ago.”

  “They did. But when I realized you weren’t there, I came back to find you.” He stepped in and gently pried the bottle of Banamine out of her hand, shoving it back into the cabinet. “Come on, even you can’t work twenty-four-seven without keeling over.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Kate allowed him to take her hand and lead her out of the room, though she felt a guilty twinge when she noticed that the supplement shelf was a mess. Oh, well. Maybe she could come back a little early tomorrow and take care of that.

  Out in the aisle, Fitz put his arm around her. “Wow, you’re tense,” he said. “Here, let me see if I can help.”

  Kate had just started to yawn, but she swallowed it when he spun her around and started kneading her shoulders. Even as exhausted as she was, his touch sent an electric current through her. She was so focused on the feel of his hands pressing into her that it took her a moment to realize he was steering her across the way and into one of the hay storage stalls.

  “Um, what are we …,” she began uncertainly.

  “Sh,” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. A second later she felt his lips brushing the side of her neck.

  “I, um …,” she murmured, her heart beating faster as his soft kisses traveled down to her shoulder. “We shouldn’t …”

  But he was already turning her to face him. His eyes were close, staring into hers with an intensity that made her shiver. Then his lips were on hers, gentle at first, then hungry and searching. His hands started on her back then wandered downward, and before Kate knew quite what was happening she was on her back with stiff, scratchy hay poking her through her clothes and Fitz’s weight on top of her.

  “You’re so freaking beautiful, Kate,” Fitz said, his voice husky as he nuzzled her cheek.

  Kate tried to answer but gasped instead as she felt his hand slide up under her shirt. This was all moving way too fast, but she wasn’t sure how to stop it. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to stop it …

  “Ow! Hey!” Tommi’s eyes flew open as someone crashed into her chair, almost tipping it over. Sitting up, she realized she must have dozed off for a second. No wonder. It was getting late, and she’d been up since dawn.

  She saw that Summer was the one who’d bumped her. The younger girl was a sloppy drunk, and as she staggered around trying to figure out which way she was going, she kicked over Tommi’s half-full beer.

  “Oops!” Summer squealed with a loud giggle. “This party is epic, isn’t it?”

  Without waiting for an answer, she raced over and flung herself—literally—at some guy, knocking them both into the pool. Tommi rolled her eyes and smothered a yawn. Once upon a time, she would’ve had fun at a party like this. But right now it just seemed like a waste of time.

  She looked around for Grant, hoping he hadn’t downed too many beers to drive home tonight. The last thing she needed was him sleeping it off in her hotel room.

  It didn’t take her long to spot him. He was in the middle of the pool, stripped down to his boxers, making out with Zara. Her legs were wrapped around his waist, and his hands were all over her.

  Tommi felt a weird pang as she watched them. She wasn’t into Grant, and he was a big boy—so what if he wanted to have some fun with Zara, or anyone else for that matter?

  But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong here, even if she couldn’t quite pinpoint why. She hated that feeling, and was relieved when the sudden buzz of her phone distracted her.

  Checking the number, she saw that it was Kate. “Hey, what’s up?” Tommi said into the phone, turning her back to the scene in the pool. “You’re not still at the showgrounds, are you?”

  “Tommi?” Kate’s voice sounded shaky, and Tommi instantly knew that something was wrong.

  “Kate? What is it? What happened?” she demanded, pressing the phone to her ear and stepping a little farther away from the music.

  There was a long pause, and for a second Tommi thought she’d lost her connection. But finally Kate sniffled, then spoke.

  “It’s Fitz,” she blurted out. “He was here, and we started kissing, and then, well … Stuff happened.”

  �
�Stuff?” Tommi echoed. “What do you mean? Oh my God, did you guys—you know, do it?”

  She held her breath as she waited for the answer. As far as she knew, Kate was still a virgin. Why hadn’t she pressed harder when she’d asked her about him that time? Kate was so weirdly private about certain stuff; Tommi should have known she wasn’t telling her the whole story. She should have known better than to ignore her own instincts about the situation.

  “N-no,” Kate whispered. “Not quite. But he seemed kind of mad when I stopped him, and I really need to talk to someone …”

  “I’ll be right there. Stay put.” Tommi hung up and spun around, striding toward the pool. This time she hardly noticed what Grant was doing as she called his name. “I need your car keys,” she told him when he finally peeled his lips off Zara long enough to look over.

  He blinked, looking surprised and a little embarrassed. “Um, what?”

  “I need to go back over to the showgrounds,” she said. “Let me borrow your car, okay?”

  He waded toward her with Zara still clinging to him, nibbling on his earlobe. “I’ll drive you, Tommi,” he said.

  Tommi rolled her eyes. “No way. You’re in no condition to drive.” Realizing his keys had to be in his pants, she wished she’d thought to just find them and sneak off without saying anything. It wasn’t as if he would have missed her.

  Zara finally seemed to notice what was going on. “Wait, we’re going back to the showgrounds?” she said loudly. “Whoo-hoo! Party at the barn!”

  A few people nearby heard her and cheered. Tommi wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but somehow all the partyers ended up piling into several cars for the short trip back to the showgrounds. Tommi was less than thrilled about that, especially since the farrier’s assistant kept trying to reach over from the backseat and grope her while she was driving and Max insisted on singing some tuneless song at the top of his lungs. But she was too worried about Kate to care much.

  The showgrounds were dark and silent when they arrived. Leaving everyone else milling around in the parking area trying to figure out if anyone had remembered to bring the beer, Tommi hurried straight to the stall tents.

  “Kate?” she called as she entered Jamie’s section. “It’s me! Kate, where are you?”

  She paused outside the tack stall. Elliot and Javier were both in there, sound asleep and snoring away in two-part harmony. She moved on, checking the equipment and hay stalls and then the feed area. But Kate wasn’t in any of them. She also wasn’t at Fable’s stall or out by the Porta-Potties. Where could she be? Worry stabbed at Tommi’s heart as she stopped and stared around. She tried to text Kate, but there was no response.

  It wasn’t until her fourth or fifth time around the place that she heard a muffled sob from one of the stalls. “Kate?” she called softly, stepping closer.

  The stall’s resident was Sir, a sweet, steady older gelding belonging to one of Jamie’s longtime adult clients. He was currently leased out to a ten-year-old who was learning the ropes in the Pre-Children’s, but Tommi immediately recalled that Kate had ridden him when she first came to Jamie’s barn. The patient old packer had helped Jamie undo some of the bad habits Kate had developed learning to ride by the seat of her pants. It hadn’t been long before she’d moved on to more challenging mounts, but Tommi knew that Kate had a special place in her heart for Sir.

  She peered inside and saw Kate huddled in the back corner of the stall with Sir standing over her, dozing. Tommi let herself in, giving the horse a pat on her way past.

  “Kate,” she said softly, kneeling in the soft shavings to wrap her arms around her friend. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

  Kate leaned into her with a sob. “He said it was different with me,” she whispered. Then she started crying, and Tommi just sat there rocking her.

  Ten or fifteen minutes later, Kate finally seemed to run out of tears. She pushed away from Tommi, sat up, and wiped her face with her shirt.

  “Thanks for coming,” she told Tommi with a sniffle. “Sorry if I woke you up.”

  “You didn’t. There’s a party back at the hotel.” She grimaced as she heard a muffled giggle from somewhere nearby. Probably some drunken couple looking for privacy. “Actually, they seem to have moved it over here now.”

  Kate didn’t seem too interested in that. “I feel like such an idiot,” she said sadly.

  “So what happened, anyway?” Tommi asked. “Last I heard, you and Fitz were just friends.”

  “We were,” Kate said. “At least I thought we were for a while. Then we went to the diner the other night, and started talking …” She let her voice trail off as they both heard the sound of a horse’s shrill whinny.

  Tommi sat up straight. This wasn’t the movies, where directors seemed to think that horses whinnied as often as dogs barked. This was real life, and that horse sounded upset.

  “Was that coming from our stalls?” she asked.

  “I don’t think so.” Kate jumped to her feet and hurried to the front of the stall, her problems pushed aside for the moment. “It sounded like it was coming from over toward the jumper ring, maybe?”

  “Great. If a horse is loose, the lame-ass security company will probably never notice.” Tommi frowned. “And the last thing some poor panicked horse needs is for the drunken dorks from party central chasing it down.”

  Kate was already letting herself out into the aisle. Tommi followed, hurrying after her friend as she rushed for the exit.

  The jumper ring was the closest one to Jamie’s show stalls. Even before she got there, Tommi could see activity inside the ring. There were no lights on at this hour except a few security lights. But the moon was up, allowing her to see several horses and riders in the ring along with a bunch of spectators on foot.

  “What’s going on out there?” she exclaimed as she and Kate jogged closer.

  “Next!” one of the riders shouted with a laugh. “Come on, Mikey—you’re up!”

  “That’s Zara,” Tommi said.

  “Who’s she riding?” Kate sounded confused.

  Tommi hurried closer. Some of the spectators were leaning on the rail. A college-age guy she didn’t know glanced over as she stopped beside him.

  “Hey, babe,” he said, taking a swig of his beer.

  “What are they doing?” she asked.

  He grinned. “Bareback high jump,” he said. “John already knocked it down, but the others are still in it.”

  Tommi had no idea who John was, and didn’t much care. It was sinking in that this was bad news. All of the riders were drunk, none were wearing helmets or even shoes, and the horses looked confused and agitated.

  “Oh my God—isn’t that Mrs. Walsh’s mare?” Kate had joined her by now. She pointed to a big bay horse with a crooked blaze, which had just picked up a choppy canter.

  Tommi realized she was right. “And Zara’s riding Ford,” she said, recognizing the flashy chestnut Irish sporthorse, a promising young show hunter that Jamie had recently taken in to sell for its wealthy owner/breeders, who had been hoping for a foxhunter. She shook her head grimly. “Looks like they just grabbed random horses.”

  “We need to stop this before someone gets hurt.” Kate glanced back toward the barn. “Should I go wake up Elliot?”

  Tommi couldn’t believe the grooms hadn’t heard the commotion by now. She held her breath as Mike—a pretty good jumper rider from another local barn—aimed the bay mare at one of the jumps in the ring. The horse cleared it easily, and Tommi let out her breath. The spectators—Summer, Dani, Marissa, Max, random others—let out a cheer.

  “If Jamie hears about this, they’ll all get kicked out, not just Zara, and Max will definitely get fired,” Tommi told Kate. “Let’s try to deal with it ourselves first.”

  “Raise it!” Zara was calling out at the same time, pointing to the jump. “Let me show all you bitch-ass punks how it’s done, West Coast style.”

  Giggling, Dani and Summer hurried over to the jump. Th
ey fumbled with the top rail, almost knocking it onto their own heads before Dani managed to get one of the pins out.

  Tommi ducked through the rails, striding over to them. “Don’t be morons,” she said. “Come on, you’ve got to help me get these horses back in before someone notices they’re gone.”

  “Chill out, Tommi.” Dani’s words were slurred. Tommi had seen her drunk before, but never this drunk.

  “Yeah,” Summer said with another giggle. “I want to see who wins.”

  They both had their jump cups raised by now. Zara rode by, steering the chestnut gelding with her bare legs, her reins loose.

  “Higher!” she ordered.

  “Okay, if you say so.” Dani raised her cup another hole.

  Tommi turned to Zara. “Hey!” she called. “Listen, Zara …”

  But it was too late. Zara had kicked the horse into a trot, then a canter, circling it back around toward the jump.

  “Wait!” Summer squealed. “I’m not ready yet!”

  Dani’s side was set at about 4’9“, but Summer was still struggling to raise hers from its old mark several inches lower. Zara was coming back around now, so Summer gave up and scurried out of the way. Tommi thought about stepping in front of the jump, forcing Zara to pull up. But she didn’t quite dare. In her current condition, who knew if Zara would see her—or stop even if she did?

  She jumped aside, hurrying back to Kate, who’d ducked into the ring but was standing back by the rail. “This is crazy!” Kate cried.

  “I know. And she’s running him at it too fast—he’s all strung out,” Tommi said, watching the horse. “Maybe he’ll run out and she’ll fall off on top of Summer.” Her mouth twisted into a smirk at the thought, even though the situation was far from funny.

  But the horse didn’t stop. He galloped wildly at the crooked jump and flung himself at it from an awkward long spot. Tommi wanted to close her eyes, guessing what was coming. But they stayed open, watching helplessly as the horse’s front legs hit the top rail and he somersaulted over the jump, landing on his back with a crash on the far side.