Tommi frowned. “Shut the hell up, Summer,” she said. “Don’t take it out on Kate just because you’re feeling pissy about your own riding.”
“Yeah.” Marissa giggled. “Look on the bright side—at least you didn’t do a face plant over the first jump like that poor kid from Maple Mount whose horse tripped …”
Kate didn’t hear the rest. Fitz had just stepped around the trunk and sidled up next to her. She was so distracted she almost choked on the big bite of pizza in her mouth. Swallowing it down in a loud gulp, she smiled up at him uncertainly.
“Don’t pay any attention to Summer, gorgeous,” he whispered, slipping an arm around her shoulders. “She’s just jealous because you’re hotter and more talented than she is.”
Kate just shrugged, shooting the other girls a glance. She still felt self-conscious, as if everyone in the room was judging everything about her, even though the others had already moved on to gossiping about someone else. She set down her pizza, suddenly not in the mood for this.
“I should go help the guys turn out horses,” she said.
“I’ve got a better idea. Let’s go for a walk—just the two of us.” Fitz gave her arm a squeeze. “What do you say?”
Kate hesitated, glancing up into his playful hazel eyes. Seeing the way he was looking at her made her shiver without really knowing why. She flashed back to their picnic again—and then to that night in the hay stall. He’d been so sweet since then, so eager to make it up to her. Was he for real?
Whatever. Tommi and the others might think she was naive, but Kate couldn’t help believing—or was it hoping?—that Fitz was sincere. That he actually thought she was something special.
“Okay, I guess,” she said. “But I can’t hang out for long. I mean it this time.”
He smiled, grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the room. Kate was pretty sure she saw Tommi glance at them as they left, but the others didn’t seem to notice their departure. Good.
Fitz led her down the aisle and around the corner into the feed room. Then he dropped her hand, took her by the shoulders, and gently turned her to face him.
“This is more like it,” he said. “Come here.”
He pulled her in for a kiss. Kate sank into him, feeling the tension seep out of her body again. For a second she forgot about everything else as their mouths explored each other.
Then she felt his hands start to wander. “Hey,” she said softly, pulling away and pushing his hands back where they belonged.
“Sorry,” he said in a low, husky voice, a sheepish smile playing on his lips as he pulled her close again. “Force of habit. I’ll be good—I swear.”
To her surprise, he was. At least mostly. A couple of times things started to get more intense, but he always pulled back before it got uncomfortable. For a while Kate drifted along in a pleasant haze, letting what was happening between them happen; not thinking, just feeling.
Then some small part of her mind started to wonder: How long was he going to be happy with things the way they were? He’d put it all on the line for her, risked his parents’ wrath and Jamie’s, just to show he was sorry for pushing too hard that night. Didn’t she owe him more than this? Wasn’t he going to expect more sooner or later, or could he possibly mean it when he said he’d do anything to be with her?
She started to get that sour feeling in the pit of her stomach again. The same one she’d had the other night while talking to her dad after the big blowup. The same one that had attacked her at the show when she’d seen Jamie waiting at the gate for her after that eq round. Why did they all keep trying so hard, believing she could be what they wanted her to be, when she couldn’t seem to live up to any of it?
Her body tensed. Fitz felt it and pulled back. He put one finger under her chin, tilting her face up so he could look into her eyes.
“What?” he whispered. “You seem kind of—I don’t know, like you’re spacing out all of a sudden. You getting tired of me already?”
His words were light, but she saw real doubt in his eyes. She shook her head.
“Sorry,” she said. “It’s not you at all. Guess I’m just distracted.”
“By what?”
She shrugged, not sure what to say.
“Come on, Kate.” He caressed her cheekbone lightly with one finger. “You can trust me.”
She hesitated. Could she? She felt really close to him right now—as close as she’d felt to anyone in a long time. But how could someone like him ever understand what she was going through? Fitz sailed through life like he owned the world. Which his family pretty much did, come to think of it. He couldn’t know what it was like to be her, to have her family, her problems. Her life.
He was still staring at her. Waiting. She had to tell him something.
“It’s just—uh, my friend Natalie,” she blurted out without really thinking, just latching on to the first thing she could think of that didn’t directly involve him or the barn. “Um, we’ve been, you know, kind of drifting apart lately, and now she invited me out to her barn on Saturday.”
“Wait. You mean that lesson barn where you first learned to ride?” he asked. “Happy something, right?”
She nodded, a little surprised that he remembered. “Yeah. Happy Acres. They’re having a show, and Nat’s all excited about some new project horse she’s working with, and, well, I guess I’m just a little nervous about going back there.”
Fitz smiled, his finger tracing the outline of her chin. “Dr. Hall’s got the perfect solution to your problem,” he said. “I’ll come with. You know, like for moral support.”
“What?” Kate blurted out in surprise. “Wait, you don’t have to do that. It’s just a dinky little beginner-type schooling show, and I’m sure you have better stuff to do on Saturday.”
“Nothing better than spending the day with my favorite girl.” Fitz shrugged. “Besides, it’ll be fun. Jamie’s always telling us to observe other riders and stuff, right?”
Kate wasn’t sure the Happy Acres show was quite what Jamie had in mind. Still, what could she say?
“Um, okay, if you’re sure—” she began.
“Sure I’m sure.” Fitz grinned down at her. “It’s a date.”
Kate smiled back weakly, trying not to imagine what Nat was going to say when she showed up with Fitz. Talk about worlds colliding …
ELEVEN
At 10:30 a.m. on a Friday, the Upper East Side bistro was sleepy and quiet. That suited Tommi just fine. She and Alex had the place to themselves except for a trio of old ladies gossiping over tea and a harried-looking young nanny with a couple of little kids in strollers.
“I’m glad this worked out,” Tommi said, reaching for the salt.
Alex looked extra adorable that day in a button-down shirt and loosely knotted funky vintage tie. “Me too,” he said. “It almost makes coming into the city to see my great-aunt Koo-Koo—I mean Kiku—bearable.” He raised one eyebrow. “Sure you don’t want to come along and meet her?”
“Tempting. But can’t.” Tommi shrugged. “Like I said, I’m heading out to the barn after this.”
“Bummer for me. You have a riding lesson or something?” He grinned. “By the way, how come you still have to take so many lessons? I thought you already knew how to ride.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I never heard that one before.”
They both laughed. Tommi was finding that she laughed a lot when she was with Alex. She liked that.
“Anyway, for your information, there’s no lesson today,” she said. “Our group lesson is almost always on Tuesday, and I’ll probably do a private with Joy tomorrow.”
“Cool. So on Tuesdays you ride with all the other people your age, right? Like Zac Trask’s daughter and all of them?”
“Yeah. There are about seven of us who usually ride together.” Tommi took a sip of her iced tea. “It’s fun to hear their feedback and watch how other people handle stuff. Like, this week we worked on this cool exercise where we had to take three ju
mps on a serpentine, and one of the girls—Marissa—was having trouble with her horse bulging out on the turns, and she got a little rattled.”
She glanced over at Alex, expecting him to look bored. But he’d actually put down his fork to listen. “I get it,” he said. “So you can watch the others ride and figure out how to deal yourself when it’s your turn. So how’d your horse do? Were you riding that one you’re trying to sell? You said he can be hard to steer when he’s excited.”
Tommi was impressed. So he had been listening to her all this time—not just faking interest to win her over.
“Actually, I didn’t ride Legs this time. I still wasn’t sure he was totally back to normal and didn’t want to take any chances, so I rode Toccata. He’s my junior hunter—he’s awesome.” She smiled, remembering how it had felt to just relax and let her horse do his job. “I’m kind of glad I rode him in the lesson. I’d almost forgotten how fun and easy it can be, you know? Just riding, doing your thing, without worrying about whether you’re screwing up his training, or how you’re ever going to sell him when you can’t even get him to pick up his right lead or whatever.”
Alex nodded. “Makes sense,” he said. “It’s like me just jamming with my friends in somebody’s spare room versus trying to put together an actual demo tape or something.”
“Exactly. Not that I’m not complaining,” Tommi added quickly. “Legs is great. It’s just sometimes nice to remind myself why I want to do this in the first place.”
“I hear you.” Alex smiled at the waitress who’d just appeared to refill their water glasses. “So is that why you’re going to the barn today? To ride Legs?”
“I might hop on if there’s time,” Tommi said. “But he’s felt good all week, so I might just give him today off. I’m mostly going out to meet my friend Kate so we can hit the tack store near the barn.”
“Tack store?”
“That’s where you buy horse stuff,” Tommi explained. “I need to pick up a new pair of bell boots for Legs. Plus I’m getting bored with all my show shirts—might just have to pick up a few new ones for the next show.”
Alex laughed. “Okay, I was just going to try to invite myself along,” he joked. “But some girly shopping trip where you’ll be trying on clothes and crap like that? Sorry, not even for you. Still, it sounds like you guys have lots of fun at the barn. I’d love to check it out sometime. Maybe you could teach me to ride.”
“Really? Sure, that’d be fun. Just let me know when you want to do it.” Tommi smiled, then checked her watch. “Uh-oh, I’d better hurry. I don’t want to be late to meet Kate.” She grabbed her sandwich and took another bite.
“What’s the big deal?” Alex said. “Just tell her traffic was bad on the bridge.”
“That’s not the point. Today’s her day off, and she’ll probably have to disguise herself to sneak into the barn and meet me.” Seeing his look of confusion, she added, “Kate’s a working student—she works for Jamie in exchange for rides and stuff. Her family doesn’t have a ton of money, so that’s the only way she can afford to ride there.”
“So?” Alex waved at the waitress to get her attention. “What’s the big deal about showing up at the barn on her day off ? I’d think your trainer would be glad for a little free help.”
“Yeah, normally he probably would. But Kate’s different.” Tommi thought about how to explain Kate to someone who didn’t know her. “She’d probably work twenty-four/seven if Jamie let her. Like, literally almost. He pretty much had to banish her from even coming to the barn on her day off to keep her from burning herself out.”
Soon they were stepping out onto the sunbaked sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Alex immediately pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. Paired with his shirt and tie, faded jeans, and spiky dark hair, they made him look cuter than ever. Acting on impulse, Tommi slipped an arm around his waist.
“Walk me to my car?” she said.
He put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Absolutely,” he said. “Anything to put off visiting you-know-who for a few more minutes.”
They walked up Madison Avenue together, chatting about nothing in particular. Tommi actually caught herself slowing down her usual Manhattan march to more of a stroll, pausing to look into store windows—anything to draw out the pleasant moment. All too soon, though, they reached the street entrance to the parking garage where Tommi’s family kept their cars.
“Here we are,” she said reluctantly.
Alex spun her around, putting his other hand around her waist. “Are you sure you have to go?” he wheedled.
“I’m sure,” Tommi said with a smile. “Sorry. Maybe we can get together over the weekend? I don’t have a show or anything.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll text you later.” He leaned forward to kiss her. She kissed him back, then suddenly pulled away.
“Hey,” she said. “You said your aunt’s up on Eighty-Eighth Street, right? I could drop you off if you want—it’s not that far out of my way.”
“Really? Cool.” He kissed her on the tip of the nose. “Thanks.”
Tommi smiled. Okay, so the slight detour would make her even later. Oh well. Kate would understand.
“Sorry!” Tommi rushed into the barn. Kate was in the aisle, picking out a horse’s hooves. “I know I’m way late. I just totally lost track of time.”
Now that she was here, she felt a little guilty for blowing off their meeting time. Not that she’d trade a minute of her morning for anything. The more time she spent with Alex, the more time she wanted to spend with him. It seemed as if they never ran out of things to talk about. And if they did? Well, talking wasn’t the only thing she enjoyed doing with him.
In any case, she was here now. No point stressing about it, especially since Kate looked as if she’d been keeping herself busy, as usual.
Kate set down the horse’s left front and straightened up. “It’s okay,” she said. “I got your text. Was traffic bad?”
“Sort of.” Tommi glanced at the horse, a fancy bay mare belonging to one of the adults. “What are you doing?”
“Mrs. Walsh just finished her lesson. Javier was busy dragging the indoor, so I offered to untack and groom.”
“Well, you’d better let one of the other guys finish that before Jamie catches you.”
She was mostly joking. But just then Jamie himself rounded the corner and spotted them.
“Kate,” he said with a sigh. “Isn’t this supposed to be your day off ?”
“It’s totally my fault, Jamie,” Tommi put in with a rueful smile. “I asked Kate to meet me here and then I was late, and—”
“It’s all right, Tommi.” Jamie didn’t even glance at her. He was gazing at Kate with a serious, vaguely worried expression on his face. “Can I talk to you for a sec, Kate?”
“Sure,” Kate said in a small voice. She shot Tommi a glance. “Be right back.”
“Okay.” Tommi watched them disappear into Jamie’s office a couple of doors down from the tack room. What was that all about? Sure, everyone knew about Kate being banned from the barn on her day off. It was kind of a running joke. But Jamie hadn’t been joking around just now. Was something going on with Kate that she didn’t know about?
Whatever. She figured it was none of her business—if Kate wanted to share, she would. Mrs. Walsh’s mare seemed to be groomed and ready, so Tommi stuck her back in her stall, then continued down the aisle to look in on Legs.
But the bay gelding’s stall was empty. Elliot was sweeping the aisle nearby and saw her looking.
“He’s outside,” he called, leaning on his broom. “Jamie didn’t think you were coming to ride today, so he said put him out to let him stretch his legs.”
“Oh. Okay, thanks.” Tommi thought about going to find the horse in his paddock, but decided against it. She didn’t want to keep Kate waiting yet again.
As she wandered back down the aisle, she heard Jamie’s voice drifting out of his office. “… and I’m rea
lly starting to get concerned about how hard you’ve been working lately,” he was saying. “If you keep it up, you’re liable to burn out. Trust me, I’ve been there.”
Kate said something in response, but her voice was too soft for Tommi to make out the words. Just as well. She definitely hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. Feeling guilty, she hurried quickly past the office door so she wouldn’t hear any more.
“Thanks so much for the ride, Stacie!” Zara said with a big, cheerful smile. She shut the door of Zac’s second-favorite Corvette ragtop a little harder than necessary, smirking as she saw her cousin wince.
“Yeah, you’re welcome. Bye,” Stacie said in a voice that sounded like it was coming from the bottom of a sewer pipe. When you tossed in her pasty skin, unwashed hair, and the red eyes behind her shades, she was pretty much the dictionary definition of a bad hangover.
Throwing the car into gear, she pulled out. Zara grinned and watched until the convertible disappeared around the first bend in Pelham Lane’s long, winding drive. Served her right. The girl’s constant partying was really getting on Zara’s nerves. Didn’t she ever take a break? Zara was starting to think the prissy nanny type she’d been expecting would’ve been easier to deal with after all.
She headed into the barn and found Tommi sitting on the bench just inside the main entrance, scratching Jamie’s fat old bulldog behind the ears. “Hey,” Zara said. “What’s up?”
“Not much,” Tommi said. “You have a lesson today or something?”
“No.” Zara shrugged. “Nothing going on back in the city, so I figured I’d come out and hack or something.”
“Oh.” Just then Tommi glanced down the aisle and stood up.
Following her gaze, Zara saw Jamie and Kate emerging from Jamie’s office. The trainer spotted her in turn and walked over.
My Favorite Mistake Page 11
