Juicy Secrets

by Victoria Ashton

  Liz was astonished. Heather actually looked like a pro. “Awesome, Heather!” she shouted.

  “I’m doing it!” Heather screeched. “Look at me! I’m doing it!”

  “Goooooo, Heather!” Liz cheered. She pumped her arms in the air. “Wooo-hoo!” She had never seen Heather look so proud of herself. It was great to see. Even the stoic, businesslike Ms. Winters looked ecstatic.

  “You have it, all right,” Ms. Winters shouted. “You’ll never forget it—it’s like riding a bike.”

  “I can’t ride a bike,” Heather said.

  “Well, it looks like you’re starting to be able to ride a horse,” Ms. Winters declared with a smile. She signaled Mindreader to stop. Heather sat astride the horse, beaming.

  “You’ve made great progress. Let’s call it quits for the day.”

  “Absolutely not!” Dr. M-C screeched from the doorway. “Heather, stay on that horse!”

  Liz watched as Dr. M-C crossed the ring, carefully avoiding the piles left by Mindreader during her morning exercise.

  “Alex-AHN-dra!” she drawled. “Look!” She thrust a paper at the instructor.

  Ms. Winters took it and scanned it. “You’re not serious,” she said in a flat voice.

  “Deadly.”

  Uh-oh, Liz thought. She’d heard that tone in Dr. M-C’s voice before. Whether Ms. Winters knew it or not, Liz was certain Dr. M-C was going to get her way. She wondered what exactly was on that piece of paper.

  “Dr. Markham-Collins,” Ms. Winters said, her own voice steely. “The Knickerbocker Junior Equestrian Competition is serious business. Heather simply isn’t ready to compete.”

  “She’s only registered for level-one walk-trot,” Dr. M-C protested. “That’s for beginners.”

  “Heather posted for the first time today,” Ms. Winters said. “She has no ring training, and she cannot anticipate the movements of the animal. She has no—”

  “She has you,” Dr. M-C interrupted. “You said you trained champions!”

  “I do!” Ms. Winters declared, obviously insulted that her credentials were being questioned. “But the Knickerbocker? In three weeks?”

  “It would be your greatest achievement!” Dr. M-C cajoled. “I’d tell everyone you were responsible. Everyone.”

  “Well…” Ms. Winters looked at Heather, whose expression had returned to terror/misery mode.

  Please don’t give in, Liz silently begged. She had a feeling Heather was wishing the exact same thing.

  “Well, I guess we could try,” Ms. Winters concluded. “But I warn you, I will not send that child into the ring unless she is completely prepared.”

  “As I am sure she will be!” declared Dr. M-C triumphantly.

  “She’ll have to come every single day,” Ms. Winters said.

  Liz sighed. Which means I’ll be here every day, too. Although, with the way things were going with Parker, maybe she could use the distraction.

  Suddenly, Dr. M-C’s cell phone rang out loudly from her bag.

  The horse whinnied and shied, moving sideways. Heather clung to the reins and let out a shriek. “Help me!”

  Ms. Winters lunged for the line but missed. “Pull back on the reins and squeeze your legs, Heather!” she shouted.

  Heather stayed glued to the saddle, leaning forward and pulling back on the reins. Slowly, Mindreader came to a halt. Dr. M-C rummaged through her oversized bag for her phone the entire time.

  Whoa, Liz thought, impressed by Heather’s surprising ability to follow Ms. Winters’s orders without letting a panic attack completely overwhelm her.

  “Am I—am I okay?” Heather asked shakily.

  “You’re awesome!” Liz shouted to her.

  “Great handling, Heather!” Ms. Winters called to her. “You’ll be a horsewoman yet!”

  “I told you!” Dr. M-C said, unconcerned. “Hello?” she said, finally answering her phone. “Oh, hel-LO, Binky! No, I’m just at Heather’s riding lesson. She just pulled a crazed horse back into line. She has all the makings of a horsewoman, Alex-AHN-dra says. Really? Darien, too? Which division, darling? NO! What fun! We’ll have to sit together and root for our girls! Kiss, kiss.”

  Dr. M-C shut her phone and turned to Liz, Heather, and Ms. Winters, fuming.

  “Can you imagine the gall?” she asked incredulously, “Binky Darrel has enrolled her daughter in the Knickerbocker level-one division. Can you imagine putting that kind of pressure on a child?”

  “Can I come down now?” Heather asked in a small voice. Liz could tell the little girl was still shaken by her experience.

  “Of course,” Ms. Winters said, grabbing the reins and helping her dismount.

  “Thank you, Alex-AHN-dra. You’ll whip Heather into shape, I’m sure.”

  “Heather,” Liz said to the little girl as she approached her on shaky knees. “I was so proud of the way you handled yourself when Mindreader spooked. You were great.”

  “It was scary,” Heather said.

  “But you handled it,” Liz said. “Even though you were afraid, you did exactly the right thing. You didn’t let the feeling of being scared take you over.”

  Heather thought a moment. “I knew that Mindreader didn’t want to hurt me. She was just scared of the noise. I just had to calm her down.”

  Liz stared at Heather as an amazing thought filled her mind. It’s the same with Parker, she realized. He’s just scared of the noise that other people are making about his father’s problems. I need to make him realize that none of this nonsense has to do with how we feel about each other.

  Wow. I just got a life lesson from Heather! Liz dropped to her knees and gave the extremely surprised girl a bone-crushing bear hug.

  “Are you all right?” Heather asked.

  “I will be.” Liz grinned.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  making plans

  “Liz was totally wrecked when she slept over,” Adrienne said to Graydon. Adrienne and Graydon were finishing their Sunday brunch at Paola’s, a funky little bistro on the Upper East Side. “She’s really torn up about Parker. I don’t get it. Why would he want to break up with her now?”

  “She should consider herself lucky,” Graydon said. “I hate to say it, but the Devlins are ruined. And it’s only going to get worse.” He shrugged. “Parker just recognized the inevitable and did Liz a favor. At least now she doesn’t have the guilt of breaking up with him.” He took a sip of his latte.

  Adrienne gaped at him. “That’s a terrible thing to say,” she said. “If your dad was involved in some kind of scandal, I wouldn’t dump you. Would you dump me if the situation was reversed?”

  Graydon laughed. “Adrienne, I can’t even imagine your parents doing anything that would cause a scandal. That hypothetical is so out of the realm of reality, I can’t even consider it.”

  “But, still—” Adrienne pressed.

  “Look, Adrienne,” Graydon said. “I’m sorry your friend is caught up in Parker’s mess. I’m only saying that distancing herself from it isn’t such a bad idea. Besides, Parker is going to seriously need some space to deal with all that’s going on. Having to worry about a girlfriend, too, might push him right over the edge.”

  “I guess…” Adrienne picked up her orange juice.

  Graydon reached across the table and took Adrienne’s other hand. “I know you’re upset about your friend,” he said, “and that’s one of the things I love about you.”

  Adrienne flushed with pleasure. Graydon had never used the word “love” with her before.

  “But let’s change the subject to something more pleasant,” he said. “It’s my mission to keep you happy, remember?”

  “I think you may have mentioned that in the past.” Adrienne smiled.

  “So now you can make me happy,” Graydon said, leaning toward her over the table.

  “How?” Adrienne asked. A nervous thrill went through her. Is he going to suggest what I think he is about to suggest? she wondered. Is he going to ask me if I’m ready to
sleep with him?

  To her total astonishment, she realized her answer would be yes! How amazing—and terrifying was that?

  “You seem a million miles away, all of a sudden,” Graydon said. “Did you hear my question?”

  Adrienne blushed and stared down at her plate. She was so wrapped up in thinking about having her first time with him that she had totally tuned him out! “Sorry. So what were you saying?

  “You were totally on another planet, weren’t you?” Graydon laughed. “What were you thinking about?”

  “Nothing,” Adrienne insisted. “Seriously!” She was NOT going to tell him what she had actually been thinking! “Now please tell me what you asked me while I was visiting Mars!”

  Graydon leaned back in his chair and smiled a slow, lazy smiled. He took a long sip of his Bloody Mary.

  “Graydon!” Adrienne pressed, giggling. “Tell me.”

  “Okay, I’ll stop torturing you. I just invited you to the Young Lions Benefit next weekend. As my date. I mean—” He cleared his throat and sat up straight. “I mean—” he said in a totally fake pretentious voice, “as the date of the co-chair of the hottest social event of the season.”

  Adrienne’s green eyes widened. “Really?”

  Graydon nodded. “Really!”

  “I would love to go with you! Thank you!” Then she frowned.

  “What’s wrong?” Graydon asked.

  “I have absolutely nothing to wear!” Adrienne wailed.

  Graydon shook his head, amused. He flipped open his cell phone. “You girls. So predictable.” He hit speed-dial. “Cam?” he said into the phone, his warm, dark eyes never leaving Adrienne’s face. “I have a favor to ask you….”

  Four hours later, Adrienne was in the Warners’ Rolls-Royce beside Cameron. They had just finished a fitting at the studio of some designer friend of Cameron’s and now they were off to buy shoes.

  Adrienne’s head was spinning. What was she doing out on a shopping spree with Cam? Could the fact that Graydon really likes me actually be getting Cameron to treat me with a smidge of decency?

  Nah.

  Adrienne figured Cam was just humoring Graydon so that in the future she could claim that he owed her. Besides, Cameron never turned down an opportunity to go shopping.

  Might as well enjoy it while I can. Shopping with Cameron definitely came with perks: the best treatment, the best clothes, and the highest price tags.

  The car pulled up in front of Manolo Blahnik’s tiny boutique on West Fifty-fourth Street, near the Museum of Modern Art.

  The girls walked into the atelier, where shoes were displayed like works of art, on tables, hanging on the walls, and in Lucite boxes.

  “Cameron!” one of the salesgirls greeted them. “Welcome back!”

  “Hey, Maria,” Cameron said. “Special request.”

  Adrienne looked around at the store. Liz was a shoe freak, but Adrienne didn’t quite get them. Sure, they made her legs looks great, but hours on them made her crazy. She was more of a casual gal—sandals and low mules were more her style.

  “Anything for the Warners,” Maria chirped. “What do we need today?”

  As Cameron and Maria discussed possibilities, Adrienne’s eyes wandered. Through the window, she saw a confused-looking floral delivery guy carrying a big bouquet of roses. He peered through the glass, and entered.

  “Miss Lewis?” he asked.

  “Here!” Adrienne called, raising her hand.

  “For you,” he said. “Sign.”

  They must be from Graydon, she realized. Who else knew she would be here?

  Adrienne signed the slip and handed the delivery guy a tip.

  “I’m supposed to wait for an answer,” the guy said.

  “Oh?” Adrienne quickly opened the card.

  “I’m at a party at the St. Regis,” the card said. “If you want to come and rescue me from terminal boredness, send one rose back. If you don’t, send them all. Gray.”

  Adrienne blushed beet red, pulled a rose from the bouquet, and handed it back to the delivery guy, who winked.

  Graydon is just too adorable for words, Adrienne thought. And he is seriously nuts about me.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  the scam

  “I want a balloon,” David demanded Friday afternoon. He tugged Liz’s jeans and pointed back toward the entrance of the Central Park Zoo.

  It had been more than a week since Liz’s awful dinner at Hush and Adrienne’s shopping spree with Cameron. For the first time, Adrienne felt awkward with her best friend—she felt guilty that her romance with Graydon was heating up so spectacularly while Liz’s with Parker was falling apart. She really wanted to be there for Liz, so she had suggested they take advantage of the springlike March weather and get together in spite of their nanny duties.

  “I promise I’ll buy you a balloon later, David,” Liz said. “But right now you kids are going to look at the animals, and Adrienne and I are going to talk.”

  “If we had stayed at the apartment, you could have talked there and I wouldn’t have to wander around here with these children.” Emma crossed her arms over her chest.

  Heather whipped around to face Emma. “I’m older than you!” she snapped at Emma.

  “Not mentally,” Emma countered.

  “I can control an animal that outweighs me by several tons,” Heather said haughtily. “So watch it. I can use a crop on you, too.”

  Emma stared at Heather. Adrienne stared, too—she’d never seen the girl so assertive with Emma before. Way to go, Heather, she thought.

  “Let’s get them to the seals,” Adrienne suggested. “The show starts in a minute, and even Emma becomes engrossed. We can talk while they watch.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Liz said.

  “I hate the seals!” Emma protested. “CSI is on!”

  “Seals, or no TV ever,” Adrienne threatened.

  “You can’t do that,” Emma said. “You know that I need to see CSI!”

  “Watch me,” Adrienne warned. “I can screw up the controls of a satellite-fed plasma TV so thoroughly, you will never get it to work again.”

  “You can’t,” Emma whined.

  “Try me,” Adrienne said. “Easy choice: the seals, or no TV till puberty.”

  Emma’s eyes widened in horror, then her mouth twisted into an odd smile. “Okay,” she said, apparently giving in. “As long as we go to the snake house next.”

  “Thank you, Emma,” Adrienne said. “I would love to see the snakes with you.”

  “Oh,” Emma replied, obviously disappointed that the idea of snakes didn’t freak out Adrienne.

  “So seals it is,” Adrienne said.

  “Hey, Heather, race you!” David said. He dashed toward the seal pool, darting through the strolling families. Heather galloped behind him on an invisible horse. Emma glared at Adrienne, then slowly followed the other two.

  “I have a feeling I’ll pay for that later,” Adrienne said. “Now tell me what’s going on with you.”

  Liz looked at the three kids crowding around the seal pool with scores of other children and their parents. She shook her head. “I don’t even know anymore,” she said. “I’m just so confused.”

  “Still no word from Parker?” Adrienne asked.

  Liz shook her head. “And I feel like after the way he just stalked away from me last weekend, he should be the one trying to get in touch with me.”

  “Have you called him?” Adrienne asked.

  Liz stared down at her shoes. “Yes,” she said. “I left a message on his voice mail saying we needed to talk. He ignored it.” She ran her hands through her curls. Adrienne noticed Liz had dark circles under her eyes.

  “Ever since Parker and I started going out I’ve been kind of preparing for when he dumped me,” Liz admitted.

  “That doesn’t sound like much fun,” Adrienne said.

  Liz shrugged. “I thought I was being realistic, you know? I figured he’d find some Park Avenue heiress, and that would
be it.”

  “If he wanted a Park Avenue heiress,” Adrienne pointed out, “he’d have gotten one. He’s dated them before. He likes you.”

  Liz swallowed hard. “I thought maybe he was just, I don’t know, going out with me because I was different. Exotic. The scholarship girl.”

  “But you know now that’s not true,” Adrienne said.

  “But that’s what makes it so hard!” Liz exclaimed, her voice breaking. “I could have handled him going after someone more in his crowd. More like what he’s used to. Instead, he’s breaking up with me because he’s going through a bad time and he doesn’t want to share it with me.” She took in a deep breath. “He doesn’t trust me with the serious stuff.”

  Adrienne thought for a moment. “Maybe that’s not really it. Maybe he wants to protect you.”

  Liz looked at Adrienne, and Adrienne could see that her eyes were shiny from the tears she was fighting to hold back. “Wh-what do you mean?”

  “Graydon said that it’s only going to get worse for the Devlins. There’s going to be a lot of gossip, and a lot of media attention. Some of that attention could wind up on you. Parker probably wouldn’t want that to happen. Besides, with everything that’s going on with his family, dating and romance are not exactly a priority.”

  Liz nodded very slowly. “Jane said something kind of similar. Girls want to confide in their best friends, but guys don’t really talk a lot when they’re freaking out.”

  “Exactly,” Adrienne said. “Once things calm down, he’ll be able to focus again.”

  “You know what I hate?” Liz said. “All the girls at P-B see that we’re on hold. Isabelle Schyler actually came up to me on Friday and congratulated me for dumping him! I look just as shallow as Cam and Mimi and the rest of them. As if I were after his money the whole time, and there was nothing real to our relationship at all.”

  “Who cares what they think?” Adrienne said. “You know that’s not true.”

  “But how do I make Parker believe it?” Liz asked.

  “They all live in such a weird bubble,” Adrienne said. “Their worldview is so skewed, it’s hard to get someone like Parker to really understand where you’re coming from.” She looked at David, Emma, and Heather, completely engaged by the seals. She shook her head. “I think that these kids never just have basic fun. They’re being raised to think that it’s not a good time unless you end up with a gift bag full of iPods.”