Summer Circuit (The Show Circuit -- Book 1)

by Kim Ablon Whitney

  “Yeah. Did he seem okay this morning?”

  “He was fine. I took him for a hack, brought him back.”

  Logan didn’t want to walk and Mike made him. He spoke softly to him, encouraging him. To me he said, “Just a hack? Did you work him hard? Was he sweating?”

  Fear gripped me deep inside. What had I done? It was bad enough that I was lying since I’d had a lesson. “He was sweating a little.”

  “When did you feed him? Was he cooled down enough?”

  I kept pace with Mike. “I fed him after I hacked him.”

  “How long after? Right after?”

  “I don’t know. Ten minutes, maybe.”

  Mike shook his head. “You have to feed a while after. Like at least forty-five minutes. What were you doing riding so early anyway?”

  “Oh no, I did this,” I said, ignoring his question.

  “You didn’t know,” Mike said.

  “Is he going to be okay?”

  Mike stopped and Logan immediately nipped at his side. “We better get the vet.”

  Seriously? I’d had enough of Logan upping his game. Pooping in his water buckets hadn’t been enough, nor had nearly galloping across Route 8A and getting hit by a car. Now he had to colic . . .

  Chapter 18

  The horse show vet arrived ten minutes later. Mike was still making Logan walk as I paced next to them, freaking out that I’d seriously endangered my horse. Would my dad pay for colic surgery? Probably, but Mike said the nearest vet hospital was Cornell, over four hours away. By the time Logan got there it could be too late to save him. What would happen if he died? Would that be it for my riding? Would I pack up and spend the rest of the summer at home before going to college? Only a few weeks ago, that wouldn’t have sounded like a bad option, although I didn’t exactly want to spend the summer stuck home with Mom and her birds. But now, Logan was showing signs of improvement. I was actually liking riding for the first time since Dobby and well, there was Chris.

  Doc Sheridan was from Florida but he spent the circuit as the official horse show vet for a nice working vacation. He was calm and talked in a voice barely louder than a whisper. He seemed the complete opposite of the vet we used at home who also catered to horses on the circuit. That vet rushed through everything, always talking about the next barn he had to get to.

  Doc Sheridan listened to Logan’s stomach with his stethoscope and felt around with his hands. He put on rubber gloves that went all the way up to his elbows and stuck his hand up Logan’s rectum, pulling out manure. He did that without even wrinkling his nose when I had to cover my mouth with my hand and look away.

  “Don’t be so squeamish,” Mike said.

  Doc Sheridan peeled off his gloves. “Things are still moving in there so I’m not overly concerned. I’d like to give him some Banamine and see if we can get him to work through this on his own.”

  “So he’s not going to die?” I blurted out.

  “I sure hope not.” Doc moved to his truck and took out a needle and syringe. He filled it up with Banamine and Mike held Logan while he injected him in a vein on his neck just under his throatlatch.

  Zoe came over while we were waiting to see if the Banamine was going to help. “I heard he’s colicking.”

  I nodded, grateful that she didn’t say something about how she’d heard it was because I’d fed him at the wrong time.

  After a few minutes Logan stopped pecking at his sides. His overall expression seemed more relaxed.

  I wasn’t sure if Zoe was purposely trying to distract me when she whispered, “I am so fucking pissed. I just saw Dermott and he acted like there was nothing between us again,” but I was glad to think about something else for a moment besides how I had put my horse’s life at risk with my own negligence.

  “What did he say to you?”

  “Hey, Zoe.” Zoe shook her head. “Which is fine with me because as far as I’m concerned nothing did happen and that DB can screw whoever he wants.”

  Doc held his stethoscope up to Logan’s side again. “Better gut sounds. Do you want to have a listen?” He was looking at me.

  “Me?”

  “You’re the horse’s mom, aren’t you?”

  Our vet at home never wanted clients to have anything to do with examinations. He certainly never referred to the clients as moms of the horses. He preferred to deal with Jamie. Here Doc was asking me to participate?

  “Um, okay.” Doc passed me the stethoscope. I held it to Logan’s stomach. I heard gurgles kind of like underwater dolphin language without the high-pitched noises.

  I stood up and took off the stethoscope. “That’s his . . . ?”

  “That’s his intestines working properly. You want to hear lots of noise in there. If it’s silent it means the system is shutting down and intestines in horses die very quickly if they’re not functioning. You can actually hear it without a stethoscope too. Put your ear up against his side.”

  I pressed my ear to Logan’s belly like Mike had done. I could hear the same noises, just less pronounced.

  “I want you to keep a close eye on him all day. Take a listen and make sure you hear digestion going on in there. Has this horse ever colicked before?”

  “No, not that I know of.” I was sure we were going to get to what had caused this episode.

  “Hopefully this is a one-time incident, but make sure you’re taking him out for lots of walks, and feed him hay before his meals to line his stomach. Is he on Gastroguard?”

  “No,” I said. I had seen the tubes around the barn at home and maybe Logan had been on it before coming to Vermont. But besides a few last remaining trays from SmartPak, nothing else had been sent with him. It was another black mark against my barn management that I hadn’t asked what supplements and treatments I should be giving him. Mike had told me when he needed to be shod, but what else had I missed?

  Doc went into his truck and handed me a few tubes of Gastroguard. “Ask Mike where to get more,” he said.

  The rest of the day, I did what Doc Sheridan said and I kept a close eye on Logan. I didn’t leave my stalls except to go to the bathroom. He looked completely recovered, eating his hay happily. Mike came over and checked on Logan and I quizzed him about what supplements Logan should be taking and where to get more Gastroguard. He told me the best thing to do was to buy it in bulk online.

  Chris came by later in the afternoon. I was sitting on my tack trunk listening to music on my iPhone. He took me by surprise because I didn’t know he even knew where my stalls were. Perhaps he’d asked Zoe or maybe it was obvious that I’d be stabled next to Jamie.

  “I heard Logan was colicking.”

  “He’s okay now.”

  Chris peered in his stall. “That’s good to hear.” He came to sit down next to me on my tack trunk. He was suddenly very close to me. “What are you listening to?”

  “My brother makes me these playlists. He’s got good taste in music.”

  “You don’t?”

  “I don’t know. He’s just better at those kinds of things.”

  “He’s older than you?”

  “Yeah, he’s . . . awesome. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

  “I feel the same way about my brother. When your parents get divorced it’s nice to have someone who gets it all.”

  “Exactly. Although my brother gets along with my father. They’re kind of more alike.”

  “So, Zoe wants us all to go out for dinner tonight. Take her mind off Dermott.”

  I looked over my shoulder at Logan. “I don’t think I can. I mean, I’m pretty much scared to leave his side. I might have to sleep here.” I wasn’t exaggerating. Logan being sick had scared me in a way I’d never thought possible. Maybe it was because he was going better, or maybe it was because I was taking care of him all by myself, but I felt like I actually liked him now. Maybe even somewhat loved him. Like Doc Sheridan had said, I was his mom. Logan didn’t have anyone else in the world but me. He depended on me. “He colicked b
ecause of me.”

  Chris looked confused.

  “I fed him too soon after our lesson.”

  “You can’t be sure that’s what did it.”

  “But he’s never colicked before.”

  “As far as you know . . .”

  Chris had a point. Logan could have colicked before without Jamie telling us.

  “He’s fine now. You can come back after dinner and check on him.”

  I looked at Logan again, happily munching his hay.

  Chris wasn’t one to be careless when it came to horses. If he thought it was okay to leave Logan for a few hours, it was probably okay.

  Chapter 19

  I showed up at the Mexican place Zoe had picked and walked inside. Chris was already there and so were Zoe, Jed, and Nick. Nick? I could have killed Zoe. She had said it was going to be Jed, me, and Chris. Now I had to sit at a table with the guy I liked who didn’t know I liked him and the guy I didn’t like who didn’t know I didn’t like him and somehow that was supposed to work out okay? What if Zoe said embarrassing things about trying to get me and Nick together in front of Chris?

  I gave Zoe the evil eye, but she either chose to ignore me or had no idea what I was trying to convey to her.

  “Hey,” Nick said. “Great to see you. I kept looking for you all week to come by and say hi at least.”

  “I don’t get to hunter land often,” I said, glancing at Chris to see if he had detected anything strange going on between Nick and me.

  Nick looked so dorky and terrible in comparison to Chris. I felt bad thinking it, but he was five inches shorter than Chris and somehow looked very short and stubby standing next to him. He had his khakis rolled up at the bottom and a belt that looked so worn he might have used it half the time as a leash for his dog. And he was wearing a T-shirt from another horse show that said STAFF on the back. Chris, however, wore perfectly fitting khakis, a nice braided belt, and a Vineyard Vines polo shirt.

  The hostess came and told Chris our table was ready. Even she seemed to know he was the one to talk to of all of us, the most adult and in-charge.

  We followed her to the table and I had no choice but to sit next to Nick. The restaurant had cute décor with colorful plates and fake dried peppers on the walls. The tabletops were made of tiles in shades of burnt orange and umber. It was loud and half the horse show was there. I knew I would have been having a great time if Nick wasn’t there.

  “So are you having a good week?” Nick asked.

  “Yeah, it’s fine,” I said.

  “I texted you yesterday to see if you wanted to hang out after the show was over. A few of my buddies from the crew were going to kick back at the Cave with a few beers. Did you get that text?”

  The Cave was where the jump crew kept the tractors, water trucks, extra standards, and rails. It was home base for them. I knew a lot of girls would have loved to get an invitation to hang out at the Cave. But I wasn’t one of them.

  I was acutely aware that Chris was listening to all of this. I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like he was trying to figure out what was up between Nick and me. He would know that getting invited to the Cave meant something was going on. Maybe Zoe had already told him that we were together or had kissed or were almost together. The thought made my stomach ache.

  “Um, yeah, I got it. I just, I had a bunch of stuff to do.”

  “Like what?” Nick asked.

  “College stuff. Like we have to fill out all these forms online. Pre-registration.” I thought that was a pretty good lie. It sounded legit to me, anyway. I had no idea I could be so good at coming up with a lie like that right on the spot.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s cool. Where are you going again?”

  “Tufts in Boston.”

  “I went to a semester of college,” Nick said. “But it wasn’t for me.”

  He just wouldn’t stop talking. God, I wanted somehow to make the conversation include all of us, not just me and him. And did he think this was impressing me? Talking about dropping out of college to announce horse shows?

  I didn’t know how to change what was happening. This would have been so different if Nick wasn’t here. I would have been talking to Chris. I was so desperate for something to change things that my heart leapt when I saw Dermott pass our table with a blonde in a maxi dress and strappy sandals, even though I knew it would kill Zoe.

  Zoe saw Dermott and Dermott saw Zoe.

  “Oh no,” she said under her breath. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

  Suddenly even Nick was quiet. I don’t think any of us really knew what to do or what to say. Dermott gave this slight kind of cool nod. He didn’t seem embarrassed or ashamed of his behavior. He just kept walking.

  Zoe turned her face away. “Jessica Pellegrini? Seriously? He’s here with that slut?”

  Even worse, the table the hostess led them to was diagonally across from us. There was no escaping looking at them.

  “Just pretend like they aren’t even here,” Jed said. “Let’s get some sangria.”

  “Right,” Chris said. “Sangria and nachos.” He signaled to a passing waiter and asked for fully loaded nachos and a pitcher of sangria.

  “I think I lost my appetite,” Zoe said. “But I could drink.”

  “What horses are you doing tomorrow?” Chris asked her, clearly trying to take her mind off Dermott.

  “Tomorrow, tomorrow.” Zoe tried to focus. “Um, I have one in the High Junior Jumper Classic and one in the lows. Two junior hunters.”

  “Which horse do you have going in the Highs?”

  “Bliss.”

  “I’ve seen him go. He’s got some scope. Where did he come from?”

  Not far enough away from us, Jessica was leaning close to Dermott. She laughed at something he said and then pulled her blond hair back, revealing her neck. I couldn’t help but think of birds and their courtship rituals. The fact that I knew about bird courtship fell into the category of knowledge-you-wish-you-didn’t-have. It was one of the things Mom liked to talk about and even if I wasn’t exactly listening, I would nonetheless absorb. There were plenty of things I tried hard to learn and remember and couldn’t, yet without even trying I knew this useless information.

  Jessica laughed her high-pitched laugh and then ran her fingers through her hair.

  Birds courted their mates in different ways depending on the species. Some sang to get another bird’s attention. Some preened themselves or their would-be mate. Others did dramatic head-dips and wing-flaps. Still more offered their desired-one food or built them a nest. Usually it was the male bird that did most of the elaborate courting and the female decided whether she liked him or not. Jessica was the one who was doing the courting here—the head dip, the preening, the singing. Just as I was thinking about this she reached out to Dermott with her drink and offered him a sip.

  Even though she shouldn’t, Zoe was watching all of this. It would have been nearly impossible to look away. And it was probably like a commercial for a gruesome horror-flick—you had to look, even though you knew it would be awful. She certainly wasn’t thinking of bird mating rituals, but like anyone in the restaurant that night she could tell where this was heading.

  The waiter brought the pitcher of sangria and Zoe poured herself a glass right away. Chris suggested we order our main courses and I think he was thinking what we all were—how can we speed this disaster meal up and get the hell out of here? I ordered chicken fajitas. Zoe couldn’t really think straight and Jed ordered for her. He put his arm around her and said, “It’s gonna be all right.”

  I had to hand it to Chris. He came up with endless things to talk about to keep Zoe from totally falling apart as Dermott and Jessica continued their mating dance. He asked Zoe which horse she was going to ride in the eq finals and what she was thinking of doing after she finished up as a junior. Somehow, mercifully, time went by. I don’t know about anyone else but I barely tasted my food. Between Dermott and still feeling uncomfortable with Nick sitting next to me,
looking at me all hopeful, I just wanted to be done too and get out of there. I also kept thinking about Logan and hoping he was okay.

  We left before Dermott and Jessica. In the parking lot, I was super glad that Jed and Zoe had come together.

  “Will you take care of her?” I asked Jed.

  “Of course. She’ll be okay.”

  I wished Nick would have gotten in his car and left already, but of course he was lingering around. Jed and Zoe headed to Jed’s car and that left Nick, me, and Chris standing there awkwardly. Could this get any worse?

  “Well, I should go check on Logan,” I said, desperately looking for my exit plan.

  Nick moved to stand next to me, leaving Chris across from us. It was only two or three steps, but it was like a bird’s mating dance, like an animal staking its territory. Those few steps and maybe the way Nick was looking at Chris said epic amounts. They said, I’m into her. There’s something between us. And you’re the third wheel that doesn’t belong, so scram.

  Chris seemed to understand all that. I thought I saw surprise, or maybe even disappointment, in his eyes. I wanted to explain it all to him right then and there—to tell him there was nothing between Nick and me whatsoever.

  “All right, you kids have a good night,” Chris said, and then he turned and left.

  His words stabbed me. You kids. That was what he thought I was—a kid. And maybe I was a kid, the way I was blundering everything. But one thing was perfectly clear to me right then. Even if Chris wasn’t interested in me, I wasn’t interested in Nick. If I couldn’t have the real thing, I didn’t want the imposter.

  “I think Zoe gave you the wrong idea,” I told Nick.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did she say I wanted a boyfriend or something?”

  “No, she said she thought you and I might be good together.”

  “I’m not saying this right,” I said. “I’m not really looking for a relationship . . .” Ugh, that wasn’t true. I was looking for a relationship. Just not with Nick. I had never even dated anyone and now it was like I was fast-forwarding to the break up part. Maybe I was making this too complicated. That would be just like me.