My Favorite Mistake (10 page)

“Yeah, I have other stuff I could wear.”

For a moment Zara considered doing just that. Last year's jackets still fit her and would do, even if they weren't the most current style. Ditto for breeches. And of course she had about a million show shirts.

Then she had a better idea. “No biggie,” she said with a smile. “I'll just pick up something new at the vendors when I get there.”

“Vendors?” Stacie wrinkled her nose, looking confused.

“At the show. They're these, like, traveling shops or whatever. They sell tack, clothes, helmets, all kinds of crap. Sure, it might be a little more expensive.” She shrugged. “But what the hell? Zac's loaded, right?”

Zara smiled, picturing what Nerdy Accountant Guy would
say when he saw that credit card statement. Served Zac right for sticking her with a stupid babysitter, even if she hadn't turned out to be as bad as Zara had expected.

Suddenly realizing that several minutes had already passed, Zara knew she needed to hustle. She should have just enough time to jump in the shower and find her boots before Tommi's deadline.

Elliot stuck his head into the empty stall Kate was mucking out. “I'm going to get food,” the groom said. “Want something?”

Kate straightened up and leaned on her manure fork. “Sure, thanks,” she said. “Maybe a burger, or whatever looks fast and easy? I don't have much time before I have to start getting horses ready for the pre-green warm-up.”

“One burger it is.” Elliot smiled, then disappeared.

Kate finished the stall, then headed out into the aisle herself, stifling a yawn. It was only a little after one, and her lack of sleep last night was already catching up with her. Even after returning to the hotel, she'd had trouble turning off her brain after that colic scare. She'd just kept running the whole scenario through her head, imagining all the what-ifs and could-have-beens. In the end, she figured she was lucky if she'd gotten a couple of hours of real sleep.

“Kate!” a loud, no-nonsense voice broke her out of her sleepy thoughts. “Thank God. Are you busy right now?”

Turning her head, Kate saw Jamie's adult client Margie O'Donnell hurrying toward her. The woman was scheduled to ride in the Level 4 Jumpers in a few hours and was already
half dressed for it in rolled-up show breeches paired with flipflops and a tank top. That was par for the course. Margie was one of those people who didn't care what anyone else thought about her.

In any case, Kate didn't bother to tell Margie that she was pretty much
always
busy on show days. “What's up?” she asked instead.

Margie waved her tricked-out BlackBerry, which she never went anywhere without, and launched into an obscenity-laden complaint about her office and some big project. Kate's brain wasn't functioning well enough to follow most of it.

“Um, so you have to leave the show?” she asked.

“Hell no! I'm not letting those freaking bozos ruin my weekend.” Margie made a face. “But I was just about to get Lark out, and now I'm going to have to go deal with this …”

Now Kate understood. Margie had one of the craziest work schedules of anyone at the barn, but she still liked doing as much hands-on care of her horses as she could manage. She especially liked being the one to hand graze her jumper mare, Larkspur, who got antsy being cooped up in a small show stall for too long.

“You want me to take her out for a while?” Kate asked, shoving her half-full wheelbarrow against the wall so it would be out of the way. “No problem, I'll go get her right now.”

“Kate, you're a freaking saint,” Margie said gratefully. “Thanks a million. I'll have you to thank for not getting bucked off over the first warm-up jump this afternoon.”

Shooting Kate one last smile, she pressed her phone to her ear and stalked off, muttering under her breath about her
coworkers. Kate turned the other way and headed toward Lark's stall.

On her way, she passed Elliot. “Cancel that burger,” she told him. “I've got to graze Margie's mare.”

“You sure?” the groom said.

Kate nodded. “Horse show burgers are gross enough when they're warm,” she joked. “I don't even want to think about eating a cold one. I'll grab something later.”

Soon she was out in a grassy spot near the back gate with a compact bay horse at the end of the lead. The mare was a spitfire, which made her a perfect match for Margie, who was one of Jamie's gutsiest and most competitive adults. At the moment, though, Lark seemed content to graze quietly like a lazy school pony.

That was fine with Kate. She yawned and switched the lead to her other hand. It already felt like she was sleepwalking through this day, and the hot summer sun blazing down on her wasn't helping. Her mind drifted back to last night's colic scare. The liver chestnut gelding seemed fine today, though his owner had scratched all their classes this weekend at Jamie's advice.

Kate let the lead slip a little farther through her hand as Lark stretched for an extra-tasty patch of clover. Even though she was staring right at the horse, Kate's mind was still elsewhere, and it took her a moment to react when she saw Lark take a step to the side, one steel-shod hoof landing squarely on the lead rope, pinning it to the ground.

Before Kate could react, or even really take in what was happening, the horse tried to lift her head and grunted in surprise
as she hit the end of the lead. Planting both feet, Lark jerked back, her eyes wide with panic.

“No!” Kate blurted out. Her mind was still working in slow motion. She watched as Lark hit the end of the rope again, this time with all the force of the thousand-plus-pound horse's panic behind it. The halter's thin leather crown strap broke, as it was designed to do, and the whole thing slid off over Lark's nose, leaving her head bare.

The mare still looked panicky, not quite sure if she was really free, if the monster that had momentarily grabbed her head was really gone. She tossed her head and skittered backward, almost bumping into Kate, then spun and squealed. Kate clutched the lead now hanging uselessly in her hand, realizing there was nothing keeping the mare from running off.

“Easy, girl!” Kate took a slow step forward, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. “It's okay, baby.”

Lark jigged in place, her ears flicking back and forth. Kate could tell by the horse's body language that she wasn't sure what to do. Freeze, or run? Kate tried not to imagine what would happen if she chose the latter. If Lark bolted in one direction, she'd end up running through the stables, possibly crashing into a horse cross-tied in the aisle or trampling whoever was in her way. The other direction, and she'd be heading straight for the ring where the baby green hunters were warming up. Jamie was riding a customer's new greenie in that, and Kate could only imagine what he'd think if he saw one of his horses galloping around, leaving chaos in her wake.

“Easy,” she said again, her voice shaking a little. The mare was still prancing in place and staring around wild-eyed, but
now one ear was cocked in Kate's direction. She was listening. Good. “Just stay there, baby girl,” Kate crooned, edging closer.

Finally she was able to get a hand on the mare's neck—and a moment later slide the lead around it.

“Okay, sweetie,” she said. “Let's just get you back to your stall, okay?” Giving a gentle tug on the two ends of the lead now looped around the mare's neck, she was relieved when Lark lowered her head and stepped off after her.

Kate didn't stop shaking until Lark was safely back in her stall. That had been a close one, though fortunately it had ended with no real harm done except to the halter. How could she have slacked off like that? She knew how dangerous it could be to let your guard down, especially around fit horses at a busy show. Sure, accidents could happen anywhere when you were dealing with half-ton prey animals, but that kind of carelessness was inexcusable. No matter how tired she was, she had to stay in control.

She went to the tack stall to fetch a new halter and found Tommi just coming out. “Hi,” Kate greeted her. “Did you just get here?”

“Little while ago.” Tommi sounded irritated. “We were late, thanks to Little Miss Party Girl.”

“You mean Zara?” Kate vaguely remembered that the two of them were supposed to drive up together.

“Who else?” Tommi snorted. “I mean, I had a late night, too. And somehow I managed to get myself out of bed and dressed on time. Is it really too much to ask for her to do the same?”

Kate was pretty sure Tommi wasn't expecting an answer to that. Sure enough, she barely paused for breath before
launching into the details about her own late night. Something about traffic on the Long Island Expressway and dinner in the Hamptons with that cute new guy she'd mentioned a few times.

Kate did her best to look interested and smile or nod at the right spots, but she couldn't really muster up much enthusiasm. She felt sort of guilty about that—after all, Tommi was supposed to be one of her best friends. But she tried not to worry about it. All she had to do was make it through the rest of the day and get some sleep tonight. Then everything would be fine.

“Ready, boy?” Tommi straightened the noseband on Legs's bridle. “Let's go do this.”

She felt her stomach clench, the tuna wrap she'd had for lunch briefly threatening to make a second appearance. Show nerves. They were always there, even if most people thought she was made of steel.

But today was worse than usual. She felt as anxious as a walk-trotter at her first show. And she knew exactly why. For one thing, she was still overtired—she'd stayed out in the Hamptons way too late Wednesday night and was still playing catch-up now, two days later.

For another thing, she could already tell that Legs was wired. And no wonder. The grooms had been lungeing him daily since arriving at the show, but Tommi knew that wasn't really enough for a smart, sensitive horse like Legs. That was why she'd originally planned to do that schooling class on Wednesday. Work the kinks out when there weren't so many people around watching.

Too late now. Tommi wasn't the type to dwell, so she did her best to let it go. They'd have to do their best today and take it from there.

The warm-up ring was chaotic, as always. A few people from the barn were leaning on the fence watching, including Summer. She hurried over when she spotted Tommi coming.

“Hi, Tommi,” Summer said. “Want me to hold Legs while you mount?”

“No thanks, I've got it covered.” Tommi grabbed a chunk of mane and swung up into the saddle. Legs danced in place, trying to spurt forward as she picked up her stirrups. Yeah, he was amped, all right.

“Jamie's over there.” Summer gestured toward the center of the crowded ring. “He just started warming up Dani and Zara. They're the only ones doing the High Juniors today except you, since Fitz isn't here.”

“Thanks.” Tommi entered the ring and rode over to Jamie, who was standing beside a blue-and-white-striped vertical.

“Tommi,” he said, shooting her a look. “Sit tight for a sec, I need to talk to you.”

“Okay.” Tommi knew that Legs was in no mood to stand still, so she started walking him in a circle as Jamie turned back to the fence.

Zara was approaching it on her jumper, Keeper. The big chestnut was a real pro, and Tommi couldn't help admiring the way he set himself up for the jump, clearing it as easily as if it were no bigger than a crossrail.

“Nice!” Jamie called. “Take him around at a trot for a few minutes.” Then he waved to Tommi.

She walked her horse over, wondering what was up. He didn't keep her in the dark for long.

“You know Kara Parodi, right?” he said.

“Sure.” Everyone knew Kara Parodi, at least by reputation. She was the head trainer at a big show barn in New Jersey.

Jamie's blue eyes flicked over toward the rail. “Was just talking to her,” he said. “She's got a client looking for a scopey young jumper. Says the woman's a good, gutsy rider who doesn't mind a horse with some attitude. She heard about Legs here and thought he might fit the bill. She'll be watching him go today, seeing if he's worth bringing her client for a test ride.”

“Really?” Tommi was a little surprised that word was getting around so fast. “That's great!”

But her excitement was tempered with anxiety. She was glad this was happening. But why did it have to happen the one time she'd skipped her warm-up division?

She tried to hide her misgivings. Jamie had already turned away, anyway. He was watching Dani canter toward the warm-up jump. Her horse came in a little fast and flat, but managed to make it over with only a hard rub.

“Let him stop there,” Jamie called to Dani. “It looks like he's getting frazzled.”

“He is,” Dani said breathlessly as her horse skidded to a stop beside Legs. “I think he's having a racetrack flashback or something.”