My Favorite Mistake (12 page)

Kate hardly heard him. All she could focus on was the look of concern on his face. She hated disappointing Jamie. Hated it. Especially now. Here he'd offered her this amazing horse, this incredible opportunity. And what did she do? She blew it. Big-time.

But it wouldn't happen again, she vowed as Jamie turned
away to watch Summer ride in for her round. No way. She would work day and night, harder and better, whatever it took to make sure of that.

“Easy, big guy,” Tommi said as Legs shifted restlessly at the end of the lead. “Come on, just one more time up and back, okay?”

The sound of the show's loudspeaker system crackled in the distance, but the shed row was deserted except for the two of them. Jamie was still out at the eq ring, Elliot had just left to take an adult client's horse to the warm-up, and the other grooms were busy elsewhere. Tommi was glad. She needed some time alone with Legs to figure out what was going on with him. She'd barely been able to stop thinking about it since leaving the warm-up ring yesterday.

Just then Legs pricked his ears and lifted his head, staring toward the end of the aisle. Turning that way, Tommi saw Kate entering, still dressed in her tidy navy show jacket and tall boots.

Tommi felt a flash of guilt. Oops. She'd meant to try to get over to the ring to watch Kate's eq trip.

“Hey,” she called. “Did you already ride? How'd it go?”

Kate frowned, a dark look flashing through her eyes. “Could've been better.”

Tommi knew better than to push for details. Kate would tell her about it when she was ready.

Meanwhile Kate was looking at Legs, who was pawing at the sawdust footing. “He any better today?” she asked.

“I'm not sure. Actually, do you have a sec? I could really use someone to jog him while I watch.”

“Sure.” Kate took the lead, giving the lanky gelding a pat. “Come on, Legs. Let's go.”

She clucked and wriggled the lead, urging Legs into a trot. Tommi kept her eyes trained on the horse's legs, watching for any sign of a bobble, any shortness of stride—anything at all that wasn't what it should be. But whatever it was that she'd felt, she couldn't see it now. She sighed as Kate and Legs stopped.

“Anything?” Kate asked.

Tommi shook her head. “I'm starting to think that bitchy hotshot trainer chick was right yesterday,” she muttered. “Maybe I did choke—maybe I imagined the whole thing.”

“No way,” Kate said. “Trust your gut. If you thought he felt off, it was better not to push him, right?”

Tommi didn't answer. Just stared at the horse, who was standing there nudging at Kate's shoulder with his muzzle, looking bored and impatient. With no clue that he held her entire future in those long, slender, oh-so-fragile legs of his.

Just then Zara wandered into view. “Hi,” she said. “What are you guys doing?”

“Trying to figure out if Legs is lame or if I'm crazy,” Tommi said with a loud sigh.

Zara wrinkled her nose. “You mean because of that thing yesterday? You're still obsessing over that?” She grinned. “Come on—we all know you punked out of that class because you couldn't compete with my awesome riding!”

Tommi shot her a look. “Whatever. This isn't a joke. If he's not sound enough to hold up to the show lifestyle …”

“Don't panic, Tommi,” Kate put in softly. “It could just be an abscess or some other minor thing like that.”

Zara didn't look too interested. “Hey, so did you already finish your eq class?” she asked Kate. “I meant to come over and watch, but I got, um, distracted.” She smirked and licked her lips.

Even though she was still distracted by her own problems, Tommi couldn't help noticing the little gesture and wondering what it meant. Could it have something to do with Grant? He'd showed up once or twice to watch her ride at shows. Maybe he'd done the same now for Zara. It was weird to think about, and she wasn't in the mood for any more weird, so she pushed the thought away. Not her business, anyway.

“So I got there a little too late—Jamie said you'd already finished,” Zara was saying. “Anyway, how'd it go?”

“It went,” Kate said tightly.

“Ooookay.” Zara raised an eyebrow. “Guess that means no ribbon this time, huh?”

Kate shook her head, staring at the ground. Tommi winced on her behalf. Why did she always have to be so damn hard on herself ? So she'd blown a class. It happened to the best of them. Kate needed to shrug it off and move on.

“So what happened?” Zara asked. “I thought you guys were, like, the new barn superstars or whatever.”

“Maybe Fable is.” Kate's voice was barely audible.

Zara shrugged and returned her attention to Legs. “So what's wrong with him, anyway?” she asked, giving the gelding a pat.

“Good question,” Tommi said. “I could feel he wasn't quite right when I rode him. But I can't see anything from the ground, so I'm not sure what to do about it.”

“Well, that's why we have vets, I guess.” Zara didn't sound too concerned. “It's not like you don't have other horses to ride.”

Tommi didn't know why she'd bothered to say anything. Why she'd expected Zara to understand. How could she? She'd never taken anything seriously in her life, at least as far as Tommi could tell.

“Whatever,” she said. “If he doesn't get better, my pro career could be over before it begins.”

“Lighten up,
chica
,” Zara said. “This is supposed to be fun, right?” She glanced from Tommi to Kate and back again. “Right?”

Kate shrugged, keeping her gaze on the floor. Tommi just rolled her eyes. In her opinion, Zara was a little
too
much about the fun. But what was the point of saying so?

The buzz of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts. It was a text from Alex:

Hi, Tommi—hope you're having a good show! Can't wait to see you when u get back on Sun. Maybe we can get together then if you're not too tired from winning all those blue ribbons & stuff ?

Tommi smiled as she scanned the message. He was so sweet—and hearing from him was exactly what she needed right now. A real reminder that there was more to life than horses.

She texted him back quickly:

Sun night sounds like a plan. Will let u know tomorrow what time I'll be home, ok? ttyt!

Then Kate handed Tommi Legs's lead. “I'd better go,”
Kate said. “Javier offered to cool Fable out for me, but I know he's got other stuff to do, so …”

Letting her voice trail off, she rushed away down the aisle. “Wow,” Zara commented. “She seems even more stressed than usual. And that's saying something.”

“She's fine. Just busy, that's all.” But as Tommi watched Kate disappear around the corner, she couldn't help feeling a twinge of concern. Kate
did
seem extra tense lately. Was it because Fitz wasn't at the show? Tommi wondered if maybe having him around was good for Kate after all. If there was one thing the boy knew how to do it was relax and have fun, and Kate could use a little more of that sometimes.

Then Legs shoved at her with his head, and Tommi gave him a pat.

“Okay, mister,” she told him. “We're not accomplishing anything here. Let's get you back to your stall.”

“Whoa!” Zara stopped short in the doorway, staring into the loft.

The place was a wreck. Empty bottles and cans lying around everywhere. Overturned furniture. The TV playing static.

“Hello?” she called, stepping over a stray sofa cushion as she walked in. “Stacie?”

No answer. Zara dropped her suitcase and boots near the door. The apartment smelled as bad as it looked. Stacie must've partied all weekend and then some.

Just then she heard the clatter of footsteps at the top of the stairwell behind her. “Hi!” Stacie exclaimed breathlessly. “Didn't you hear me calling you? I was just coming around the corner when I saw you getting out of your friend's car. Nice wheels, by the way.”

“That's Tommi,” Zara said. “Her dad's like the richest guy on the planet or something.” She glanced at the brown paper
bag in her cousin's hand. “Where were you? Out buying a mop?”

“Huh? No, I just ran over to that organic market around the corner.” Stacie held up the bag and shook it, grinning. “Scored these awesome local peaches. What does that say to you?”

Zara just stared at her. “What?”

“It's daiquiri time!” Stacie sang out. “How about that? Does your babysitter take care of you, or what?”

Zara hesitated, taking another look around at the mess. Then she shrugged. She'd had a great show—why not celebrate?

“Bring it on,” she said. “I love daiquiris.”

Tommi was in her room, staring into her closet, when there was a knock at her door. “Come in,” she called, distracted.

She was supposed to meet Alex in half an hour, and she was running late. Traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike had been even worse than usual coming back from the show. Plus she'd had to come in through the Holland Tunnel to drop Zara in SoHo, which had added even more time to the trip.

The door opened, and her father stuck his head in. He was wearing his rimless reading glasses and holding the
Times
business section.

“Thought I heard you come in,” he said. “Have a good show? How'd our boy do?”

Tommi hesitated. So far she'd kept things pretty vague whenever her father asked how Legs was coming along. That
seemed to be enough for him. He didn't really want to know every detail of the horse's training. All he cared about was results.

But this time she couldn't just say “Fine” and leave it at that. Not without actually lying to him. That didn't mean she was going to mention that her trip to the Hamptons had meant Legs had stood in a show stall for several days without much work, or that she still wondered if that was why he hadn't seemed quite right when she'd finally gotten on him. No, there was no way she was going to tell her father
that
.

“I had to scratch him this time,” she said. “He felt a little funny in the warm-up on Friday.”

Looking concerned, her father stepped into the room. “What's wrong with him? Is it serious?”

“Probably not.”

“Probably?” Tommi's father frowned. “What, didn't you have a vet look at him?”

“Not yet.” Tommi grabbed a Rag & Bone sheer blouse out of her closet and tossed it on her bed. She looked great in it, and Alex hadn't seen it yet. “I'll have Jamie's vet take a look this week if necessary,” she told her father. “But he was already feeling better when I took him for a hack around the grounds this morning.”

Her father was still frowning. “I don't understand. Is there something wrong with this horse or not?”

Tommi shrugged. “Nothing I could quite put my finger on,” she said. “Jamie couldn't see anything. Legs just didn't feel right. Call it a gut feeling, I guess.”

“A gut feeling?” Now Tommi's father was starting to look annoyed. “Listen, Thomasina, this isn't a game of My Little Pony. You're playing with real money here.”

“I know that,” Tommi said quickly, trying to head off one of his patented financial-responsibility lectures.

Too late. “It's one thing to protect the health of this horse if there's really something wrong. That's just common sense and good business. But a gut feeling? Really? You have a responsibility to your investors—that's you and me, in case you've forgotten—to maximize returns. You need to push forward and sell this animal, not get all namby-pamby overcautious about every little step he takes.”

Tommi was starting to feel annoyed herself. What did her father know about horses, anyway? That would be pretty much a big fat zippo. Last she'd noticed, he couldn't even tell her junior hunter from her eq horse, even though they were totally different heights, body types, and shades of bay.