My Favorite Mistake (19 page)

Fitz shrugged, not looking fully convinced. “If you say so,” he said. “But Natalie said he's pretty hot, right? Maybe too hot to make a hunter.”

Kate didn't respond to that. She already had her doubts about how hot this horse really was. So far he wasn't giving Nat much real trouble, though it was clear he didn't know much beyond his track training.

“He's not sure what to do with the bit yet,” she said as Nat finally wrestled the horse back to a jiggy walk. “If it were up to me, I'd just let him go long and low for a while until he relaxes and learns he can trust his rider.”

“Sounds good, Jamie Junior,” Fitz said with a laugh. “Maybe you can give Natalie a few lessons.”

“No way.” Kate shuddered at the thought. “She already thinks I'm a know-it-all since I moved to Jamie's barn. If I tried
to tell her how to train her new project, she'd probably bite my head off.”

Fitz looked surprised. “Really? But she must realize what an awesome rider you are, right?”

Kate just shrugged. “Anyway, it's too bad,” she said, talking more to herself than to Fitz now. “That horse could really be something special.”

“You know, maybe you're right.” Fitz turned to watch Natalie ride past again. “I mean, I didn't really see it at first. But you've got a great eye, Kate.” He reached over and gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder.

“Thanks.” She smiled at him, her shoulder tingling. She hadn't been sure it was a good idea for him to come today. To say the least. But now she was glad he was here.

Soon it was time for Nat and her mount to head into the show ring. They were entered in a division called Beginner Horse, for green horses and those new to showing, consisting of three classes: walk-trot, walk-trot-canter, and jumping a course of two-foot fences. When she was riding at Happy Acres, Kate had taken countless potential lesson horses and ponies in the same division for their first show-ring experience, fresh from the auction or Craigslist.

Nat and Flame rode in along with six or seven others, mostly tween kids on bratty-looking ponies. Everyone walked along on the rail until Mr. Tanner arrived with his portable microphone to start the class.

“Riders, you're now being judged,” he said, perching the speaker on a fence post. “Walk please—all walk.”

It was kind of a disaster from the start. In the walk-trot
class, Flame's stride was so much longer that he ended up lapping everyone else in the ring. That seemed to excite him—racetrack flashback, Kate figured—and he just kept getting faster and more strung out. In the walk-trot-canter class, he leaped into a near-gallop and almost ran over a couple of ponies as Nat wrestled to slow him down.

Still, everyone survived. Kate half expected Nat to bow out of the jumping—that was what Kate herself would have done under the circumstances—but no. She went in, executed a lopsided opening circle at a skittering half trot, half canter, and aimed the horse at the first fence.

“Yikes,” Fitz said as Flame left from a super long spot.

Luckily the fence was small enough that it wasn't a problem, though the horse's hind foot clunked the rail. That spooked him, sending him spurting forward so quickly that he almost crashed right through the next jump in the line. He noticed it just in time and planted his feet, skidding to a near stop before Natalie let out a shout and booted him forward. He sprang over the fence with his head in the air and a startled look in his eyes.

Kate could hardly stand to watch as Nat manhandled the gelding around the rest of the course. But again, everyone survived. And Natalie was actually grinning as she rode out of the ring.

“Wow, that was an adventure,” she said, riding over to where Kate and Fitz were standing. “I don't know, riding a hot horse like this guy kind of makes normal horses seem boring.”

Fitz chuckled politely, and Kate forced a smile as she reached out to give the sweaty gelding a pat. Okay, so he hadn't exactly
clocked around like a children's hunter. That didn't mean he was “hot,” as Nat seemed to think. Just green and confused.

But she wasn't about to say so. Not now, when she and Nat were finally back on track.

“Wow!” Dani let out a wolf whistle as Zara wandered into the tack room. “Hello, sexy! You're sure not dressed for mucking stalls.”

She and Marissa were lounging on the bandage trunk sharing a bag of Doritos. Zara glanced down at her low-cut beaded cami and short shorts.

“What, this old thing?” she joked. “Yeah, actually I kind of have a date. Lucky I forgot this in my tack trunk after the last show so I didn't have to go in boots and breeches.” She shrugged. “Although some guys dig that look, I guess.”

Marissa grinned, her gossip radar zeroing in on Zara. “A date? Spill it!” she demanded. “Who is he? Anyone we know?”

“Remember that guy Grant, from the Hounds Hollow party?”

“You mean that preppy friend of Tommi's?” Dani said. “The one who was all over you in the pool?”

“That's the guy.” Zara smiled. “He's kind of been after me ever since.”

“Lucky,” Marissa declared. “He's totally hot. Where do I sign up for next dibs on Tommi's leftovers? Because I wouldn't mind getting to know that guy she brought out today. Did you guys get a load of him?”

Leftovers? Um, so
not
. But Zara was in too good a mood to let the other girl's stupid comment bother her.

“Anyway,” she said, “Grant called and wanted to see me, and I wasn't sure I was in the mood. So I told him we could only get together if he came up here.” She smiled as she remembered how quickly that return text had come. Okay, so she usually liked her guys a little wilder, a little edgier, a little more dangerous. But it was always nice to be wanted. “Guess he really wanted to see me, because we're going to the diner. He's picking me up out front in like—” She checked her watch. “Oops, ten minutes ago. Got to go, girls.”

“Don't do anything I wouldn't do!” Dani sang out as Zara hurried out of the tack room.

“No promises,” Zara called back over her shoulder with a grin.

A short while later she and Grant were sitting at one of the tables along the diner's plate-glass front windows. The place was pretty crowded, even though it was almost 3:00 p.m.

“I'm glad this worked out,” Grant said as he reached for his water glass. “I was afraid you guys might be away at another show or something.”

“Nope, off week.” Zara spotted their waitress making her way toward them along the narrow alleyway between tables, a loaded tray balanced against one shoulder. “Awesome, food's here. I'm starving. Rode three horses this morning.”

“Really? I thought you only had two,” Grant said. “That new one you were talking about, and the one you brought with you from California.”

“Impressive,” Zara said. “Most guys don't pay much attention to what I say. Especially when I'm wearing something like this.” She leaned forward a little and shook her shoulders.
She wasn't wearing a bra, so the movement resulted in significant jigglage.

The waitress, an older woman with gray-streaked red hair piled atop her head in a messy bun, shot Zara a look of weary disdain as she dropped a couple of plates in front of her and Grant. “Anything else, kids?” she asked, snapping her gum.

“We're good, thanks.” Grant sounded as polite as ever, even though his face had gone bright red and he was carefully avoiding looking directly at Zara.

Zara grinned at him as the waitress hurried off. “You're way too easy to mess with,” she told him, reaching for her burger. “Anyway, the third horse I rode was one of Jamie's sales ponies. He needed someone short to hack it, and I was there.”

She kept her voice casual, still surprised and kind of pleased that the trainer had asked her. That definitely wouldn't have happened a couple of weeks ago. Not that she cared that much. But hey, it was something.

But Grant wasn't looking at her anyway. “Aren't those people from your barn?” he asked.

Twisting around in her seat, Zara saw that Fitz and Kate had just entered and were standing by the hostess stand. “Yeah, but that's weird,” she said. “I was hanging around the barn most of the day, and I didn't see either of them there.”

A moment later a different waitress grabbed a couple of menus out of the bin by the door and gestured. Fitz grabbed Kate by the hand and followed the waitress down the aisle. When they neared Zara and Grant, Fitz grinned.

“Hey guys, what's up?” he said, stopping at the end of their table. “Were you at the barn?”

“Yeah, I was,” Zara replied. “Didn't see you two there.”

“We weren't.” Fitz glanced at Kate, who was smiling her wimpy little smile and not saying anything. “We went to watch a show at Kate's old barn. But we left a little early because we were both starving.”

“Cool. Want to join us?” Grant said.

Zara shot him a look. Okay, so she was getting used to Kate. Maybe even starting to like her, sort of. And Fitz was always fun, of course. But she'd thought the whole point of Grant driving all the way up from the city was to be with her. Was he just being Mr. Super Polite, or what?

“Sounds like fun, but can we do it some other time?” Fitz grinned. “Gotta admit, I've been dying to get Kate to myself all day.” He wrapped one long arm around her shoulders and squeezed.

“I hear you, man. Totally. Catch you later.” Grant lifted a hand as the pair hurried off after their waitress. Then he picked up his burger and glanced at Zara. “Cute couple, huh? Like something out of an ad, all tall and thin and blond.”

“I guess.” Zara watched as Fitz and Kate sat down at a table in the next section. She almost wished they'd ended up a little closer so she could eavesdrop. What the hell did the two of them talk about, anyway? When she'd first arrived at Pelham Lane, everyone had warned her that Fitz was a total player. But it didn't look that way to her. He really seemed to be into Kate, even if Zara couldn't figure out why. “Maybe skinny chicks just turn him on,” she muttered.

“Huh?” Grant looked up from squirting ketchup on his fries.

Zara shrugged. “Nothing. Just trying to figure out what Fitz sees in Kate.”

“What's not to like?” Grant glanced over toward the other couple. “She's gorgeous, and seems sweet. At least I know Tommi really likes her.”

“Gorgeous, huh?” Zara lifted an eyebrow. “No wonder you wanted them to sit with us. Hoping she'd press up against you in the booth?”

“Stop.” He looked uncomfortable. “I so didn't mean it like that, and you know it. It's no secret I think you're the hottest thing going, so don't get all weird about this, okay?”

“You sure about that?” Zara shot another look at the other couple. “If you're into the bony, boyish look, Kate's your girl. She's got about as many curves as a yardstick.”

“Be nice,” Grant said, looking even more uncomfortable.

Whatever. Zara decided it was time to take control of this whole boring conversation. Get Grant's attention back where it belonged.

She kicked off her sandal and started running her bare toes up his leg, then inside the hem of his khaki shorts. He gulped, put his fork down, and looked at her. She grinned.

“What do you say we get out of here?” she suggested. “We can get a doggie bag for the burgers.”

He nodded, his face looking red again, then glanced around for their waitress. “Check, please!” he called.

The next few days passed quickly for Tommi. Almost before she knew it, it was Thursday afternoon. This weekend's show was a big, busy, popular one in the northern part of Zone 2. A lot of barns came down for it from Zone 1, which meant there were a lot of people and horses there that Tommi mostly only saw at the big winter shows in Florida.

But she wasn't focused on socializing this time. She had at least two much more important things on her mind. Legs and Alex.

She was lungeing Legs in a deserted schooling ring, getting him ready for tomorrow's jumper class, when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw it was another text from Alex:
Miss u! Wish your show wasn't so far away.

Smiling, she quickly texted back:
Me too. But I'll see u when I get home.

She hit Send, then glanced at Legs. He was trotting around steadily, looking sound and fit and ready to go. Good. Maybe
all the schooling rides she'd put on him the last few days at home had paid off. Best of all, there was no sign of whatever it was she'd felt the other week. She was starting to wonder if she'd imagined the whole thing. Normally she wasn't the type to borrow trouble like that, but whatever. Maybe it was time to put that particular stress behind her.

The phone buzzed again in her hand.
Would rather see u right now; too bored w/o u.

Sweet. Alex's parents were still away, so he'd crashed with a friend in the city over the weekend, and he and Tommi had gotten together every night until she left, hitting a few music clubs, going dancing, and just hanging out. They'd had so much fun she'd almost hated to leave town again for this show. Almost. She was really looking forward to proving to herself that Legs was just fine.