Winter Circuit (The Show Circuit -- Book 2) (16 page)

“It’s really not that hard,” she said.

“No more,” I threatened. “I’m not kidding.”

After the class, the girls insisted on lingering by the Tiki Hut long after the class was over as spectators and families left the show grounds. There was a good crowd of riders and those associated with the riders—owners, significant others, friends—having a drink and rehashing the class. McNair Sutter, who had come in second to the young British phenom, Liam Halliday, was there and the girls spent most of the time giggling and casting sidelong glances McNair’s way. There was also a large pack of riders and hangers-on from the State of Qatar, who had been snapping up expensive and experienced European show jumpers right and left of late.

By the time I finally got Dakota to leave, even the crowd at the Tiki Hut had thinned out. It wasn’t that late since the class only had forty in it. Still, I was tired and I was missing Chris.

Dakota said her good-byes to her friends. Taylor’s mom and Addie’s minder came and collected them. Dakota and I walked silently to where we’d parked the golf cart. Only it wasn’t there.

My first thought was that we’d forgotten where we’d parked it. But I looked up and confirmed we were in the right place, next to the Oasis Café. This was definitely where we’d parked it.

I turned to Dakota. “Very funny.”

She held her hands up. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, like you didn’t have some friend of yours move the golf cart or steal it or something to get me in trouble.”

“You’re crazy.” She took a step backward like she couldn’t be near me I was so unstable. “You’re certifiable.”

“
I’m
certifiable? You’ve spent the last few weeks trying everything possible to make me mess up so you can tell your parents to fire me. And this one might actually do it. Congratulations!”

“I didn’t do anything with the golf cart.”

She sounded actually genuine. The most genuine Dakota had ever sounded. Was I losing my mind? Was everything with Chris and MB and now Dakota driving me over the edge?

“So you didn’t tell someone to move it?”

“No, it was right here where we left it.”

I let out a huge sigh. “This is not good.”

The first thing we did was look around in the general vicinity in case by accident someone had drunkenly gotten into our golf cart, driven it a little before noticing it wasn’t theirs, and then returned it to the wrong spot. But the grounds were mostly empty and there was no sign of our cart. The next thing I did was text Chris. When I got no answer, I called him. After several rings, it went to voicemail. I couldn’t believe he wasn’t answering. I needed him to come get us.

I paced the area where our cart should have been, phone in my hand, trying to figure out what to do next. I could call Linda but I’d seem like an incompetent loser. It wasn’t that far to Grand Prix Village. We’d walk.

“Okay, let’s go,” I told Dakota.

“Go where?”

“Back to the barn. We’re walking.”

She stuck out an ankle in my direction, showing me her very expensive, strappy heels. “Not in these shoes, I’m not.”

I paced again. I wanted to make her walk in those heels. She deserved to walk in them and get huge, fat blisters. I could easily walk myself, get the car, and come back and pick her up. But that was being too nice to her.

She must have figured out what I was thinking because before I could give in and tell her I’d go get the car and come back to get her, she said, “But I don’t want to wait here alone either. It feels creepy.”

It
was
sort of creepy being at the show grounds in the dark now that most everyone had left. The vendors’ tents were tightly sealed up and the rings looked vacant.

“Who else can we call then?” I asked. “Call Addie or Taylor.”

She gave me a sheepish smile. “My phone’s actually dead, and I don’t know their numbers.”

“Too many selfies?” I said.

“Fine,” she snapped. “I’ll walk. Let’s go.”

“Okay,” I replied.

I headed off, not moderating my pace to take into account her shoes. She stayed a few steps behind me through the show grounds but once we got onto the sandy path heading over to Grand Prix Village she lagged behind.

Feeling badly for her, I slowed down. “Are you okay?”

“My shoes are going to be completely ruined.”

“Which I’m sure you’ll tell your mom right away. That and how I lost the golf cart.”

Silence. It was dark on the path with only the light of my phone to guide us. I thought we might come across some other people in a golf cart heading back from the grand prix and they might offer us a ride. But we saw no one. Only shadows of bushes and trees. I felt grass against my legs and startled.

“What is it?” Dakota said.

“Nothing. Just grass, I think.”

“What if it was a gator?”

There were alligators in the canals and ponds along the grounds. Sometimes you’d see one sunning itself in plain day. But it was unlikely one would come out of the water and brush against my leg. And they weren’t large enough to bother people—they stuck to the occasional Jack Russell.

“It felt smooth, not like an alligator would.”

“How do you know what an alligator feels like?” Dakota said.

“I’m just guessing. They’d feel scratchy.”

“I kind of want to take my shoes off. I’ll be able to walk faster,” she said.

“No, you better not. All the manure mixed in these paths… You could get ringworm or something.”

“Gross,” she said. “I’m probably getting it anyway. All the sand is getting in between my toes.”

“We’re almost there.”

We made it onto pavement. Up ahead, I saw the barn. Dakota stopped and took off her shoes, emptying out the sand. I waited for her to put them back on and we walked together to the barn and into the house. Inside she took her shoes off again and held them up so I could see. “Trashed,” she said. “I might as well just throw them away. Three hundred dollars—down the drain.”

“It sucks,” I said. I wasn’t going to say I was sorry. This was not my fault. And plus I’d seen her closet when I was putting away her new show coats. She had fifteen pairs of designer shoes just like them. “Make sure you wash your feet off well.”

“What did you think, I was going to just go to bed without taking a shower?” She gave me one last evil look and turned and walked upstairs.

I tried Chris again. Still went to voicemail. I needed someone to talk to so I called Ryan instead. I told him all about Dakota and her spoiled ridiculousness. He thought it was good for her that she had to walk home in the shoes. “Maybe it’ll teach her not to wear slutty shoes,” he said.

“Or maybe she’s on the phone to her mom right now getting me fired,” I said. “A golf cart costs thousands. What if I can’t find it?”

Ryan spoke calmly. “If you get fired, you’ll get another job. I’m sure they’re other people like you who go to Florida with a job all set and then it doesn’t work out the way they thought it would.”

“You’re probably right,” I said. “Do you have to be so reasonable? It’s like you’re fucking fifty years old.”

Ryan laughed. “I guess I have always been kind of ahead of my time.” It was true. He was very popular in middle school and high school, much more popular than me, but he was always the kid who was so much further ahead of everyone else. He had studying down to a science so he could do the least amount of work and still get As. He threw mind-blowing parties that kids died to get an invite to and somehow managed to get away with charging a cover fee so in the end he came away with pocket money to last until the next party.

We talked about Chris and I told Ryan how he hadn’t answered. I didn’t tell him my irrational fear that he was with MB who wasn’t showing that night either. I complained, “I just feel like he’s not there for me.”

“He wasn’t going to Florida to be there for you,” he said soberly. “He was going to build his business and you weren’t even supposed to be there. Then, all of a sudden, there you are. You can’t expect him to be there for you. Maybe you need to be there for him.”

“You’re probably right,” I said. I thought I’d been trying, being understanding, but maybe I needed to do more. Mary Beth’s words about my sex life with Chris resurfaced in my head.

“It’s been known to happen.” I could picture Ryan smiling on the other end of the phone. Maybe there would come a time that he’d need me for advice, or comfort, or something. So far our relationship had been the other way around—me always needing him.

“Thank, Ry,” I said.

“Anytime, H.”

Chapter 19

I called and spoke with Audrina and she was more concerned with how awful we must have felt to have been robbed than with the money she was out. “Is everything okay with Dakota?” she asked tentatively.

“Yup, it’s going fine,” I said.

I wondered whether Dakota had told her about the ruined shoes but I guessed not when Audrina said, “Oh, thank God, Hannah, you are a lifesaver.”

I wondered how much Dakota spoke or texted with her parents. My guess was not much. Audrina said she’d order a new golf cart. I asked when she and Winston would be coming to visit and she seemed to dance around the subject, throwing out phrases like, “Need to pin down Winston,” “Get our calendars aligned,” and “Find a workable date.”

I found out why Chris hadn’t answered his phone Saturday night when Dakota and I needed help. It had all worked out okay for us but it still bothered me that I had needed him and he hadn’t been available. He had taken an Ambien and said he must not have heard his phone.

“Since when you do take Ambien?” I asked.

“I just haven’t been sleeping well. I needed a good night’s sleep.”

“Where did you even get it?”

“Jimmy gave me a couple. He said I looked tired and I told him I hadn’t been sleeping well.”

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I decided to ask Linda what salon I should go to for a wax. “Not super expensive, though,” I said. “Not the salon of the stars. I’m on a serious budget.”

It was true. My job had a decent salary as far as I could tell not having had a job before but life was expensive, especially at the horse show. I always thought I’d run back to the house for lunch but then I never had time and I ended up eating the overpriced food at the show. Too many times Dakota wanted to get take-out and I never wanted her parents to pay for my food too, so I always split the bill and paid my portion.

“What are you getting done? Hair cut, mani/pedi?” Linda asked.

“I need to, um, get a wax. Bikini.”

It wasn’t like I was wearing a bathing suit anytime soon but Linda must have known I was just taking care of some landscaping issues.

“You don’t want to wax. Go get laser.” She told me to see Irina at the spa she went to. I thought about asking her if it hurt more than waxing but decided I would sound wimpy. Instead I made an appointment and found myself a few days later in Irina’s capable hands. I also found out that it did hurt. That it felt like someone stabbing you with sharp glass repeatedly. But I closed my eyes and held my breath and made it through. Irina asked me if I wanted everything off. “Is that what, I mean, like, most women do?”

“Depend,” she said, “On what the boyfriend like. On what you like.”

“I don’t know what I like,” I said. “And I don’t know what he likes either.” I could hear Mary Beth’s voice in my head. “But a Brazilian… that’s everything, right?”

She smiled. “Yes, all off.”

“Okay,” I said. “Go for it.”

I decided I needed something radical to get Chris and me out of our rut. I felt like he was so busy with his clients that during the day I barely saw him. He’d even picked up two more clients since he’d been at WEF. That was good for him, but not good for us. I was busy too, but I would have found time to hang out if he had time. So much of his time revolved around Lily. Riding her horses, teaching her, walking the courses with her, strategizing and planning the show schedule with her and her father. If Lily weren’t homely looking with dull, frizzy hair and a kind of unfortunate ill-proportioned nose, I would have been seriously jealous and worried. But, thankfully, there was nothing attractive about Lily. I’m sure she idolized Chris and fantasized about him but there was no way he was going to be interested in her.

Sadly, at night, Chris was more interested in getting a good night’s sleep, a full eight hours, than sex with me, it seemed. Which was why drastic measures had to be taken.

Once the laser was over, it was over. It didn’t hurt anymore. More like a dull hum in that general area. I drove straight from Irina’s office to the mall to Victoria’s Secret where I bought two pairs of skimpy, lacey matching bras and thongs. When I got home, I looked at Irina’s work. My skin was only slightly speckled red but she said that would go away in a few hours. Was it sexy? I had no idea. Would Chris think it was sexy? Would he even notice? I took the underwear out of the bag and held it up. At least I’d done something. I’d taken steps to get him interested in me again. Now, I just had to get him alone and put my bag of tricks to work.