The A Circuit 04- Rein It In (11 page)

Kate was still too stunned to respond, or even really take in what he’d said. She was still staring at the blog post on Zara’s phone, trying to make sense of the words blinking at her from the tiny screen. Was Joy really leaving Pelham Lane? It was
hard to imagine—she’d been there since long before Kate had arrived.

Even if that part was true, could the other part possibly be right? Could Jamie actually be thinking of offering Kate the more-than-full-time position of assistant trainer?

“This can’t be for real,” she blurted out at last. “I mean—it’s crazy, right? I’m only sixteen.”

“You’ll be seventeen in a few months,” Fitz reminded her.

“No, she’s right,” Summer said. “It’s totally crazy. Kate can’t be the assistant trainer.”

“Why not?” Zara challenged her. “She rides better than anyone here except maybe Jamie.”

“Yeah,” Fitz agreed, giving Kate’s shoulders an extra squeeze. “She’d be awesome at it. She practically runs this place as it is.”

Just then Tommi rounded the corner leading Toccata. “What’s going on?” she asked when she saw them all standing there.

Zara and the others practically tripped over themselves filling her in. Tommi’s eyebrows shot higher with every word, and halfway through she grabbed the phone out of Kate’s hand and scrolled through the blog post.

“This is nuts.” She frowned at the screen. “I doubt it’s more than some stupid rumor, like most of the other stuff on this blog.” She handed Zara’s phone back to her. “But even if Jamie goes temporarily insane and offers Kate the job, there’s no way she’d accept it.”

“Says who?” Fitz looked annoyed.

“Says anyone with half a brain.” Tommi led her horse into an open grooming stall and clipped on the cross-ties as she
talked. “I mean, think about it. She’d have to drop out of school, and college would be out of the question.”

“That’s true.” Marissa glanced at Kate thoughtfully. “I hadn’t really thought about it that way.”

Zara shrugged. “Not everybody has to go to college. My dad didn’t, and look where it got him.”

Kate’s mother hadn’t gone to college, either, though she didn’t bother to mention that. Since when was Tommi so gung-ho about college, anyway? Wasn’t that the whole point of this horse-selling deal she had going with her father—that she didn’t want to settle for being some generic college-bound drone? That she wanted to follow her dream of working with horses for a living? What made that okay for her but not for Kate?

Tommi was scowling at Zara and the others. “I’m just saying it’s not realistic. And probably not even true.”

Dani glanced at Kate. “You’re being awfully quiet, Kate. What do you think? If it
is
true, would you take the job?”

Suddenly every eye was on Kate, making her feel like a butterfly in a jar. Her face was hot, and she wished she could be anywhere else. Why did that stupid blog have to write something like this, anyway? She had enough on her plate right now without one more thing—one more
big
thing—to worry about.

“Um …,” she began.

“Quiet!” Marissa hissed suddenly. “Jamie’s coming.”

Kate followed her gaze. The trainer had just rounded the corner. He frowned when he saw them.

“Why are you all standing around? Lesson starts in twenty minutes sharp.” He glanced at the horses waiting more or less
patiently in the grooming stalls nearby. “And it looks like some of you are going to have to hurry to be ready in time.”

“Sorry, Jamie. We’ll be ready,” Marissa said, scurrying into the grooming bay, where her horse was dozing.

Jamie turned to Kate. “I was looking for you,” he said. “Mind riding Mrs. Walsh’s mare today instead of Fable? She was kind of a wreck at Cap Challenge, and could use another good schooling before she gets back on the trailer tomorrow.”

“Sure. I’ll go get her ready.” Not quite meeting Jamie’s eye, Kate took off down the aisle.

After the lesson, Tommi untacked as quickly as possible. Toccata hadn’t put a hoof wrong, and Tommi was sure he’d be a superstar at Harrisburg. But it wasn’t her hunter division she was thinking about as she returned the horse to his stall, fed him a peppermint, then headed toward the stable office. She’d had a brainstorm halfway through the lesson, and she needed to talk to Jamie about it right away if it was going to work out.

As she headed toward the office, she encountered Fitz and Marissa lounging in the aisle outside the tack room a couple of doors down. “Is Jamie in there?” Tommi asked them, nodding at the closed office door.

“Yeah.” Marissa pursed her lips, shooting the door a meaningful glance. “He’s with Joy.”

Tommi swallowed a sigh. Were they still all worked up about that? Okay, so maybe it wasn’t too hard to believe the part about Joy’s pregnancy. That would actually explain a lot
about the assistant trainer’s behavior lately. But could anyone seriously think Jamie would offer her job to a teenager—even one as responsible, hardworking, and talented as Kate?

Fitz seemed to guess what Tommi was thinking. “It could be true, you know,” he said, sounding a little defensive. “Kate could do the job. I’m sure Jamie knows it. He’d be a fool not to consider her.”

“Okay, fine.” Tommi wasn’t going to argue. Let them believe some crazy Internet rumor if they wanted. She just hoped Kate had enough sense not to fall for the story.

Tommi’s phone buzzed, and she dug it out of her pocket. “Hot date?” Fitz teased.

Tommi glanced at the screen. “It’s my friend Abby. You guys probably know her—she goes to Kirk with you.”

“Sure, everyone knows Abby.” Fitz nodded. “She’s cool.”

“Yeah, she’s in a couple of my classes.” Suddenly Marissa looked worried. “She’s not saying anything about a math quiz, is she?”

“Nope.” Tommi scanned the text. “She’s all excited because she just sent off her application to Stanford.”

“Already?” Fitz raised an eyebrow.

“She’s applying early action. It’s her first choice. And yeah, it’s still early—Abs comes across as laid-back, but she can be a little type A about some stuff. ”

Even via text, Abby sounded really excited—she wanted Tommi and their other friends to meet up with her right now to celebrate. Tommi quickly texted back that she was out at the barn and couldn’t make it.

“Early action? Oh good.” Marissa looked relieved. “I’ve
barely started my apps—my mom was harassing me about it just yesterday. She’s afraid I’ll run out of time ’cause I’m so busy with Indoors.”

“Where are you applying?” Fitz asked. “Don’t forget, my dad said he’d write you a rec for Colgate if you decide to apply.”

“I know, and thanks, that’s amazing.” Marissa grimaced. “I’m afraid it might take more than that to get me in there, though.”

“Hey, you won’t know unless you go for it,” Fitz said. “What have you got to lose?”

“You’re right. I’ll probably apply and cross my fingers.” Marissa smiled. “I heard they have an amazing art history department. And that the people there are really nice.”

Fitz nodded. “My dad loved it. He’s making me apply, even though I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be my first choice.”

There was more, but Tommi stopped listening. Marissa was always enthusiastic about everything she did, but even Fitz sounded weirdly geeked about the whole applying-to-college thing. So did Abby, when she talked about Stanford, and Court when she sorted and re-sorted the list of schools she wanted to apply to, and most of Tommi’s other senior friends, too. Even Duckface—crazy, life-of-the-party, devil-may-care Duckface, for god’s sake—was all about getting into Yale these days.

Tommi just didn’t get it. They all seemed so eager to move on all of a sudden. Their lives would be so totally different this time next year—why rush it? What was the big hurry for things to change?

She closed her eyes, hating the unsettled feeling the whole
topic gave her whenever she let herself think about it. It was like time was moving too fast and too slowly at the same time—and worse yet, there was nothing Tommi could do about it.

“What about you?” Marissa asked, breaking into Tommi’s thoughts. “I don’t think I’ve even asked where you’re applying.”

“Let me guess—the old man’s probably making you apply to Georgetown, right?” Fitz grinned and elbowed Tommi.

She smiled weakly. “I haven’t really narrowed it down yet. I’m mostly focused on Indoors right now, and finding another project to train up.”

That was true, mostly. Tommi didn’t like to admit it, even to herself, but sometimes she wondered—what if she couldn’t make things work in the horse business? Everyone was always saying how hard it was, and Tommi had really only made one successful transaction so far. What if the next horse she tried to flip was a dud, or colicked right before the sale went through? What if she never found that second horse at all?

Maybe Tommi’s father wasn’t all wrong when he said she should consider all her options. Maybe she needed to think about what her future might look like just in case her horse business didn’t pan out …

At that moment the office door swung open. Joy hurried out, holding a clipboard. “Hi, guys,” she greeted Tommi and the others. “Looking for Jamie? He’s inside.”

“Great.” Tommi stepped toward the door. Then she paused and glanced at Fitz and Marissa. “You guys weren’t waiting for Jamie too, were you?”

“Nope, he’s all yours,” Fitz said as Marissa waved Tommi on.

“Thanks.” Pushing all thoughts of college applications, horse flipping, and assistant trainer jobs out of her mind, Tommi hurried into the office. Jamie was bent over some paperwork on his desk.

He glanced up. “Hi, Tommi. What’s up?”

Tommi took a deep breath. “I was thinking about something during the lesson today, and I had an idea I wanted to run past you.”

Chapter Nine

“Sure you don’t want to come, Little Z?” Zara’s father asked as he wandered across the loft, leaving a spicy scent cloud of aftershave in his wake. “Heard this place has the best sushi in New York.”

“Nah.” Zara stuck her pen in her mouth, studying the Spanish workbook on the coffee table in front of her. A stack of other schoolbooks sat nearby, along with Zara’s laptop and a big cup of coffee. “I’d better stay here and study.”

Her mother had been applying lipstick in the mirrored foyer wall, but she stopped short and turned around at Zara’s words. “Did I hear that right?” Gina said. “You’re turning down a night out to
study?
” She hustled over and pressed the back of one perfectly manicured hand to Zara’s forehead. “Doesn’t feel like you’re running a fever.”

Zara pushed her mother’s hand away. “Very funny. Hey, you’re always ragging on me about keeping my grades up, right? Besides, if I have to watch you two do your usual date-night drool thing, I won’t be able to eat anyway.”

Zac chuckled and stepped over to plant a big, sloppy kiss on his wife’s lips. “Stop!” Gina protested. “You’re smearing my lipstick.”

Zara rolled her eyes. Ever since Gina had finished her location shoot and Zac had returned from his European tour, the two of them had been making a point to go out on the town together as often as possible, often resulting in various paparazzi shots appearing in the papers the next day of the two of them smooching at yet another trendy restaurant or nightclub. It was totally gross, but at least it got them both out of the apartment at the same time.

“Just go already,” Zara said. “You’re distracting me, and I have a test on this stuff tomorrow.”

“All right, my love.” Gina bent and brushed her lips over Zara’s cheek. “Come on, Zac. I’ll redo my lipstick in the car.”

Moments later they were gone. Zara waited until she heard the muffled clank of the elevator arriving, then pushed her Spanish book away. She stood, stretched, and walked over to the wall of windows. It was around seven thirty, and there were quite a few people out and about along with the usual amount of traffic. Still, Zara immediately spotted the limo idling at the curb below, and after a moment she saw her parents emerge from the building. A man walking his dog stopped to stare as Mickey opened the car door to usher Zac and Gina in, but nobody else even slowed down. That was one good thing about their SoHo neighborhood. Most of the people who lived there were too cool to gawk at celebrities. Or at least they liked to act as if they were, which was good enough.

Zara watched the limo pull away and then turn to join the
traffic going past on Broome Street. As soon as the car was out of sight, she hurried back to the sofa, grabbed her laptop, and flipped it open. She quickly pulled up HorseShowSecrets and scanned the latest entry—some boring gossip about a junior rider at a barn in North Carolina. Normally Zara wouldn’t give it a second glance, since she didn’t know the people involved and had never even set foot in North Carolina. But this time she studied it carefully before scrolling back to the previous post, and then the one before that.

“Who could know about all this stuff?” she muttered under her breath. “There’s got to be a clue here somewhere.”

Grabbing her Spanish notebook, she flipped to one of the blank pages in the back. Scrolling back to the top of the blog postings, she started going through them again, jotting down how many times each barn appeared. Maybe that would help her narrow down what region the blogger was from, anyway. Of course, the fact that most of the A circuit had been at Cap Challenge last week might make that harder. …