Saturday morning came early, just like every other show day. But Kate woke up even before the alarm went off, staring up at the hotel room ceiling and listening to Dani snore and mutter in the next bed. This was it. She was supposed to show several horses today, including Fable in the eq. And she had yet to figure out what to do about her breeches situation.
She was still lying there when the buzzer sounded. Dani didn’t move for a long moment, then finally stirred, pushed herself up into a sitting position, and smacked at the alarm until it shut off.
“Ugh,” she moaned, shoving a chunk of hair out of her face. “Remind me again why we do this?”
Kate sat up, too. “I don’t know,” she said, too distracted to play along.
Dani swung her legs over the side of her bed. “First dibs on the shower,” she muttered sleepily.
She disappeared into the bathroom. Kate just sat there, her mind skittering around as frantically as a weanling newly separated from its mother. She knew she should just ask one of her friends to loan her a pair of breeches. It was the only possible way she’d still be able to ride today. Even Dani, whose family had to budget carefully to afford her riding, usually had a spare pair of Tailored Sportsmans on hand in case of stains or other disasters.
The trouble was, Dani was an athlete and built like one. She was also several inches shorter than Kate. Glancing toward the bathroom door, behind which she could hear Dani humming over the sound of the shower, Kate knew there was no way her breeches would come close to fitting well enough to pass. Especially now.
Kate ran through the other options in her mind. Marissa was almost as tall as she was, but nowhere near as slim. Tommi was slim, but quite a bit shorter. What about Zara? She was a lot curvier than Kate and not so tall, but tended to favor form-fitting styles. Kate might be able to make something of hers work. But anytime she thought about asking her, her stomach clenched and she kind of wanted to cry. When it came right down to it, she hated the idea of asking any of her wealthier friends for anything. It just wasn’t her.
“It’s not that big a deal,” she murmured aloud, trying to convince herself.
She stood up and dug into her suitcase, pulling out the ripped breeches. If she showed them to her friends, maybe came up with a good story to explain what had happened, she knew any of them would immediately offer to help. Probably even loan her enough cash to pick up a new pair in her size at the tack vendors.
That reminded Kate of those pricey show gloves Zara had bought her, which were laid out on the dresser along with her helmet and crop. She still felt guilty for accepting those. Hadn’t even really wanted to wear them today, though she’d just about convinced herself that Zara might be insulted if she didn’t. How could she accept even more from her—from any of them?
As she stared at the gloves, a new idea popped into her head. Kind of a crazy one. Crazy enough to work? Kate squeezed the gloves in her hand, not sure she’d have the guts to try it.
Then again, what other choice did she have?
Kate glanced up from picking out a horse’s foot when she heard footsteps coming her way. But it was only Zara. She was munching on a doughnut, probably swiped from the hotel’s breakfast buffet.
“Hey,” she said. “You showing today?”
Kate’s stomach grumbled as she watched the other girl take another bite. She’d been so busy watching for Summer at breakfast that she’d barely eaten a thing.
But this was no time to think about food. “Um, yeah,” she told Zara. “I’m doing two of Jamie’s in the schoolings in a couple of hours, then Fable right after that.”
“Cool. Light day today for me.” Zara leaned against the wall and picked at her cuticles. “I should probably get a new eq horse myself—give me something to do.” She glanced up and grinned. “Besides, my father owes me.”
Kate had no idea what she was talking about. But she was starting to feel nervous. Zara couldn’t be here if she was going to put her plan into action. She had to get rid of her. But how? Zara wasn’t the type to volunteer to run to the office to pick up numbers or anything like that.
“Um, hey,” she said as an idea popped into her head. “I heard some girls from another barn gossiping about some super cute guy riding in one of the schooling rings right now. Did you see him?”
“Really? No,” Zara said, suddenly perking up. “Seriously, a real live hottie at a horse show? Is he straight?”
“I don’t know, they didn’t say. It sounded like it, though.”
Zara grinned. “Thanks for the tip; I think I just found something to do. Want to come check it out with me?”
“I wish.” Kate gestured with her hoof pick at the horse in the cross-ties. “Can’t. Sorry.”
“Your loss.” Zara hurried out without a backward glance.
Kate breathed a sigh of relief, fighting back a few pangs of guilt. Okay, now all she had to do was find Summer. She hadn’t made it to breakfast before Kate had to leave, so it was now or never. Kate put the horse back in its stall and started to search.
Ten minutes later, she tracked her down in the tack stall. Summer was sitting on one of the director’s chairs watching her dog, Whiskey, jump around and nip at Chaucer, who was trying to sleep.
“Hi,” Kate said, glancing around to make sure nobody else was nearby. All clear.
Summer shot her an uninterested look. “Hi.” Then she went back to watching the dogs.
Her hands shaking, Kate pulled the Roeckl gloves out of her jeans pocket. “Hey,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Check out my new show gloves. Do you like them?”
“They’re okay, I guess.” Summer barely glanced at the gloves.
“Yeah, Zara must think so, too,” Kate said. “She has the exact same pair.”
“Really?” For the first time, Summer’s pale blue eyes showed a glimmer of interest. “Are you sure they’re the same?”
“Absolutely. I was with her when she bought them.” Kate flapped the gloves against her other palm. “She’s been wearing them this whole show, didn’t you notice?”
“Well, of course I noticed she looked amazing, as usual.” Summer hopped to her feet, hurried over, and plucked the gloves out of Kate’s hand. She pulled one on, then held her hand out to admire it. “I should probably get a pair of these myself. I wonder if they sell them at the tack vendor here?”
“I don’t think so.” Kate shrugged, still working hard to keep it casual. “But if you really like them, I guess you could buy these off of me. I don’t really need them, and they’re brand-new—I haven’t even worn them yet.”
“Seriously? It’s a deal!” Summer clutched the gloves to herself, as if fearing Kate might change her mind and grab them back. “I’ll pay you back for them later, okay?”
“No!” Kate blurted out, panicking. “Um, I mean if you want them, I kind of need the cash now. If you have it.”
“Of course I have it.” Summer rolled her eyes. “But I really don’t feel like walking all the way out to the car to get it.”
“I’ll come with you.” Kate kept her voice firm. “We can go right now.”
Summer hesitated, glancing down at the gloves. Then she sighed. “Fine,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Kate led the way out of the tack stall, knowing she’d feel better once Summer’s money was in her pocket. True, fifty bucks still wasn’t enough to buy her a new pair of name-brand breeches at the tack vendors. But if she pooled it with the cash she had left from her food budget, she should be able to swing something acceptable.
As they rounded the corner at the end of the aisle, Kate felt her heart stop. Zara was coming the other way. She was staring down at her cell phone with a self-satisfied smile.
“Wait, let’s go back,” Kate whispered, grabbing for Summer’s arm.
But Summer was already rushing forward. “Zara!” she called excitedly, waving the gloves. “Check it out—we’re going to match!”
Kate froze in place. This couldn’t be happening. Somehow, she’d just assumed that Summer wouldn’t tell anyone where she got those gloves. She was such a snob, she’d want everyone to think she’d bought them at some high-end tack store or something—not from the working student she looked down on.
But it seemed she’d been wrong. Zara was already glancing up, looking confused and a little annoyed. All Kate could do was brace herself for whatever was coming next.
Zara stared as Summer raced toward her. What the hell was the girl yapping about now, and why was she supposed to care?
She glanced down at the phone in her hand, more than a little distracted. She’d just hung up from talking to Grant. The boy was so hot for her it wasn’t even funny.
Then she looked at Summer again. She was waving a pair of gloves in her face, sounding all excited.
Zara blinked as she realized those gloves looked familiar. She grabbed them out of Summer’s hand.
“Hey,” she said. “These are just like mine.”
“That’s what I’m telling you!” Summer gushed with that big, stupid smile of hers. “I figured if you liked them, they had to be awesome, right?”
Zara glanced at Kate. She was hanging back, looking like she wished she could disappear. Well, okay, she always kind of looked like that. But now more than ever.
Then Zara looked down at the gloves again. The ones just like hers. Just like the ones she’d bought for Kate.
“Listen, Zara,” Kate began, her voice shaking a little. “I—”
“No, shut up,” Zara cut in, finally catching on to what was happening here. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“But if you just let me explain,” Kate said frantically. “I really didn’t mean to—”
“I told you, I don’t want to hear it!” Zara scowled at Kate, completely ignoring Summer, who was still buzzing around like the annoying little mosquito she was. But at least it had been obvious from the start that Summer was a loser user. On the other hand, Kate’s big, pathetic puppy-dog eyes and soft voice had suckered her completely. And Zara hated being played for a chump.
“But—” Kate tried once more.
“But nothing,” Zara snapped, waving the gloves in Kate’s face. “Thanks for making me feel like a total dumbass, Kate. I thought we were friends, I tried to do something nice—guess I should’ve known better, huh? Believe me, I won’t make that mistake again.”
Spinning on her heel, she stuffed the gloves in her pocket and stomped away.