The A Circuit 04- Rein It In by Georgina Bloomberg Page A

“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 lesspatiently 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 lotabout 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’vebarely 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