“Okay, the first thing to know is that you always get on a horse from the left,” Isabel said, leading the majestic white mare out of the stable. “Then you just put your boot in the left stirrup, grab the saddle, and pull yourself up. It’s pretty easy. Like this.”
Rory watched Isabel demonstrate by placing her toe in the stirrup and stepping up gracefully right into the saddle. Mascara, the horse, didn’t blink.
“See?” Isabel said, as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
Rory sighed. She couldn’t believe she’d let Isabel talk her into a semiprivate riding lesson at Two Trees, but after four days of watching Connor and Julia hanging out at home in cuddly bliss, she’d decided she needed to escape. Everywhere she went, it seemed, there was Julia: sunning herself on the patio, watching TV in the library, playing tennis with Steve on the court. She’d made herself instantly at home overnight, and Mrs. Rule appeared to be thrilled. Just that morning at the breakfast table, while Rory delivered the mail, she’d overheard Mrs. Rule ask Julia if she wanted to go with the family to Nick and Toni’s the following night.
“Of course!” Julia said in her Chipmunks-on-helium voice. “I love it there!”
Connor still hadn’t been able to look Rory in the eye since the party. The few times she’d seen him in the kitchen, he’d given her a brief hello and nothing more. He spent most of the day teaching at the yacht club, coming home only for dinner. At least he and Julia weren’t sharing a room. That would have been the final straw.
“See how easy that is?” Isabel asked, snapping on her chin strap under her helmet.
“No,” Rory said.
“Come on. Don’t be scared. Flame is really sweet.”
They watched as a petite, freckled woman named Felicia led a chestnut-colored horse out into the ring. At the sight of Rory, he flared his nostrils and whinnied. “I think he knows I can’t do this,” she said.
“You’ll be fine,” Isabel said. “Just get on. From the left.”
The instructor held out the stirrup, and Rory placed her toe on the metal.
“Great. Now just swing your right leg over.”
Rory grabbed the saddle to pull herself up and sank right back to the ground.
“Felicia, can you give her a boost?” Isabel asked.
Felicia walked around behind Rory and put her hands on her waist.
“Okay, on the count of three,” Felicia said. “One, two, three…”
Rory grabbed the front of the saddle, stepped up, and with a huge push from Felicia got her other leg up and over. Flame whinnied in protest.
“Great,” Isabel said. “How does it feel?”
“Wonderful,” Rory muttered as Flame began to pace in circles. “Hey. Chill out,” she told him. Flame picked up speed. “Isabel, uh, where is he going?”
“Just yank on the reins and make him stop,” Isabel said.
“Stop!” Rory said, pulling the reins as hard as she could.
Flame ignored her and began to walk straight back to the stable, as if he knew that this was all a waste of time.
“You know, this might not be such a great idea,” Rory said over her shoulder.
“If you can teach me how to drive a car, I can teach you how to ride a horse,” Isabel replied, holding her reins like a pro.
“A car can’t throw you to the ground,” Rory said, watching Flame busy himself with eating some grass by the fence. “Or ignore you.”
“It’s just a beginner lesson. And I wish we could get started. What’s keeping her?”
“Sorry, I’m coming,” a tinkly voice said.
Julia emerged from the stable atop a sleek black horse, wearing an outfit of gloves, jodhpurs, and riding jacket that would have put the US Olympic equestrian team to shame.
“Oh, it feels so good to be doing this again,” Julia cooed, patting her horse’s shiny neck. “Hey, Rory. Looking good so far.”
“Thanks,” she said. Naturally Julia had decided to come with them, as soon as she found out where they were going. Not even Isabel could come up with a way to tell her not to come. On the way here Julia had talked nonstop about all the trophies she’d won for her riding skills up in Westchester. Rory wasn’t sure, but she could sense Isabel getting annoyed with her, too.
“So, since Rory’s never done this before, why don’t we start with some basic walking and then move into posting?” Isabel offered. “That cool?”
“Sounds great to me,” Julia said.
Felicia clapped her hands and stalked into the center of the ring. “Okay, girls, let’s start walking.”
Isabel and Julia expertly steered their horses into the ring. Rory pulled on the reins, hoping that Flame might lose interest in the grass, but he didn’t budge.
“Rory!” the instructor called. “Just press into his sides with your heels a little. That’ll get him moving.”
She pressed into Flame’s sides, and he jerked his head up.
“Now click your tongue a little,” she said.
Rory clicked her tongue. Like a shot, Flame trotted straight into the ring and right up behind Isabel’s horse. “Ow, ow, ow,” Rory said as she bounced in the saddle.
Behind her, she heard Julia’s saccharine laugh. “Ooh, that looks painful,” she joked.
Rory quietly seethed.
“All right, let’s try the post trot!” yelled the instructor. “You want to start with your butt slightly raised out of the saddle, with your hands and ankles down.”
Isabel raised herself out of the saddle. Rory did her best to mimic her.
“Rory, not so high with the butt!” the instructor yelled.
Behind her, she could hear Julia’s laugh once more.
“Okay, now you’re going to rise up when the horse takes a step with his front right leg,” Felicia yelled. “You ready? Press your heels in to get him to trot.”
In front of Rory, Isabel’s horse began to trot, and Isabel rose up and down in the saddle with perfect timing and grace.
Rory tried to follow along but rose up on the wrong leg. “Ow, ow, ow,” she muttered again.
“It’s up on the right leg,” Julia said behind her. “Like this.” Rory saw Julia come up on her left, passing her in the ring. “See?” she said. “Like this.”
Rory watched Julia sail in front of her, her perfect butt rising up and down.
“Okay, Rory, let’s bring Flame back to a walk,” said Felicia. “Pull back on the reins.”
She tugged on the reins and Flame came to an abrupt halt, almost sending her into his mane.
“This is a little tricky,” Felicia said, trudging over across the dirt. “But I’m sure you can get the hang of it. You want to rise up on the front right leg and sit down with the front left leg. Do you get it?”
“I think so,” Rory said.
“Okay, let’s try it again. Get in position. Like you’re about to ski down a mountain.”
Rory tried to mimic that pose, even though she had no idea how to ski down a mountain, either.
“Now, press your heels in,” Felicia ordered.
Rory pressed in her heels and clicked her tongue. Nothing happened. Then Julia put her fingers to her mouth and let out a high-pitched whistle.
That was all Flame needed to hear. He burst forward into a gallop that sent Rory out of her seat and clinging to his mane as he rounded the curve of the ring, past Felicia, past Isabel, and past Julia, who watched her pass with their mouths agape, looking frightened and also in awe.
“Pull back on the reins!” the instructor yelled. “Pull back!”
Rory tried to pull, but Flame was going too fast. All she could hear was the pounding of his hoofs on the dirt. Just hold on, she thought, staring at the peeling white rail and grabbing on to Flame’s mane. You cannot fall in front of this girl.
“Stop!” Felicia ran in front of them, waving her arms like she was on fire. Flame stopped, just a few feet from Felicia’s arms. Rory slid back into the saddle. Her hands still gripped the mane.
“You okay?” Felicia said, coming over and taking the reins.
“I think I’m done,” Rory said, carefully lowering herself to the ground.
Isabel jumped off her horse and ran over to her. “You okay?”
“I think so.”
Julia ambled over on her horse. “Good job, Rory,” she said. “You did just the right thing. You held on, and you didn’t panic.”
“She wouldn’t have had to if you hadn’t whistled like that,” Isabel snapped. “What were you thinking?”
“I was just trying to help,” Julia said defensively. “Her horse wasn’t moving.”
Rory reached the ground and swore to herself that she would never leave it for a saddle again.
“You whistled,” Isabel said. “It got spooked.”
“That had nothing to do with me,” Julia argued.
“It’s really okay,” Rory said, taking her first awkward steps. Her legs felt bowed out, like Popeye’s.
“I think I’m done, too,” Isabel said, walking over to get her horse.
“That’s it? We’re not going to have the lesson?” Julia asked.
Isabel glared at Julia. “No, we’re going home.”
Isabel led her horse, Mascara, back inside the dim stable and into her stall as Rory continued trying to walk normally. She was going to be sore tomorrow—extremely sore.
Julia dismounted and walked over to Rory. “I hope you know that I was just trying to help,” she said, looking like she might burst into tears.
“Sure,” Rory said. “I mean, it’s not a big deal.”
Isabel rolled her eyes behind Julia’s back. Rory could tell that Julia felt bad, but she’d clearly enjoyed making Rory feel stupid during the lesson. She wondered if Connor knew that Julia wasn’t exactly a nice person. She didn’t seem like his type at all.
The ride home was quiet and tense. This time, Julia didn’t talk.
“I want to stop at the Red Horse for kale juice,” Isabel announced.
“You drink that stuff?” Julia asked.
“Yes, and I like it,” Isabel said, in a way that ended the conversation.
At the Red Horse Market, which was a smaller version of Citarella, Rory joined Isabel on the hunt for her kale juice as Julia lingered over the blueberries.
“God, she is so annoying,” Isabel said. “I knew we shouldn’t have let her come. That was so uncool what she did to you.”
“It’s not really her fault,” Rory said.
“Of course it’s her fault,” Isabel replied. “And she can’t even admit it. It’s like she wanted that to happen.” She stopped in front of a selection of green juices and grabbed a few bottles. “I don’t know why my brother went back to her. She treated him so badly the first time.”
“What do you mean?” Rory said, trying not to sound too interested.
“I just think she’s fake. She’s not in love with him. She doesn’t know anything about him as a person. She just likes what he comes from. That he has money, that people know who he is.” She grabbed a bottle of cold kombucha tea. “I just want him to meet someone who deserves him.”
Rory was gripped with the wild urge to tell Isabel everything. There was no reason not to anymore. She knew that she had nothing to lose. And Isabel would at least be on her side instead of Julia’s.
But the ring of a cell phone sent Isabel searching for her phone.
“Is it Mike?” Rory asked as Isabel pulled it out.
“No, it wasn’t,” Isabel sighed, and bit her lip. She put her phone back in her bag. “I can’t believe he’s doing this. First he blows off the party and now he can’t even call to explain himself.”
“Maybe something came up.”
“For four days? Four days of something coming up? He obviously just wanted to sleep with me and end it.” Isabel felt tears come to her eyes and willed them away. “God, I’m so stupid. But then why tell me he loved me? And why hang out with me for two days after he got back from Maine? I don’t get it.” She shook her head. “God, I sound pathetic. Like one of those girls I always made fun of.”
Rory patted her friend on the back. She didn’t want to say that she’d had a bad feeling about Mike from the beginning, ever since that first time she saw him, when he walked across the gravel drive like a threatening storm. “I’m sure there’s an explanation,” she said.
“I should just call him, shouldn’t I?” she said. “Or just show up at his house. Right?”
“I don’t think—”
“Forget it, forget it,” Isabel muttered.
They walked back up the juice aisle to the cash registers. Isabel pushed the tears back again. Whatever happened, she would not, not cry about this guy, especially not in a public place. She’d told herself this hundreds of times in the past few days, but it didn’t stop the tears from coming. And all the questions: Where was he? What had happened? Why hadn’t he written her back? Could it have been what she texted after the party? She couldn’t have been more relaxed if she’d tried.
But she’d heard nothing. Zip. Not a peep.
“Isabel?”
She looked up and saw Mr. Knox standing in front of her. He looked just as excited to see her as he had at the Georgica that first day, and Isabel got the sense he would have tried to hug her if he hadn’t been holding a five-pound bag of ice in his arms.
“Oh, hi,” Isabel said. She wiped one of her eyes with the back of her hand, just in case she still looked teary.
“You seem like you’re a little preoccupied,” he said with a kind smile. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Oh, this is my friend Rory.”
“Hello,” he said, nodding at Rory.
“This is Mr. Knox,” Isabel said to Rory. “He’s friends with my parents.”
“How was your dad’s birthday party? We were so sorry we couldn’t make it,” he said. “I hope he enjoyed it.”
“I think he did.”
“Dad?” A gangly blond girl with enormous blue eyes trudged over to them with a basket on her arm. “I got all the stuff Mom wanted.”
“Holly, can you say hi to Isabel?” Mr. Knox asked with an odd smile on his face.
“Hi,” Holly said shyly.
Isabel stared at her. It was almost like looking into a mirror. Holly’s hair was slightly darker than hers, but it had the same wavy texture. She had the same heart shaped face, with the same hint of a dimple in her right cheek. And she had the same large blue eyes, almost white in their blueness. This girl she’d never met before looked more like her than her own sister did. “Hi, Holly. Well, it’s nice to see you guys,” she said.
“Same here,” Mr. Knox said. “We better go. We’re having company this weekend and Michelle needed some emergency items.” He patted the bag of ice. “You take care, Isabel. It was great to see you.”
Mr. Knox and his daughter walked off toward a far register. Isabel saw that she and Holly had the same stride—shoulders back, slow, long steps. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe again.
“God, that’s weird,” Isabel said.
“What?” Rory asked.
“That girl.” Isabel turned to Rory. “We look like we could be sisters. We look more like sisters than I do with Sloane.”
Rory didn’t say anything, and Isabel wondered for a moment if she was being crazy. Then Julia reappeared with a basket on her arm. “Hey, you guys,” she said. “Does anyone know what kind of sports drink Connor likes?”
“You’re his soul mate,” Isabel said, too irritated with Julia to care. “Don’t you already know?” Then she stalked off toward the cash registers.
