Page 24 of Gift Horse

Gustavo’s wedding is tomorrow, and I absolutely cannot miss it. After that, there’s nothing else keeping me here. Especially not Mariano.The sooner and farther I get away fromhimand what he does to my body, the better. “A week from today?” That gives me time to go to the wedding, say goodbye to Teena, and buy a plane ticket that doesn’t cost three arms and a leg. Mother might be willing to throw money around like confetti, but I’m a beast of a different stripe. And Gustavo has offered me the use of his flat while he and Nicolás are on their honeymoon, which buys me a little time.

“I’ll be traveling for most of the season, darling.”

Shame.

“So, I shan’t see you until later?”

I need to make a noise of gratitude because she is saving my bacon and she does, in her own convoluted way, want what’s best for me. It’s just that she doesn’t want what I want. “Thank you, Mummy.”

“Don’t thank me. I’m the one who’s grateful. Whoever thought that Lolly Benoit would deign to grace my presence?” How is it possible that everything she says is so finely barbed? “You’ll be our assistant trainer. Even you will be a draw for some of the second and third tier clients.”

TEXTLSTART_I need to talk to you. Now… I can’t get you out of my head_TEXTLEND

Oh, no! Alicia’s having a 911 moment? That’s rare! Like kangaroo feathers rare! “Mum? I’ve got to go. Alicia’s on the other line. I’ll give you a shout when I arrive at Aunt Dot’s.”

“Oh, no need, sweetie. Just find your feet and report for duty on the 22nd. We’re holding a launch party, and I’m going to need you to be the company rep.”

“Great.” My favorite.#sarcasmtotherescue.

“Do you need me to set you up with an appointment with Madame Lorraine?” Madame is mother’s private tailor and bound to dress me in something so hideousThe Tatlerwould photograph me as a warning to other horsewomen as to why they shouldn’t allow themselves to run fallow.

“I’m good, Mum, but thank you.”

“You know your way around a barn and the social circles, so I’ll shoot them a note and tell them you don’t have to do their appalling training session. Just ghastly. But necessary, they tell me. HR runs the world now, did you know that?”

“Thanks?” I guess? Got to go, got to go! Really, it’s Alicia! “I’ve got to go, Mother.”

“Ciao, darling.”

“Yes, bye.” I finish off the Patrón and ruffle Mr. Wiggin’s ears and scroll back through my messages. What did she say? She needs to talk? Like, in person?

Mr. Wiggins trots to the door and gathers his leash. What a good boy. At least he’s coming with me. There’s that small comfort to be had.

“We’ll go out in a jiffy. Let’s update Alicia before she blows a gasket.” I switch from phone to text.

But it wasn’t Alicia I was texting with. It was Mariano.

DRESSED TO KILL

Mariano Arias. High Winds Polo Club. Palm Beach, Florida.

The world isn’t what it was yesterday or even the day before. I’m a free man! I have to find Lolly and beg her to hear me out. It had to be done and now it doesn’t! She stopped answering my texts last night, but face-to-face she’ll listen and understand.

Free!

That means desire can overstep the bounds of duty. There is nothing keeping us apart that can’t be ironed out.

The wedding crowd throngs through the tent doors, people rushing the bar and finding the seats. The corner is dominated by Gustavo and Nicolás’ cake. The thing is five tiers high with a cascade of Pokémon characters climbing up and down the sugar lattice that the cake maker has created for the sole purpose of making her creation a masterpiece of irony.

Truth be told, I care nothing for the cake. Only Lolly. She hasn’t shown herself, but she will. Until then, I must bide my time, the freedom I’ve gained bubbling so hard I can barely contain it. I might be leaving soon to work for Juliette’s friend, but in the meanwhile we can explore what it is between us.

There are tables set up around the dance floor and I find one as far from the cake as possible. The work of art is already drawing a crowd of exclaimers, and I want somewhere out of the hubbub while I wait to find Lolly.

On the one hand, we’re here for the solemn union of two people who intend to bind themselves together—legally, emotionally, and spiritually—for the next seventy-plus years, on the other, the club’s marquee has been decked out like the inside of a video game. It’s two parts Pokémon to one part manga characters I don’t recognize, except to understand that they’re ninja-like and badass. I never played Pokémon. I was always too busy training, but I have nephews and nieces aplenty. My brother’s boy, Javier, dragged me around Rome with a phone in his hand, yelling at the pavement whenever he found a character, so I at least know who Pikachu is.

What I don’t know is how the stable boy has the funds to throw a party of this size. In our short acquaintance, Gustavo has always been the consummate professional, but there was nothing about how he comported himself that told me he came from money. Not that it would have made any difference to how we would have behaved towards one another, but it’s interesting that a man of means would take a job as a stable hand when he must have had so many other options open to him.

It seems I’m underdressed for the occasion. I have on what I thought was the required uniform—black tie and tails—but the other guests have tails of another kind. The furry kind. Furry, spiked, flowered, and—if I am not mistaken—animated from within. I pull the invitation—which everyone in the barnfamiliareceived—from my jacket pocket and examine the text.

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