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As I walked off toward the other barns to locate my two youngest brothers, I couldn’t help thinking about what Jake had said regarding Sara Waters. I hadn’t seen her since we were practically teenagers. It must have been a decade or so. I wondered what she looked like now and if there was a chance that we’d get some time alone when I was at her father’s derby in a few weeks.
Chapter 2
Sara
“Sara?”
I looked up from the top of my reading glasses that I used only when I was working on my laptop. They were sliding down my nose, and I pulled them off my face and rubbed the bridge of my nose as I looked at Elsie, my father’s secretary, standing in the doorway of my office.
“Yes?”
“Your father would like to see you. He said he’s got a few last minute things to go over for the derby.”
Of course, he does, I thought as I flashed Elsie a smile and a nod. He was waiting until two weeks before our derby to go over something that I had a feeling would be of utmost importance and require my immediate attention. It was the typical stunt my father always pulled this time of year.
“I’ll be right there. I’m just finishing up a few things.”
My father acted as if his office wasn’t right down the hall from mine. He certainly could have used what little exercise the walk would have provided, but I knew he was never in any kind of temperament to hear my suggestion.
I closed my laptop and grabbed my notebook full of notes for the upcoming derby and headed down the hallway to his office. I found my father leaning back in his chair, grinning wide, with a cigar hanging out of his mouth as he chuckled into his phone.
“Well, well. How about that! I imagine we’ll be seeing her here in a couple of years then. That’s great, Jameson. I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks. I’ll talk to you later.” He snapped the flip phone shut, and I shook my head, still surprised that the man refused to upgrade his cell phone from the one he had gotten ten years prior.
“That thing is going to give out on you,” I said with a half-smile.
“Nah, she’s holding up. They don’t make things like they used to. I’ll use her until it’s time to put her out to pasture.” He tapped the end of his cigar on the ashtray on his desk.
“You know, I could probably call OSHA about you smoking in here. I’m sure they’d have something to say about your daily cigar and the fact that your most valuable employee has to be exposed to carcinogens.”
He laughed. “Sweetheart, that’s the beauty of a home office. I’m the king around here. What I say, goes.”
“And your lungs may as well,” I said as I scrunched my nose and waved the smoke out of the air. “Elsie said you had a few things to talk to me about.”
He cleared his throat and put the cigar down in the ashtray, a thin thread of smoke rising from the tip.
“I sure do. With the derby coming up we’ve got a lot going on, and I know you’ve been just as busy as I have.”
I smirked but didn’t say anything. The idea that my father had been doing as much work around here for the derby as I had was laughable. Beyond making phone calls to his good ol’ boys at ranches around the country, he didn’t do an awful lot for the derby anymore. Most of the work was left to the rest of us and since I was second in charge most of it fell on my lap to take care of.
“It is definitely the busiest time of year for us,” I said with a nod.
He narrowed his eyes, and I could tell the wheels in his brain were turning.
“I hate to ask you to do much more, but I need you to make a call and take care of something for me.”
“What is it?” I asked, leaning in to see what he was looking at on his desk. He pushed a folder toward me. It was labeled ‘Killarny Estate’.’
“What’s going on with the Killarnys?”
My father took a deep breath. “I’m going to need you to tell them they won’t be entering a horse in this year’s derby. Not this one and, not the next one. Not ever again.”
I looked at him with my mouth agape. “Why would you remove the Killarnys from the derby? They’ve had a relationship with us for as long as anyone has and they have been a very valuable draw for us. People come from all over to see who the Killarnys are racing. Dad…you’re going to have to explain.”
“I’ve got my reasons,” he said, sounding suspicious as he picked up the cigar again.
I crossed my arms in front of my chest and leaned back into my chair. “Well, you’re going to have to tell me what they are before I go about ending one of the oldest relationships we have with a stable. Aren’t you considering the kind of repercussions this could have?”
He shrugged. “Listen to me, Sara. There’s more going on here than what you think you know. I’ve been suspecting them of some things for quite some time, and I just want to keep things above board around here.”
