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But what was Sara Waters doing here? It didn’t make any sense to find her here in the middle of the stable, standing in front of Emma’s horse’s stall. I was still shocked at the sight of her. This was not the girl who had pestered me and followed me around everywhere I went when we were kids.
She was smiling at me, and I finally smiled back. “So, when was the last time I saw you?”
She crossed her arms and leaned against one of the stall doors. “Well, it was a little over ten years ago. And I think it was here for some event. I saw you, but we didn’t speak. You had a girl with you, and I think were talking about getting married sometime after that.”
I nodded, realizing exactly when she must have seen me last. “Ah, right. Yeah, that was Kelly. We got married.”
“Is she here? Can I meet her?” Sara looked genuinely interested.
I shook my head and held up my bare left hand. “We’re not married anymore.”
“Oh, that’s a shame. I guess? Or maybe you’re happier?”
I shrugged. “You know how it goes. Relationships come and go, and Kelly was gone from my life about as quickly as she entered it. She did give me a beautiful daughter though, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Other than that though…yeah, for the past twelve years I’ve been here, working on the ranch, raising my daughter, and just living.”
“Wow, well, it sounds like you’ve been a busy guy.”
“What about you?” I didn’t remember seeing her the last time she was here, and she had changed so much it was hard to believe this was the same, Sara.
She tossed her dark brown hair over her shoulder, and I admired the deep brown of her eyes, accentuated with her dark black lashes.
“I went to college and did all of that. Came back home to help my dad out and I’ve been doing that ever since. Got engaged for a little while, but that didn’t work out.” She shrugged, but I could see something in her eyes when she said that. It was clear the topic was off limits just from her body language, and I was surprised she had brought it up at all.
“Well, it is good to see you again.”
She tilted her head at me and asked, “Why didn’t you ever come to any of the derbies? I would have known if you were there. Too busy back here?”
I thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t that there was something keeping me away from the Waters derby, not really. There had been a shadow hanging over that part of my life for some time, and I didn’t want to bring it up with Sara. We weren’t close at all, but the truth was that I had thought about her often over the years as the family name was brought up. Some part of me didn’t want to go there and face her father or her. So much of what had happened with Kelly had left me reeling, and I had stuck around the ranch, never venturing far. I liked my work here, and if they didn’t need me at the derby, then I didn’t go. That’s why God gave me four brothers’ as far as I was concerned.
“Things come up. You know. But I was planning on being at the upcoming derby, as a matter of fact.”
She seemed to grimace somewhat, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Would you like to go to my office and talk?”
Sara hesitated but started walking back toward the stable entrance with me. “We probably don’t have to go back there. We can just talk out here in the open if that’s okay with you.”
I gave her a look. “Is everything okay?” I hadn’t seen her in a long time, but I didn’t have to be an expert to know that she looked like a woman who had something to say that she didn’t particularly want to.
She sighed and stopped there in the stable, and I turned to face her again.
“The truth is that everything isn’t okay and I’ve got some bad news to share with you.” Sara was looking from side to side, maybe to check if there was anyone else around.
“Tell me. What is it?”
She looked seriously troubled to be telling me whatever it was and I couldn’t imagine where she was going with this. Maybe her father was ill? Or the derby was going under?
“You’re not going to be able to run any horses this year.”
The words didn’t register at first. I tried to make sense of them, but how could she be serious? There had been a Killarny Estate horse in their derby for as long as it had been going. And this was the biggest one of the year. She couldn’t possibly expect us to sit this one out.
“You’re going to have to explain to me because I am completely at a loss as to why you could be asking us to sit this one out,” I said plainly.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Listen, Pete. I don’t want to do this, and I don’t really want to get into the middle of anything that is going on around here, but my father has some concerns, and we think it best that you guys are not a part of our event this year. I would really rather not get into details. I don’t want to offend you or your operation.” She pulled a check out of her purse and stuck her hand out toward me. “Here…it’s the full amount you paid for registration. Every bit of it. We don’t expect you to pay for a race you aren’t going to run in. Please take it and know that it’s with my deepest regrets that we have to do this.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You have to do this? Why, because your father told you to?”
She braced herself and thrust her chin forward defiantly. “I am acting in the best interests of my family’s company. This is the way it has to be, and if you have a problem with it well, I’m the one you have to talk to so let’s hash it out here.”
