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“Good,” Trey said, relaxing slightly as he joined his favorite brother at the fence. Maybe Lawrence wasn’t his favorite, but he was certainly up there, because he didn’t normally ask a lot of questions. He was a lot like Trey; content to be in the background while the louder brothers took the spotlight.
“You got Robert Merchant?” Lawrence asked, looking at Trey with wide eyes. “How’d you do that?”
“I texted him,” Trey said. “He said he could do it.”
“The Snape House has been trying to get him for months,” Lawrence said.
“How do you know that?” Trey asked as Rob led Lady around the mobile starting gate they used for training. “He didn’t tell me that.”
“Conrad and Ian have been talking about it,” Lawrence said. “I swear, sometimes they fixate on one thing forever.”
“Sometimes?” Trey quipped, and Lawrence chuckled with him. “She wants to make her break on the last turn,” he said as Rob removed his hand from the gate, the indicator he was about to let Somebody’s Lady run. “We’re going to let her this time and see what happens.”
The horse exploded from the gate, and Trey stood up on the bottom rung, his anticipation building in the back of his throat. The horse looked good, and Trey smiled as she thundered past him and Lawrence. He loved the scent of dirt and horseflesh, straw and sawdust and saddle leather.
The door opened again, and he muttered, “For the love,” as he turned in that direction. Beth came inside, though, and Trey’s whole being lit up.
“Is this how you find time to be alone?” Lawrence murmured, and Trey met his brother’s eyes while his wife walked toward him.
“No,” he said. “She’s only come a couple of times. Looks like she has food tonight.” He patted his brother’s chest. “Come see what she’s got. She always over-packs.” He walked away from his brother, a smile on his face for Beth.
“Hey,” she said, glancing to Lawrence and then the track, where Somebody’s Lady had disappeared around the curve to the far side of the track. Outside, they wouldn’t have been able to see Lady unless they were up in the stands. Inside, though, without the trees and decorative hedges, the dark horse could be seen on the opposite side of the track.
He bent down and kissed her quickly. “You’re a Godsend.”
“It’s peanut butter and peach jam,” she said. “Don’t get excited.”
“I am excited.” He took the paper bag of food from her and took out a sandwich. He handed it to Lawrence and added, “You remember my brother, Lawrence.”
“Of course,” Beth said, smiling at him. She looked drawn around the edges, and Trey wished he could clone himself so he could help out around Dixon Dreams more than he did.
Marc and his crew had been making steady progress, but Beth refused to be sidelined. Her hand was nearly healed now, and she had one final appointment next week to get the final check-off as to whether she could use it fully again.
She practically did now already, though he’d seen her taking painkillers and opening and closing her fingers slowing as if working out the kinks in her fingers and wrist.
“She’s on the curve,” Lawrence said, and Trey spun around. Though his stomach grumbled, he could wait another twenty seconds so he could see how Lady took the corner when Rob let her go as fast as she wanted.
“Holy cow,” he said, his voice awed. Somebody’s Lady had already been uncaged as she went past the top of the curve, and Rob leaned down into her as tightly as he could as she stayed right against the rail, practically leaning her rider into the fence as she literally flew out of the turn.
“My word,” Lawrence said, plenty of shock in his tone.
“Look at her go,” Beth said, joining Trey on the fence. “Trey, you didn’t tell me she was so fast.”
“She’s your horse,” Trey said as Somebody’s Lady corrected back to the fence. She had come off of it slightly, and that would be a problem if there was another horse in front of her or one trying to take over on her outer flank. She’d have hit them with a cornering like that.
If she ran into another horse during the race, she’d be disqualified. Everything he and Beth had done would be for nothing.
Trey had grown up his whole life on the horse racing circuit, and he still marveled at how much hinged on a race that took less than two minutes.
Somebody’s Lady flew past the group of them, and Lawrence whooped like she’d just won the Derby. He clapped, and Trey let himself smile too. He turned to check the time, and she’d shaved off two seconds from her last run just by cutting out sooner.
Rob slowed her and brought her back to the crowd. “She didn’t seem to lose steam in the last eight strides,” he called. “What did you think?”
“She was incredible,” Beth breathed, climbing all the way to the top of the fence and swinging her legs over so they hung into the arena. Somebody’s Lady went right to her, still heaving for breath. “You let her loose earlier?”
“About six strides earlier,” he said. “I felt like she was going to lose me on that corner.” He grinned. “I need to train in one of those astronaut apparatuses.”
“Or do a bunch sit-ups,” Lawrence said. “I don’t even know how you held on.”
