Rob ran her fast, and she did whatever he asked her to. They were an incredible pair, and Trey saw with earthly eyes the answer to his prayers—and to Beth’s.
A few minutes later, Lawrence sat next to him. “Spur’s on his way up.”
“Yeah? Why?” Trey didn’t take his eyes off Rob. He let Lady slow and start to cool, leaning over and saying something to her. He’d get her to the starting gate, and they’d get their race in.
“He said he wants to see how Lady’s doing.”
“Mm.” Trey suspected Spur would ask all kinds of questions about him and Beth. Blaine had only asked a few, and Cayden had simply listened. Trey had told them that it just wasn’t going to work out, and that once the Classic was over, he and Beth would likely end up divorced.
There was nolikelyabout it. It was going to happen. He was just trying to decide how much time he should let go by before he filed. He didn’t want anyone at the Sweetheart Classic to know or even suspect that the marriage wasn’t real, as he’d heard about the founders of the race stripping winners of their titles in the past.
Word had gotten around about him moving back to Bluegrass, but only Lawrence had spoken to him about it.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m hanging in there,” Trey said, smiling at his brother. For that single moment, it felt like heaven opened and the sun’s rays shone down.
“Good,” Lawrence said. “I suppose that’s all we can ever do.”
“Yeah.” Trey sighed. “What about you? Gonna survive working with Cayden?”
“Doubtful,” Lawrence said dryly. “He’s been so sour since breaking up with Ginny.”
“Did he actually break up with her?” Trey asked. “I never did hear that story.”
“According to him, he just didn’t call her once she got back from her trip to the Caymans. But.” He really hit the T. “She didn’t call him either, so he’s just Grumpy Gus all the time. It’s exhausting.”
“I wonder why she didn’t call,” Trey said. “She seemed to like him a lot.”
“He’s smitten with her still,” Lawrence said. “I told Blaine we need to stage an intervention, and Blaine just laughed. Said he liked having all ten of his fingers, thank you very much.”
Trey laughed, because Cayden was always saying stuff like he’d do some physical damage to someone if they didn’t leave him alone.
“I’m not sure why Wendy Winters doesn’t like him,” Trey said.
“Yeah, well, he’s organizing this huge event just to impress her, though he won’t admit it.” Lawrence pointed to his right. “There’s Spur. And now I have to deal with some marketing firm we’ve never worked with before, and it’ll be up to me to be Cayden or I’ll get chewed out.” He sighed, but he wasn’t wrong.
Spur came down the aisle and sat down next to Trey. “Heya, boys.”
“Spur,” they said together.
“How’s she look?”
“Great,” Trey said. “I think we’re going to win.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Spur said.
“Rob’s setting her up now,” Trey said, nodding to the track. The three of them sat side-by-side and watched as Rob took his time with Lady. Finally, he nodded, and whoever was up in the booth sounded the bell.
Lady took off like it was a real race, and Trey pulled in a breath at her magnificence.
“She really is amazing,” Spur said. “You’ve done a phenomenal job with her.”
“I think it’s mostly been Rob,” Trey murmured. The hole in his chest widened when he realized that he’d lose Somebody’s Lady as soon as the Classic ended. He’d have to take her back to Dixon Dreams, and he’d likely never see her again.
“Beth should keep training her,” Spur said. “She’s not a Derby horse, but she could win the smaller purses at a dozen races.”
“I’ll tell her,” Trey said, a blip of hope entering his heart. If Lady kept racing, maybe he could keep training her.