That Summer

by Joan Wolf

  “There's nothing wrong with Someday Soon, is there?” somebody asked.

  “There's nothing wrong with the horse,” Liam replied. “Dr. Foster is an old friend.”

  “How come my old friends don't look like that?” one of the men joked.

  Liam ignored the comment.

  I said, “I'm surprised that Someday Soon isn't the favorite for the Preakness. After all, the horse won the Kentucky Derby. And he won it in pretty convincing fashion.”

  “Your jockey rode a smart race,” someone returned. “Santos kept him out of traffic and he laid off that blistering pace. The chances of your horse having such an easy trip in the Preakness are slimmer.”

  “I think you gentlemen will be in for a surprise,” I said mildly.

  We stayed at the stall for about a half an hour, then made our way back to our car.

  We had driven up the night before and checked into a hotel. “What do you want to do this afternoon?” Liam asked as we got into his Lexus to go back to the hotel.

  “Do you want to get changed and go back to the track?” I asked.

  He looked at me gratefully. “You don't mind?”

  “Of course not.”

  We changed into jeans and spent the afternoon hanging around the barn, talking to people and watching Buster.

  That evening we went out to dinner by ourselves. Liam took me to a nice restaurant on the harbor and we had a leisurely dinner and went back to the hotel afterward. “Come into my room and we can watch television together,” I said.

  “Okay.”

  I stretched out on the bed that was directly in front of the TV and Liam turned it on. “Maybe there's a ballgame on,” he said.

  The Orioles were playing the Boston Red Sox and Liam came back to the bed and stretched out beside me. I had taken off my sneakers and socks and I wiggled my toes enjoying the freedom.

  Liam said with amusement, “Such pretty toes. Somehow you don't imagine your vet having pink toenails.”

  “A pedicure is one of the finer things in life,” I said.

  “Do you get manicures and pedicures, Annie?” He sounded genuinely curious.

  “You bet I do.”

  “Let me see your hands.”

  I held my hand up for him to see. My nails are short, but I had a French manicure.

  “Pretty,” he said.

  “Thank you. I can't have long nails because of my job.”

  “I don't like long nails.”

  “Then I'm happy I don't have them.”

  “I'm so glad that you've been here to share this experience with me, Annie. I'm not great with words, but I want you to know that it means a lot to me.”

  “I'm glad I'm here too.”

  “I wish your dad had been able to see this.”

  “I'm sure he's watching, Liam.”

  He nodded soberly.

  I asked, “Is your father coming for Saturday?”

  “Both he and my mother are coming. I think he's mad that he didn't come to the Derby.”

  “He didn't think Someday Soon would win.”

  “You got it.”

  “Kevin told me that he always got along better with your father than you did.”

  “That's true. They're the same, Kevin and my father. I think they respect each other.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “They both always get their own way.”

  “That could be said of you too.”

  He shook his head. “The difference is that I count the cost of getting my own way; they don't.”

  I thought about that. “That may be true of your father, but I don't think it's true of Kevin.”

  “Please, Annie. Kevin's good looks, not to mention his social status, have always gotten him everything he ever wanted. He wanted to be a Hollywood star and he is.” He turned to look at me. “I'm just afraid he may be thinking that he wants you.”

  His face was somber.

  “I think you're exaggerating. Kevin and I are just friends.”

  “Kevin isn't the kind of man who can be‘friends’ with a woman who looks like you do.”

  “You're prejudiced,” I said.

  “Don't fall for him, Annie. He's corrupt.”

  “Puh-leeze,” I said. “Kevin may be spoiled, but he's not corrupt.”

  “He is. I can smell the corruption in him like I can smell it in my father.”

  He was deadly serious. I said, “I think you're wrong, Liam. You and Kevin were always in competition when you were young. I don't think you see him clearly.”

  “I think it's you who doesn't see clearly, Annie. I'm worried about you.”

  He was beginning to get my back up. He was making poor Kevin sound like an ogre. “I think you've lost all sense of proportion on this. Kevin and I have been enjoying each other's company, that's all. We haven't seen each other in ages.”

  “Has he kissed you?”

  I could feel myself flush. “That's none of your business.”

  “Shit. He has kissed you.”

  I glared. “Will you watch the damn Orioles and stop cross-examining me? The more you talk the more you sound like a dog in the manger.”

  A muscle flickered in his jaw. “I love you, that gives me the right to be concerned about you.”

  “I love you too, but that doesn't give me the right to criticize whoever you go out with.”

  “I'm not going out with anyone right now.”

  “Well, if you were, I wouldn't say bad things about her to you.”

  “If there were bad things to be said, then you should say them.”

  “I'd love to see your face if I told you a girl you were going out with was corrupt.”

  “If she was corrupt, I'd want you to tell me.”

  “Hah,” I said.

  He ran his hand through his hair. “This is getting us nowhere.”

  “Why don't we just drop the subject?”

  He glowered at me. “Are you falling in love with Kevin?”

  “I don't know yet. And that is the last word I am going to say on this subject.”

  He looked grim.

  Good, I thought. Let him put that in his pipe and smoke it.

  Silence fell as we both pretended to watch the ball-game. I was terribly conscious of his long body stretched out beside mine in the bed. I wanted so much for him to turn to me, to take me in his arms, to kiss me and tell me he loved me the way I wanted him to love me. Tears pricked behind my eyes. Oh, Liam, I thought achingly.

  He picked up my hand. “I'm sorry, Annie. I suppose I was prying. But it's only because I care about you so much, and your father isn't here to look after you any more.”

  “I haven't needed anyone to look after me in a long time, Liam. As I keep telling you, I'm all grown up.”

  “We all need someone to look after us,” Liam said soberly. “It's what makes us human.”

  I let my fingers curl around his. “You always took care of me when I was small.”

  “You were always on my side. And there were times when I desperately needed someone on my side.”

  I thought of the ugly scene that I had once witnessed between Senator Wellington and Liam. The senator's words had been so chilling, so demeaning, that they could be counted as abusive. Liam, who at sixteen did not have his father's facility with language, had been white with shock. I had slipped into the room when the senator left and slid my hand into Liam's.

  “Let's go for a walk, Liam,” I had said. “Let's get away from here.”

  He had closed his hand around mine tightly. “Yes, good idea.”

  We had walked for miles around the farm, hand in hand, neither one of us talking.

  “I hate him,” Liam had said finally.

  “He's not a nice man,” I agreed.

  “It's hard to accept that such a shit is actually my father.”

  “What made him so mad at you?”

  “He wants Mom and me by his side when he kicks off his reelection campaign. I told him I didn't want to b
e there.”

  “That's what made him so angry?”

  “One of the things.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “If Mom goes, I'll go with her.”

  “Will she go?”

  “Probably. Then she'll get drunk.”

  I squeezed his hand.

  “The problem is, he has all the power. He has the money and he has the farm. I love the farm, Annie. I want to make it into a top-notch thoroughbred breeding operation. I've talked about it with your dad and he says I have very good ideas. But if I piss the old man off too much, he won't give me the free hand that I need.”

  “Stay away from him as much as you can and try to be polite when you're in his company.”

  “That's what your dad says.”

  “Daddy gives very good advice.”

  “So do you.”

  The feel of Liam's hand around mine brought back that scene with amazing clarity and I looked up at him. “Thank God you bought Pennyroyal.”

  He looked down at me. “I know. I didn't tell you this, but your dad was the one who advised me to buy a few of my own horses so that I wouldn't be totally dependent on my father. I did a lot of research and I liked Pennyroyal the best of all the mares being sold at Keeneland. Then I paid the farm the stud fee to breed her to Thunderhead.”

  “Do you board her at the farm for free?”

  “Your father said to make sure I paid a boarding fee for all my horses. He said that way it would be clear that they were mine and not part of the farm.”

  “It sounds as if Daddy was afraid of the same thing you were, that your father would sell the farm.”

  “Yes. Thank God he gave me that advice. I don't think I would have thought of it on my own.”

  I smiled at him a little mistily.

  “God,” Liam said. “I miss him.”

  I nodded but did not speak. Then I rested my head against his shoulder and he slipped an arm around me and we went back to watching the ballgame.

  CHAPTER 15

  The day of the Preakness dawned clear and bright. The early odds made Honor Bright the favorite at 2 to 1. Then came Mileaminute, the D Wayne Lukas horse, then Tango With Me, the speed horse. Someday Soon was fourth at 7 to 1.

  “We don't get no respect,” Liam said when he saw the odds.

  I said, “They all think Someday Soon will run out of track. If it was the Belmont, at a mile and a half, he might be the favorite.”

  “Probably not. Probably Honor Bright would be the favorite for that too.”

  I put on my lucky pink suit and hat and we drove out to the track, passing through the blighted neighborhood of Belvedere. The track was packed, with over 100,000 people jammed into the stands.

  The television network that was broadcasting the event did an interview with John Ford and Liam outside of Someday Soon's stall. “They had to interview us,” Liam said. “After all, Buster is the Derby winner.”

  The day flew by. As the time for the race drew near, Liam and I went back to our seats, where we were joined by Senator and Mrs. Wellington. Mrs. Wellington kissed her son. “Darling, I'm so excited for you.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Mrs. Wellington had been a beautiful woman, but years of drinking had taken their toll. She was still elegant, but her beauty was a thing of the past.

  “I put a bet down on him, Liam,” the senator said. “At these odds, I could make a bit of money.”

  “I hope you do,” Liam replied.

  “Oh my God,” I said. “I forgot to bet!”

  Liam laughed.

  “Did you bet?” I asked him.

  “I certainly did. And from what I gathered from my e-mail, every bettor in Virginia and Kentucky bet on him too.”

  The Pimlico bugler, wearing a red cutaway jacket and black top hat, blew the call to the post. The horses began to parade past the grandstands and the U.S. Naval Academy Men's Glee Club in dress whites sang, “Maryland, My Maryland.”

  I stood up on my toes, then back down again. I was so excited I couldn't keep still.

  The senator said, “The track has been favoring the inside horses.” In fact, the winners of the last five races had all run on the rail. With the track biased for the rail, the inside horses, Honor Bright, Tango With Me and Long Johnnie would have an advantage over the rest of the horses that were coming from the outside.

  “I know,” Liam replied. “John told Miles not to ride the rail. All of the other horses are going to try to cut in there and if Miles tries it too, he'll get caught in traffic. Better to stick to the outside, where he'll have running room.”

  To encompass the race's full mile and three-sixteenths, the starting gate was set up just past the final turn. The horses would run past the finish line, around the track, and then come down the homestretch again.

  The horses turned around and began to canter toward the starting gate.

  “Someday Soon looks great,” I said to Liam. “He looks eager.”

  The starter and the assistant starters began to load the horses into the gate. In less than three minutes, we would know the winner. I dug my nails into my palms. Then they were all in.

  The gates opened and the horses sprang out.

  Almost the entire field swerved in toward the rail, hoping to get the advantage of the track's bias. Miles Santos and Someday Soon stayed out, about five horses wide. Jorge Chavez on Kerry's Way careened across their path, speeding across six lanes from the ninth slot. At the front of the pack, Tango With Me, Long Johnnie and Honor Bright raced neck and neck, each of the excited horses resisting their jockey's attempt to rate them.

  “My God, it's a stampede,” Liam said.

  Someday Soon was ten horses back and five horses wide. Just in front of him was Pat Day on Mileaminute and on his outside was Gary Stevens on Point Taken. Holding that position, the horses flew past the parking lot on the other side of the chain-link fence.

  The time for the first half-mile flashed on the tote board screen. “Jesus,” Liam said. “That's two seconds faster than the Derby.”

  The pack passed the cement barns on the backside and Honor Bright took the lead. Someday Soon was still ten horses back, running in a threesome with Mileaminute and Point Taken

  “He's got to get around those horses,” I said. “He can't stay stuck there too long.”

  The field sped by another parking lot filled with yellow school buses. “This is where Santos should make his move,” Liam said. “He can't leave it any later than this.”

  As they watched, Mileaminute swung a little wide, leaving an opening. Santos squeezed through and Someday Soon was free on the track, five horses wide and nine horses behind.

  He started to move.

  “He's coming!” I shouted. “Oh Liam, he's coming!”

  Someday Soon passed Point Taken and then he started picking off the other horses: Tango With Me, who had fallen from the lead, then Kerry's Way, Always Yours and Sentinel Watch. He caught Long Johnnie and Zeus and Kimberly Dan. Then only Honor Bright was ahead of him.

  “Come on, Buster!” I screamed. “You can do it, you can do it!”

  Liam was shouting next to me, “Go, go, go!”

  Ears flat, digging deep, on came Someday Soon. He caught Honor Bright two lengths before the wire and sailed across the finish line the winner.

  “Oh my God, he did it. He did it! Buster is the winner!” I was jumping up and down, clapping my hands. Liam picked me up in his arms, taking me right off my feet.

  “He did it, he did it, he did it!” He swung me around.

  I put my hands on his shoulders to balance myself.

  “Congratulations, Liam,” Senator Wellington said, holding out his hand. Liam had to put me down to shake it. Then he embraced his mother. A track official shouldered his way into the box and told us we should follow him down to the winner's circle.

  Someday Soon had beaten fourteen horses for a chance to compete for the Triple Crown. Liam went over to him and patted his neck, then he buried
his face in the black-eyed Susans on the victory blanket.

  The Preakness presentation platform was filled with people. Senator and Mrs. Wellington were there as well as Miles Santos’ wife and Lorraine Ford. Charlsie Canty was interviewing Miles.

  “Think you'll be favored in the Belmont?” someone from the press called to John Ford.

  He shrugged. “We'll see.”

  Above the winner's circle, a painter began painting the Wellington colors, royal blue and white, onto the weather-vane jockey.

  Liam was interviewed on TV and then the senator, who was charming and congratulated his son, the owner. “Liam bred him and raised him and sent him to John Ford,” he said. “All of the congratulations are to go to him, not me.”

  I thought it was quite decent of him to admit this and said as much to Liam.

  “I suppose it was,” he admitted. “I like it that it's out in public, that I am the owner, not Wellington Farm.”

  We went out to dinner with the Fords once again, but this time we were joined by Miles Santos and his wife as well as Senator and Mrs. Wellington.

  The restaurant put us at a big round table and everyone ordered a drink. Liam ordered two bottles of wine for the table. When the drinks arrived, the senator poured me a glass of Chardonnay. Liam lifted his glass and said, “To Someday Soon.”

  “To Someday Soon,” we all echoed.

  Mrs. Wellington said, “Did you ever tell these people that I named that horse for you?”

  Liam smiled. “That's right, Mom, you did.”

  “Where did you get the idea from?” I asked.

  “I was reading a book titled Someday Soon and I thought it would be a good name for a thoroughbred. I mentioned it to Liam when he told me he was looking for a name for Pennyroyal's colt. He liked it, and that's how Someday Soon got his name.”

  “It's a great name,” I said. “It has presence.”

  “It was good luck, you naming him, Mom. Maybe I'll have you name all of my horses in the future.”

  Mrs. Wellington looked pleased. “I'd be happy to.”

  “When I think of the names that some horses get stuck with,” John said.

  We spent the next fifteen minutes recalling the most ridiculous names we could come up with as I finished my glass of wine.