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“And not that long ago, it was a rivalry.”
“Good point.”
“Well, I’ve forgiven him for taking Amanda. I wish I’d just talked to her about it a long time ago. It would have saved me years of frustration.”
“Maybe you ought to tell him next,” I say.
“I think I’ll do that.” He stretches. “Have a good night, sis. See you at the race tomorrow.”
“Bye.” I end the call and set my phone down. My heart speeds up as I think about the possibility of Langston and me making things work.
My future might not be so grim after all.
18
LANGSTON
The Blue Mountain race track is packed today, and Hayden is crazy excited for the derby to begin, chanting, “Go Thunder, go Thunder!” before the race even begins. We’re both dressed appropriately with khaki pants and blazers atop collared shirts. Stella had everything ironed for us and hung up for us to wear.
We take our seats with the Finleys at our traditional owners’ private box. We have caterers providing lunch before the game, and the family is slowly trickling in.
I’ve spent every spare moment either with Hayden or with the trainer trying to get Thunder ready for this race. Hayden has loved it and is just as excited as I am for the race. The only thing putting a damper on this day is that Jenni doesn’t want to share it with me.
I’ve worked hard to give her the space she seems to want, and it’s been tough. Working with the trainer has been a welcome distraction, and I’ve kind of thrown myself into it to keep my mind off of what’s been going on with Jenni.
But there’s no avoiding her today. She’s here wearing a blue dress and matching hat propped on the side of her head with a large blue bow, and she looks drop dead gorgeous. Of course she does. Especially when I can’t have her. Way to twist the knife.
When Ronnie shows up, he makes a beeline toward me. “Hey, man. You excited for the race?”
“A little nervous, but I usually am,” I admit. I can’t help it when my gaze slides over to where Jenni is talking to our moms. Both of the older women are dressed similarly to Jenni, with the hats and dresses.
I haven’t built up the courage to talk to Jenni yet. There’s this unspoken tension hanging between us. Not only are we broken up, but our horses are racing against each other, and we haven’t trash-talked each other at all. It’s a sad world when Jenni doesn’t tease me about winning.
Ronnie pulls me aside. “I need to talk to you about something,” he says, his voice low.
Hayden is sitting with the tablet I got him, lost in an educational video game about science that Maggie had recommended for him. I would have just let him play whatever, but Maggie insisted on the teacher-approved games she found from some website.”
“What’s up?”
“I had this long talk with Amanda last night, and I owe you an apology.”
This ought to be good. That’s the last thing I expected Ronnie to say. “Okay.”
“She explained to me that she wasn’t ever interested in me to begin with, and we kind of cleared the air. So this is me saying I’m sorry for misjudging you and saying for years that you betrayed me. If you hadn’t gotten together with her, it wouldn’t have made a difference. She wasn’t going to date me either way.”
“And what made you talk to her about this? Were you trying to ask her out now? You know that would be weird on so many levels, right?”
“Hey, don’t judge me.” Ronnie grins.
“So you’re saying you wouldn’t be mad at me if I wanted to date Jenni?”
“Nah, I already told her you two have my blessing.”
“You did? And did she seem interested in dating me? Because that hasn’t been the case in the past.”
“I think you have a very good shot.” He winks at me.
My stomach twists in knots, and my palms turn clammy. I wasn’t expecting anything like this today. I’ve been trying so hard to get Jenni out of my mind and to stay focused on the race. I’d almost given up hope. But now it’s surging through me, and all I can do is think about how badly I want to take her in my arms and hold her to me, stroke back her hair and tell her how very cherished she is.