Dawn stared, not exactly the kind of comment one responds to.
“He was working for us at the time. It was his birthday.” Ginney laughed to herself, but it was an agonizingly sad laugh, a solitary laugh. “I was giving him his present. He wanted to fuck. But believe it or not, at sixteen, I was still a virgin.” She looked into Dawn’s eyes for a moment, perhaps for confirmation Dawn believed her, and continued. “Dad wasn’t supposed to be back for a while. And there I was...with my hands full. Dad fired Timmy, called me a whore, and here I am.” She held her arms out. “Living up to it.”
Dawn shook her head.
“At first I started sleeping around to get back at him. He could have trusted me you know. I think I wanted to get back at my mom too. But then I got to liking it. At least when I’m getting fucked, I know exactly what’s going on.”
Dawn leaned forward. “But, Ginney...”
“I know.” Ginney laughed ironically. “I know what you’re going to say. I’m only hurting myself. And don’t think I haven’t tried to change, because I have. Lots of times. I’ll be with someone and I’ll think, it’s gonna to be different this time. This one’s gonna care. I go out of my way for them. But in the end, it’s always the same. When it’s over, it’s over. And all I know is that I’ve been fucked.”
Dawn shook her head, again about say something, but Ginney stopped her. “Dawn, you don’t know what it’s like, to only be wanted when they can’t have someone else. And damn, I’m easy.” Her voice cracked. “They don’t even have to try. I’d do almost anything for a hug.” She raised her glass to her mouth. “Corny...huh?”
“No.”
Ginney cleared her throat. “I almost hate sex now. I do. I wish I could be a nun.”
Dawn hesitated. “You could change, you know.”
“How in the fuck...?”
Dawn smiled. “Well, you could start by not saying fuck so much.”
“Sheeettt!”
“That too,” Dawn said, and they both smiled.
“Don’t you ever swear?”
“Sometimes,” Dawn said. “Out loud even.”
The two of them laughed. It was getting time to leave. Dawn paused to reflect. “You...a nun?”
Ginney nodded. “I look real good in black.”
Five miles away, in a hospital room, Miguel opened his eyes. His wife and mother were sitting in chairs on both sides of his bed. “Can I get sometheeng to eat?” he said. His wife hugged him, then went running for the nurse, while his mother fell to her knees, clasping her hands together as she whispered thanks to her God.
Dawn ran into Linda at the club, talked to her a few minutes in the locker room, and headed for the sauna. When she found it too crowded, she went to the steam room instead. A few minutes later, someone came in and sat down next to her.
“How have you been, Dawn?”
She glanced over. “Just fine, Dave.”
“I’ve missed you.”
Silence.
The door opened. Two people left as one entered, barely visible through the murky steam.
“My family misses you too.”
Dawn smiled. “Give them my regards,” she said, rubbing her ankles.
“I will.” Dave paused. “What have you been doing with yourself lately?”
“Nothing much.” Dawn stood up to push the nozzle on the wall, and blasted herself with a spray of cool water.
“Are you still playing groom at the racetrack?”
Dawn sighed and sat back down. “Every day.”
When she leaned forward, rubbing her neck, Dave seized the opportunity. “Here, let me do that. I assure you, I haven’t lost my touch.”
Someone off in the corner sighed heavily.
“So, still seeing your veterinarian?”
Dawn hesitated responding. “Yes.”
“I hear he’s been a guest here. Are you sure that’s wise? We are different than most folks. Surely you haven’t forgotten that?” Dave said, still rubbing her neck and shoulders.
“You needn’t worry yourself over it.”
“I’m not worried. By the way, I hear Linda moved in with Harland. Match made in heaven, don’t you think?”
Dawn nodded. “Seems to be.” There was a lot to be said for a club as close-knit and private as this place. But there was nothing private once inside. She leaned back against the wall, forcing his hands away.
“It must be lonely living by yourself. Especially the nights,” Dave said, his voice lower.
“No, not really,” Dawn said. She stood up and started toward the door. “I have my veterinarian, remember?”
Dave mumbled something like, “Bitch,” when she’d gone, and two more people got up and left.
Randy looked out over the pool. It was more crowded today, at least ten or twelve swimmers. Spotting Dawn at the far end, he dove in, swam to her, and was greeted with a kiss and a warm smile.
“Did you just get here?” It was almost seven.
“No. Kevin showed me to the steam room.”
Dawn draped her arms around his neck. “I thought you didn’t like the steam room,” she said, thinking if he’d been there with her, she’d have been spared Dave’s company.
“The sauna. I hate the sauna. I love a good steam bath.” Randy wrapped his arms around her waist. “I love a good sweat.”
Dawn kissed him and smiled. The man oozed sex out of his every pore. “Good, next time we can sweat together. It’s coed.”
“I know.”
Dawn smiled, and then soured at the sound of a familiar voice to her right.
“Where are your manners, Dawn? And shouldn’t you be controlling yourself?” It was Dave in all his pompous glory, extending his hand to Randy. “Controlling herself has always been a problem. The name’s Dave. Dave Winchester.”
Randy shook his hand, and would have responded with an introduction of his own. But Dave beat him to it. “Dr. Iredell I presume? Unless Dawn has taken to entertaining all her suitors now at the club.”
Dawn let go of Randy’s neck, let herself sink to the bottom, and without surfacing, swam away.
Randy laughed.
“Yes, she is something,” Dave said, staring in her direction as if reading Randy’s mind. “We’d be married right now, if it weren’t for her getting cold feet.”
Randy glanced at him, then looked at Dawn again across the pool, and had to force himself to keep from laughing. She was in well over six feet of water, and apparently doing a hand stand. All he could see was her toes.
“Surely you’ve noticed that tendency in her?”
Randy shook his head. “Can’t say that I have.” He felt a little sorry for the man. It was obvious he was still hung up on Dawn, and fishing.
“Well then, what have you noticed?”
Randy hesitated. Now the man was irritating him. Big time. He repeated the question out loud. “What have I noticed?” He watched Dawn as she pulled herself up out of the pool and sat on the side. “Well there is that tremendous appetite of hers...”
Dave nodded smugly. No news flash.
“For oral sex,” Randy added.
Dave’s eyes bulged.
“Yeah,” Randy said, nodding and crossing his arms as he glanced at Dave. “I guess that would be it. And perhaps I have you to thank for that. Thanks,” he said then, almost as if it were an afterthought as he patted Dave on the shoulder. “Nice meeting you.” He dove in and swam to Dawn.
Later, as they were walking to the parking lot, she asked Randy what they talked about. Randy laughed, and didn’t know whether to tell her or not. He told her.
“What? Are you crazy?”
“Hey, the guy pissed me off.”
Dawn laughed. “That’s no reason to go and tell him...”
“Yeah, but you should’ve seen his face.”
“No thanks.”
Ben sat down on the bench outside his main barn at home, in full view of the paddock, and watched Beau as he trotted up and down the fence line. He smiled
to himself, thinking about how much Meg loved this farm. And how much he loved it. How proud he was to have built it for him and her. Home. When it came time to die, he wanted it to be here.
Beau romped back and forth again, confined, and obviously not liking it one bit. In a few more days, Ben planned to turn him out in the north pasture, allowing him the time to gradually get used to the clover. The last thing he needed at this stage, was for him to colic or founder. Watching him, he could remember the day he was born, wobbly-kneed and still wet from his mother. He knew even then he’d be a runner. “Mark my words,” he’d told Meg. And it was true. Beau never let them down. “Yep, you belong here ole boy,” he said. “Just like me. This is your home and you’re home to stay.” He laughed at himself then. Dawn and her incessant talking to the horses had rubbed off on him. At his age yet. Talking to a horse. And now talking to myself.
Across town, Tom was in a quandary, and talking to himself as well. “This is fucking scary,” he said, his pants down around his knees and examining his rash. “There is something really wrong here. It covered his entire groin area, all the way down to the tip of his penis. “I think it’s time to go see a goddamned doctor.”
He pulled his pants up, so lightheaded he had to sit down. He hated hospitals, he hated doctors. Just the very thought of them. Maybe he should give it a few more days. He nodded emphatically. Yeah, a few more days. If it doesn’t go away by then, “Then I’ll go see a doctor.” What a load off his mind.
Miguel had an aversion to doctors and hospitals as well, and wanted out, wanted to go home. Dr. Martin was somewhat sympathetic. “Maybe tomorrow. You came very close to dying. It’s a tricky game tempting death.”
Miguel nodded, true. Yet... He had a family to support, wife, children, mother. A life to live. “I will not play that game again.” He crossed himself and glanced at his wife. “No mas.”
Dr. Martin smiled. “Muchas gracias. I’d rather make my living removing tonsils and giving vaccinations any day. Thready pulses give me the creeps.”
Dawn and Randy ate at Burger King, and stopped on the way to her place to pick up some ice cream. “Chocolate or vanilla?”
“Vanilla. No, let’s get fudge ripple.”
Randy laughed. Fudge ripple it was. Inside the apartment, he locked the door behind them. “This is going to be great. I can’t believe it.”
“What?”
“I’m not going home, I’m here for the night, and it’s understood ahead of time. I don’t have to finagle my way into your bed, there’s no pact. We have food.” He held up the ice cream. “We don’t need showers. We don’t need underwear.”
Dawn laughed, squealed when he reached for her, and ran down the hall. Randy chased after her, grabbed her, and they fell onto the bed together, where they undressed in a fit of giggling. Sweater, jeans, underwear...and ultimately, the braid in Dawn’s hair. Off came the rubber band.
“Randy, wait. Wait,” Dawn said, right about the time Randy got serious. “We didn’t put the ice cream away.”
Randy stared, then got out of bed and extended his arms. “Do you see me? Do I look like a man who cares about ice cream at the moment?”
“Uh, no...” Dawn said, smiling. “But you will later, I think.”
Randy shook his head and laughed. “I’ll be right back.” He went into the living room, picked up the ice cream and started toward the kitchen, but then a devilish thought crossed his mind, and instead of putting it away, he got a spoon. As he started back out, the front door opened.
Linda gasped. “Randy!”
He glanced into the kitchen for something to conceal himself with, backing up and holding the ice cream strategically. Then tearing a few sheets of paper towel off the role, which would have to do, he left the ice cream and walked down the hall, shut the door behind him, and sat on the bed. “I don’t frigging believe this. Linda just walked in on me.”
“What? Where?” Dawn sat up.
“In the living room,” Randy said, shaking his head. “Do you have any idea...”
Dawn got out of bed and put on her robe. “I wonder why she’s here?”
“Like I care,” Randy said. He pulled back the bedspread, punched and fluffed the pillow, and laid down and yanked the covers up over him. “Son of a bitch.”
Linda sat on the couch with the container of ice cream in her lap and spoon in hand.
“What happened?” Dawn asked, sitting down next to her. “Why are you home?”
“We had a fight. He’s a maggot.”
Dawn glanced back down the hall. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Linda contemplated the fudge swirls. “I don’t want Randy mad.”
Dawn took the spoon and helped herself to a mouthful. “He won’t be mad. He’s probably asleep.”
Linda chuckled. “You sure? He didn’t look sleepy when I saw him.”
Dawn laughed. “So what did you and Harland fight about?” she asked, passing the spoon back.
“Well first off...”
It was after three before Dawn crawled into bed with Randy. When the alarm went off on his side at a quarter to five, he was so dead to the world, she reached across him and knocked it off the table. That woke him. He half opened his eyes and laughed, and had to fumble around and find it to finally turn it off.
Dawn sighed. “Why me?”
Randy laughed again and tucked her in his arms. “What time did you come to bed?”
“I don’t know,” she said, warm and cozy next to him. “Around three.”
“Why don’t you go back to sleep and go in later. I’m sure the Miller barn can get by without you for one morning.”
“I can’t,” Dawn mumbled. “I’m committed. I’m dedicated. I’m tired.”
“You’re crazy.”
“That too.”
They lay quietly in each other’s arms a moment, breathing softly and cuddled.
“Randy...?”
“Hhhmmmm.”
“Let’s not fight, okay?”
Randy hesitated, and turned her to face him. “What would we fight about?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged, and had to swallow a lump forming in her throat. “People fight about weird things.”
Randy shook his head.
“Just promise me, okay?”
“Okay.”
Chapter Twenty
Randy leaned against the bathroom counter and watched as Dawn braided her hair. She was going to be a little late, but wasn’t rushed, and certainly hadn’t rushed a few minutes earlier, much to his delight.
“I’ll stop and have coffee and donuts with you, then go home so I can get some clean clothes.”
Dawn smiled. “Which reminds me. I have to go shopping for something to wear to Cindy’s wedding, and should probably get something for Gloria’s while I’m at it. Are you all set for the big events?”
He nodded, trickling his hand down her shoulder. “Yes. For Cindy’s, I’m wearing a tux. I was fitted for it before I came back.”
“What about Gloria’s?”
He leaned over to kiss her neck. “Suit...right?”
She nodded.
“Then I’m all set.”
“What color?” she asked, gently nudging his hand away when he tried unzipping her jeans.
“Gray,” he replied, and frowned. “Do you want to know the brand name?”
“No, but I was hoping it was blue.” The color of his eyes. She stepped back out of reach. “But gray is fine. Do you have a blue shirt?”
He shook his head and smiled. “Yes dear, I do.”
Dawn leaned close to kiss him, careful to hold his hands. “Let’s get going. It’s almost six.”
Tom appeared to be waiting for her as she rounded the corner of the shedrow. He was. “Hey, Ben...Dawn’s late,” he sang. “Very, very late, because she probably had a date.”
Dawn laughed, and then shook her head when Tom stopped to scratch himself. “You’re obscene. You know that?”
“I can’t h
elp it,” he said. “It itches like hell. Not to mention what it’s done to my sex life.”
“So go see a doctor.”
Tom stopped scratching. “Why? It’ll go away. You just wait and see.”
With all the horses in the barn scheduled to walk that morning, it would have been a breeze had it not been for the soaring temperature. With it well above eighty before ten, Dawn claimed even her eyelashes were sweating.
Ginney came down the shedrow fanning herself with an old racing form, just as Dawn finished up raking. “Do you want to go to Mario’s with me?”
Dawn wiped her brow. “Where’s that?” she asked, thinking it must be a restaurant.
“Mario’s Hair Salon. It’s across the street in the mall. I need a respectable look for the trial. Something really boring, my attorney said. I was hoping you’d come with me on the road to prim and proper.”
Dawn laughed. “What time’s your appointment?”
“I don’t have one. It’s not needed.”
Dawn hesitated, giving it some thought.
“It’s air conditioned,” Ginney said, still fanning herself.
“Okay, you talked me into it. Just let me lock up. Tom and Ben have already gone.” She took about three steps and stopped. “Maybe I’ll get mine done too.”
Randy pulled into the barn area shortly after two and was surprised to see Dawn’s Jaguar in the parking lot. He reached for the overnight and scanned the list of horses scheduled to run today. The Miller barn didn’t have anything in, so why was she here? He drove down to check, but it was locked up tight. No Dawn. He glanced at his watch. He had about forty-five minutes before he had to start running medications for tomorrow’s entries. So he eased down into the seat, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes.
Ginney’s voice woke him. He sat up and looked at her. “What the hell happened to your hair?”
“I got it cut,” she said, twirling around in the shedrow. It was styled shorter than most men’s. “It’s supposed to look boring.”
Randy nodded. “Well, I’d say you accomplished that. Where’s Dawn?”
Winning Odds Trilogy Page 25