Happy weekend, everyone. Enjoy the new chapter, and feel free to let me know if you're reading!

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The next few days passed quickly, and on an early morning, Alec packed up the Jeep and started toward Pimlico. It was odd to travel so lightly, even though he had already made arrangements with Henry to bring home a horse should Alec find one. He figured he should make it to Baltimore in a few hours, just in time for the day's racing to start.

Alec found a talk radio station, only half-listening as he drove. His mind was already occupied with what he might find once he arrived. He and Henry had briefly discussed what they might look for in a claimer, but Alec knew finding one worthy of Hopeful Farm would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Storm Front had been a lucky find, and Alec wasn't entirely convinced that he would find a similar horse at Pimlico. Still, one never knew.

Then there was the matter of Sarah. Despite his attempts otherwise, thoughts of her popped up at the oddest times. He knew he had made a mistake rushing into things with her, and the confrontation with her husband had only solidified that.

Her husband. It wasn't that she had been previously married that bothered him. Alec could have accepted that. That she was currently still married, despite having started divorce proceedings, bothered the hell out of him. At the very least, she could have told him, explained the situation before...

Well, it was still his own damn fault for rushing in so quickly. He couldn't get around that. He had done the same with Pam, and look how that had turned out.

Lesson learned, Alec figured. From here on out, he wouldn't be so damned impulsive. It was a quality he hadn't yet outgrown, and it was wrecking his life.

He pushed a button on the car radio to change the station, settling on a rock station to distract him from his own thoughts. The song sounded vaguely familiar, though Alec couldn't place it immediately.

It dawned on him that it was one from one of Pam's records that she had played frequently. The memory sent a twinge of sadness through him, though it didn't hurt as much as he expected it to. That seemed like progress, he supposed. It didn't make him feel any better.

Before too long, Alec spotted the familiar landscape of Pimlico. Now he felt a little more at home. He pulled into the main lot, parking the Jeep and finding his way to the Hopeful Farm barn in search of Henry.

One of the grooms nodded as Alec entered. "Good to see you."

"You too." Alec returned the greeting. "Is Henry around?"

"You just missed him." the groom told him. "He was headed toward the cafeteria."

"Thanks."

Alec made his way to the cafeteria. It was likely Henry was having a late breakfast after working Pam's Song. He figured he could use some food himself after the long drive.

He spotted Henry almost as soon as he entered. The old trainer was in his element, shooting the breeze with a group of equally aged companions. Alec almost hated to interrupt.

"Alec!" Henry greeted him cheerfully. "Have a seat."

Alec eased into a chair while the other men said their goodbyes, nodding at Alec as they left. He knew most of these men still saw him as the kid they remembered, and not the man he had become. It was alternately amusing and frustrating.

Henry waved his hand dismissively. "Don't mind those old coots. How are you?"

Alec shrugged casually. "Okay, I think."

Henry studied him closely. "What's going on?"

Alec sighed. "Nothing, really."

"But...?"

"But..." Alec wasn't sure where to start. He let out a huff of frustration. "You know what? Never mind."

Henry's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Finally, he shook his head. "First race starts in about half an hour. Get some food in you and we'll go watch."

Alec nodded, still trying to figure out how much he wanted to reveal to Henry. He definitely didn't want to say what was going on between him and Sarah. Alec could only imagine Henry's reaction.

Eventually Alec made his way to the gate, picking up a program and bypassing the betting windows in search of Henry. It was a small crowd, and he easily found Henry, taking a space next to him on the bleachers.

"Better now?" Henry asked.

"Sure."

Henry let out a little humph and glanced back at his program, peering over his glasses. "Not much to see today."

Alec looked at his own program. There was nothing but a bunch of low-level claiming races today. "Yeah, looks like a pretty pitiful bunch."

"Ah well." Henry looked out over the track. "We've got some time here. You're bound to find something."

Alec returned to his program, now taking the time to look at the riders. There were a few names he recognized.

"Sarah's got three rides today." Henry commented casually. "She's already pretty popular."

"No surprise there." Alec answered. "Winning the Derby will do that."

Henry chuckled. "Indeed. I guess she'll be keeping busy."

Just as well. Alec thought. The less he saw of her, the better.

"Have you talked to her?"

"Hmm?"

"Sarah." Henry spoke patiently. "Have you talked to her?"

"Not since before the Derby. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. No reason."

Alec sighed inwardly. The last thing he wanted was Henry interfering between he and Sarah.

"Now, far be it for me to get in the middle of things." Henry continued. "But she's been moping around, and now you're moping around. What the hell's going on?"

"Nothing's going on, Henry." Alec told him firmly.

"You know what's worse than one lovesick jockey?" Henry replied sharply. "Two of them."

"Well, you really only have one to worry about." Alec snapped.

Henry gave him a puzzled look. "What?"

Alec glanced down at his program. "I think I'm done riding for good."

"Ah hell, Alec."

"No, it's okay. Really." Alec assured him. "You were right. I've got no business being up on a horse. I just...I can't do it anymore."

Henry nodded. "It takes a toll. And if your heart's just not in it, well...best to give it up."

Alec allowed himself a slight smile. "I'm starting to like training."

"It's hard work too, but it's important." Henry squeezed Alec's shoulder. "I know it wasn't an easy decision."

"Well, you did kind of make it for me."

"I figured it'd be temporary." Henry answered. "Just until you got your head on straight again."

"I think it's on as straight as it's going to be." Alex replied darkly.

Henry shook his head. "Anyway, you should go talk to Sarah. Figure things out."

If only it were that simple. "Sure, Henry."

They fell into silence as they watched the remaining races of the day. Sarah rode in the last one, coming in a close third.

"Not a bad way to end the day." Henry commented casually. "She might be in the right mood for you to talk to her."

Alec threw Henry a sharp look. "Why do you care?"

Henry let out an exasperated sound. "Listen, I don't need her worrying about you when she's up on our filly. I want her to be focused. I'd want the same if it was you in the saddle."

Alec couldn't help chuckling at that. "Fine, I'll go. I'll see you later."

He made his way out of the grandstand to the jockey's locker room. It was still odd to realize he would likely never see the inside of it again, or of any locker room. Coming to terms with his decision wouldn't be easy.

He shook himself out of his reverie as the jockeys started exiting. He nodded a greeting to a few he recognized, all the while keeping an eye on the door.

Finally Sarah exited. Her hair was cut to shoulder length now, half of it pulled back into a ponytail. She looked as exhausted as he felt, and he wondered if she had been losing sleep over their situation too. Probably not, Alec thought darkly.

She glanced up just before she walked past him. Her eyes went wide, and Alec wasn't sure if it was out of surprise or fear. "Alec! What are you doing here?"

"Henry thought there might be some claimers worth checking out. Figured I'd stay for the Preakness."

Sarah smiled slightly and tilted her head. "Hopeful Farm getting into the claiming game?"

"Just building up my own string. Maybe there's some undiscovered talent here."

Sarah nodded, suddenly looking wistful. "I've missed you."

Alec took a deep breath. "I've...missed you too."

Sarah swallowed hard, and Alec could see the tears welling up in her eyes. "I think we need to talk. Can we go somewhere?"

"Sure, sure." Alec was dreading this conversation. "There's a spot close to the track. We can walk if you're not too tired."

"I'm fine. Let's go."

They walked in silence to a nearby coffee shop. At this time of day it was nearly empty, and they took a booth near the back. The waitress filled both their coffee cups and left as quickly as she had shown up.

Sarah took a sip of coffee, making a face and setting it down almost immediately. She took a deep breath and folded her hands together in front of her. "Jeff showed up day before yesterday. He's still mad as hell about the divorce papers."

Alec's heart started pounding in his chest. He didn't like where this was going, but he waited while Sarah continued. "I...I told him that I didn't care if he was mad or not. I'm not going back to him regardless."

"But this has to get resolved one way or the other, right?" Alec was confused. "You can't just run around acting like you're single when you're not."

Sarah fixed him with a glare, and Alec immediately regretted his words. He was mad and hurt himself, though he knew that was no excuse. "If I hadn't wanted a divorce, I wouldn't have gone to the trouble of filing papers. I could have just run off and left him if that was the case. I want out of this damn marriage. It was stupid of me to get married in the first place."

Alec studied Sarah. "What do you want from me?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I asked you first."

A long silence stretched out between them before Sarah sighed, looking thoughtful. "I don't know that I want anything from you. I just like being around you. You're good people, as my mom would say." She leaned forward, a little smile on her face. "And you're not too bad looking, either."

Alec chuckled, feeling himself blush as Sarah continued. "Look, I didn't have any kind of plan when I left Louisiana. I figured I'd ride in Florida until Jeff cooled off, he'd sign the papers, and that would be it. Well...he didn't cool off, and I heard he was trying to track me down in Florida. When Henry asked me to come ride for him at Belmont, I jumped at the chance. Figured there was no way in hell Jeff would bother to come all the way up there." She glanced at Alec. "He looked like he'd been in a bar fight when he showed up here."

Alec took a deep breath. "He...might have said some things, and I might have thrown a punch or two."

Sarah arched an eyebrow at him. "That wasn't necessary."

"My impulses got the better of me." Alec answered. "It's not the first time."

Sarah let out a huff. "Anyway. I met you, I liked you, figured I might as well have a good time while I could. I didn't plan on it going much deeper than that." She paused briefly. "I think I might have been wrong about that."

"What do you mean?"

"Alec, come on." Sarah spoke softly, leaning across the table. "Don't tell me you don't feel it too."

He did, but he was loathe to admit it. "What good would it do? You're not sticking around, remember?"

"Oh Alec. I've made a goddamn mess of things."

Alec sighed heavily. "It's not as if you're the only one to blame. I could have said no, pushed you away. But I didn't want to. I wanted you as badly as you wanted me. Maybe more."

"Is that right?"

Alec nodded, already feeling as if he had said too much.

Sarah suddenly sat straight up, a determined expression on her face. "I'm going to get this mess straightened out. If not for us, at least for myself. I'm already tired of Jeff chasing me all over hell's half acre. We're going to have a sitdown and get this worked out once and for all."

Alec wanted to hope for the best, but it sounded as if Sarah had a difficult task ahead of her on top of her regular work. Not to mention that the Preakness wasn't that far away now, and she didn't need any additional distractions.

There was no more to be done about the situation today, and so they moved on to more general topics, finally talking about her Derby win, his decision to quit riding, his hopes to get more involved in training.

Finally, Sarah smiled at him from across the table. "I suppose we've taken up enough of these folks' time. We should get going."

"I can take you back to where you're staying. I'm just parked in the lot at the track."

"Sure."

It was a quiet walk back to the track, where the Jeep was nearly the last vehicle left. They climbed into the Jeep and took the short drive to the familiar motel where he and Henry stayed so often. As at Belmont, Sarah had a room next to Henry's.

Alec waited as Sarah found her key and unlocked the door. "You know, you could stay a while." she said casually.

"Probably a bad idea with Jeff lurking around."

"He's not dangerous." Sarah scoffed. "Just irritating as hell."

"But if he finds you here..."

Sarah cut him off with a kiss. "That's not your problem."

"It could be."

"Your choice."

Alec leaned into Sarah, wrapping one hand around the back of her neck, pressing his lips to hers. He heard the little catch in her throat as the kiss deepened, felt her hand touch his face, her thumb stroking his cheek.

He gently guided her into the room, kicking the door closed behind him. Sarah let out a little giggle as she pulled him closer, her hands sliding up the back of his shirt and slipping it over his head. They stumbled toward the bed, and Sarah landed softly, laying back as Alec climbed on next to her.

For what seemed like ages they simply explored every inch of each other's bodies, clothes somehow disappearing as they went until there were no barriers between them. It was this that Alec enjoyed the most, the warmth and softness of Sarah's skin, her strength tempered with tenderness.

She rolled over on top of him, straddling him, their bodies finding their own rhythm, each seeking release, finding it in a rush like a wave cresting and crashing, ending with them holding on to one another, their breathing the only sound in the dark room.

"You're going to be the death of me." Alec finally broke the silence.

Sarah let out a laugh and buried her face in Alec's chest. "Hell of a way to go."

Alec chuckled, playing with her half ponytail absentmindedly. "Why did you cut your hair?"

"Oh, it was just getting in the way." Sarah responded sleepily. "Cut it right after the Derby."

"I like it."

"Mm."

Alec shifted slightly so that Sarah was lying next to him rather than right on top of him. He could just make out her face in the darkness. She looked so damned peaceful. He wished he could ever sleep so well.

She opened one eye, appraising him. "You're staring."

"I know." Alec briefly kissed her forehead.

She curled closer to him, one arm and one leg over him. "Are you staying?"

"No reason why I can't."

"Good."

Soon Sarah's breathing deepened, and Alec felt her body relax into sleep. His own body was tired, but his brain was still going. If Jeff was going to give Sarah a hard time about the divorce papers, it was hard to conceive of any kind of future with her. Not that they had much of one anyway. Still, in the back of Alec's mind, he hoped for more than a few nights of pleasure whenever they managed to meet up.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad arrangement. He wasn't sure he was quite ready to settle down anyway. Of course, that hadn't been his line of thinking when he had suggested marriage to Pam. Like Sarah, Pam had been a wandering soul, and wasn't all that interested in the idea. Maybe she would have been in time, whenever she came back from exploring Europe.

But that day had never come, and Alec found himself wondering if he was setting himself up for the same pain all over again with Sarah. If so, was the time with her now worth the possibility?

He let out a long sigh, shifting again so that he was on his back. Sarah murmured and moved slightly, but didn't wake up. Her hand was splayed out over his chest, and Alec covered it with his own. If only he could have this forever. If only.