Chapter 31

Tom Brady was meeting with his two principal partners, Josh Barrett and Henry Clay. They were meeting in the building’s top-floor restaurant, although it was not yet open for business. The reason for meeting there on the Monday morning following The Preakness was the construction in progress in the partners’ area below. Beyond redecorating Tom’s corner office, full bathrooms were being added to their three offices and a senior partners’ reception area was also being built.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss what was to be done with Harrison Carver who had called Josh at home on Sunday afternoon to tell him what they had all suspected: The $50,000 he had lost to Jill on the Derby had been the money that was supposed to pay for his partnership interest.

Because Tom considered himself to be very much the new kid on the block, he wanted his partners to have their say first. Furthermore, Tom had never liked Harrison Carver from their very first meeting. But his dislike was personal not professional, although there were professional matters regarding Carver’s law practice he didn’t like either. But he didn’t want to crater a guy’s professional career on personal feelings.

Having apprised his partners of his conversation with Carver the day before, Josh concluded by saying, “Frankly, as far as I’m concerned, Harrison Carver is history.”

“I agree, Josh,” Henry Clay said. Then he continued, “Quite honestly, he’s been campaigning around the Firm with anyone he can collar regarding trying to build a practice with class-action lawsuits. Frankly, I’m opposed. I have been irritated, to say the very least, with those class actions in which the members of the class end up receiving a lousy discount coupon and the attorneys receive millions of dollars in cash fees.” He shook his head and added, “No wonder trial lawyers rank so low in public esteem!”

Then he turned to Tom and said, “But you’re the boss. It’s your call, Tom. What do you think?”

“I guess I might as well get it all out on the table: First of all, on the day before our famous Firm dinner, I was really pissed. I was supposed to escort Marilyn Hodges, and as an added inducement I promised to buy her a new dress at Styles downstairs. I was in the shop when I got a call from Marilyn calling it off; she was going to go with Harrison instead. ‘He’s being announced as a junior partner!’ she told me very proudly.”

Then he grinned and shook his head. “So what happened? Instead of going with Marilyn, I get a date with Jill Barnes. And you know what?”

His partners just shook their heads.

“She asked me! Can you believe it? She really did. But at any rate, it ended up that, because of Harrison, Marilyn did me the greatest service of my life: I met my love!

“But back to Harrison: I think he has to go. I’ll be honest and tell you both that I disliked the guy from the very first time we met. Furthermore, I agree completely with you, Henry, about steering clear of class actions. Beyond that, though, let’s face it: Harrison’s continuation in the Firm would be a public embarrassment to us. After all, it was announced that he was named a junior partner in the Firm. What would we do? Issue another statement saying that it was all a mistake? I don’t think so.

“My vote is that he goes.”

Josh Barrett’s eyes were dancing but he tried his best to sound very serious. “Gee, guys, I just don’t know ... I mean ... There are a couple of dozen more partners, and what do they think? I mean ... there’s only the three of us after all.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Henry Clay responded, also trying valiantly to maintain a straight face. “And, of course, we only have 90 percent of the votes...”

With that all three broke into laughter.

Changing the subject, Josh asked Tom how his Sunday had been.

“Guys, it really could not have been better.” He slowly shook his head and continued, “Just a few weeks ago, the idea of getting involved with a woman with a teenage son would have utterly terrified me. And now I find, not only does Jill have a teenage son, she also has a teenage daughter ... who already has won two legs of the Triple Crown.

“And you know something else? There couldn’t be two better kids on the face of the earth than those two. As you may know, when I asked Jill to marry me, she said she had to ask her boyfriend. Her boyfriend turned out to be her son, Mike. Well, she did ask him later that same night, and I’ll never forget what he said: He told her that she had sacrificed her whole life for him and it was about time she did something for herself for a change.”

Tom paused and his eyes became wet. “Then he came to me and asked if he could call me Dad! I have never been so moved in my life.

“Anyway, yesterday Mike and I spent the day together while Jill and Tanya went off to do some girl things. You guys won’t believe what Bluegrass Farm is really like. I mean ... When you measure land area by the square mile — and they do — there’s everything! There are untouched trout streams and even a lovely little lake loaded with bass. Mike and I spent the day just roaming, talking and fishing. Then we went back to the house and found the women soaking up the sun by the pool.” He rolled his eyes and added, “I’ve got to say, those four women are very easy on the eyes ... particularly when they’re naked, and they all were. Then the women put on a barbecue that was out of this world!

“Incidentally, I never realized how incredibly smart those kids are! Although nominally they’ve just completed their freshman year in high school, in reality they’ve already completed their high-school work. This spring the four of them took some courses at University of Kentucky, and in the fall that’s where they’ll be taking all their classes.”

“Changing the subject,” Josh said, “how do those horses look? And how’s their training going?” He shook his head and added, “They sure looked great up in Baltimore, though.”

“Training?” Tom responded with a chuckle. “What a joke that is! I’ve seen the videotape of the Derby broadcast, and an announcer commented that the girls don’t wear spurs and never carry a riding crop. But what he didn’t mention, though, is that their bridles have no bits. As for training, it’s easy: The girls get on the horses’ backs and the horses do whatever the hell they feel like doing. I’ve got to say, though, that the relationship between those two horses and those two girls is really something else. I was with them when they entered the stable yesterday morning. Both horses were just pawing the ground, they were so excited to see their mistresses. And I really don’t know who they love more, their mates or their mistresses.

“But you asked how they looked. The short answer is they looked great. Beyond that, though, it was obvious that they know something very big is coming up, and they’re raring to go. They might not know what The Belmont Stakes is, but I wouldn’t bet any money that they don’t know, either. And let me tell you, they were really flying around that track!”

Meanwhile, Abigail Bentley had the morning turn at The Body Shop and found Marilyn Hodges there when she arrived. Marilyn was starting her workout naked, following instructions Jill had left for her. And in spite of what she had expected, she found she actually liked it. She decided that she had more than a little exhibitionist in her, and when her body was in shape ... Who knows?