Free The Winners Circle by Christopher Klim Page B

beneath his chin, and his old loafers pinched the broad base of his toes. As he passed Taddler’s Horse Center, he glimpsed a man working behind the barn. He hit the brakes and turned around.
    The reconditioned Ford lumbered up the incline and past the horse corral. In the old days, people heard the pickup coming down the road, but the man shoveling the manure pile didn’t turn his head, until Jerry was almost upon him.
    “ Morning,” Jerry called from the pickup window. He’d noted the mud and filth about his tires and stayed in the truck cab. The last thing he needed was Chelsea spotting dirt on his good shoes. Her sights would drop right to it. She’d almost expect it.
    The man wore rubber hip boots and gloves past his elbows. He noticed Jerry’s suit and immediately sunk his pitchfork in the ground. “Can I help you?”
    “ Just passing by.”
    “ Need directions?”
    “ I used to shovel this same pile.”
    Yeah right, the man’s eyes seemed to say. He propped his hands over the handle and bent one knee, seemingly amused by the attention.
    Jerry caught a whiff of the horse dung briefly thawing in winter. It smelled harsh but natural. Not a year earlier, he stood in place of this stranger. He missed the open space and the mix of fresh air and dirt. He longed for the set routine. “Are you selling or taking for yourself?”
    “ There’s an organic farmer in Hunterdon County.”
    “ Hardaway?”
    The man seemed reluctant to reveal his client list. “Something like that.”
    “ Better watch out for the snakes.”
    “ What snakes?”
    “ The rattlesnakes in the pile. If they’re still hibernating, they won’t like to be woken up early.”
    The man pulled his tool from the earth. “No snakes in here.”
    “ Oh?”
    “ They’ve been cleared out, guaranteed.”
    “ That’s what I always thought.”
     
     
     
     
     
    Among the waiting assembly in family court, Chelsea sat toward the front. Jerry spotted her beside Haskell Cogdon. Her blonde hair was clasped with silver combs. She wore a navy blue suit with yellow piping. She looked sharp enough to bring her own caseload before the judge.
    She glanced back to the last row. He registered the shock in her eyes. His appearance at the proceedings was optional, and she obviously hadn’t expected him. She rose and walked toward the back of the courtroom.
    Jerry flipped through the paperwork from Ralph Tisch. He wasn’t reading it. He saw nothing but letters and numbers on legal-sized paper. They didn’t make sense.
    Chelsea came alongside Jerry and sat down. Her silk suit slid across the wooden bench. He shuddered in a private way. They hadn’t been this close in months.
    “ Thanks for the chocolate,” she whispered. “I still have a ton.”
    “ I wanted it to last.” He’d forgotten about it. He felt stupid all over again.
    “ I’ll never finish it.”
    He liked the idea of being never completely used up, but he glanced in Haskell’s direction and saw the truth of it.
    The short attorney scratched his head, trying not to look back.
    “ Are you still with him?” Jerry asked.
    “ Don’t do this, Jerry.”
    “ He didn’t leave with you that day on the boat.”
    She broke eye contact with him. “I’m sorry about that.”
    “ I looked for him everywhere that day, but I never found him.”
    “ He hid in the engine room of the boat. He bribed the Captain.”
    “ I should have known. He does business that way.”
    “ He thought you were going to kill him.”
    “ It wasn’t a bad guess.” He’d do it right here, if that’s what it took. He waited for an indication, that nervous quiver to her lip. He wanted to touch it, like he’d done many times. He was the first to dare, but now it was beautiful and ordinary. The surgeon had carved out that part of her personality.
    Chelsea grabbed his arm, avoiding his glance. A finger pressed the pit of his elbow. Her fingernails were painted French style, peach with white outlines. “You didn’t