“That was very shallow of me, wasn’t it? Well, do forgive me. The reason I came out was to see if I could get you to join us for breakfast.” June waved toward the dining room.
“Sure, sounds great,” Kenna said as she marked her place and set the book down on the table. Kenna went to the sideboard and filled her plate with blueberry pancakes, got a glass of mango orange juice, and sat down at the table with June and Julius.
Julius looked up from his copy of The Wall Street Journal, “Ah, good morning, McKenna. How is studying going?” he asked.
“Good morning, Julius. It's going well. I have a good understanding of procedure but am trying hard to memorize the penal code,” she answered.
“We're going to the sales today if you’d care to join us. We'll be coming back for lunch if you want to make it a short day. It should be somewhat amusing as there will be a little drama surrounding the normal backstabbing, outbidding, and competitiveness that surrounds the sales. You remember Will Ashton, of course. Well, I've heard his wife has come back to town and will most likely show up for the sales.” He gave a pointed look to June and went back to his paper.
“What my husband means is that she can’t stand to be out of the center of attention. I'm sure she'll cause quite a scene in one matter or another. I don't like to speak ill of anyone, but she is a witch,” June whispered as if God would hear her and strike her down.
“Wife?” Kenna asked, her stomach dropping and a painful squeeze taking its place around her heart. She knew she shouldn’t care that he was married. She had assumed he was. But last night she got the distinct impression he was single and interested in her. The pig!
Just because his wife wasn't a nice person didn’t mean that he could go around taking ladies out to dinner and trying to kiss them under the moonlight. Oh, she was going to those sales today and was going to give him a piece of her mind.
Not knowing the thoughts and feelings flowing through Kenna, June continued. “She dug her perfectly manicured hooks into him when he was playing football in D.C. Her father is in politics and she found herself a big fish all right.” June leaned closer and dropped her voice to a whisper again, “But, when he decided to retire and come back to Kentucky, she threw such a fit. Some cameraman from one of those celebrity websites caught her rant as she stood outside some celebrity charity event yelling at Will that she'd never move to some backwater state like Kentucky. She refused to leave their brownstone and move into a ‘log cabin,’” June said, making the sign of two quotation marks above her head. “As I said, she’s a witch. But, now she splits her time between D.C. and Kentucky. She comes for the Derby because of all the fame surrounding it. She’ll show up to any event with a red carpet and national broadcast.”
“Do they have any kids?” Kenna asked. She was fearful that the man she had once held in such high esteem had abandoned his wife and kids. No matter what, she couldn’t ask for help from someone like that.
“No. I don’t think she could stand the idea of ruining her figure to have kids although Will’s never made it a secret that he'd like some,” June answered.
Kenna sighed and looked over to see Mr. Wolfe staring at her. He gave a slight smile and then stood to help Miss Lily clear the tables as they walked with their heads together into the kitchen. Kenna turned back to June and Julius. “I'm sorry. I wish I could go with you right now. But I just have to get more studying done. You can tell me all about it this evening.” Kenna rose up from the table, said her goodbyes, and headed back to the porch. She settled back down in the cushion and opened her book.
An hour later, Kenna looked up from her studying to see some people walking down the sidewalk. They turned and waved, and she waved back. She smiled to herself, thinking the pepper spray and the endless hours of self-defense classes were probably not as useful down here, although, it might come in handy if Miss Violet grabbed her again and suffocated her in her bosom. Kenna laughed at the thought and put her head back into her book.
Upon hearing and feeling her stomach rumbling, Kenna pushed up her sleeve and looked at her watch. Oh gosh, it was almost two o’clock. She marked her page, piled up her books, and carried them back to her room. She grabbed her purse and headed for the cafe.
Miss Violet came out of the kitchen carrying Kenna's lunch. "Thank you," Kenna said when her lunch was placed in front of her. When the bell tinkled overhead, she looked up and smiled.
“Hi, Paige!”
“Hello, Kenna. How was your first day in town? I heard you had a date with Will. Looks like you found him all right.” She smiled and pulled out a chair at Kenna’s table.