“Okay, Mom. Thanks for the drink. Come over here and pet Thunder for me, will ya?”
Fancy was gone, and Thunder wasn’t happy about it. It was early for him to be weaned, so I’d been bottle feeding him because Mindy Spriggs wanted to get her mare back in shape for the late summer and fall competition season. When she came to pick her up, I’d loaded Fancy into the trailer and waved goodbye.
Thunder and I had spent a lot of time together over the weekend as I fed him from the bottle I’d bought at the co-op, my mind still focused on missing Sean. He’d been so happy when he was playing with the colt, and the happiness on his face after he gave Thunder a bath was amazing. God, I wanted to be with Sean, but I had too much shit to do at the farm, especially when it came to the horses.
Stepping out of the stall as Mom walked over to where Thunder was playing with the ball I'd tossed in with him, I glanced through the barn to see a black SUV park outside near the front doors.
I walked toward the large man as he got out of the vehicle. He saw me and offered a friendly smile. “You must be Jericho. I’m Austin Torrente. I’m here to pick up Sean’s things he left behind. I get the feeling you might be one of those things, my friend.”
I gave him a double-take. “Say what?”
Austin Torrente was a big dude, but he had a kind demeanor. He seemed to be a bit shy, but I could tell the guy took no shit. I admired that about anyone. “I’m here to pick up whatever Sean left behind, but I think he needs you more than his laptop, Jericho.” The words stopped me in my tracks.
“Me? Why? We only met a few weeks ago.”
Austin laughed. “You want to say you don’t wish he were here with you? I know it might seem like an impossible situation. I’ve been there, I promise. Dominic and I used to share a corporate apartment, and we didn’t get along at all. I left the damn country to get away from him, as a matter of fact. But we worked it out.
“Hell, Jericho, we got married as a joke on his family, but I couldn’t let it be a joke, so I mailed the fake marriage license—well, I had his cousin mail it—but the license was recorded and the marriage made official. It forced us to decide whether we wanted to work toward staying together or get a divorce. I fell in love with him in a single moment, and I continue to fall deeper every minute of every day. There’s no timeline for love. I’m living proof of it.” Austin’s cheeks were red, probably from revealing something so deeply personal, but his words clicked in my mind, and I truly appreciated them.
“Let me make a call,” I said as I pulled out my cell phone and headed to the barn.
Saturday and Sunday morning at six-thirty on the dot. John Langer dropped Cody off with a paper bag and a thermos. The dread on the kid’s face had made me want to laugh.
Over the weekend, he’d cleaned all the stalls, the hayloft, and the little bit of tack I had in the barn. He’d brought his own lunch and ate by himself at the picnic table outside the riding ring. I had no complaints. The kid was doing a great job, and I wondered if maybe I should give him a raise.
When I got into the barn, I called John’s number. It rang twice. “Hey, Jericho. What did he do?”
I laughed. “He did a great job, John. I’m calling to see if you and Cody could help me out for a few days. I’ll come help you with a job for nothin’ if you need an extra hand. See, I’ve gotta go to DC for a few days, and I need someone to feed and water twice a day and check on Mom. I don’t want her down at the barn, and I only have a couple of horses for board right now. Think you guys could help me out?”
John chuckled. “Sure, Jericho. I’ll get my pop to drive him out and keep an eye on him so you don’t have to worry. Seems Pop knows Miss Gayle. I think he’d be glad to visit with her a little, and it gets him off my jobsite and saves me a daily headache.”
“Thank you, John. I’ll put out enough feed for them to be okay until the morning. I’ll be leaving in an hour or so. Again, John, thanks a million.” We ended the call and I walked out to Austin Torrente by the fence, petting Trixie, who loved the attention.
“I’m gonna run inside and clean up. I’ll pack a bag for a few days, and I’ll grab Sean’s stuff from my room so I can follow you to DC. You wanna come in? I’m sure my mom is dying to quiz you about who you are and why you’re here.”
Austin Torrente followed me into the house, slipping off his boots by the door. Oh, my mom was gonna love him.
I quickly kicked mine off and started to hurry down the hall when I remembered my manners. “Mom, this is Austin Torrente. He’s a friend of Sean’s, and I’ve gotta go to DC to help him with something. Oh, uh, I love him.”
Mom’s mouth fell in shock. “You love Sean’s friend? Jeri, that’s—”
“Hi, Mrs. Hess. I’m already married to a great guy. I think Jericho has realized he’s in love with Sean. You know how these kids are.” Austin and Mom both laughed at me, but I heard them as I rushed down the hall.
Thirty minutes later, I returned to the kitchen with Sean’s messenger bag with the stuff he’d left on the desk in my roomand my duffel bag packed with enough clothes for four days. In my heart, I hoped I’d figure out something about the two of us by then. It was stupid fast, but god, I loved the man.
“I’ll be back on Thursday, Mom. John Langer is going to have his dad and Cody come feed and care for the horses twice a day. Let them take care of the barn, and if anything comes up, call me, and I’ll get back here in a little over an hour. Why don’t you call Mrs. Henderson to come over and have a girls’ night?”
Mom stared at me and shook her head. “Boy, you don’t know anything about women. If Kenny Langer is coming over here, there’s no way I want Alicia Henderson anywhere around. Since Marian died not long after your daddy passed, Kenny’s been the most eligible bachelor at church. I love your father, Jeri, but if Kenny asked me out for dinner, I wouldn’t say no.”
That caught my attention. My mother was sixty-eight years old, and I guess I thought she’d already had her one great love. Could she really entertain a relationship with someone who wasn’t my father?
“Oh, don’t look so scandalized. I don’t want to get married again, but if you’re going to be running off to DC to see Sean, I wouldn’t mind having a male friend to go to the movies with or out for dinner. Nobody wants to be alone, Jericho. I’m just happy to see you’re figuring that out for yourself.” Mom walked over and kissed my cheek before she went into the living room and turned on the television to watch her stories.
Austin was finishing up a piece of chocolate cake that Mom had made over the weekend. He stood from the table and washed his plate and fork. “Your mom’s a great cook. My mother-in-law is Italian, and she’s a fantastic cook, along with Dom’s grandmother. I work out hours a day to keep from gaining weight with those women in my life.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, I can tell you, I didn’t eat this well in the Army. How do we want to do this? Should I drop off my truck at a metro station so I can get it later, or what?”
“You can park it in Sean’s spot in the building. He hasn’t bought a new vehicle yet, so one of his spots is open. Dom and I might stay at a hotel since you’ll be with Sean at night. I think we’ll still stick around town for a while. There are a few things we wanna check out, and if you’re with Sean, we’ll be able to do it,” Austin said.
