Hank chuckled. “My brother never served. I think he likes to torture himself with hearing about the shit we used to get up to.”
“Keep going, and the story I tell your husband will be so much worse than the truth, I swear. You’ll be sleeping in Raleigh’s Jon boat by the time I get done with you.” Lawry swiped at his brother’s hair and a mini wrestling match ensued for a second.
“Dude, Reed will glue your pecker to your leg by the time I get done telling him about having to roust you out of a dive motel with a sexy soldier.”
Hank looked at me, and I held up my hands. The last thing I wanted was someone’s jealous husband gunning for me.
After another few seconds, I had to break them apart. “Fellas, I hate to break this up, but I need to get going. It was good tosee ya, Hank, and good to meet you, Lawry. Thanks for your encouragement. I appreciate it.”
I reached for my wallet and pulled out a business card, handing it to Hank. “If you’re back this way again, I’d love to sit with you while you have a beer and relive the old days. We didn’t get to work together nearly enough when we served.”
They calmed down and we shook hands. I hurried back to my truck to get on the road. Running into Hank Schatz had reminded me that it truly was a small world.
By the time I got to bed that night, my thoughts returned to seeing my Army buddy. It sounded like he had a good life with a husband and son, and the fact that they had friends who were also under the rainbow made me smile. I had no friends in my little corner of Davidsonville, but maybe there was hope I’d find some?
“Jeri! Phone!”
Sunday morning, Mom was fresh from church and headed toward the pen in her fancy dress and low-heeled sandals, causing me to nearly have a heart attack that she’d fall down the hill.
“Hold your head still, little boy.” I was trying to get a halter on a colt whose momma I was boarding at our place. Miss Fancy Red, a beautiful sorrel mare, was a top earner in hunter-jumper circles. The little guy had been a surprise to the woman who owned the mare, and she wasn’t happy about little Fancy Red Thunder.
I’d suggested I keep the pair at our place for free until the colt was weaned, and then she could take her mare, and I’d keep the colt. We were both thrilled with the arrangement, and I happily exercised her mare twice a day to get her back into AQHA championship show shape before the end of October.
I released my hold on Thunder and hurried out the gate with the halter over my shoulder, heading toward Mom. “Stay there before you fall. Who is it?”
The hill from the house to the barn and attached open-air riding ring had a few gopher holes, and I was afraid my mother would step in one and break her leg. She was sixty-eight—I’d been a change-of-life baby for her and my father—and I didn’t want her to get hurt.
“It’s a Mr. Schatz. I never heard of him.” She shrugged as she handed me my cell, which I’d left charging on the kitchen counter.
It tickled my brain for a second until I remembered seeing First Sergeant Hank Schatz a week ago at Walter Reed. “Oh, I’ll explain it later.” I took the phone from her and unmuted it. “This is Jericho.”
“Hi, Jericho. Lawry Schatz here. I was wondering if I could drop by your place in Maryland on the way back to New York City. I have a business proposition that might interest you.”
Business proposition? That sounded interesting. “Uh, sure, I guess. When would you like to stop by?”
“I’m about five miles from your place. Is now inconvenient? My husband is with me, but he can humor himself in the car with a fashion magazine while we talk business.”
“Hey! You make me sound like a vapid teen girl, you jerk.” I didn’t recognize that voice.
Lawry laughed. “I’ll make it up to you, baby. I promise.”
My dick got hard just listening to their back and forth. How fantastic would it be to have someone around all the time who I could joke with the way Lawry was teasing his husband?
“Jericho, is it okay if we stop by?” Lawry’s voice brought me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, uh, sure. I’m at the barn just down the hill. Turn left when you meet the fork in the driveway before you get to the house. I’m working with the horses.”
“Great. See you in a few.” I ended the call and shoved my phone in my pocket before I grabbed the halter to go back into the ring.
I finally got the halter on the colt when a large black SUV pulled down the road and parked to the side of the barn. I snapped the lead in the D-ring under the colt’s chin and tied it to the fencepost to begin acquainting the little guy with being tied up.
Lawry Schatz got out on the driver’s side, walking around the back of the vehicle to open the other door and offer his hand to the passenger, his husband, I assumed.
Lawry gave him a quick kiss and took his hand, pulling him over to where I was tying the colt. “You have any trouble finding it?”
“Not a bit. GPS.” Lawry held up his cell phone. “Jericho Hess, this is my husband, Maxim Partee. Max, this is Jericho Hess. He trains horses.” Lawry grinned at the shorter blond man who looked as though he’d just stepped off a runway with his navy shorts, blue-and-white striped shirt, white sweater draped around his neck, and boat shoes. He was quite pretty.
I held up my right hand. “Sorry, I’ve got horse...everything on my hands. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Partee. Are you interested in horses? I don’t have any for sale because most of them are boarded horses, but I have some in the barn if you want to look around. I’ve got apples you can feed them.”
