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“Welcome back, Boss, hope everything worked out okay.” Mitch grinned.
Arsehole, I still can’t believe none of them said a damn thing. I nodded and directed my next question to Wendy.”
“Everything go okay while I was gone?”
“Ran as smooth as a baby’s butt, didn’t even notice you were gone.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Wendy and the men laughed.
“On a serious note, I’ll be gone again from Thursday afternoon until Sunday.”
I planned on spending extra time wining, dining, dancing, and making love to Luke. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t object. While he was still working part-time until the Doc cleared him for full time work, he was working weekdays only. “Oh, Luke will be over for dinner and he’s moving back in.”
“You patched things up?” John asked.
“Yes, we did.”
“What’s going on? Wendy said you had a disagreement about something.” Mitch always was a nosy bastard.
I dropped the bag to the ground, sat down, explained about Luke’s beating, and the upcoming court case. I also talked about our disagreement.
“My issue was with publicly coming out before my family, you lot, and our neighbors knew. It’s why I was down at mum and dad’s. Lis and Seb were there too. Turns out they’ve all known I was gay for years.” I glared at my men. “Just like you jerks.”
Mitch became defensive. “Hey! It wasn’t our place to say anything which would make you uncomfortable.”
John continued. “I don’t know why you thought it was a big deal, Boss. We respect you regardless of whether you’re straight or gay. Makes no difference to us.”
“Thanks, but it would have been nice if you’d clued me in, so I didn’t have to tiptoe around the issue.”
“What time is the court case?” Wendy asked.
“He was told it would probably be heard around 11.30am.”
“I hope the prick gets locked up and some inmate beats the shit out of him.” John certainly made it clear how he felt.
I stood. “How about we wait and see what the judge decides. It’s time we all got back to work.”
The men and Wendy climbed to their feet, jammed hats on their heads, and headed off in different directions. I watched them walk away, and smiled at my good fortune, they really were a good bunch of people. People I regarded as friends.
I picked up my bag, collected the discarded coffee mugs, and headed indoors.
***
Wendy and I were going over a list of upcoming horse sales when I heard Luke’s truck out front.
My stomach turned over with excitement and I hesitated to rush to the door as Wendy was midway through showing me a magnificent horse she thought would be a good addition to our breeding stock. I was amazed at her knowledge when it came to horse breeding.
When she glanced up, impatience must have shown on my face. “Go,” she ordered.
I hurriedly stood but before I could leave the room, Luke entered. I gathered him in my arms and kissed him like I hadn’t seen him for months.
“I guess I’m gonna have to get used to this all over again.” Luke laughed before wrapping his arm around me.
I drew him to the kitchen table where we both sat, our fingers intertwined.
“Wendy and I were looking through the catalogue for the auction next week.” I spun the booklet around and pointed to the picture of the horse we’d been looking at.
“Very nice. I didn’t know you were interested in horse breeding.”
“I hadn’t ruled it out. Wendy’s been interested in it for a while, but we didn’t have the cash flow until now. I’m gonna get the men to section off some paddocks and put in shelters. We’re also going to build a nursery barn.”
“Sounds great, I’d love to be involved and help out. You’re welcome to put Sally in foal.”
I kissed him gently. “I wouldn’t mind at all, I’d love to put Sally to Grifter.”
Wendy’s face lit up as we continued chatting about our plans, it was the happiest I’d seen her for a very long time.
Luke had some wonderful suggestions which we decided to implement.
His knowledge of horses and breeding astonished me considering he worked long hours as a cop, and up until last month he’d been confined to suburbia.
A couple of hours passed, and when my stomach grumbled, we realized we hadn’t had dinner and it was getting late.
“How about we head to town for Chinese?” I suggested.
“Sounds good,” Luke agreed.
“Bring me Chicken and Cashews please,” Wendy requested. She stood and turned to leave the room.
“Please come with us, Wendy,” I pleaded.
“No thanks. I don’t mind waiting until you get back.”
Luke shook his head. “No, this is a celebration for our new venture and we want you with us. I’ll call and ask them to deliver.”
“Honestly, it’s fine. I don’t mind if you go out. Kyle will tell you, I hardly ever leave the place. I prefer to stay here.”
