Love Means Courage - Andrew Grey

mess: dishes in the sink and stuff all over the table. It wasn’t particularly dirty, just a cluttered mess, like Cliff didn’t know what to do with everything. What the hell was wrong with the man? He led Len through to the living room, which wasn’t much better than the kitchen, except this room was filled with toys of every description, all over everything. “Sorry about the mess.” He moved the toys off one of the chairs and sat down. Len did the same.
    “So, Len, how have you been?”
“So-so. I was working at the Ford dealership until yesterday.” He handed Cliff his letter of recommendation. “Janelle said you needed some help.” “I do. I lost the man who ran the barn a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to find anyone.”
    More like haven’t had the gumption to look. Len kept that to himself, although he desperately wanted to say it. “I’ve worked with horses, and I can ride. Growing up I didn’t have the money for riding lessons, so I worked for them.” Worked hard too.
    He waited to see what Cliff was going to say, but the man just sat back in the chair with Geoff spread over his body, holding tight 40 Andrew Grey
to the little boy. The man was lost, completely lost. Len could see that, but it wasn’t his place to say anything, so he waited. “Can you start today? Pay’s two hundred a week.” About what I was making at the car dealership.
    “Sure.” Len smiled and watched as the youngster lifted his head off his dad’s shoulders and looked over at Len before squirming to get down. He stood at his father’s feet for a minute before walking over to Len. “He looks just like his mother.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, and he wanted to kick himself.
    But all Cliff said was a simple, “Yes, he does,” and then he clammed up. This man was so different from the outgoing, take-on-the-world Cliff he’d known before Ruby died.
    “Well, I’ll get started then.” He’d worn work clothes just in case.
He stood up, and Geoff stepped back, looking up at him. “You taw.” It came out sounding like “Utah,” but Len understood and knelt down in front of the toddler.
    “You’ll be tall soon too.” After ruffling the kid’s hair, he stood back up and headed outside. He stopped at his car and got a hat before heading to the barn. He took one step inside and recoiled at the smell. “Jesus Christ!” He pushed open the doors and let in some light and air before walking through. Four heads peered out of stalls, and he introduced himself to each one.
    There appeared to be twelve stalls total: four occupied, four others that appeared dirty, and four empty. It looked to Len like they’d simply moved the horses instead of cleaning their stalls.

    “Jesus H. Christ, what a mess.” He continued walking through the barn and opened the tack room. Inside was a jumbled mess with half the tack on the floor. “Looks like I’ve got my work cut out for me.” 41

    Love Means Courage
    Behind the last stall, Len found a wheelbarrow, a shovel, and a pitchfork. Digging in, he began cleaning out the worst of the stalls, shoveling the soiled bedding into the wheelbarrow and hauling it to what appeared to be the muck pile. Back and forth he went for hours, hauling out the muck and carrying in fresh sawdust.
    By noon, he had four stalls ready, and the horses were resettled in clean stalls with fresh hay and water.

    He walked to his car and got out the cooler with his lunch and sat in the shade to eat. The late April warmth was nice. A great day for working, not too hot and not too cold. He sat, ate, and watched the house. There hadn’t been any sign of Cliff or anyone else all morning. After finishing his lunch, he went back to work, cleaning out the remaining four stalls and then sweeping down the barn. By the time he was done, the barn smelled fresh and clean.

    He checked his watch. It was just after three, so he went into the tack room and began ripping it apart, getting all the loose and jumbled items pulled out. Then he began putting them back and organizing them. “What a job. It looks like nobody’s done anything in here for months.” “Close enough.”

    Len jumped at the voice and turned around to see a tall, slim man leaning against the door frame. “Sorry, I didn’t know anyone was there. I’m Len Parker.” He held out his hand.
    “Fred Jenkins.” The two men shook hands. “I take it Cliff hired you.”
“Yeah, he said the man who took care of