Love Means Courage - Andrew Grey

starting the yard cleanup.
    The sun was shining brightly as he mowed swathes of the backyard. “Hey!” He heard someone calling. He disengaged the mower and turned down the engine. “Len, what are you doing at this hour?” He looked up and saw one of the bedroom windows open, Cliff leaning out. “I’m mowing the hay field you call a yard, what does it look like I’m doing?” Len didn’t wait for a response. He turned up the engine and engaged the mower deck, drowning out whatever Cliff 51
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yelled down at him.
    Len continued mowing, finishing the backyard and starting on the front. As he approached the house, he could see Geoff standing in the living room window, his face plastered to the glass, his little hand waving. Len chuckled and waved, watching as Geoff began to jump up and down. He could just imagine the squeals ringing through the house. When he made his next pass, Geoff was gone, and Len finished up the yard and started mowing the patches of grass near and around the barns before driving the mover back into the shed and turning it off.
“What the hell are you doing?” Cliff came charging across the yard with Geoff in his arms. “You woke him up with all that racket!”
    “Woke you up, more like.” Len stared at Cliff, meeting the man’s eyes, challenging him because he knew Cliff was lying. “I saw Geoff running around the living room before I even started. I think the only person I woke was you, and it looks to me like you need to wake the hell up!” “Where do you get off telling me anything?” Geoff began to whimper, and Cliff lowered his voice. “Last time I looked, this was my farm.” His words were forced out between gritted teeth.
    “Then act like it, Cliff. Your men are doing their best to hold this place together, but they need guidance. Hell, look around you. Your barn’s empty instead of filled with revenue-producing horses.
    Your loft is full of hay that the horses you have couldn’t eat in three years, with more in the field that will need to be cut. Your yard looked like a hay field, making the entire place look shabby. The stalls in the barn hadn’t been cleaned in weeks.”
    “The barn’s what I hired you for. If you can’t handle it—”
“Don’t be an ass! The barn’s cleaned, the tack room organized, 52
Andrew Grey
    your horses in the pasture, and your yard’s been mowed. I can more than handle it. Can you?” Len glared at his boss, not willing to back down. But he couldn’t keep from noticing how fiery Cliff’s eyes were, or how his lips looked so full and kissable when he was angry, and damn, he wanted to feel them again. He felt his expression start to soften, and then he remembered that there was no way it was going to happen, and he let his frustration steel his gaze.
    “Wen, hos, hos.” Geoff began squirming to get down, and Cliff turned around heading toward the house. Geoff let out a bloodcurdling wail. “Wen hos! Hos!” Cliff turned around, shoving Geoff into Len’s arms before stalking back to the house, growling under his breath. Len waited until he was almost at the door. “Enjoy your beer!” Cliff stopped for a second, and then he disappeared in the house, slamming the door hard enough to rattle the windows.

    Len turned to look at Geoff; the boy’s eyes were huge. “Cwiff ass.” He then started to giggle like he’d said the funniest thing in the world. “Cwiff ass.” He laughed again and pointed to the barn.

    “Hos.”
    “Okay, let’s go see the horses.” He walked to the pasture, carrying Geoff, who, like the day before, was still in his pajamas, but at least they were different ones. “See, they’re outside, running and playing.” Geoff watched the horses and tried to call them over, but they were happy to be outside and continued their grazing.
    “Well,” he looked back at the house, wondering if Cliff was going to come get his son. “Looks like you are gonna help me with chores.” He bounced the toddler in his arms, earning high-pitched laughs and squeals. “Let’s see what we can find to do.” Around the side of the barn he found a tractor tire. Sitting where Len put him near the ring, the youngster watched as Len rolled the tire to a safe spot away from the ring. He also found some 53
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    sand that looked like it was left from a building project of some type, and he filled the tire. “There, how’s that for a sandbox?” Geoff raced over, climbed onto the tire, and