Love Means_. Freedom - Andrew Grey

you more time when he sees how hard you've tried."

    "I showed him all the resumes and even told him about my appointments, but he's being stubborn and says that he can't hold the position in Kansas City, and that I have to leave in a week."
    "I can't believe you'll have to leave." He leaned against Preston and shifted on the sofa so he could hug him.
The door to Geoff's office opened, and he sat back up as a man stepped out with Geoff.
"Would you mind if I borrowed Preston for a while?"
    "No problem. I'll go check on the horses in the barn." Stone got up and saw Geoff and the other man sit down in the living room. He didn't know the man, but he carried a pile of papers and wore coveralls and a flannel shirt.

    Putting on his coat, he left the house and walked to the barn, the snow crunching under his feet. He needed to think, and he could do that best away from Preston.

    Inside the barn, he checked that all the horses had hay and water before walking to Buster's stall. "I'm glad you're here." He patted the long neck before bending down to check his hooves.

    The soft spots had been cut away. "We'll need to take it easy for a while, but the vet says you'll be fine in a few months." He knew Buster's hooves wouldn't heal; instead, the damaged areas would need to grow out, and that would take time. "I missed you."
    Buster kept eating his hay, but his ears twitched when Stone talked to him. "What am I going to do if he leaves?" Stone left the stall and returned with a brush and comb. "I love him, Buster." He began combing Buster's coat. He smiled as he realized he was pausing after each question. "Some help you are." Buster slurped some water and went back to eating, and Stone got quiet and kept working.
    He didn't like the thought of Preston leaving at all. But he hated the thought of someone forcing him to even more. "His dad's keeping up the pressure, that's for sure." It just wasn't fair.
    He felt so helpless, and that bothered him more than anything. Stone's father had made him feel helpless, and so had Uncle Pete. Stone figured he had a decision to make. If Preston took the job in Kansas City, maybe he could go with him.
    As if reading his thoughts, Buster turned his head, a big brown eye staring at him. Without thinking, Stone rested his head against Buster's body. Why was it that nothing seemed to work out for him? He liked it here. Geoff and Eli were like family--hell, they were better than his own family. They actually cared about him. Besides, it wasn't as though Preston had asked him to go along, anyway. Stone finished brushing Buster and gave him a treat before leaving the stall. He'd spent the entire time thinking and had come up with nothing at all, except that the thought of Preston leaving nearly made him ill.
    Stone stopped in the tack room to put the comb and brush away, and the farm phone rang.
He knew everyone else was busy. "Laughton Farms, this is Stone." He was greeted with silence and almost hung up.
"This is Milford Harding, Preston's father." He sounded like he'd been hurt, almost crying.
"I'll get him for you if you'll hang on a minute."
"No. I wanted to speak with you. Please." There was that same soft tone.
    Stone almost hung up the phone, immediately suspicious, but his mother had taught him manners, and that politeness took over. "I don't know why you would."
    "I assume that Preston has told you about the job in Kansas City." His voice seemed like that of a caring old friend. "He needs to take this job. I've arranged for some of the best therapists in the country to work with him. He's a brilliant financial mind, and this job will be good for him, and he's needed. There's no opportunity for him here." He sounded wounded and half-pleading.
    "I know you want him to stay here with you, but he needs to use his mind and he needs to walk again. Jasper's doing a good job, but the specialists in Kansas City can work wonders for him." Stone wished that his father cared as much about him as Milford seemed to care about Preston.
    "I want him to get better," Stone murmured, half to himself.
"Of course you do and so do I. But... he...." Stone heard the man choke up with concern.
    "Needs us to help him. I don't want him to go, either, but it's for his own benefit. And sometimes if we love someone, we have to put them ahead of ourselves." The man sounded nearly heartbroken, and Stone could feel for him even as his own heart ached in fear and loneliness at the thought of Preston leaving. "It won't be