Love Means No Boundaries - Andrew Grey

had looked up at him, and when he looked at her, she crooked her finger at him shyly, and he knelt down. “When I get hurt, my mama kisses it to make it better.” She leaned forward and noisily kissed his cheek.
Joey had smiled at her. “Thank you, that helps.” She’d smiled back at him and skipped off to find her pony, while Joey just shook his head in complete disbelief and wonder.
    Out of the mouths of babes.
“Mr. Joey!” He turned to see Kerry running through the barn to get to her pony, which Joey had just finished saddling for her.
How someone so small could fill the barn with her voice was beyond him, but she certainly did. “Is Strawberry ready?” Her face lit as he nodded and helped her mount the pony and walked her to the ring.
    Eli was just starting to put the kids through their paces as Kerry got in line, and the lesson began. “Did you have a good time at the beach?” 129
Andrew Grey
He didn’t have to look to know that Geoff was standing next to him. But while Joey was watching the students, he knew that Geoff’s attention was focused on the instructor. “Yeah.” He continued to watch the lesson. “It was nice to get away for a few hours.”
     
“You’ve been working awfully hard the last month or so, not that you haven’t always, but even more so the last few weeks. I don’t want you working yourself to the bone.” Joey turned and looked Geoff in the face. “Is there something you want to talk about?”
    “Not really. It’s nothing that talking’s gonna help.” Joey saw Geoff nod slowly and returned his attention to the lesson. After watching for a few minutes, he stepped into the ring and began working with a few of the kids who seemed to be having trouble. At least work and keeping busy kept his mind occupied. But the nights….
The lesson went really well, and the kids were all excited smiles as they dismounted. The older ones unsaddled their mounts and put their tack away while Eli and Joey helped the younger ones before making a check of the horses and heading toward the house.
     
“Can I talk to you a minute?” Joey knew that look. He’d seen it often enough over the last month. Joey stopped and turned to Eli. Over the past month, everyone had wanted to talk to him about Robbie and everyone had an opinion about what he should do, but Eli was the only one who hadn’t offered advice or asked him to talk about it.
    Joey saw Eli’s mouth twist into a slight smirk. “I know that you’ve gotten too much broken heart’s advice from everyone over the last month, and I promise I’m not going to do that.” Joey nodded and waited for Eli to continue. “You were on the farm when I first came here, so you know that I left for a while and returned to my family.”
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    Love Means … NO Boundaries
“I know. Geoff was heartbroken the entire time.” Joey saw a touch of sadness flash across Eli’s face and fade just as fast.
    “What you don’t know is the reason I came back. My mother sat me down and told me that she could see I wasn’t happy and asked me why. I told her I’d met someone and that I’d left them behind to return to the community. That was the first and only time I ever saw anger in my mother’s eyes. She told me that I was acting like a fool, that I needed to be happy and that she needed me to be happy. She told me that if living with the family in the community would make me happy, then that’s what I should do. But—and I can still see her sitting in her chair, sewing something for one of my brothers—if I was staying for them or for my father and going to be miserable, then I was better off leaving.” Joey opened his mouth to say something, but Eli shook his head, and he snapped his lips shut.
“I’m telling you this because what my mother said to me also goes for you. If staying here will make you happy, then that’s what you should do. But, if your happiness is tied to Robbie, then you need to be with him.”
     
“That’s just the thing. We were together such a short time.
     
How do I know what I should do?” That was the real question for him. Was he making too much of a short, wonderful couple of weeks, or was Robbie the one?
     
Joey saw Eli smile knowingly and nod. “Then you need to find out for yourself.” Joey watched as Eli turned and walked toward the house, leaving Joey alone with his thoughts.
     
“Are you saying I should move to Natchez?” Eli stopped walking. “I can’t answer that for you, but I can tell you