Love Means No Shame - Andrew Grey

said.
“Okay, you have fun. I’ll talk to you later.” They disconnected and Geoff put the phone back in its cradle and joined Len in the living room. “Where’s Eli?” Geoff asked.
“Probably still in the barn. You know he never comes in until it’s almost too dark to see.”
    “I gotta give him credit, the man works hard, really hard.” Len sat up in his chair. “He does, but I think he also doesn’t know what to do with his time. I suspect that his life in the community was quite regimented and full, so when he has extra time, he fills it with more work.” Geoff nodded, wondering what Len was getting at. “You go riding every morning—take him with you,” Len suggested. “He’d probably enjoy it; you’d have some company, and it would give him something to do besides work.” Geoff swallowed, the conversation with Raine fresh in his mind. But Len was right. It would probably do them both good.
    “Thanks, Len.”
Instead of watching television, Geoff glanced out one of the windows and saw that the lights were still on in the barn. Leaving the room, he walked outside, the dogs greeting him right away.
    “Come on, pups, let’s go see what Eli’s doing.” He walked toward the barn, the dogs following, their tails wagging.
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Love Means … NO SHAME
    In the barn, he found Eli by Princess’s stall, the young man watching the mother and colt. The dogs ran up to him, and he smiled, patting and scratching the mutts.
    “What’s up, Eli?”
His attention shifted from the dogs. “Just watching the colt.”
“You know you don’t have to stay out here. You can come in the house.”
Eli shrugged a little. “I know—”
    “What is it?” Shit, of course. “You’re a little homesick, aren’t you?” Why hadn’t he thought of it before? This was probably the first time in his life that Eli had been away from his family. Of course he was homesick.
    “What is homesick?” He looked up at Geoff, those blue eyes huge and longing.
“It means that you miss your family.”
“Yes, I’m homesick.” Eli looked down, “Not that you haven’t been good to me.”
    “It’s only natural that you’d miss your family.” Geoff sat down on a hay bale. “The first time I left home, it was to go to summer camp at Stony Lake. I was only going to be away from home for a week, but as soon as my dad left, all I wanted to do was go home. I didn’t know any of the other kids, and everything was strange, even the food.”
    “What happened?”

    “After about two hours, I met Matt. After three hours, I was having so much fun swimming and playing with the other kids that I forgot all about being homesick. And before I knew it, the week was over.”
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“Were you happy when your dad came to get you?”
    “Actually, I asked if I could stay another week.” The surprised look on Eli’s face was priceless. “You see, I’d grown up a little during that week, realized I could get along on my own and have fun doing it.”

    “What are you saying?”

    “I’m saying that maybe you need to add a little fun to your day. Do something you enjoy… for example, riding horses.” Eli’s face lit up, and Geoff continued, “I go riding almost every morning.
    It’s one of the things I do for fun, and I was wondering if you’d like to join me?”
“Go riding with you?”
“Sure. The horses need exercise, and we need some fun. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. I just thought you might enjoy it,” Geoff said. “I would, thank you.” The dogs had settled on the floor, crowding around their legs.
“Is there anything else you like to do?” Geoff asked.
“My uncle used to let me help him bake bread, but I don’t know how to do that with the oven you have. We use a wood-fired oven.”
    “It’s not that hard. You could make the dough, and I could help you bake it. Dad used to bake bread all the time, so we have the supplies. We could do that tomorrow night if you like.”

    “That’s very nice of you.” Eli gave him another of those incredibly bright smiles, and Geoff found himself watching his face—those big, bright eyes, luscious lips, dark hair that threatened to curl. Geoff blinked and stood up a little too fast, startling the 58

    Love Means … NO SHAME

    dogs. Fuck… fuck… fuck… He was going to kill Raine the next time he saw him.

    “Let’s go back to the house. It’s getting late, and we need to be up early for our ride.” Geoff turned and left the barn. As he was