The Gatekeeper's Sons

Chapter 11A

"Please say yes. We could hang out."

"How early in the morning?"

"Okay, you wouldn't have to do the early morning stuff."

They reached the pen and the General greeted her with a sniff. He stretched his long gray neck over the fence for what he knew would be a soft stroke. He was the biggest of the horses, a huge gray gelding. Jen and her brothers sometimes called him the elephant. "Hey, General," Therese said, rubbing the side of his face.

"We bring the horses in at nine for grooming before they start their first trail ride of the day. My brothers and the new handler are in there finishing up now. We'll need help with the grooming and tack so they're ready to go by eleven. You could leave after that."

"So nine to eleven? That's not bad. Let me think about it." She could use some of her own mad money, and twenty dollars a day for just a couple of hours of her time seemed like a good deal, and a good distraction. She loved grooming the horses.

Jen added, "After my mom's trail rides, we exercise them hard before dinner, when we turn them out to pasture again till dark. We could use another rider then, too, from like four to five. Not necessarily every day. Just when you can."

One of Jen's two brothers appeared in the middle of the pen from behind the shelter. He was the tallest and oldest of the Holt kids and had blond hair like his sister, which he kept short around his face like a bowl. He graduated last May and would be attending college in the fall. "Hey, Therese."

"Hi Pete."

"Oh, hey, Therese!" the other brother, who would be a freshman this year, called as he popped up from behind a horse. He wore the same blond bowl on his head as his brother, but the freckles that peppered his cheeks were more prominent.

"Hi Bobby."

"Sorry about your parents," Pete, the older one, said.

"Yeah. Thanks." She bit the inside of her bottom lip.

Then Bobby asked, "Hey, have you met Than?"

Another boy, slightly taller than Pete with dark wavy hair and a bigger build, stepped out of the shelter and into the middle of the pen and the horses.

It was the Than from her dreams.

Jen must have noticed the look on her friend's face, because she asked, "Do you guys know each other?"

"You look familiar." Than strolled up to the fence in his blue jeans and tight white t-shirt.

"No, I don't think we've met," Therese said. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be him. But how many people had she known named Than? Her knees felt like they might buckle.

Than extended his hand. "Well, then, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Therese. I've heard a lot about you, thanks to Bobby here."

Bobby's face turned crimson as she gave the new guy her hand, and she couldn't pull it away fast enough. Than seemed to be laughing at her behind his smile, enjoying her pain and confusion and Bobby's embarrassment. She decided she did not like him.

"It's nice to meet you, too," she lied.

Jen opened the gate of the pen. "We're half way done with the grooming."

"Can I groom Sugar?" Therese asked.

"Than's finishing her up now," Pete said. "Can you take Hershey?"

Without warning, Clifford ran through the gate and leapt into Than's arms. He licked Than all over his face. The General spooked back, causing a domino effect as two other horses, Ace and Chestnut, reared and snorted. Fear gripped Therese as she recognized the danger. But Than tossed Clifford to Therese, grabbed the General's mane, and whispered something in his ear. The General settled, which calmed the other horses, and Therese finally released her breath.