The weekend flew by. We slept in on Saturday. Then we went and saw Beth to see how she was doing. This was followed by housework and naughty stuff. Adam dropped by with Remmy in the early afternoon to let us know Richard had been charged. Due back in court first week of February, they had confirmation he is back in Durham, NC.
On Sunday morning we went to breakfast and pick Benny up. We missed him too much to leave him at Callen's any longer. Everyone has decided to go ahead with the horses for Christmas. We had the cookout in the afternoon. Adam and his wife Anna came and we enjoyed their company. Beth, Maria and Anna are becoming fast friends. The Price family is now on our cookout and party list.
Monday is work, work, work. I met with the guy who offered to buy the business and asked for a few more shekels - at Callen's suggestion - to see if he was serious. As he agreed to the price, I would have the contracts drawn up and we would settle Friday after next. The week before Christmas - wow! I'm really doing this. Scary stuff. I spent the rest of Monday sorting out the workshop getting ready for the sale as this will be pretty much all I will be doing between now and settlement.
Tuesday morning already, ugh! I get on with the housework at my place as Jack will be here this afternoon. In the middle of my spruce up, the guy selling Cory's horse calls. He has another buyer for the horse so if we want him we better move our ass and get there as soon as possible. Thankfully, he is only thirty minutes away. I get on the horn to Alex, then Callen. Unfortunately Jase can't come because he is still dealing with the fallout from the vandalism at the job site. No news on that front yet either.
Alex picks us both up and we schlep out to the horse ranch place. Entering the driveway, I expected to see stables and sheds, a farm house, people busy doing their job. But it was a long drive through fields and fields of plush green. Horses dabbled here and there. There was one massive stable in the middle, and a two story farm house on the end of the driveway with a huge tractor shed behind it. That was it - nothing else. Not really what I had imagined in my head.
Anyway, a little man about 5'2" met us at the end of the driveway. He looks after the place and introduced himself as John. He took us to the horse. He is beautiful. The coat, he says, is called Palomino and his name is Random. John and Alex tack up and go for a ride, so they could put the horse through his paces. Callen and I walk around and have a look at the other horses in the stable.
I wander from horse to horse, telling them secrets and giving them embellishments on how beautiful they are. They seem to like it. There was one horse isolated from the others looking sad. He seems definitely disgruntled. The poor thing is pacing in his small box as much as he could, huffing and puffing. As I walk toward him, he throws his head over the gate and nods vigorously. I reach up to pat his face between his eyes and he stops and stands still.
He's beautiful - white with chestnut patches. I keep rubbing and patting his face while I gently tell him all my secrets. He forcefully nudges my chest as though he's trying to get in my pockets. This makes me laugh. I rub his neck, then lean over and hug him. I see Callen, Alex and John come around the corner. John stops them from coming any further.
"Tracy, could you come over here please?" John says calmly.
I give the horse another rub on his face and kiss above his nose, then walk over to where their standing.
"So how did it go?" I ask.
Alex and Callen are looking at me with a funny look on their face, then they look at the horse. I turned and looked back at the horse.
"He's beautiful isn't he? What type of horse is he? What's his name?"
"What the hell were you thinking?" John's reading me the riot act about approaching the horse. I'm only understanding, well, none of it. "Adonis. He's dangerous! You could have been hurt!" he yells at me.
"He's a pussy cat. He was friendly with me." I say sheepishly, hanging my head.
"Friendly my ass," John walks toward the horse and he starts rearing and kicking. Then he paces his stall again and throwing his head around. I'm not thinking as I walk past John. My only thought is to calm him again. As I approach, he calms some. He comes to the gate and sticks his head over and rubs his head against me.
I rub his face and the sides of his head, I smile at John and say to the horse, "You're a big ol' pussy cat. See you wouldn't hurt anybody would ya'."
Alex is shaking his head and chuckling, when I approach. I ask him again, "So how did it go with Random."
"Perfect, he's a little rough from not being ridden all the time. Cory will knock that out of him with no problem. I think they'll be great together. They both have similar temperament, so they will be good team if he puts in the time. We'll have to make a few new pens and rings at home but that's easy enough."
I so want to hug him right now, but John doesn't seem the tolerant type. I'll just stay here jumping out of my skin. I'll keep a cool exterior.
"Are you okay with this Callen?"
"Yep, I've spoken to Jase about the horse and he's happy with letting Alex decide." Callen smiles and continues, "I've been thinking, I also spoke to the accountant. We should pay for the horses and saddles from the trust. Because we four still have to come up with the money for the rest of the tack, riding gear and food. That is still going to be another couple of grand each. As long as you're happy with this Trace."
I looked to see Alex's reaction. It's not good.
"Callen, give us a minute. Talk to John and tell him we'll take Random one of us can write him a check and we'll sort it out later."
I pull Alex with me out of the stables. I don't want anyone to hear us have our first fight. Alex is stiff and I can see he's pissed off. We get outside and he stands, looking down at me. I don't how he does that, it's intimidating as hell if you don't know him.
"I know you're pissed off. I want you to hear me out, okay?" Alex nods his head once, so I continue, "The trust is just money. I don't think about it. I don't use it. It just sits there and grows. We got that money because we lost our parents. I consider it blood money. I hate it. I never wanted it and I never asked for it. I'd rather have Mum and Dad back and be poor. Callen and I feel the same way. The only time I have touched it since our parents died is when he was in hospital and I had no transport. I rang the accountant to see if I could get a cheap used truck, but he organized the Ram for me that afternoon so I could get on the road. That's it. You know I don't rely on the money. Both Callen and I work and live within our means. Let me ask you a question? Do you consider you, Benny and me to be a family?"
"You know I do."
"If that's true, if something were to happen to me then that would mean you and Benny would be entitled to my half of the trust. Correct? And the same for Callen I would expect his half to go to Jase and Cory. Correct?"
"When you put it like that..." Alex says looking away and bites his lower lip. God he's sexy. "I just don't want to rely on you for money, Tracy. It's not right."
Now I'm pissed, raising my voice a little, "But you were completely happy with me staying home to look after Benny and the house and let me rely on you. And you understood how I feel about our finances. What has changed since yesterday? We are supposed to be building a life together. It doesn't matter who earns the most or what, just as long as we are doing our bit and we are happy.
"How is this fair Alex? I'm just as much a viable part of this relationship as you. I WILL earn money and contribute. If you can't see that, we have big problems. I know I'm usually submissive in this relationship, but I'm able to stand on my own two feet. Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm weak. I love what we have and how we are ... not so much right now."
I storm off to find Callen, leaving Alex behind. I love him so much, but right now I could just punch him in the face. My eyes are watery, not because I'm going to cry, but because I'm angry. Callen takes one look at me and hangs his head.
"Pay for the horses out of the trust, can you organize that from here?" I sternly command Callen.
