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He grabbed his hat from the floor and slapped it against his leg to get off the dirt before placing it solidly on his head. I walked out with him as Damon was bouncing around the truck, shaking the driver’s hand, who’d just stepped out to greet him.
Memphis Wendover was a handsome man, sandy blond curls under his straw cowboy hat. He shook Damon’s hand while giving him a smile and nod, tipping his hat at the same time. They were gestures I was getting used to.
He’d told me he was from Austin but moved after a breakup only to find his place and start it for strictly boarding horses. He was tired of breeding them and all the hassle that came with that, but once in a while, he became the owner of the boarded animals. He kept some, sold others and it helped to keep his business thriving.
I shook his hand as I introduced us all. “Memphis Wendover?”
“That’s me.”
“I’m Burke, this is Damon, and…” I looked around to see Joel over by the horse trailer, not interested in the humans. “That’s Joel.”
“Nice ta meet ya. My husband’s comin’ around.”
When I saw him, I couldn’t believe he was Memphis’s husband. He had spiky black hair, obviously dyed, and tattoos up to his chin.
A beautiful man, surely, with soft features and big brown eyes, but talk about opposites attracting. He was as different from Memphis as might and day. “This here’s Xen.”
“Xen?”
“That’s his name, yessir.” Xen went to Memphis and if he could have sunk all the way into his partner’s side as Memphis wrapped an arm around him, he would have. “Xen, say hello.”
He gave a little wave and stuck his hand in back of behind himself.
“Xen…what have we talking about? Talk.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said in a small voice.
Memphis explained, “He don’t talk much, but a lot more ‘an he used ta.”
“That’s perfectly fine.”
Damon nodded to Xen and said, “We talk enough for ten people.”
Seeing how shy Xen was, I thought it was a perfect time for Joel to meet him, and see he wasn’t so strange in his mistrust of strangers. “Joel, come over here and meet them.”
With his head down to hide his eyes behind his hat, Joel came to me, doing much like Xen but instead of sinking into my side, he stood just to the side and behind me. “Joel, this is Memphis and Xen.”
“Howdy,” he said from behind the hat, and I snatched it off his head.
He threw me a dirty look but nodded to them, and Damon went to his aid, slinging an arm around his shoulders. “He’s not much for new people either.”
Then something amazing happened. Xen moved away from his partner and went right for Joel, taking his hand and leading him into the stable. Joel went along, staring at Xen, but before they disappeared inside, I saw a smile grace his pretty lips.
Damon and I watched, shocked silent, but Memphis came up between us, chuckling. “That little fucker has a way ‘bout him, with people like ‘im. Him and his best friend, they’re like that. Like they live in a world we can’t understand.”
“Where words just get in the way,” Damon whispered.
“Yeah. Xen, there, he didn’t speak a word for the longest time. Thought they’d caused somethin’ bad to happen to ‘im. He still don’t talk a bunch, but he’s better.”
We followed them after a few minutes, into the stable, forgetting the reason Memphis and Xen had come in the first place. We found them at the very end, both sitting on the ground, laughing together.
“Hey, fellas,” Memphis said to them.
Joel said another rushed, “Howdy,” and again Xen just waved shyly.
Then they laughed again, like we’d missed the joke and Damon pulled us away, whispering, “Let’s go look at the horses.”
“Leave ‘em be, yep. When Xen finds a friend, he gets a little stuck.”
