Walking out of the storage room, Theodore approached the occupied stalls with two saddles. One was held slightly at the hip and the other hefted over his shoulder. He stopped to hold one out to the other stable hand before moving over to Polly's stall. The little bay mare snorted impatiently and Theodore shook his head. He'd already told her once that she reminded him of girls from his past and suspected that it had only gone to her head.
He balanced the saddle on the stall door and held out a sugar cube to the horse.
At the sound of people coming into the stables, Theodore turned slightly. A smile lifted at the corner of his mouth and then he turned his attention back to Stephen, who had already started to tack up the chestnut gelding from the next stall. He caught the young man's attention and flicked his head back toward the door with a smirk.
"Your admirer is here," he said with a chuckle and picked up Polly's saddle. "Try not to break his heart. We'd all hate to lose a paying customer."
He moved to pick up the saddle again, wanting to get Polly situated before his next lesson, but when he turned, Theodore saw the person following Albert into the stables. It startled him so much that he dropped the saddle on the ground, knocking over a pail of oats in the process.
Eight years... Eight years was a very long time. Long enough that he sometimes almost forgot that there was another life he should have been leading. And now it all came flooding back.