Gerald and two other men wanted to rent Carmen's house for three weeks this summer. It was the perfect excuse to teach Carmen how to handle a gun. She would need to guide the men up into the hills. He would be at work, so she would be on her own. In any case, the house rental was her business and she needed to gain the confidence of running it without his direction.
By the time he returned to the barn, it was getting dark. He unsaddled Ed and rubbed him down before putting him in his stall. He tossed in some fresh alfalfa hay and glanced around the barn. It was tidy - and empty. It seemed strange to have only Ed in the barn. At least that was one way Carmen had shown initiative. She had finally separated Ed from his daughters before inbreeding began. The mares were now kept in the renovated dairy barn and they ran in a separate pasture. Ed wasn't too crazy about the arrangement, but castrating a 23-year old stallion wasn't something he would want to do even if it wasn't his friend. Ed was still a good stud, throwing a majority of quality fillies.
Alex turned the light off in the barn as he left. Carmen was waiting and he was ready to give her his full attention - as soon as they got the children to bed.