The Gatekeeper's Sons (The Gatekeeper's Trilogy) (10 page)

“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.

“Bad boy! Go back to the stream! Go catch a fish!” she scolded Clifford, turning him out of the pen. She said to Jen, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over him. He should know better than that.” Then she looked up at Than with suspicion and awe. Why had Clifford run to him? And how had he settled the horses so quickly?

“Wow, Than,” Jen said. “How did you do that?”

Than shrugged and said he had a way with horses, but Therese still felt as though he were laughing at her, as though the threat of danger had been her fault because she couldn’t control her dog, and she had needed Than to save the day. She took up a brush and went over to Hershey, a mare whose coat, as the name implied, was like chocolaty brown silk.

“Hey girl,” Therese said in a soothing voice. “Did you miss me?” Therese could feel Than’s eyes on her, but she tried her best to ignore him. He was too sexy for her, anyway, and much too arrogant and self-assured. Jen had probably already staked her claim on him, and she was probably more his type, so naturally beautiful. As Therese brushed through Hershey’s coat, she wondered if it had been a mere coincidence that Than looked like the Than in her dreams. Or, maybe he didn’t, and somehow she was now imposing the image of him on her memory.

Therese bent over to brush Hershey’s belly, and her rear-end bumped against Than, who wa
s passing behind her. She popped upright, the blood rushing to her face, and muttered, “Excuse me.” He said nothing, but when she snatched a glance his way, she could see he looked pleased with himself.

Had her subconscious somehow
sensed
she would be meeting him? Had it been a prophetic vision? And if so, what had it meant?

After they finished grooming and saddling the horses, Jen’s mom came out of the barn where she had been working to formally offer Therese the job and to thank her for accepting it. She was surprised to hear Therese wouldn’t be coming at dawn to help with the barn and pen cleaning, but Jen quickly explained that she planned to work every morning instead of splitting the chores with her brothers. Jen’s surreptitious glance toward Than confirmed Therese’s suspicion that Jen was interested in him, and this explained Jen’s sudden eagerness to work more. Mrs. Holt seemed pleased with the arrangement, since she paid Jen less than ten an hour.

Jen invited Therese to stay for lunch when her mom and Pete took the first riders on the trail. “We’re just having frozen pizzas,” Jen explained, “but it would be fun to chat.”

Clifford was splashing around in the stream behind Jen’s house chasing trout he would never catch, but perfectly entertained, nevertheless. Luckily, he was too preoccupied to bother the riders walking up the drive toward the pen. “Sure,” Therese said.

Jen surprised Therese by asking Than if he wanted to stay, too.

“Maybe next time,” he said. “I promised my sisters I’d eat with them today.”

He waved goodbye as he left, on foot, down the gravel drive, where cars were now parked in a line, and south up the dirt road toward Therese’s house. Therese and Jen both watched him until he was out of sight. Even a few of the trail riders waiting to mount stole glances at him.

Then Jen said, “Is he drop-dead gorgeous, or what?”

Therese shrugged.

“How can you take such a casual attitude toward his splendid good looks? Does this mean I don’t have to fight you for him?”

“What about Matthew?” Therese referred to the boy Jen had been with most of their freshman year.

“He hasn’t called much this summer. I think he’s lost interest.”

“Maybe he’s just busy or on vacation.”

Jen asked again, “So you’re not interested?”

They walked up the steps toward the front door, Bobby close behind. “He’s all yours,” Therese said, though, as soon as the words came out, she felt nauseous.

“Well, I won’t hold my breath,” Jen said. “He was checking you out the whole time we were grooming in the pen. I think he prefers you.”

Bobby squeezed by Jen and went down the hall. “I’m outta here.”

Jen laughed at her brother.

“That’s impossible,” Therese said when they were alone. “I mean, God, look at you.”

“Oh, shut up. You always talk yourself down. I would kill for your curly hair and pouty lips.”

“You can get a perm and botox—not that you need it. I wish I had your boobs.”

“You’ve got boobs!”

“Nubs.” She cupped her hands around her half-lemons and looked enviously at Jen’s full oranges.

“Cute nubs. And some people develop later than others. Plus, there’s always implants,” Jen laughed.

“Yeah, right.” Therese rolled her eyes and took a seat at the kitchen table. “So, where’s Than going? Did he really walk here?” Just saying the name sent a shiver down her spine.

Jen grabbed some paper plates from the pantry and put three around the table, though just now Bobby was watching television in the other room. “He and his sisters are renting the
Melner cabin for the summer.”

“The
Melner
cabin?” It was about a half-mile south up the road from Therese’s house, the third of the five houses across from the reservoir. The Melner’s had turned their home into a vacation getaway, and although Therese was used to different people staying there throughout the year, she found it upsetting that Than was one of them. She recalled the image of the Grim Reaper on her computer screen and shuddered. It was just a coincidence, she reminded herself.

“Yeah, you guys are neighbors,” Jen giggled.

“If his family can afford the cabin, why’s he working for your mom this week?”

“For the same reasons you are, I guess.” The oven started beeping—it was hot now—so Jen put the frozen pizza directly on the center rack. “He said that he enjoyed working with horses and that he wanted to get in touch with nature.” She laughed. “I’m part of nature. He can get in touch with
me
.”

Therese laughed with her. It felt good being with her friend like this. Jen could be bossy and stubborn, but she was so worth it.

Jen closed the oven door and asked, “Diet Coke?”

“Sounds great.” She took the ice-cold can from her friend and popped open the tab. The cold pop felt good going down her throat. The grooming had worked up a thirst. “So where’s he from?”

“He said he’s from down south. At first he said ‘down under,’ and we thought he meant Australia, even though he doesn’t have the accent. But he said he meant down south, from Texas. From what we gathered, he used to work on a ferry.”

Therese choked on the Diet Coke and broke into a fit of coughing.

“You okay?” Jen asked, patting Therese on the back.

Therese eventually nodded. “Wrong pipe,” she explained when she could.

Carol dropped Therese and Clifford at the Holt ranch again the next morning. Carol had been thrilled about Therese’s new job, saying it was just what she needed to get her mind off…things. Therese was partly glad that she would be out of Carol’s hair this week and keeping herself entertained with her best friend and the horses, but she was also partly annoyed by
Than’s appearance, especially since the more she thought about it, the more she was sure he looked
exactly
like the Than in her dreams.

“Come on, boy!” she called to Clifford, as she climbed from the car. Then she said to Carol, “I’ll call if I need a ride.”

As Therese walked up the gravelly drive with Clifford stopping to pee on every tree, she thought more about her discoveries last night. When she couldn’t sleep, she had gone on the Internet and googled “the Furies.” One article had this to say: “The Furies are three sisters: Alecto (The Unceasing), Megaera (The Avenger of Jealousy and Hatred), and Tisiphone (The Avenger of Murder). They are the goddesses of revenge, sometimes called the daughters of the Night. They haunt criminals until they go insane and die. The Furies are untiring and persistent in their pursuit. They are impartial and indifferent, merely carrying out their duty. They continue to torment wrongdoers even after death. In some traditions, they are the daughters of Hades and Persephone, rulers of the Underworld, and their brothers are Hypnos (Sleep) and Thanatos (Death). The Furies are known for tormenting sinners under the command of Hades and for pursuing criminals on Earth until their victims have been rightfully avenged.”

In her dream weeks ago, Than had said he was sending the Furies to the waking world of the living to help her solve her parents’ murder. Therese now shuddered at the prospect.

Of course, it had only been a silly dream, something her subconscious must have conjured up based on this mythology she must have read a long time ago and had forgotten all about.

As she approached Jen’s house, Clifford turned around back down the gravelly drive and took off across the dirt road toward the reservoir. Boulders and short aspens made a kind of barrier between the road and the water until the road reached Jen’s house. Across from the Holts’ was a big field of tall grass, and out in the middle of the grass this morning was a lone figure. Clifford was running toward it.

“Come back, Clifford!” Therese followed her dog into the grass. She was stunned when she saw Than, soaked from head to toe, walking toward her with his clothes bundled in his hands. All he was wearing were his wet white boxers and boots.

“Good Morning, Therese,” he said when he got closer.

She couldn’t avoid looking at his golden body—his golden
naked
body, for the wet boxers didn’t leave much to the imagination. His skin wasn’t what you would call
tan
, but it seemed to almost
glow
.

“How are you today?” Than asked.

She could tell he was amused by her reaction, which she hadn’t been able to disguise. Her eyes were about to pop out of her head.

“Fine,” she said, turning away. “Come on, Clifford.”

“That water felt so good,” Than said. “Do you go swimming in the lake often?”

Not often enough, she thought. She’d only been a few times this summer, and that was before…her life had changed. “Not often.”

“That’s too bad. I’d go every day if I could. I had no idea how beautiful everything is up here, how nice the sunshine feels, the water, the cool mountain air when the wind blows. I love listening to the birds, too. I think I’ve found seven different species in this forest alone.” He caught up to her now and walked beside her.

“They don’t have those things down in Texas?”

“What? Oh, well not like this.”

Therese noticed that Clifford walked beside Than, putting Than between them. Clifford never took to strangers this quickly. “Come on, Clifford,” she said again, a little jealous that he wasn’t trotting alongside her instead of
him
. “Don’t you have barn and pen duty this morning?” Therese asked Than with a touch of hostility as they reached the dirt road and headed toward the gravel drive.

“We finished. I worked up a sweat and thought I’d come cool off a bit before grooming the horses. You should join me tomorrow. Come a little earlier.”

He stopped on the gravel drive to put on his shirt. Therese took the opportunity to study his tight ruffle of abs but looked away as soon as his head was visible again. Then he knocked off his boots and climbed into his jeans. Therese didn’t know whether she should stand there and wait for him or keep walking toward the pen, so she walked on, but at a slow pace.

“Come on, boy!” she said to Clifford.

Clifford decided to wait for Than, but, in no time, both boy and dog had caught up to her as she reached for the gate to the pen. “No, Clifford,” she warned.

“
Mornin’ Therese,” Bobby called brightly from behind the yellowish-brown stallion named Ace.

“Hey, Bobby.” Therese quickly closed the gate behind Than. “Go play, boy,” she said to Clifford. “Where’s Jen?”

“She’ll be out in a minute,” Mrs. Holt called from the shelter. “She’s on the phone. Mornin’ Therese.”