Chapter 9
Over the next few days Neil’s sense of confusion and disappointment deepened. It perplexed him that Rolf had gone back to avoiding him and, if the farrier couldn’t avoid him, ignoring him. Neil’s disappointment stemmed from his realizing that from the moment Rolf had held him and kissed him, Rolf was the man he wanted to be with, not just sexually but emotionally as well. Now Rolf was pulling away and putting up the same barriers as when Neil had first met him.
After several days Neil decided the only way to resolve this was to confront Rolf. The next opportunity to do that came when Neil received a request to look at a lame horse in the farrier barn. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, and, hoping Rolf would be there, prepared to go. As he reached the door of the surgery,
