Page 33 of On the Land, We Shoot Straight

I

t was a quiet month after that. As the rain started in steady earnest with light drizzles before charging into proper rainfall worth checking the gauge over, Grady and Cole caught up on as many chores and repairs as they could before the winter storms kept them inside with their prayers for a good harvest. Grady reckoned even the land was breathing a sigh of relief on account of some real rains coming, the fears of another drought firmly put to rest for this year at least.

On one such day, Cole gave Grady a look like he wanted to say something.

Grady saw it over his shoulder as he changed the oil in the shearing clippers and then looked back to his task. Cole was working on the one beside him.

“You sure you still need me?” Cole eventually asked.

Grady finished what he was doing and turned to Cole, who was studying the oil change like it was quantum physics.

“Quit bein’ a dumbass,” Grady said, bumping Cole as he went on to the next one.

Cole laughed, a relieved burst of air he tried to conceal, finished what he was doing and moved down the line.

Cole came into the kitchen the next morning, fresh-faced and exhilarated from his morning ride. Grady tipped his mug at him and finished his coffee.

“She’s gettin’ cold,” Cole said as he came over for his mug.

“Gonna be a rough winter,” Grady replied. “I gotta head into town, you want anything?”

Cole shook his head and focused on pouring his coffee.

“All right.” Grady pushed off the counter.

“We can, if you want, when you get back,” Cole said quickly.

Grady stopped and looked at him. Cole’s focus was on making his coffee, his hair falling around his face so Grady couldn’t see his expression.

He took Cole’s meaning. Since the night they’d gotten drunk, they’d been kissing and grinding and sleeping in the same bed, with Cole inching closer every night but not taking it further.

Grady didn’t mind it, liked it even. Liked it probably too much.

Now he knew what Cole was offering and he didn’t reckon he liked why.

“Yeah, maybe,” he said now and went out.

Joel was in the diner when Grady went in.

“As I live and breathe,” Joel said.

Grady acknowledged him and went up to the counter to order. Cheryl said it’d be right out, and he slid into the booth across from Joel.

“You ready for winter?” Joel asked.

“You know it.”

“See, I been tellin’ ya for years a hand would help.”

Grady grunted and sat back as Cheryl poured his coffee.

“And you got a Cole too. The youngest one, but still, better ’an nothin’.”

Before Grady could rebuke him, Cheryl was leaning back with the coffee pot and asking Grady, “You got Jesse Cole out there?”

“Yeah, what of it,” Grady replied and sipped his coffee. It was weak.

“Nothin’,” she said, shrugging like it was a whole lot of something. “Just surprised he stuck around, is all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Grady asked.

“Ease up, Grady,” Joel said and yeah, okay, maybe that came off colder than usual—but they got a problem with Cole, they got a problem with him.

Cheryl was undeterred by the comment; in fact, she looked like she was enjoying getting a rise out of him, lipstick-red lips smirking down at him.

“Just a lotta rumors goin’ round about what that boy’d get up to, is all. He shoulda gone to the city and taken it like his mama and brothers.” Cheryl wandered off with a parting shot: “Had some respect for himself.”

Grady stared after her, but kept himself where he was. He took her meaning well enough and felt caught off guard and angry all at once.

“Why did he stay?” Joel asked.

Grady refocused on him. He’d known Joel all his life, couldn’t remember a world where Joel wasn’t in it.

But as Joel peered at him, seeking out some juicy gossip, his posture lazy and indulgent as he sipped his coffee, Grady felt like he was seeing him for the first time and not liking the view.

The same old gossiping pussy as the rest of them.

Grady stood and pulled out his wallet. Joel sat back, as if Grady’s movement had woken him up. Cheryl was coming over with his plate, but she stuttered a step, and her superior smirk slipped.

Grady tossed a few bills on the table and walked out.

“You not wantin’ your breakfast?” Cheryl called after him as Joel said, “Grady, c’mon. Grady!”

Grady got in his truck and drove home.

Cole was sitting on the step and tossing a ball for Lady when he drove up. He got out, came around the front of the truck, and met Cole’s eyes. Lady nudged Cole’s hand, and he refocused on her, smiled with his whole face, and threw the ball again.

“That was quick,” Cole said as Grady came up to the steps, his hands empty.

Grady stopped in front of him. Cole looked up, squinted, the smile falling away from his face.

“You need a hand gettin’ stuff from the truck?” Cole looked past Grady to the truck and then back to Grady’s face, his voice and face unsure.

Grady watched Cole’s mouth move around the words, noted his uncertain expression.

Cole stood, tentative, and Grady didn’t move back with the movement.

Cole was in his space now, eyes looking up that last inch.

Grady brought his hand up slowly. He cupped him by the nape and kissed him.

Cole kissed him back, surprised, but then a lot surer.

Grady fell into it, his other hand coming up to cradle Cole’s jaw, his thumb running along the bone there, the kiss deep and slow and full of something he couldn’t have put into words.

Cole was panting when Grady pulled back.

“Reckon I’ll go somewhere else tomorrow.”

“Okay?” Cole said.

“They ain’t got what I need in town.”

Grady moved his thumb up, swept it over Cole’s bottom lip and watched as Cole sucked in a breath.

“Feel like goin’ ridin’?” Grady asked.

Cole nodded.

Grady let him go and stepped back. He turned for the barn and Cole came up beside him. Together they walked in a comfortable quiet that was full of questions that didn’t need answering, not right now.