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Wyatt’s lips parted, and he started to say they had, but no, they hadn’t. Jackson had a TV, but no cable or internet, only an old VHS player. Wyatt had always been more interested in hanging out or fooling around when at his place, and none of the library tapes had looked all that exciting. They occasionally watched short videos on Wyatt’s phone, especially if he found something he thought Jackson might find particularly funny.
But no, they’d never sat down together to watch a whole movie.
“Okay, let’s do that,” Wyatt said.
“Great.”
Jackson seemed a touch befuddled by Ramie’s streaming setup, which was kind of adorable in its own way, especially for a guy who was only forty. Wyatt navigated them to an app he liked. “So what’s your pleasure? We’ve got all genres, all kinds of things to choose from, even live sports.”
“Never been much into sports, but I’ll support our Texas teams when I need to. You didn’t seem keen on the tapes I’d rented from the library, so what’s something you like?”
“Honestly, I used to play a lot more video games than I watched movies, but most of those games were about zombies or science fiction adventures, so I guess stuff like that.” Wyatt clicked through until he found a recent zombie thriller that looked good. “How about this?”
“Go for it.”
“Want popcorn first?”
“Sure.”
Wyatt threw a bag of popcorn into the microwave, and in less than three minutes they were settled close together on the couch with their fake beer and popcorn. The movie was pretty good, but Wyatt found himself paying closer attention to Jackson. The way he’d tense at a suspenseful part or cringe when someone got hurt, like he actually cared about the characters on-screen. He liked seeing this emotional side of Jackson. A lot.
Their fingers brushed constantly in the popcorn bowl, and they each drank two beers. It tasted fine but lacked the slight buzz of real beer.
Why did I have to date a responsible older man?
He kind of liked it, though. Jackson looked out for him. Ramie looked out for him. His coworkers at the ranch did the same in their own ways. After leaving his entire family behind in Glasbury, it was nice to have found one again. One that accepted him. And one he’d hurt if the truth came out about why he’d come here in the first place. As the days and weeks passed, and he settled in with the people around him, he feared telling them the truth.
What if I give up the search, say nah to Maybe Daddy, and just live my life?
Giving up on proving Brand was his father would only prove his stepfather right, that this had been a waste of time. Only it hadn’t, because Wyatt had found something very special here with these people. Especially with Jackson. What more did he need to prove to his stepfather? Nothing, not really.
He leaned his head against Jackson’s shoulder and smiled through the rest of the movie. Wyatt barely registered the ending. It was a few minutes after ten, so not super-late. Jackson stood and stretched, and several vertebrae popped. “Listen to you snap-crackling, old man,” Wyatt teased.
“Old man? I would pick you up and sling you over my shoulder for that if I didn’t have to piss so bad.”
“Sure, likely story. Bathroom’s down the hall.”
“I know.”
Wyatt bit back on the urgent need to ask how he knew until Jackson returned. “You’ve been here before?”
“One time, yeah.” He stood near the TV, hands in his pockets. “Might not be my place to say it, but Brand and Ramie used to have a sex-only arrangement, too. One night the pair of them got wasted, and Brand called me for a ride. I brought them back here and tucked them in.”
“Oh. Okay.” It shouldn’t surprise him that Brand probably had former fuck buddies all over the county, but hadn’t someone said Ramie was Brand’s best friend? Seemed weird to Wyatt, but okay. Maybe some people were able to fuck and still be friends? Or maybe they were friends first? Whatever, that wasn’t his business.
“You really have so much to learn about how complicated adult relationships can be,” Jackson said.
His gentle smile was the only thing that kept Wyatt from taking offense at the statement. “I know more than you think. My family is plenty fucking complicated. Maybe that’s part of the reason I decided to come out here and look for something new. Get away from the drama and expectations and letdowns.”
“Letdowns like what?”
“Like my grandparents knowing who my bio family is and refusing to contact them. Refusing to tell me when my mother was dying so I could reach out to them. She needed a liver transplant and was on a list, and a lot of folks we knew got tested. I thought more options might help her. But my family was always like that. Keep your secrets and don’t tell, no matter how much it hurts other people.”
Jackson took a few steps closer, hands falling to his sides. “Is that why you don’t want my help finding your bio dad?”
“That’s a huge part of it. I grew up learning how to keep things secret. Telling is bad, and that became a huge life lesson after my stepbrother was arrested.”
Jackson’s eyebrows went up but he didn’t comment.
