He polishes off his beer and grabs two more from the fridge.
Setting one down in front of me, he continues, “Let’s try it this way. Anything you for sure hate?”
I nod, popping the top. “I don’t want to be in an office. I don’t want a job where I can’t have a life. I don’t particularly need to be rich, but I don’t want to be worried about every damn dime.”
Richard holds up his bottle, and we clink again. “Amen to that. Sometimes knowing what you don’t want is just as important as knowing what you do.”
“I like living here. I like being close to my mom. I especially like that I’ll be able to see her more. I wish I was more artistic like she is, but…I don’t know. I’m limited.”
Richard shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter if you’re artistic or not, and we don’t have to figure this out right now. This is just the first step.”
We finish our bottles, and Richard grabs them, dropping them into the recycling bin. His eyes light up as he returns to the couch.
“What?” I ask, immediately suspicious.
“I was just thinking that you sitting here trying to figure out what you want to do probably isn’t as much fun as maybe getting out in the world, seeing new things. Volunteering, maybe?”
“Volunteering?” I ask, one of my ears perking up.
“Yeah, Junior Underwood over at Rebel Sky is gathering people to volunteer for a Christmas beautification project. Given how you’ve made my yard the envy of the neighborhood, it might not be a bad gig.”
Hm. Junior’s kinda hot if you like a big, beefy smart-as-hell cowboy. Hell, what’s not to like? He’s gay, never been in the closet, and even though he’s only two or three years older than I am, he’s already graduated from A&M.
I overheard from Sandy at the Broken Oak that his mom helped him map things out. Junior took classes for credit the last two years of high school, then used community college online courses to square the rest of the basics, and only made the jump to A&M when he was ready for his degree coursework.
Apparently, his parents agreed to go halfsies on college if he kept his grades up and volunteered with the Rebel Sky crew between semesters. Which was real smart because Joaquin, Rebel Sky’s foreman, recently hired him on as a full-time hand.
While all of that is sexy as hell, it only solidifies my status as a complete loser.
“Tanner? What do you think about that? About volunteering?”
I dart a look at my uncle, hoping he can’t read my mind.
“Um, I might like that. What’s it involve?”
“They want to put Christmas decorations up and down Main Street, and Junior said something about helping our elderly and disabled folks with their Christmas decorations as well.”
Huh. Spending my Christmas break volunteering with a hot gay cowboy might be the thing to distract me from not having any idea what I’m doing with my life.
2
JUNIOR
“What is he doing here?” I ask, recognizing Tanner Buchanan’s junked-out Geo making its way up the Rebel Sky driveway. That damn car’s older than he is.
Trip Goodnight, owner of the ranch, laughs. He’s not much older than me, but he’s everything I aspire to be. He’s married to a great guy, has two amazing, rambunctious little kids they’ve adopted, and he’s running his ranch exactly the way he wants to. I feel lucky he and Joaquin hired me, but they act like my summers spent mucking out stalls made me a shoo-in.
He has no idea how nervous I was to interview with them and how thrilled I am that they accepted my proposal.
“Oh, come on, Junior. Tanner’s volunteering for the Christmas Cleanup. Be nice.”
My middle brother, Peter, shared a Bio class with him this semester and said Tanner always showed up late and barely paid attention. I feel bad because I heard through the grapevine that his dad kicked him out for being gay.
I feel sorry for the guy—really, I do—but we’ve got a ton of projects this year, and everyone has to be all in.
“I’mnice,” I toss back. “I just don’t want to let down these families because we’ve got a volunteer who can’t pull his own weight.”
Trip sends me a patient look. “I hear you, but why don’t you wait and see what he has to offer before you decide he’ll be completely worthless?”
