Laughing, I shut the driver-side door and knocked on the side panel. “You’re good to go, my friend.”
Kit tipped his hat at us and took off, bumping down the road.
After he was gone from view, I fell against Sky, giggling.
“Dude, I hadn’t seen him smile since Cynthia left. That was fucking brilliant.”
Sky’s expression fell a little. “I feel so bad for him. He obviously loved her a whole lot.”
I nodded. “He did. Does. And I’ve gotta imagine there’s some gal who will convince him that there’s more than one person out there for him.”
“I hope so.”
We went back inside and resumed our update of the interior. Sky said he had something going for my headboard, so we cleaned, rearranged, and refreshed everything else. By the end, the walls were painted a pretty, deep-but-not-too-deep blue set off with white bedding, white cabinets, and white furniture. Sky found a wall-mounted guitar holder that made my baby look likea work of art. The flat-screen TV looked sharp, and bright rugs lit up the dull wood floors.
As we were tidying up, the sound of horse hooves alerted us to the arrival of my cousin. I opened the door and let Woody in to see all the changes.
“Jesus, Rowd,” he said, patting my back. “Look at what you’ve done with the place. I hardly recognize it.”
“This was all Sky’s doing,” I said, grinning at my friend.
“So,” Woody said, looking Sky up and down. “Who’re you?”
Sky snorted at Woody’s sharp tone. “I’m Rowdy’s very best friend in the entire world.”
We hadn’t ever really said that to each other before today, but it was true. Sky was my very best friend too.
Woody didn’t look convinced, but that didn’t stop him from opening his trap. “Well, at least Rowdy won’t have to go into town to get laid anymore. This here is a bona fide sex den.”
Sky gave me a look, but I simply nodded along. I didn’t need yet another person on this compound to know what I did—or didn’t do—with my time. Woody couldn’t stay long since they had to get up early in the morning to take Stevie to a barrel racing competition, so we hugged and I wished them luck.
As soon as he’d ridden off on Shadow, Sky turned to me. “So...he really has no idea.”
“Nope.”
He looked around, pride tipping up his lips. “But maybe you’ll at least feel more comfortable exploring your sexuality here, you think?”
I shrugged, not wanting to think about it.
Sky sighed, though I doubted he was really disappointed. “Too bad. This is the perfect little country sugar baby setup—you could easily find a man out here, and he can come and go as he pleases.”
“Yeah...no,” I said, suddenly green around the gills.
Sky chuckled. “What I love about us is that neither of us really understands how the other operates. Like, I think you just need to find the right spark with one man, and I don’t think that you judge me for?—”
“I don’t,” I was quick to say. “If I shudder, it’s because I’m trying to put myself in your place. I can’t say what’s good or bad for you, but that setup would be awful for me.”
Sky shrugged. “I’ve been lucky, I think. The sugar baby life has been a pretty sweet deal for me. It’s just the endings that suck.”
“Because you fall in love with them?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“A hazard of the job,” he confirmed, his eyes a little sad.
“But that’s why you still keep hours at that orthopedist’s office, right? So you can leave when you need to?”
“Sorta.” He held out his hand, tipping it from side to side. “I actually love the work I do. I tend to see people right at the beginning, when they’ve just suffered a bad accident or finally can no longer ignore the pain, like your buddy Kit. I get to be the person who shows them that there is a way to get better, even if it means accepting a new normal.”
“I can tell you’re good at it,” I said sincerely.
