Fuck, he had no idea what to do, so he went with what he knew best—the bald truth. “I don’t think that we’re there yet. Me and your dad haven’t talked about it, but you know that I care about all y’all kids. That’s the best I can give you right this second.”
Zane stopped whacking to give him a searching look. “That’s fair. I just don’t want you to break his heart.”
“I’m going to do my damndest not to. I’m into him, Zane. And you kids make me happy. And I’m a cowboy, and that’s about as touchy-feely as I get.” He smiled a little.
“Cool. Just so you know, I’m not gay.”
He blinked at Zane. “Okay…”
Did he give off “I’m-into-teenagers” vibes? Because that was disgusting.
“I mean, it seems like everybody’s gay. I like girls. You know how weird it is to have two gay dads and be into girls? Now I have one gay dad and a gay dad boyfriend, and I’m still into girls.” Zane waved the icebreaker around in the air.
Ellis stood frozen. He didn’t know how to deal with this, and he was going to have to figure it out—right now.
Was it wrong to pray for an avalanche or an earthquake?
He cleared his throat. “No, bud. I don’t know that, but I got to tell you, I know how weird it is to be the only gay kid in a cowboy family, and to have a mom who married and lost or divorced three husbands. So, I get weird teenaged years. I do.”God, please let that work.
“Yeah, I guess straight-bashing isn’t a thing. And the girl I like, she totally is cool. Not a bigot.”
“Well, that’s good, huh?”
“Hey, I was raised right. I don’t put up with that shit, pardon my French. If you’re a bigot, you don’t get to be with me.” Zane’s chin lifted. “You don’t even get to hang with me. You take your stuff and you go because there’s something wrong with you.”
Ichabod had done a good job with this kid.
“I like that, buddy. A lot. I feel the same way. When it comes time to hire hands, that’s my philosophy. We’ll take all kinds of cowfolk here, but no one who has hate in their hearts.” He believed in do unto others, dammit.
“All right, that works for me.” Zane nodded, so serious, trying so hard to be an adult when he didn’t have to be.
Of course that was the lesson all kids had to learn, wasn’t it? That they didn’t have to be a grown-up when they were teenagers, and somehow everyone spent a hell of a lot of time doing that.
“You looking forward to having your grandparents out?”
Zane shrugged again.
It astounded him, how much expression Zane had in those shrugs. He could have an entire conversation and never open his mouth, just move his shoulders around in different positions around his head. It was sort of like semaphore.
“Yeah, they’re cool. They’re artists like Dad. And they’re totally weird goth people. Totally.” Zane shot a grin at him. “You ever seen theBeetlejuicemovie? Those are my grandparents.”
Ellis thought perhaps that was something Ichabod might have told him and warned him about. They were going to have to have a little talk about what exactly that meant.
Were they going to try to raise spirits over Thanksgiving dinner?
All the girls ever talked about wasstuffing.
“No sh—stuff? Really? Goth people.” He shook his head. “I didn’t expect that, bud.”
“Yeah, no one ever does.” Zane started chopping ice again. “It’s sort of like the Spanish Inquisition. No one ever expects it.”
That had him chuckling because he understood the TV reference for it. “Oh, Monty Python. Very nice. Well, I hope they don’t dislike the cowboy type, but I guess we’ll see.”
“Oh, they liked Vic fine. I mean, as much as anybody liked Grandpa. I loved him, you know? But a lot of people thought he was pushy and sort of rigid.”
Ellis shrugged. “A lot of the older generation of cowboys can be. Although I reckon Vic probably wasn’t that much older than me.”
Zane gaped at him. “Oh, he was totally older than you. He was like, so old.”
