They might have been talking about Mona and her full custody, or maybe they were talking about something else. Austin didn’t feel brave enough to ask, so he didn’t, instead saying, “I suppose it’ll hurt less with time.”
“You miss Bea,” said Clay. “You miss your honeybee.”
“How do you know I call her that?” asked Austin, feeling like a bit of his heart had been flayed open and laid bare for anyone to see.
“You were on the phone with her at the motel,” said Clay. “I wasn’t trying to overhear, but I heard, so I know you miss her.”
“Yes, I do,” said Austin, and he had to swallow hard to erase the shake in his voice. “Anyway, what about you? You have family, do you not?”
“I do,” said Clay, and he told Austin about them, about his five older sisters, and his parents, both farmers, and the farm where they grew corn, and the humidity that was never-ending in summer.
His face lit up as he talked, and it was easy to see that while he cared about them, he didn’t miss him, for he seemed happy to be on the ranch, and his talk soon turned to where they were, in Wyoming, on a ranch, putting together a puzzle while it rained.
Through the open doors came a flicker of lightning and the faraway thud of thunder. Austin was glad, in that moment, to be where he was, was glad to simply be with Clay, who looked at him with affection and seemed glad to be with him. And who, in the end, if it came to that, might not mind about all of Austin’s flaws, the ones Mona had been ever so diligent about pointing out to him.
14
Clay
In the morning, as Clay showered and shaved and examined his face in the small bathroom mirror, he figured his bruises and black eye had gone down enough to be almost unnoticeable. He’d be brave then and march into Leland’s office after the morning’s meeting and ask to be put back on the regular roster, the no-longer-in-the-dog-house roster.
As he scraped his damp hair back from his face and figured out what shirt to wear, he thought about Austin and how he’d looked in the lamplight the night before. How his eyes had been so dark and sad and, when he’d finally told Clay what was up, Clay had felt sad right along with him, determined to sympathize and cheer Austin up as best he could.
The best way had been by distracting him with funny stories about his older sisters, and mentioning the Carhartt jacket once more, clarifying which color might look best on Austin. Which made him blush a hard red.
Austin probably didn’t know his face was flushed, that he got flustered when Clay said nice things to him, which made Clay want to find Mona and give her a good talking to. A man as good looking, as tall as Austin was, as clean as he was, who smelled as good as Austin did, should not be flustered by compliments.
Austin wassogood looking, with his manly jaw and ginger coloring, he should be so used to compliments that they were almost boring to him. Though, of course, Austin was a polite kind of guy, so he’d never act bored about it, but would always say thank you in that warm voice of his. Whiskey warm, pleasant and slow, like Tupelo honey on a warm day.
Which was not how Clay should be thinking about Austin, not at all. He’d made his little pass, almost unconsciously, like he did with a lot of men he’d met. It went along with his handshake, and was tucked inside the way he saidhelloandhow do you do. It was like he was always searching, not just for somebody to go to bed with or to do harum-scarum things in the alley outside the Rusty Nail with, but for more, though he’d never been quite able to define what that more was made of.
Undoing his top snap buttons, he grabbed his cell phone to unplug it and quickly searched for the Carhartt he’d been telling Austin about. Should he send the link for the moss green one? Or should he pick the brownish tan one, so Austin’s green eyes would stand out?
The green one was awfully nice, so he clicked on that one and texted the link to Austin, then sauntered down the stairs to the morning meeting in front of the barn. A glance up the hallway showed him that Austin’s door was closed, as he was lucky enough to not have to come to morning meetings at the freaking break of dawn. Later, though, he’d catch up to Austin for sure so they could have breakfast together.
The meeting, run by Leland and Maddy, as it usually was, went quickly, with the regular announcements about Saturday leaving times, and how they were staggered so as not to create a melee among the guests in the parking lot. And then there was Maddy’s usual request to help the housekeeping staff with baskets of laundry.
Of course, Clay raised his hand. Volunteering for this task put him in good standing with Stella and her mighty band of cleaners, which was a good thing when he accidentally needed new towels on account of he’d neglected to hang up his damp ones to dry on the rack rather than leaving them on the bathroom floor where they’d grow moldy.
Maybe Austin wouldn’t like to be with a guy who had messy habits, though, so maybe it was time he stepped up to the plate. Still, he held his hand up to volunteer and got the nod from Leland, which really made his day. As did the fact that he was on tap for helping with the riding lessons for new riders come Monday. Which meant he was really out of the doghouse at last.
“I think I’ve learned my lesson, boss,” said Clay as he went up to Leland after the meeting.
“I’m glad to hear it,” said Leland with a smile. He’d no more enjoyed disciplining Clay than Clay had. Clay knew that in his heart, but the smile was the topper. “Just you keep downwind of Eddie Piggot in future, yes? He’ll call the cops for sure the next time one of mine gets into it with him.”
“You got it, boss,” said Clay. “Well, I’m off to breakfast.”
He trotted all the way from the barn to the main lodge, though the morning was muggy and hot after last night’s heavy rain and any sensible person would have walked. But seeing Austin at mealtimes had become the bright part of his day, so it was hard to slow down.
Though, when he climbed the steps and looked along the line, he saw Austin had already gotten his breakfast and was sitting with Quint and Bill.
Maybe they’d met up with Austin in line, and it wasn’t like he could say no to them. Plus, it looked like they were having a serious chat, probably about money issues, so he waved until Austin saw him, his face brightening as he waved back.
Both Bill and Quint turned in their chairs, probably to see what had distracted Austin from listening to them. When they saw it was Clay, he waved like the shy, delicate flower that he was, and flashed his dimples at them. Bill made a grousing motion with his hand and turned away, and Clay laughed under his breath and got in line for breakfast.
The rest of the day seemed to go like that, with him keeping an eye out for Austin, but missing him all day long. He texted to see if Austin liked the color of jacket he picked out.
It goes with your eyes, he texted.
