His eyes flashed with anger. “Believe whatever you want, Cole. I’m not here to appease you. I’m here because it’s the right thing to do by Dad. He wouldn’t have wanted you to lose everything.”
“He didn’t want you to fuck off without a word for fifteen years either, but here we are.” I felt a sharp smack on the back of my shoulder. I turned to see Evelyn glaring at me, her spatula held like a weapon. “What the hell was that for?”
“Your brother is trying to do some right by you,” she chided, that stern motherly voice piercing through my anger. “Stop being an ass about it.”
“I don’t care what he’s tryin’ to do,” I snapped back. “And he’s not my brother. We ain’t blood.”
Jesse took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. “You’re right, Cole. We’re not blood. And Jack wasn’t my real father.”
“Wait a minute—” Evelyn began.
“No,” Jesse said, holding up a hand to silence her. “He’s right.” Jesse’s hazel gaze fixed on me, a fierce determination in his eyes that sent a chill through me that had nothing to do with the cold morning air. “We may not be real brothers, but your father was the only Dad I ever had. And I cared about him.”
“Sure you did,” I scoffed.
“It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe it, Cole. The truth is the truth.” He stood up from the table, pushing his mugaway from the edge. “But I’m gonna stay here whether you like it or not. The only way you’ll get me to leave is if you tell Mr. Whitaker that you want the entire ranch donated. If that’s what you want, then be my guest. Until then, I’m going to be in my room thinking about all the things I’ve sacrificed to try to save this ranch for you.”
I slammed my fist on the table and Evelyn jumped behind me. Jesse, however, didn’t even flinch.
“What the fuck could youpossiblyhave sacrificed that I haven’t given up a hundred times?!” I yelled, my voice nearly cracking from the strain. “You don’t know the meaning of the word!”
“I gave up my freedom, Cole,” he said simply. “My freedom from Hell Creek, from you, and from all the painful memories here. I gave up my job, my life, my friends, and my… my boyfriend.” He paused, letting his words sink in. “You’re not the only one who’s had it hard, Cole. Not by a long shot.”
And with that, he turned on his heel and headed up the stairs.
I just sat there at the kitchen table, my jaw hanging open. Had I heard him correctly or was I just making it up?
“Did… did he say…boyfriend?” I asked, still staring at the doorway Jesse had disappeared through.
“That’s what it sounded like,” Evelyn replied, clearly unperturbed by this sudden revelation. She went back to her cooking, spatula scraping the bottom of the cast iron pan. “Shouldn’t surprise you though.”
“How the hell was I supposed to know he was a?—”
Another sharp smack on the shoulder with the spatula. “Don’t you goddamn say that word in my kitchen, Cole Nelson!”
I rubbed my shoulder, staring back at her in disbelief. “I wasn’t gonna!” I sounded like a petulant teenager. “I was gonna say fairy, okay?” I paused for a moment, turning back to my coffee. “Did… Did you know?”
I could almost hear her roll her eyes. “You didn’t?” she scoffed. “It was pretty obvious.”
“Not to me.”
“Well,” she continued, plating the bacon and moving onto the eggs. “You boys are like my own kids. A mother’s intuition is nearly always right. I know a lot about you boys that you’ve never said out loud. You didn’t need to.”
“And you’re just okay with him being gay?” I spat before I could stop myself.
She rounded on me once more, that spatula held like a weapon. “Yes I am.” She narrowed her eyes, giving me the glare of the century. “Just like I’mokaywith you.”
My gut twisted painfully, the whole world around me spinning. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“If you don’t know,” Evelyn sighed. “Then I don’t have time to explain it to you.”
“Explain what?” I growled, my heart hammering so hard I thought it might burst through my chest. The kitchen suddenly felt too hot, too small. “There’s nothing to explain.”
Evelyn just gave me that look, the one she’d been giving me since I was fifteen, the one that said she could see right through my bullshit. “Sure, Cole. Whatever you say.”
She turned back to the stove, cracking eggs into the pan with practiced ease. The sizzle filled the awkward silence between us. I gripped my coffee mug so tight I thought it might shatter.
“I’m not—” I started, then stopped, the words sticking in my throat like barbed wire.
