"Babe, why are ya readin' about black people’s hair?" Matt asked, somewhat muffled. Mickey glanced down, seeing the two of them entwined together, which wasn't a surprise. He knew they had a very affectionate relationship.
"Well, knock wood," Tim said as he knocked on a stall gait, "our new son is biracial, and we're both white. We need resources for the boy so he knows both sides of his heritage. Assholes like Les Bishop make me realize we can't teach him anything about his black heritage. He needs a role model, but we're hard pressed to find one here, especially since Jon dumped him as a client.
"Don't get me wrong, I think Audrey's been great, and maybe she can offer him her perspective regarding being of mixed race, but she's not a man. I'm not sure what to do, Matty. We owe it to the boy to try to help him grow into the best man he can be," Tim explained.
Mickey felt more tears streaking down his cheeks, and he wondered what the fuck was on the fritz in his brain that had him crying like a fucking baby? He didn't cry. He hadn't cried one tear since the day he figured out he didn't have a family anymore. Not since the day he took off on his own at sixteen, had he cried one tear. He had no idea what the fuck was wrong with him now.
He heard a low-toned chuckle, which came from Matt. "You know how I first met Jon? Ed Marshall did work for his mother. She's a horsewoman, and they have a place outside of Richmond. Anyway, Ed said he needed some legal work, and Jon's momma gave him a name. Fast forward to me needin' somebody to help me after Bertie took Ryan the first time, and Jon Wells and I met."
Suddenly, Tim gasped. "Hey…I have an idea. Get the camera 'cause we need to make a video. I'll get things ready down here while you're gone. See if Mickey's back and give him the night off. I'll call Jeri and Marty to pick up the boys, and after we're done with this, we'll meet in the hayloft," Tim told Matt with a little squeal sounding from the computer whiz, leading Mickey to believe Matt had slapped his ass as he was apt to do when he thought nobody was looking.
Mickey peered over the side, seeing them going their separate ways, so he quickly climbed down the ladder and slipped out the side door, walking down to a lower pasture and waiting a few minutes before he walked back up toward the house.
When he walked inside, he saw Matt icing up beer in a cooler. "What's up?" Mickey asked.
"Good news, my friend. You've got the night off, and here are the keys to Tim's truck since that piece of shit you drive has a flat. The boys are goin' to Momma and Dad's for a sleepover, and you're more than welcome to do anything you want tonight. Timmy and I have plans as well, so if maybe you want to go out for the evenin', go for it," he told him as he tossed him the keys.
"Can I do anything to help them get ready to go up the hill?" Mickey offered, trying not to smile at Matt because the man was easily embarrassed. The excitement on his friend's face actually made him smile.
"Um…no. I'll…well, if you wouldn't mind making sure they've got toothbrushes and stuff. I'll walk 'em up the hill…" Matt began.
Mickey laughed. "How 'bout I drop 'em off after I get ready to go out? I'll be sure to come in through the back and I'll make sure to be quiet if I come home tonight. Y'all have fun," he teased, giving Matt a wink.
Mickey hurried upstairs to check on the boys who were busy gathering Legos instead of clothes. "Now, y'all know Jeri and Marty have a bunch of that stuff at their house. Let's get clothes for tomorrow and toothbrushes and stuff. Rock, we'll figure out a haircut, I promise. I'll drop y'all off before I go out.
"Just get your stuff together and don't forget your book. Gramma Jeri likes to listen to the two of you read as much as your dads. I think your dads want a date night, so we need to clear outta here. I'll be back," Mickey promised as he hurried down to his room and grabbed a new pair of jeans he was saving for a special occasion other than going to the damn barn to clean horse shit. Matt and Tim deserved privacy, and he wouldn't stand in the way. They were good to him, and he'd do anything for them.
Thirty minutes later, he was as spit-shined as he was ever going to be. He'd even cleaned up his boots, considering the idea of getting a new pair next payday if he was going to live up to the New Year's resolution he'd made to himself earlier in the year. He definitely needed to change his very boring routine.
After he was finally ready with a little splash of some aftershave Miss Katie had given him the previous Christmas, he walked upstairs to find the boys in the living room watching cartoons. "Where are your dads?" he asked them.
They both turned to him and smiled. "Where you goin'?" Rocky asked as he walked over and circled Mickey, making him feel self-conscious.
"When I said your dads deserved a date night, I meant me clearin' out as well. I'm gonna go to town and get dinner then maybe go to Pete's tonight and watch some baseball. Don't y'all worry 'bout ole Mickey 'cause I got lots of friends. Now, you ready?" he asked as Matt walked down the stairs, his hair still wet from the shower.
"Whoa! Where you goin', Mick? I know the boys are goin' to Momma's, but I didn't know you was goin' out," Matt taunted with a wicked smile.
Mickey laughed. "You're full of it, Matt. I get when I'm not wanted. I won't be home 'fore last call, so after, I'd appreciate it if y'all wouldn't moan, groan, and scream," he teased.
"Why would they scream?" Rocky asked Ryan.
"Oh, they like watchin' scary movies. Well, Daddy does but Tim doesn't, that's why he screams sometimes. You'd think they'd quit watchin' 'em, but they don't," Ryan explained as he shook his head in disbelief, nearly bringing Mickey to his knees in laughter.
He saw Matthew Collins blush for the first time ever, and it made his heart feel good for his best friend. They were so damn in love it was sickening, and apparently, they had a pretty damn good sex life.
"We better get goin', boys. Tell your dad 'night. I'll take your stuff out to the truck," Mickey informed as he took out their little suitcases with their names on them that had been gifts from Miss Katie for Easter. They'd been their baskets, and the boys loved them. Hell, they'd even given Mickey a basket with some candy and a gift card to Applebee's, a place he loved to eat.
As he thought about it, he decided he might use it that night because it was near I-81, and that wasn't really out of his way. It was only five o'clock, and he had nothing going on the rest of the evening. Why not?
He hurried down to his room and grabbed the gift card and his dress cowboy hat before he returned to the truck where Tim was standing with the boys, giving them orders which they'd never break. Mickey just smiled as Tim opened the door and settled them into the backseat. "Behave and have fun. Love you both," he told the boys before he closed the door.
He then opened the front passenger door and handed Mickey a little bag. "You behave and fun as well, and be safe. We love you, too."
When the door closed, Mickey backed up until he could turn around and drive down the paved driveway. After he had the boys settled with Jeri and Marty, he hopped back into the truck and opened the bag Tim had given him. Inside was a bottle of lube and a box of condoms with a sticky note attached.
Be safe. You're a part of the family, too.
Love,
Tim & Matt
He laughed all the way through town. As he took the exit onto the interstate to drive the few miles to the exit where the restaurant was settled amongst many motels and other eateries, he picked up the cowboy hat he'd brought along because it gave him confidence. He placed it on his head and checked himself in the mirror. He looked good, even if he did say so, and he was really fucking horny, so if he had a little love by the dashboard light, he wasn't going to beat himself up about it.
Chapter Ten
Jon was sitting at the bar at Tobacco Company Restaurant, waiting for his friends, Aaron and Rick. They were meeting for dinner for the first time since the wedding and honeymoon, and Jon was certain he was going to be lambasted with stories he'd find utterly boring. He'd humor them for a little while and then, they'd all move on to regular topics…like business or baseball, both of
which were topics upon which he could offer informed insights.
He ordered another vodka tonic as his phone chimed. 'If this is them canceling, I'm going to kill them,' he thought. They'd been trying to get together since Aaron and Rick had returned from St. Kitts in January after their Christmas Eve wedding, but Rick had been busy teaching and working at a new consulting job he'd taken with a business journal in Richmond. Aaron was a lawyer with a busy schedule, much like Jon, so even though they worked at the same firm, they were in different disciplines which didn’t often cross paths.
Their three-on-three basketball league ended at the end of last year, and the new season didn't start until the middle of summer, so the three of them had been very busy doing their own things. Jon was hoping to catch up with his friends and maybe get himself on solid ground again. He wanted to get back to the clubs Aaron and Rick loved to frequent so he had a sex life.
He finally pulled out his phone to find it was a text from his mother, which surprised him. There was a video attached, but he looked at the message first, not really interested in another kitten/monkey 'YouTube' audiovisual.
Jonathon, come to the farm this weekend. This isn't a request. I can't believe you've been keeping this from me. Love you. Mom xoxo
Just as he was about to click on the attachment to figure out to what the hell she was referring, he felt an arm around his neck and a kiss on his cheek. He turned to see Rick's warm smile. "Hello, darling. How are you?" Rick asked as he sat down next to Jon on the stool and knocked on the bar.
"Where's Aaron? I walked passed his office on my way out, but it was dark," Jon mused as he watched Rick retrieve some hand sanitizer from the pocket of his sports coat. He'd forgotten one of Rick's peeves…germs.
For some odd reason, it reminded him of seeing Mickey during that visit to the Circle C, working with two, newborn calves. It seemed they were twins, and their mother was a small cow who had struggled through the birth, as happened sometimes in nature. He remembered standing at the corner of a tiled stall as he watched Mickey cleaning them up, his hands dirty from removing the remnants of the birthing process because the cow was too weak to do her job.
"While this ain’t as bad as watchin' Matt castrate calves, I'm pretty sure this ain’t exactly your cup of tea either, but if you could grab some towels from the cabinet for me, I'll get 'em goin' so we can move 'em to another stall. After Matt moves her, I'll clean this mess and then put 'em back in here. Ryan'll love feedin' em," Mickey told him as he rubbed the calves down with old towels while the cow breathed heavily.
"What about her?" Jon asked, knowing nothing about cattle. He moved to do as Mickey asked and again, stood back to stay out of the way.
Mickey looked at the cow as she lay resting on her side, barely breathing. "She'd a been fine with one of these little beauties, but two was too much. It happens, sometimes. Mother Nature gives a little more than some of us can handle. It was her first season, poor thing," he stated quietly as he picked up first one calf and then the other, moving them to the other tiled stall where there was clean bedding.
Mickey sent him to the house for penicillin he was told he'd find in the kitchen fridge. When Jon couldn't find it, he returned to the barn to find the stall empty. Mickey was on his hands and knees with a scrub brush and disinfectant, having removed the mats and dirty towels from the tiled floor in order to sanitize it. When the gunshot went off right outside the barn, both of them flinched. No more words were necessary.
Jon observed Mickey, as he scrubbed, seeing he didn't seem to be bothered by the blood and god-knew-what-else all over his clothes. He was more concerned about an animal that lost its life bringing its offspring into the world and it touched Jon deeply.
The snap of the cap on the antibacterial gel brought Jon out of the odd memory. "Aaron had a last-minute, pre-trial conference at opposing counsel's offices. He said we should have a drink or two, and he'll get here as quickly as possible. So, tell me what's new with you? Are you seeing anyone?" Rick asked him as they settled in with their cocktails.
Rick's was something called a Pink Lady. Jon could only imagine what Mickey Warren would think of that. The cowboy was more of a beer drinker, as Jon recalled, and while he'd tolerate beer on occasion, it wasn't his drink of choice. It was too pedestrian for him, really. 'Yes, you're a horrific snob,' he reminded himself, not happy with the self-assessment at all.
"So, how was the honeymoon?" Jon bit the bullet because he didn't want to talk about himself. The turmoil in his gut at walking away from Mickey Warren had made him a surly bastard. The people at the office steered clear of him, and he couldn't blame them.
"I'll only bore you a little," Rick stated as he pulled out his cell and cued up what appeared to be eight-hours-worth of pictures. Jon sat there, trapped, scrolling through pictures as he listened to the doggedly detailed explanation of every shot. He kept drinking and Rick kept droning on while they kept looking at the photos.
Finally, Jon hit a picture showing Aaron atop a large black horse, reminding Jon of Charlie, Matt's huge stud horse he'd enjoyed riding so much during his last trip to the ranch…well, his only trip because he'd ran out of there like a fucking fool due to the feelings he was beginning to develop for Mickey Warren.
As he listened to Rick drone on, he realized what a huge mistake he'd made, but it was definitely too fucking late to go back and undo the damage he'd caused, or so he assumed. The young cowboy was so incredibly handsome and a person most people would describe as 'salt of the earth', but Jon had slinked out on the man like a snake with the arrogant idea the man was too simple for Jon.
"Oh, that was the best day. We rode horses through the surf and had a candlelight picnic on the beach at sunset. I know you ride for real, but we were playing cowboy, and it was fun. This was the horse guide, Noah, who helped us. It was so much fun. I'd love to go riding again sometime on a horse with a saddle," Rick told him as the pictures continued to flash by as Jon scrolled.
When Aaron finally arrived, there were cheek kisses amongst them. As Jon reflected on it while the two of them discussed someone they knew and a very public argument between another couple regarding an overly flirtatious shop boy, he wondered when his life became full of superfluous cheek kissing and dinners full of gossip. Not one truly important conversation had taken place all evening. The discussion of a living room rug for their new home had taken up twenty-eight minutes…Jon had timed it.
It wasn't as if he didn't like his friends, Aaron and Rick. He enjoyed most of the things the three did together prior to the wedding. They'd always found things to discuss and Jon rarely remembered being bored while in their company. It seemed to him, however, since the two of them had tied the knot, they'd lost their individuality and had evolved into that monster referred to as a 'couple'.
Aaron and Rick seemed to have pulled a bubble around themselves and no longer had big issues to discuss involving anything more than their shiny, happy life. They had merged into one personality and it meant only one thing: the three of them had been reduced to a single gay man and a two-headed hydra with tunnel vision regarding anything outside their perfect life.
Finally, determining he was full-up on "coupledom," he made his escape. "This has been great, guys, but I need to get home. I've got a deposition tomorrow morning," he lied. He was so fucking bored he wanted to gut himself with a butter knife, and he was so distracted with forbidden thoughts, he needed time to clear his fucking head.
"Oh, I forget how you 'family-court' types have to deal with the down and dirty of the great unwashed. Good luck, my friend," Aaron told him as he and Ricky once again gave Jon air kisses and hugs, opting to sit at the bar to have a nightcap.
The night air was pleasant and the sky was full of stars when Jon walked out of the restaurant, so instead of going home, he decided to walk from East Carey to East Main and stop into a few bars he'd frequented in the past, to do a little people watching. He ordered a hard cider in Rosie Connelly's and listened to the music as he
watched the people, not seeing anyone of interest until a guy sat next to him. "I'll have what he's having and give him another on my tab," the guy stated as Jon turned to look at him.
He was handsome and quite polished. He was about fifty-five, and he'd definitely had a little work done. It wasn't drastic, but the man looked a bit waxen, a sure sign of Botox. He'd definitely had hair plugs, which wasn't exactly a turn on, but he had warm eyes. They were shamrock green, just like Michael Warren's lovely eyes. The man's hair was a flat brown, unlike Michael's red-burnished, brunette. The eyes, though, were nearly spot on.
"I'm Jon," he introduced himself.
"Collin Murphy. It's nice to meet you, Jon. Are you a local or in town for business?" the older man asked.
"Meetings. I'm from…well, that doesn't matter, now does it?" Jon asked. The eyes were enough to seal the deal. If he looked into them, he could almost pretend the man was an older version of Mickey Warren.
The older man chuckled. "Yes, I suppose there's no use for pretense. I'm just down the street at The Berkeley. I'll leave a key for you at the desk. We can have a nightcap," the man told him as he tossed a fifty on the bar and stood, smiling at Jon.
It was then he noticed a wedding ring on the man's finger. "Oh, and what would your better half think of you propositioning strange men in bars?" he asked, hoping it was flirty. He wasn't trying to be judgmental, but really?
"As I always say, what she doesn't know, doesn't hurt her," the man, Collin, told him as he winked and walked out of the bar.
Jon waited until he was sure the man was gone before he went out and hailed a cab. His car was parked in the garage under the firm, so he could take a cab to work the next morning. He had a lot of things to consider because there was a nagging in his gut he didn't like. It was too late to consider it at the time, but he'd think about it over the weekend. Yes, when he was in Dillwyn. That would be the perfect time to think things through.
Driving up the long, paved driveway of his parents’ 'farm' brought memories…pleasant memories. He'd loved being in the country when he was younger, and he really wondered when he'd stopped enjoying it. Was it high school when he was just discovering his sexuality and knew there was nobody in Dillwyn who would be his type?
Loving the Lawyer (The Cowboys of Katydid Farm Book 2) Page 11