The Tin Star by J. L. Langley Page B

knife and help.
    Together, they sang along with the radio and finished preparing supper. After Jamie put the potatoes on to boil, they both sat down at the table with cold beers. Fred jumped up and pranced to Ethan as soon as he sat down. The dog was getting spoiled, no two ways about it. She leaned up against him, nudging his hand with her nose until he took the hint and scratched behind her ears. Ethan chuckled and continued to lavish attention on her.
    “What is it, girl? Doesn’t anybody ever give you any attention? The poor baby is just starving for affection, isn’t she?”
    Jamie snorted. “Yeah, right!”
    Fred hammed it up; she wagged her tail and laid her head on Ethan’s thigh, licking his arm. Ethan sipped from his bottle and idly petted Fred’s head.
    “How did you learn to cook so well?”
    “I spent a lot of time with Mama. Daddy was always too busy, and John and Jules were enough older that they didn’t want to be bothered with a snot-nosed little brother tagging along all the time. Not that they didn’t let me tag along, as you well know, but for the most part I hung out with Mama or Hank. He always seemed to have time for me. I wouldn’t know anything about ranching if it weren’t for him.”
    “Yeah, Hank is a good man. Hell of a cowboy. Where is he now?”
    Jamie took a sip of his beer, then set the bottle down and leaned back. “Florida. After he retired, he moved out there to be closer to his daughter and her family. He still calls every now and again to see how things are going.”
    Ethan nodded. “You going to miss not being the Quad J’s foreman?”
    “Yeah, I guess I will. As long as I can remember, I wanted Hank’s job. That’s part of the reason I spent so much time with him learning the ropes.”
    “What else?”
    Jamie gave a mirthless laugh. “Unlike Dad, Hank put up with me without telling me I was in the way or to go back inside to Mama.”
    Jamie stared off into space, not really seeing anything, just thinking back over his childhood. “Dad’s never been downright mean except for now, but ... well ... he’s never paid much attention to me one way or the other.” He caught Ethan’s gaze. “I guess I took that to mean he was tolerant of anything I did. But I’m beginning to think it was just the opposite.”
    Ethan apparently didn’t have a problem following his train of thought, because he nodded. He took a long pull from his bottle and said, “Your daddy isn’t the easiest man to get along with. Even for John. And your daddy worships the ground John walks on.”
    That was true. Daddy had always thought the sun rose and set in John, while he just tolerated him and Julia. “Yeah. I got lucky. John loved ... loves me. He always took up for me. I guess in a way, Daddy indulging John is what made me think he cared about me, too. ’Cause John always tried to include me, and Daddy never told him no.” Jamie shrugged. There was no use going over the past. It wasn’t going to help him now. He was a grown man and he didn’t need his father’s approval.
    They sat in silence for several minutes, Ethan scratching Fred and him drinking his beer. He’d had a great afternoon hanging out with Ethan, then Margie. The only negative of the day had been Tom Cooke’s attitude. Well, that and not being able to show affection for Ethan in public. He chuckled. Being out of the closet wasn’t as liberating as he’d thought it would be.
    “What’s so funny?”
    “I was just thinking that the whole point of telling my family I’m gay was to not have to hide it and to be accepted. It hasn’t really worked out that way.”
    Ethan grinned. “No, I don’t suppose it has. I never thought coming out of the closet would solve anything, actually. It’s always seemed to me that it causes more heartache than just keeping it to oneself.”
    “When did you tell John and Julia?”
    Ethan took a swig of beer, then leaned back in his chair with his hands across his stomach. “I