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Owning and running a ranch was no easy business. It called for long days and hard work. It was not something one man could do by himself. Maybe it could have been just a passing childhood dream to become a cowboy, but Wayne stuck to his guns, and while being a rancher wasn’t really being a cowboy like those Western movies, it was close enough. He got to ride and train horses, live in the mountains, and stare up at the night sky around a campfire whenever he damn well pleased. 

And he was good at it.

Management was probably not his strong suit, and the accounting and bookkeeping definitely weren’t, but he was good with the animals. It helped that he got on well with the Native tribes too. He could hire them and pay them better wages than if they were to go elsewhere, especially with discrimination being what it was. They were hard workers and as long as he showed respect to them and the lands they used to own, they showed him respect right back. 

He was only 35 when his good-for-nothing brother got arrested. Only 35 when a social worker showed up at the gate in mid-March to the ranch with a young boy; he couldn’t have been older than about 9. Kid had a godawful buzz cut and the biggest damn eyes Wayne had ever seen, and he worked with cows. “What’d my brother do this time?” Wayne asked, looking at the social worker. 

She gave him a grim smile, “I got the paperwork, but it’s a laundry list, Mr. Munson.”

He nodded and took the folder, flipping through the pages of offenses. “Come inside, I’ll put on a pot.” He looked at the scared-looking young kid, “You too, kid.”

He led them up the path to the house that sat on the property, leading them through the small cabin to the kitchen. He puttered about letting the kid look around the place while he heated up water and brewed some coffee, making a cocoa for the kid. “Why don’t you come sit down?” Wayne offered, sliding the cup of cocoa across the small table. 

Wayne couldn’t help but hate his brother when the kid reacted so fast and flinchingly toward what was a simple request. Like he was going to get beat if he didn’t get his ass in the chair as quick as possible. 

Edward Munson. That was his name.

How had Wayne gone 8 whole years without even knowing he had a nephew? Sure, his brother still lived in Indiana where they were born and raised, but not even a call to tell him he’d knocked some woman up?

Kids had never been on Wayne’s radar. It wasn’t because he didn’t like them, training the young Natives whose parents worked on the ranch to ride was one of the ways Wayne enjoyed spending his free time, not that he got much of it. It was simply that there was no way for him to have a kid with his lifestyle. 

Wayne listened as the social worker spoke, telling him about his brother’s offenses and how long his sentence was likely going to be. He was charged but hadn’t yet gone to trial. Either way, he wasn’t exactly fit to be a parent, neither was the kid’s mother. She looked around the small cabin, “You don’t have a room for him, do you? Or a wife to help care for him?”

“No, but he can take the bedroom. I got a nice comfy couch I can sleep on until I get an addition built. And I think I’ll do mighty fine takin’ care of the boy myself.”

“And the… drinking?”

It wasn’t hard to see the numerous beer bottles and cans littering the small place. “I’ll tone it down. It’s a bit lonely out here, you know? Not much to do but drink and watch the news.” He looked at Edward, “But I suppose that’s gonna change a lot.”

She nodded, “So, you are planning on taking him.”

“S’long as he wants to stay here. It’s a long way from home.”

They both looked to Eddie, who nodded slowly, his big eyes a little glassy. Wayne could only imagine how scared he was, how tired. Confused. 

There was quite a bit of paperwork to sort through, but through it all Eddie stayed silent and watched them, he hugged his stuffed octopus to his chest and sipped his hot cocoa. After the social worker had given Wayne a small suitcase filled with, apparently, everything Eddie owned, she left. 

Wayne looked down at the small suitcase and down at the small boy before sighing and nodding. “Alright, let’s get ya set up.” He led the kid into the only bedroom and cleared out a drawer in the dresser, carefully packing Eddie’s few ill-fitting clothes into it. “I’ll get some of my stuff out of here soon as I can, let you make the room yours, as they say.”

The kid nodded and climbed up on the bed, curling up on top of it. 

Wayne didn’t know what to do or say to make this easier for him, so he left, shutting the door behind him and going to the kitchen to call a local contractor. 

The first few days that Eddie was living with Wayne, it was like living with a ghost. He knew he was there, signs of him like a clean bowl in the dish rack or a wet towel hung up on the radiator, but he didn’t see much of him. Wayne knocked on the door to his room late one night, “Ed?”

The door opened slowly. It was obvious that Eddie had been crying recently and it hurt Wayne’s heart.

“Was wondering if you were gonna eat?”

Eddie rubbed his feet together, “Do I have to?”

Wayne hummed, crouching down so that he had to look up to see Eddie’s face, “No… I suppose you don’t gotta eat, but ain’t ya hungry?”

“I ate earlier.”

“Just cereal.”

Eddie’s pout grew more pronounced, his eyes watering harder. “That’s all I’m allowed, isn’t it?”

Wayne felt his world shift under his feet, not for the first time since the social worker showed up. “God no, I made hotdogs with beans, if ya want ‘em.”

For a little while, Wayne thought that maybe Eddie was just a quiet kid, but as he sat across from him watching him shovel the food into his mouth, he wondered if it wasn’t just beat into him that he had to be silent. Make no noise. Don’t speak unless spoken to. He’d always had a rocky relationship with his brother, watching him go down the wrong path and unable to stop him, but he’d always loved him regardless. Now… he felt himself feeling genuine hatred for him. Given the way that they’d grown up, it hurt to think of his brother turning around and ruining a kid the way their parents had ruined them. 

It was just that… Eddie seemed like he was bursting to ask questions, but he was scared. 

“Your old man ever show you music?” Wayne asked, pushing a piece of hot dog through the gravy from the beans.

Eddie shrugged, “He’d listen to it sometimes.”

Wayne nodded and stood up, rounding the table to the old record player standing in the corner. He put on one of his favorite records and shifted the needle so that the sweet tunes of George Strait started playing through the room. Wayne wasn’t a dancer, but he swayed to the beat, trying to get a smile out of Eddie. “Whatd’ya think?”

Eddie did smile, a small thing, he nodded and turned back to his food. 

It wasn’t much, but it was something. 

Wayne let the country music play as he sat back down at the table eating his food. 

“Uncle Wayne?”

“Yeah, kid?”

Eddie frowned and took a bite of his food, staying silent for a minute before opening his mouth again to speak, “Why’d you say yes?”

Wayne tilted his head and crossed his arms, leaning forward on the table, “You mean to the social worker?” Eddie nodded his head and Wayne sighed, “Well, I suppose a little of it might have to do with obligation, your family and all that,” He admitted. “But more than that… your daddy and I didn’t come from too nice a home either. Sometimes I think about how different my brother woulda turned out if he had gotten to live someplace where someone respected him. Like I respect you.”

Eddie blinked at Wayne a few times, “You respect me? But I ain’t done nothing to deserve it!” 

“Sure ya have. You exist, don’t ya? So, you deserve respect.”

Eddie got real quiet after that, like he didn’t quite know how to respond. 

That evening, after Wayne went out to make sure all the horses were out in their field and the cows were in theirs, making sure the dogs were watching the sheep and that the pigs had their evening meal, Wayne took to bed, exhausted from a long day of work. Between the farm and Eddie, he wasn’t sure what was more exhausting.

He woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of vomiting. Bone-tired, Wayne hauled himself off the couch and into the bathroom where Eddie’s little form was hunched over the toilet bowl. He was crying, but Wayne didn’t know if that was because it hurt or because he was scared he’d get in trouble. He kneeled next to Eddie and rubbed his back, “There you go, get it all out,” He said, soft and gentle the way he’d wished he’d been handled when he was a youngster. “Probably just ate too much.” Or, Eddie’s stomach was so used to eating nothing but cereal that the beans had been too harsh. Wayne didn’t know.

Eddie had been with Wayne a little more than a couple of weeks when things finally changed, though Wayne wouldn’t say it was for the better. His nephew seemed to change on a dime, he’d go from moping around the house to violently angry. He’d yell and throw things. Wayne finally snapped, his patience tested and his nerves worn thin when Eddie smashed a mug on the floor, dousing Wayne’s ankles in the hot cocoa he’d just made for the boy. It was hot and painful and Wayne raised his voice at Eddie for the first time since he’d arrived. 

The look of smug victory on Eddie’s face, combined with the tears threatening to spill over, had Wayne driving down to the library the very next day. Town wasn’t that close when you own a 400-acre parcel of land, but he made it there in about half an hour. 

He’d never been the type of man to really immerse himself in reading, shit, he’d never even graduated high school. But damn if he wasn’t going to at least try and find out how to handle Eddie. 

The biggest issue Wayne was facing, was that childhood abuse wasn’t a term when he was a kid. Hell, the government only just that year introduced federal laws that defined what child abuse was and what steps the government would take to secure the safety of children in dangerous home situations. Wayne was not able to find very much information about child abuse, but he was able to find plenty of books on rearing children. He read through a few different ones, skimming them to see if they would be helpful, before jotting down the numbers for the ones he would later wish to purchase. 

“Well now, it’ll be a couple weeks for a few of these, Mr. Munson.” Old Hank said, squinting at the list Wayne handed him. He looked at Wayne, “You plannin’ on finally starting a family?”

Wayne shook his head, “Nah, I don’t think men like me are cut out for all that nonsense,” He said, shoving his hands in his pockets, “Got my nephew livin’ with me now since Al went and got himself locked up.”

Old Hank nodded and picked up the phone, “Well, I’ll start calling ‘round, see if we can get these books for ya.”

“’Preciate it.” Wayne tipped his hat and turned towards the door, heading out of the old bookshop with only one of the books he wanted. It was fine. It was a starting point. 

Wayne got home later in the evening than he’d been planning, but he brought home pulled pork from a restaurant in town. “Eddie?” He called, stepping in the door. 

Ever so slowly, Eddie’s bedroom door opened and his little head popped out, “’M sorry.”

Wayne set down the pork and made his way over to where Eddie was, “What’re you sorry for, boy?” 

Eddie wiped his eyes and opened his door wider, letting Wayne in to see the mess he’d made. He looked like he tore everything out of the drawers, though nothing looked damaged. Eddie wiped his eyes again. 

Wayne had always been a patient man, and he was so, so glad for that now. It was annoying and difficult to work with kids, but Eddie wasn’t a bad kid. He was a hurt kid. 

He’d been a hurt kid too once.

He knelt down to Eddie’s level, “Why’d you do this?” Eddie shrugged like he didn’t know, maybe he didn’t. “Well, you’re gonna have to help clean it up.”

Eddie frowned and shook his head, “No!” 

“Eddie…” Wayne said, looking at the young man, “We clean up the messes we make here. I’ll help you, but you are cleaning this up.” He saw it coming, but he wasn’t fast enough to dodge the tiny hands flying at him. Eight wasn’t very large, but Wayne never had the best balance when he crouched and when Eddie shoved him, he fell into the dresser. 

Eddie looked scared, though if it was because of what he’d done or because he was scared of the consequences, Wayne didn’t know. He pulled himself up off the floor slowly, his eyes following the way Eddie ran and hid inside the closet. “Come help me clean this up so we can eat,” He said, “Then we’re gonna talk about you pushing people.” 

“I’m not… in trouble?”

Wayne sighed, “If you mean am I going to hit you, no. You are in trouble though. Tomorrow you’re gonna start helping out on the farm.”

Eddie’s face twisted in disgust, but he slowly bent down and grabbed one of Wayne’s flannel shirts off the floor. It looked so large in Eddie’s tiny hands. 

“You can meet the other kids too, though you have to be nice to them.”

Eddie crumpled the fabric he was holding, clutching it like it was important. “Other kids don’t like me.”

“These ones will.” Wayne couldn’t be sure they would, but they were good kids. “But you only get to meet them if this is all cleaned up tomorrow.”

It was hard dealing with a kid who acted unpredictably. Wayne never knew if he was going to get shy Eddie, or mean Eddie; both were a product of his abuse and Wayne could only hope that someday he would get to meet genuine Eddie. 

At least for the first time, Wayne got to meet sleepy Eddie. “Come on, kiddo, time to get up.”

“Too early,” Eddie whined, trying to pull the blankets from Wayne to curl up and sleep some more.

“Nope. Told ya that you’re starting on the farm today. You ever pet a cow?”

Eddie pulled the blankets partway down his face, his big brown eyes staring at Wayne. “Cow?”

“We got cows, horses, sheep, pigs, and dogs round this here ranch.”

“We used to have a dog.” Eddie said, “But Daddy said we couldn’t afford to keep her. Said she was a stray.”

Wayne sat on the edge of the bed. If Eddie was opening up, even just a little bit, the farm could wait. “Do you like dogs?”

Eddie shrugged, then a few seconds later, he nodded. 

He patted Eddie’s knee, “Well, we got plenty. If you want, when the next litter is born you can pick your own pup, how’s that sound?”

“Daddy won’t like that.”

It occurred to Wayne only then that maybe Eddie didn’t fully grasp that this was his home now. That it would likely be his permanent residence even if Allen didn’t get sentenced to a long stay in prison. He didn’t know how to bring that up. “Don’t you worry about what your daddy is gonna think, okay? Just think about what you want. You want a pup?”

Eddie didn’t even hesitate to nod his head and Wayne smiled, “Then come on, let’s get up and movin’, ranching is a lot of work.”

Wayne helped Eddie get into something comfy, though he didn’t have a lot to work with. Nothing of his was going to fit a scrawny 8-year-old but the clothes that had come with him were hardly fit for hard work. “We’re gonna have to go into town tomorrow and get ya some better stuff to wear. I’ll even let you pick most of it out.” 

Once they were ready Wayne led Eddie down to the pig pen. “Hey, Jack.” 

Jack was a ranch hand that had been camping out on the property for about a year and a half now, though sometimes, before Eddie came along and Wayne lost his bed, Jack came inside for a night or two. It never really developed beyond a close friendship and hooking up though. “’Morning.” Jack pushed off from the fence, dropping his cigarette in the muck and stomping it out. “This the kid?”

Eddie, despite not usually wanting to be that close to Wayne, was suddenly hiding behind him a little, staring at Jack like he didn’t trust him. “It’s alright, Ed, Jack ain’t gonna hurt ya. He’s just here to work.” 

Jack nodded and together Jack and Wayne showed Eddie the ropes on feeding the pigs and cleaning out their pen. “Why aren’t your pigs dirty, Uncle Wayne?” Eddie asked, petting one of the pigs that walked up to him and sniffed him, making the young kid giggle as he pressed his nose against him. 

“Pigs don’t like being dirty,” Wayne answered, “They roll in mud when they’re hot, to cool down. We give them plenty of shade and water so they don’t feel the need to do that.”

Eddie’s giggles intensified when another pig joined and started rummaging around Eddie’s pockets, sniffing out the Eggo waffle that Eddie hadn’t finished. He held the waffle up high and out of the pig’s reach. 

“You can give it to them, son, ain’t gonna hurt them any.”

Jack leaned against the fence next to Wayne. “Seems like a good kid.”

Wayne nodded, “I think he’s gonna take to the animals well.”

Jack snorted a laugh, “Like uncle like nephew? You always got along better with the animals than the people.” 

And well, Wayne couldn’t argue that. It wasn’t even the first time Jack had said that. Wayne looked at him, “I’m thinking of getting another house built. One with two rooms for Eddie and I. You’re welcome to our current house when it’s finished.” 

It was an olive branch, or an apology, or something. Wayne had always felt bad that he didn’t feel the same about Jack as Jack had felt about him. A fun night every now and then would never be enough for Jack, “I’ll think about it.”

Eddie had only been with Wayne for a month or so, but hearing him giggling as the pigs pressed their noses to him, looking for treats he didn’t have, was like music to Wayne’s ears. He’d never heard the kid giggle, he was usually quiet unless he was picking a fight. Wayne knew that taking the kid in wasn’t going to be easy, he had no experience with child-rearing, but he didn’t expect the wild mood swings and violent outbursts. The kid was only eight, Wayne hated that he knew where Eddie got that temper from. 

While Eddie played with the pigs, Wayne and Jack got to work cleaning the pen, refilling the water trough, and feeding them. As soon as their food was put down, the pigs scuttled away from Eddie and towards the food. “Come on, kid, time to feed the cows.”

Eddie pouted, but he followed after Wayne, waving goodbye to the pigs like he didn’t live on the farm with them. Wayne and Jack led the way over to the cows, Wayne lifting Eddie over the fence before climbing over it himself. The gate was busted and since they were just out to pasture, Wayne hadn’t gotten around to fixing it. Some bailing twine held the gate in a rough approximation of closed. 

He couldn’t be sure, but Wayne felt like he was getting his first glimpse into who Eddie was. He didn’t seem nearly as terrified as he usually did, he wasn’t being violent and angry, he just seemed genuinely enamored with the farm animals. “Slow your roll there, you’re gonna spook them runnin’ up on ‘em like that,” Wayne said, approaching the cows with a lot more caution. They were massive animals and while they were generally pretty friendly, they could do a lot of damage if you scared them.

Wayne walked up behind Eddie, guiding him towards one of his favorite cows, “This here is cow 46,” He said. 

“Just… 46?”

Wayne shrugged, “Got 80 cows, and that’s just the ladies, I can’t name them all.”

Eddie looked up at the cow, reaching up to pet her head when Wayne showed him where to pet, “Can I name her?” Wayne shrugged and waved his hand as if to say ‘go ahead’. Eddie put his finger to his chin as he thought for a moment, “Ah! Lucy!” He declared. 

“Why Lucy?” Wayne asked, curious about how Eddie’s thought process worked.

Eddie shrugged, “It was the first name that came to me other than Lucky.”

Now, Wayne didn’t understand why Lucky was a bad name, but he supposed it didn’t matter. As long as Eddie was happy with the name he chose, “Alright, well, it’s time to get Lucy and the other cattle some feed.” Wayne walked with Eddie towards the cattle barn, which was empty at the moment because they weren’t milking. He showed Eddie the massive grain buckets. “It’s about 5 pounds per cow.” 

“Wow! That’s like… 400 pounds!”

“Good math.” Wayne was never any good at math, at least, not off the top of his head. He had to learn a lot of it to open the ranch though. Pasture size, herd size, feeding, milking… all of that is determined with math. That was just the cows too. He had whole separate formulas for figuring the pasture and feed for the steers, horses, sheep, and pigs. He loved his job, truly, he loved running a ranch. He just wished there was less math. “It is 400 pounds, which is why we’re gonna use the tractor.” 

 “Can I drive the tractor?”

Wayne laughed and ruffled Eddie’s buzzed hair, “You can sit in my lap and learn, how ‘bout that?”

Eddie pouted, but he shrugged and clambered up after Wayne. Wayne cranked the tractor over, showing Eddie how to drive it even though his limbs were too small to actually do anything with it. Eddie giggled as the tractor rumbled under them, nearly bouncing Eddie right off his uncle’s knee. It warmed Wayne’s heart to see Eddie enjoying himself; it was so much better than the tantrums and the yelling and the crying. “Pull that there lever.” Wayne said, helping Eddie reach it and lower the bucket. He drove the tractor forward and tilted the bucket slowly as he went to fill it up with the cow feed. 

Together, Eddie and Wayne drove the tractor over and dumped the feed into the grain troughs. Eddie watched, enamored, as the cows made their way over to the feed quickly. He’d never seen cows move so fast! “You wanna pet them? Now’s a good time while they’re distracted.” 

Eddie nodded and reached out to pet their heads when they stuck them out through the grates to reach their food. He giggled, feeling their soft fur under his fingers.

Wayne let him have his fun while he returned to the tractor and finished up laying out their food. Soon enough he was parking it and Eddie was running up to him to find out what was next. Wayne couldn’t help but smile at that. “You ever see a horse in real life before?” He asked, patting Eddie’s shaved head and steering him towards the fields with the horses. 

“Uncle Wayne, why do you have so many fields?” 

“Well, ‘cause the cows an’ the horses gotta be separate, otherwise they might hurt one ‘nother. And the steers have to be separate from them for the same reason. Then there’s the grass, gotta move the animals around so the grass can grow and recover.”

“Sounds complicated.” Eddie mumbled, letting his uncle help him over another bit of fence and into the field with the horses. 

“It can be a little annoying.” Wayne admitted, looking over to watch Jack fetch his horse, leading her towards the barn. “Sometimes the cows end up in fields really far from the barn, and then they have to get herded back for milking. That’s what the horses are for though, they’re great for herding.” 

Eddie stuck close to Wayne as they approached a huge brown horse, “This here is Pepper, she’s pregnant right now though, so we can’t ride her.” He patted her neck and when she ducked her head back down to eat some grass Eddie was able to reach to pet her also. “She’s my girl, but well, circle of life and all that.” He chuckled, nudging Eddie towards a few of the other horses. “We’re gonna ride Sonic today.”

“We?” Eddie asked, surprised.

“Yeah, you’re small enough to ride with me.”

Eddie’s eyes looked as big as saucers as he followed Wayne through the field. 

“Sonic here is a Percheron, so he’s hardy and large. Slower than my girl Pepper, but he’ll do the job just fine.” He said, taking a length of rope off his belt and gently looping it over Sonic’s head before he got any smart ideas. He loved to be chased around. Wayne clicked his tongue a couple times and the large horse slowly started to move forward, his hoofs hitting the ground with a steady thunk on every step. “Good boy, come on.” Wayne urged to horse towards the barn, where Jack was already waiting outside, tacked up and ready to go. 

“You think you can handle the steer alone?” Wayne asked him, “Gonna be awhile more with Ed in tow, but I’ll meet ya by the sheep.”

“Sure thing.” Jack said, tipping his hat before steering his horse through a gateway and climbing up. 

Wayne brought Sonic into the barn and grabbed a halter off the wall, placing it gently over his nose and ears before clipping it and getting him properly tied up. “Come ‘ere, son.” With a grunt of effort, Wayne lifted Eddie up so he was seated on his hip, making it easy for the young boy to each Sonic’s face. The horse pressed his nose into the tiny hands, his lips twitching like he was looking for a treat.

Eddie didn’t even say anything like he had with the cows, he simply stared and petted, his hands moving from his nose to the side of his face to his neck. Wayne could tell in that moment that Eddie was going to be a horse boy. 

He set Eddie down, but Sonic ducked his head to allow the kid to continue petting him. Meanwhile, Wayne was free to brush him, pick his feet, and tack him up. Once the girth was cinched and ready to go, Wayne grabbed Sonic’s bridle and stepped up. “Alright kid, ready to ride?”

Eddie’s eyes shone as he nodded. 

Wayne chuckled and undid the halter, tossing the reins over Sonic’s neck before getting the bit in his mouth and tightening the leather pieces into place. He patted his horse twice before leading him and his nephew out of the barn, through the same gate as Jack. He latched the gate and grabbed the mounting block, helping Eddie up onto the horse first, “Alright scoot as close to the horn as possible.” Once Eddie had moved, Wayne stepped into the stirrup and swung his body onto the horse, lowering his ass into the saddle slowly so as not to hurt the horse or Eddie. He pulled Eddie back into his chest so that the weight distribution wouldn’t be uncomfortable for the horse, “Hold onto that horn, it’ll probably get a little bumpy.” 

Even though it was slower than he would have liked, Wayne kept the horse in a walk. He didn’t want to accidentally bounce Eddie out of the saddle by picking up a trot or a jog. They’d get to the outer pastures either way. 

Wayne gently eased back on the reins when they reached the gate to the paddock with the steer in it, “Stay where you are.” Wayne said, maneuvering the horse carefully to reach the handle that allowed them into the field. Once through he closed the gate and caught up with Jack. 

As they made their way up, Wayne had explained to Eddie that they occasionally had to round up the cattle to rotate them through the fields to avoid overgrazing. Wayne had a lot of land, but a lot of it was rocky and steep, not ideal for cattle. The sheep were more than happy on the mountainside, but the cattle could get hurt if they slipped and fell, their body weight a detriment. 

Once they caught up to Jack and the cattle dogs that had followed him up there, they began to round up the steers. The dogs did most of the work, nipping at ankles and forcing the steer through the shoot and into the pasture one lot over. It was made a little more difficult by Wayne not wanting to go too fast and knock Eddie off the horse, but they got it done. 

Getting the steer moved was only one part of their day, but Wayne decided he didn’t want to overwhelm Eddie, so he let Jack and the native helpers take care of the rest, heading back towards the barn with his nephew, “So what’d you think?” 

“I didn’t really get to meet the dogs…” He said, pouting slightly. 

“They’re working right now, you’ll get to meet them, I promise.” He swung his body down from the horse, landing with his feet on the ground and a thunk. Sonic was a very tall horse. He helped Eddie down and let the kid lead the horse into the barn. 

“How old is he?” Eddie asked, giggling when Sonic rubbed his lip on Eddie’s shaved head, probably looking for treats.

“He’s about 4 years old.”

“He’s only four?”

Wayne laughed, getting the bridle off and hanging it up before getting Sonic tied up. “Horses get big fast. He weighs well over a ton. And, if we’re lucky, he’s gonna live until he’s 30 or so. Pretty normal lifespan.” 

Eddie looked up at Wayne amazed. Wayne could tell already that Eddie was going to be a horse kid. 

The speed at which Eddie grew shocked Wayne, the doctors had told him when he first brought Eddie in for a check-up that Eddie’s growth may have been stunted by his malnutrition due to his previous living conditions, but as Wayne watched Eddie grow from the tiny 8-year-old that was practically dropped on his doorstep, to a gangly teenager, strong despite how thin and tall he was. By fifteen he was already damn near the same height as Wayne.

Eddie was smart and he did well on the farm, though Wayne had quickly found out that he didn’t fit in at school. He had interests outside what a lot of the local kids liked. He wasn’t into sports or partying, but he was into nerdy stuff. Wayne didn’t mind, it kept him home most nights instead of out getting wasted with strangers. He was a little disappointed that Eddie didn’t end up liking sports, but only because he’d seen Eddie out in the fields. The kid was deceptively strong and pretty fast, even if he looked like a lamb taking its first steps with the way he tottered as he ran. Wayne assumed that Eddie was still growing into his limbs.

Wayne looked out the back window of his small farmhouse to see smoke in the distance. Hopefully, the fire wasn’t too big. Sometimes if the fire is controlled enough he can just watch it, get the dogs to keep the sheep away and it’ll go out on its own in a few hours. Sometimes, it’s much worse. Only one way to find out.

Wayne moved his food off the stove and made his way out to the barn to get Pepper ready for a trip to the field, bringing a smothering blanket with him if he needed it. Wayne picked his horse up into a canter. He didn’t want to push her too hard in the darkness, especially knowing that they would have to slow for gates. 

By the time they reached the outer pastures, which were used for nothing more than sheep grazing because of their steep and rocky nature, he slowed his horse to a steady trot, then a steadier jog, bringing her slowly through the sheep, “The fuck?” He muttered, seeing what appeared to be a campfire. 

He grabbed for his shotgun as he slowed the horse to a walk and made his way to the lone figure warming his hands by the fire. “Hey!” He shouted, gruff and intimidating, hoisting his gun to his shoulder. 

The man by the fire started, shooting up to standing with his hands in the air. Wayne couldn’t make out many features in the flickering firelight, but he could see that he wasn’t holding a weapon. Well, unless he started considering forks weapons.

“This is private property, and you’re trespassin’.” 

The man looked genuinely surprised and looked up at the sheer rock face, though Wayne didn’t know why. “You own the mountains? I thought I was in a national park?”

Wayne gave a little snort, “I’ve lived here since before they formed the park, the mountains ain’t mine, but those hills are my property.”

The man dropped his hands to his hips and Wayne lowered his gun, “Damn.”

“What you doing out here anyway, think I got a right to know since you’re doing whatever it is on my land.”

The man turned to Wayne with a grin, “Fossil hunting.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m a paleontologist. Montana mountains are known to be good grounds for fossil hunting.” The man clarified, “Scott Clarke. I’m on sabbatical from Purdue University, in Indiana.”

“That’s… interestin’,” Wayne said, tucking the shotgun into the saddle bag. He swung his leg over his horse’s back and dropped to the ground, walking towards Scott, “Find anything interesting?”

Scott looked away from Wayne and back at his campsite, “Not yet… first day and all.” He said honestly, “Though I suppose it’s probably my last day too, huh?”

Wayne looked around the small campsite, “Will it do much damage to my land?”

Scott looked at the surrounding land, “Well, it does require digging, but it’s for the betterment of science!” 

“Doesn’t this usually call for a team of people?”

Scott shrugged, holding his hand out for a handshake when Wayne approached, seemingly not scared of the gruff man who had a shotgun leveled at him a few minutes ago. “Well, yes…” He started, “You see, I just felt like I forgot what it was like to dig with my hands these past few years. I’ve been teaching and… I didn’t feel like getting a whole team together and making it this huge thing, so I figured I’d come out here alone and do a little digging. I thought I was in a park.”

“The fence?”

“Ah, yeah, I did see that.” Scott admitted, “I just didn’t know any of this was farmland, so it didn’t occur to me that the fence didn’t belong to the park.” He gestured to his little site, “Do you mind if I finish cooking before I move on?” 

Wayne gave the man another once over, looking at his tent and his site, his food. The ATV he used to get out to his site. “I’ll do you one better, you seem like a nice enough man, but I can’t have you accidentally lighting my pasture on fire. Come with me down to the farmhouse and you can have dinner with me.” 

The man blinked twice before nodding slowly. “Alright, you’re sure?”

“Been awhile since I’ve cooked for anyone but Ed and I, but you’re welcome to join me. You can tell me about your project here and that’ll give me time to decide whether or not you can stay on my land.”

The other man seemed to light up at the prospect and he gathered his gear up. Wayne waited and watched as he rolled everything up and tucked it away into a nice basket fastened to the back of the ATV. They poured water on the fire until it was completely out, then they began the trek back to the farmhouse, Wayne on his horse and Scott trailing behind in the ATV. 

It was a good thing the farm animals were used to the noise from the tractor.

Wayne pointed to where the tractor was stored, “You can park over there, I have to get her ready for grazing.” He walked Pepper over to the barn and untacked her, storing her saddle with the others and the bridle on the hook. He was just brushing her down when he saw Scott standing in the doorway to the barn watching. He didn’t say anything as Wayne finished grooming her before setting her loose in the field. “Hope you like soup.”

“Love soup.” Scott replied, following Wayne up into the farmhouse. 

Wayne was quickly realizing that Scott wasn’t that different from his nephew. He spoke so much that Wayne was long done with his soup and Scott was only about halfway done, on account of his rambling about dinosaurs. It was endearing. 

It was also fascinating. Wayne never really understood the way that Eddie would get so absorbed in a topic or an activity that he could barely get him to stop to eat or drink. The way he would fail classes because he was smart but he stayed up all night reading books that weren’t assigned then he would end up sleeping in class. The way he could, and would, dedicate his all to topics he was interested in, but couldn’t even feign interest in stuff he couldn’t care less about. Wayne had always been the ‘means to an end’ kind of person. He didn’t like math, but he learned what he had to in order to run his business.

He wasn’t sure yet which kind of guy Scott was. 

He was certainly animated, to the point that Wayne hadn’t realized how late it was until the door creaked open and Eddie froze, seeing a stranger in the kitchen for the first time in the 5 years they’d been living together. 

“Uh, you didn’t say we were having company,” Eddie said, narrowing his eyes at the stranger. 

Wayne nodded towards Eddie, “Eddie, this is Scott. He’s a paleontologist.”

“Okay… but what’s he doing here?” Eddie said. He was growing up, and growing into himself, but he was still that scared little boy sometimes. He didn’t like people in his space. 

“Trespassing.” Scott laughed, “accidentally.”

“He was digging for fossils on one of our pastures. Thought it was park land.” Eddie finished stepping into the house, though he looked a little skeptical. “I made soup, if you’re hungry. Did Gareth’s mom feed you?”

Eddie nodded, dropping his bag near the entrance and stepping further into the living space. He acted a little like a scared dog, though considering what he’d been through, that was probably not that surprising. “Yeah, we had lasagna, but soup sounds good, what kind?”

Even though he kept an eye on Scott, Eddie joined them for dinner, though Wayne had to reheat Scott’s bowl and fix himself seconds. It had been two years since Jack had moved on to better pastures. Wayne couldn’t blame him, not when he wanted a relationship and Wayne didn’t like him enough to give him that. Since Jack left though, it had only been Eddie and Wayne. He hadn’t ended up getting a second farmhouse built, though he did have an addition put in. 

Wayne hadn’t seen Eddie eat so quietly since he first arrived, but Scott filled the silence easily. Maybe he could just tell. He had said he was a teacher. When Eddie was finished with his soup he stood, “Uh, do I need to like, offer him my room?” Eddie asked, looking nervous at the thought. 

“No.” Wayne said easily, “That space is yours and yours alone.” Had been since Wayne had been able to finally move his stuff out. Eddie had never had privacy or respect before moving in with Wayne and Wayne wasn’t going to force him to give it up now. 

“I have a tent,” Scott reminded him, smiling. 

“That’s alright, I can just as easily sleep on the couch.” Wayne offered, “It’s supposed to get pretty chilly tonight.”

Scott looked surprised for a moment before offering the man a polite smile, “I really would be okay in the tent, or on the couch. You don’t need to give me a bed. You didn’t invite me here, not really. You’ve already done more than I deserve.”

“Well, Ed could tell ya, I’m always pickin’ up strays.” He joked. He took Scott’s bowl and set it in the sink alongside his and Eddie’s. “So, how about this, you take a shower while I change the sheets. Then, you can stay over, go back to your digging tomorrow, and you cook dinner tomorrow.”

Scott looked flummoxed at Wayne’s offer, but he slowly stood, “So… you don’t mind me digging?”

Wayne shook his head, “Long as you don’t ruin too much of the pasture, though it sounds to me like you’re more interested in the steep hills, right? Where you could see the, what’d you call it? Striations?” 

“Well, if I actually find anything, I might end up digging more than you’d like, but I can certainly try not to disturb the grass too much.” 

“Then I don’t see the issue. The sheep won’t pay you any mind, and the field is plenty large enough to avoid overgrazing even with you there. You’re just one person, I doubt that you’ll get that much digging done in however long you decide to stay.”

Scott looked at Wayne like he was an enigma, like he couldn’t understand a stranger being so generous. “Thank you.” He said. 

Wayne offered him a smile and grabbed a towel for him, “Feel free to use any soaps in there.” He nodded at the closed door and Scott thanked him again before disappearing into the bathroom. 

As Wayne stripped the bed and put new sheets on, Eddie knocked, “Hey kid.” Wayne said, turning towards his nephew.

“Is he like Jack?” 

Wayne straightened up and looked at Eddie, trying to gauge what the question meant. “I just met him today.”

Eddie was silent and distrustful for a moment before stepping closer. Sometimes, Wayne couldn’t believe how quickly Eddie had grown up, times like this though, when Eddie was clearly nervous, it was easy to see that he was still just a kid. He’d been hurt when Jack left, he’d grown close to the cowboy, learning some of the ropes of farming from him. He’d blamed Wayne for pushing him out, scaring him off, sending him away. “Yeah, but is he like Jack. ”

“Ed, I don’t know what you’re looking for. He’s just a man. He was on the property. I almost shot him.”

Eddie seemed to be looking for something that Wayne couldn’t give him, his eyes searching Wayne’s face before he gave up, heading back to his room. 

Wayne stepped out of the room and nearly smacked into his guest. Who was… naked. Well, he had the towel Wayne had given him wrapped around his waist. He looked flushed. “Oh,” Wayne was only human, he gave the man a once over, quick and hopefully unnoticed by the semi-stranger. “Did you… need something?”

Scott took a quick step back with an apology on his lips, “No, sorry, I just uh, this is stupid, I forgot to grab my bag. With my clothes in it. You know, before getting in the shower. So, that’s… why I’m… like this.”

Wayne closed his eyes and tried to suppress a laugh, but he failed. “I can uh, go grab your bag.” Wayne offered.

“That would be great, thank you.” Scott said, not completely unaware of the way Wayne’s eyes lingered.

Wayne cleared his throat and nodded, letting Scott step into the bedroom before walking through the house and outside to the ATV. He had to dig a little, shaking the bags until he found one that had clothes instead of shovels in it. He brought the duffle bag inside and knocked twice on his own bedroom door, “Got yer bag.”

The door creaked open and a hairy arm slinked out, “Thank you.”

“Not a problem. Get some rest. Need anything and I’ll be on the couch.”

If Wayne had dreams that night about a certain hairy stranger, well, it’d been a while since he’d been laid. He was only human.

He woke up the next morning to the sound of cabinets creaking open and falling shut again. He sat up, groggy and a bit confused. He wiped his mouth and looked towards the kitchen, half expecting to see Eddie rifling through the cabinets looking for snacks. Though that boy probably had enough snacks squirreled away in his room to feed a small militia. When he noticed it was the man from the night before, he cleared his throat, “Poison is under the sink.”

The man laughed and looked over at him, “Well, I was hoping to thank you by waking you with coffee, but I can’t find any.”

Wayne chuckled and hauled himself off the couch, “Should be in the top cabinet, ‘bove the sink.” He said, joining Scott in the small kitchen and reaching for it. “Hope you ain’t ‘specting a dark roast or anythin’.”

“Quite honestly, I’m more of a tea person. But I saw the coffee maker and assumed that you probably liked coffee.”

Wayne nodded his head as he put a new filter in the coffee machine, handing the glass kettle to Scott to fill up with water as he measured the grounds into the filter. “You assumed correctly then. But if you’d like tea and ya got some in your bag, I’d be more than happy to boil some water.”

“Coffee will do.” Scott answered, leaning against the counter and watching the coffee machine whirl to life, filling the small kitchen with the scent of coffee and the gurgling, bubbling sounds of heating water and dripping coffee. “Thanks again, for not reporting me to authorities or shooting me.”

“Like I said, long as you ain’t hurtin’ my land or my animals, I ain’t got an issue with you.” Wayne looked out the back window, seeing Eddie outside with his puppy. He must have slept in if Eddie was already outside. In the distance, he could see the Native people he hired going about their business, rounding the cows into the milking barn and taking care of the farm. Wayne really didn’t have much to do on his own farm anymore, though no one was kicking him out or making him feel like he wasn’t still needed. Most of the people would gladly step back and allow Wayne to do any particular task he felt like.

Still, mostly he just managed. Eddie was even working hard on training the dogs. Just about the only thing Wayne still did all on his own was train the horses.

“Looks like a nice place you got here.”

Wayne jumped a little, both of the men having fallen into silence and Wayne having got so lost in his own thoughts that he nearly forgot the teacher was behind him. “It’s… it’s great. My own little slice of heaven. I built this place, ya know. Bought the farmland from the government when I was only 20. It wasn’t in good shape, needed a lot of work to bring it from dusty over-worked cropland to what it is now. When I bought the place I only bought 40 acres. Built the house and the barn. Bought a few cattle and sold the milk locally.

“From there, you know, it just grew. The land was cheap back when I was purchasing, so I bought more. Seeded and reseeded. Spent tons of money to water it until the soil had healed and could sustain the grass.” Wayne crossed his arms in front of his chest. He didn’t usually talk this much, but something about the earnest look the other man was giving him, prompted him to talk more. “By the time I hit 30, I think I owned well over 200 acres. I had the steer and the cows. It was a little much for me to do alone though. I bought this land after it was taken from the Native population and that always rubbed me wrong, but what can you do? So I offered them jobs. Paid well, definitely better than they’d get anywhere else.”

Scott listened attentively. He’d always wondered how large farms came to be, and this was insight he’d never gotten before. “200 acres is a lot of land.”

Wayne chuckled, “Yeah, it’s more than doubled now. Got a break on the land towards the rear of my property, the land you were on and a bit more. Since it’s so rocky with the… I don’t know, doesn’t seem right to call ‘em mountains since they’re so small, but the… rocky outcroppings. You know, the grass ain’t gonna grow there, so it’s like, not great land for farming, but sheep don’t mind. So, I took the deal, got way more acres, and purchased 400 head of sheep. Some male, some female. Not sure how many I got exactly now, but I know they’ve grown. Some of the males get sold for meat, the ones that don’t, along with the females get sheared.”

“How often?”

“Hm?”

“How often do you shear the sheep? That’s a lot of them.”

“Ah, ‘bout once a year, but I also shear the males before selling them. No point in not getting paid for the wool when they’re going to slaughter. I usually hire people to help shear, try to do it right before breeding season starts so that they have better ability to move while pregnant and all that. Make it a little easier for them.” Wayne glanced over and saw that the coffee was done dripping, though he had no idea how long it’d been done for. “Milk or sugar?”

“Both, please.” Scott said, watching Wayne grab down two mugs and fill them with the dark liquid. He slid Scott one of the cups along with a small container of sugar and a spoon. “Milk’s in the fridge.”

Scott opened the fridge and pulled out a glass bottle with milk in it, “Is it raw?”

“Nah. We don’t do the pasteurization here, we sell in bulk to a processing plant, but they give us a good kickback on the milk. They always bring us a few bottles when they come to do pick-up.” Wayne could just do it himself, but why bother? They were the professionals.

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Scott poured some milk into his coffee until it was a light brown. When he saw Wayne’s look of disgust, he laughed, “I did say I was a tea person.”

“You just ruined a perfectly good cup of Joe.”

Scott chuckled and took a sip, looking past Wayne’s head and out into the yard. “So, Eddie, he your kid?”

Wayne shook his head, “Might as well be, but no, he’s my nephew. He was dropped on my doorstep by a social worker ‘bout… hm… seven years ago now. He’s a good kid, but he’d had a hard go of it.”

Scott watched the kid wrangling what must have been about 10 dogs, feeding them treats and having them do tricks. “Doesn’t really look like a farm kid.”

“No, he does not.” Wayne laughed, looking at his nephew, “I don’t think he liked it when he first got here, but he’s grown attached to the animals. He gets upset when the pigs are sold to slaughter, but he still names the piglets when they come in. He’s probably named all the cows. He loves the horses and dogs the most though. He’s learning right now how to train the horses. We have a few wild horses I just bought that are in their own paddock right now. Too wild to let him train alone, but he seemed interested in training his own horse when he gets one.”

“He doesn’t have his own horse?”

Wayne shrugged, taking another sip of his coffee, “He has his own horse technically, I think he just wants one to raise and call his own. Horses live a long time, you know, I think he’s just looking for a companion.”

“I don’t think I knew horses lived a long time.”

“Thirty years if you treat ‘em right.” 

Scott let out a low whistle, impressed. “I come from Indiana farmland, but I don’t know if I’ve really paid much attention to horses before. They always seemed like a rich person’s pet.”

Wayne pushed himself up off the counter, “Come with me.”

“We’re still in sleeping clothes.”

“It’s my farm. Ain’t no one gonna pay us no mind.”

So Scott followed Wayne, slipping on his boots but not bothering with the laces, just tucking them out of the way. He noticed Wayne did the same thing. He followed Wayne out of the small farmhouse and through one of the barns to the horse field. “Now, they don’t know ya, so walk slow and always approach from the front. So they can see ya. Don’t approach from the back. They might kick if you scare them and a kick, if it’s well aimed, can kill a man.” Scott nodded, following Wayne’s movements, “This here is Sonic, he’s a good one.”

Wayne reached out and grabbed Scott’s hand, guiding him gently up to pet the horse's face and nose. “There ya go.” He muttered, releasing Scott’s hand and taking a step back.

He knew horses weren’t for everyone, not everyone deserved horses and not everyone liked horses. But Wayne had yet to meet someone who met a horse and didn’t want to pet them at least once. He hid his grin in his coffee cup when Scott started patting the horse's neck, telling him how much of a good boy he was or how soft.

Horses heal people.

Sonic for his part, was mostly interested in seeing what Scott was holding, and trying to get a taste.

Gareth’s mom showed up around 8:30 am to take Eddie to school, a favor she had been doing for Wayne since they’d met back when Wayne had to enroll Eddie in classes. Gareth was two years younger than Eddie, but they were close friends. Wayne walked Eddie out to the car, like he did every morning despite there not really being a need to. “Thank you, Linda, I appreciate it.”

She smiled and waved him off, “No big deal, Eddie’s a good kid.”

He watched as she pulled out of the driveway before making his way back to the small farmhouse. “She seems like she’s got a crush on you.” Scott teased, opening the door for him.

“You spyin?” Wayne joked.

“Just observing. I’m a scientist after all.”

Wayne chuckled at that and shut the door, hanging his jacket up next to the door, “She’s a good woman, but not exactly my type.” Before Scott could follow that up with an innocent “What is your type?” Wayne changed the topic, “Now, are you going digging or not?”

“I am.” Scott said, gesturing to his change of clothes. He was wearing hiking boots, khaki shorts, and a white t-shirt. Not all that different than what he’d been wearing when Wayne had found him the night before.

“Gets awful chilly later in the day, you aren’t gonna wear something warm overtop? A flannel?” Wayne saw the minute flex of Scott’s facial muscles, like he was fighting off a smile or a laugh, “What?”

“Nothing, I just, I can tell that you’re a dad.”

Wayne’s eyes widened, “I told you-“

“I know,” Scott rushed, “I know, Eddie’s your nephew, but well, you’re his parent now, right? You act like a dad. It’s cute. Sweet! I mean, it’s sweet.”

Wayne had been called a lot of things in his life, a lot of mean things, a lot of questionable things, and a few good things. Cute was not one of those. He’d been called ‘gruff’ or ‘rude’ or ‘intimidating’. Cute. “I… well. Thank you?”

Scott left on his ATV after a quick reminder to not come back too late if he didn’t want to get stuck out there after dark, since navigating the farm by flashlight would be hard. Once he was gone and the house was empty and quiet once again, Wayne took to the shower to finally clean up from work the day before, he’d fallen asleep on the couch soon after getting Scott settled in and he hadn’t yet had the chance to get showered and shaved that morning between getting Eddie off to school and showing Scott around a bit.

Wayne stepped under the spray of hot water with a relieved sigh, even knowing that he was going to end up getting filthy again didn’t matter, what mattered was that he was finally able to get the muck off from the day before. He cleaned up slowly, taking his time to really enjoy his shower, especially since he wasn’t going to have the privacy of his own room until Scott left or Wayne kicked him out.

He stepped out of the shower and wiped the fog off the mirror, shaving quickly before leaving the bathroom in just a towel. He stepped into his bedroom to get dressed, noticing that Scott had made the bed. Once dressed, Wayne got the steaks he was planning for dinner marinating, then went outside to tend the horses.

As he usually did, Wayne worked with his horses first, getting their exercise in to keep them fit and healthy should he need to use them. He used the work as time to build trust and respect between him and the horses, training them new things or reinforcing the old. He’d seen a lot of bullshit when it came to training horses. People who whipped or hit their horses excessively, chased them with ATVs, starved or dehydrated their horses into submission, but in Wayne’s experience, there was absolutely no need for such cruel measures. If a horse doesn’t want to be ridden, it doesn’t have to be. But most don’t mind, once you build the trust.

The issue, Wayne figured, was that people wanted a quick and easy solution, but horses were living breathing creatures. They had personalities and attitudes much like anything else. You can whip a horse into submission the same way you could beat a child into behaving, but they wouldn’t be the same and it’s beyond cruel. You show a horse respect, compassion, and understanding, and they will listen to you, they will trust you to touch them, to ride them. But it’s hundreds of little steps. People simply aren’t patient enough.

Wayne spent hours lunging his horses, letting the young Native kids ride when they came up and asked. When Eddie finally got home, dropped off by Gareth’s mother, he changed into riding pants and joined Wayne outside, a grin on his tiny face. “Oh, I wouldn’t be grinning, boy.” Wayne teased, “Today’s Thursday, know what that means.” The smile fell off Eddie’s face, replaced by a pout.

“But Wayne!” Eddie started, crossing his arms.

“Nope, you know the rules. No stirrups on Thursdays.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and stomped his little feet for a minute before sighing, giving up, and heading into the barn to grab Sonic’s halter. 15 minutes later Eddie was standing next to the gate waiting to come into the arena. Wayne couldn’t help but laugh at his nephew’s dramatics.

He slowed the horse he was working down to a walk before bringing her back to the field and helping Eddie get Sonic’s bridle on. Eddie was growing like a weed, but he was still a little short to reach Sonic’s head when he lifted it up.

Eddie got up onto the horse with minimal help, though he did need the big block. Sonic’s back was nearly 6 feet off the ground, even with stirrups it was a bit of a stretch getting Eddie on a horse that big. “You good?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Eddie said, wiggling on the saddle as Sonic stood perfectly still and let him. Finally, Eddie adjusted his grip on the reins and nudged Sonic forward with his feet.

“Now remember, long reign, let’s get him nice and warmed up before we start doing anything crazy.”

Eddie snorted, “You never let me do anything crazy anyway.”

“Just don’t want you getting hurt, son.”

Eddie knew that, he did, and he was very thankful that his uncle was so different from his dad, but would it kill Wayne to let Eddie do some larger jumps?

“Once you’re a little older you can do crazy stuff, okay, I let you ride Sonic because he’s a good, well-mannered horse, but you’re still learning to really control him. If he spooks and if he falls, you could be seriously injured.” He gestured to the field, “But Cherry is pregnant which means you’ll probably get your chance to name, raise, and train a horse more appropriately your size soon.”

“But Wayne-” 

Wayne rolled his eyes, “You’re not jumping anything more than 30 inches and if you keep arguing I’m bumping you down to ground poles.”

Eddie huffed and pressed his heels into Sonic’s sides a little to get him to walk faster. Eddie didn’t love the cowboy style, he thought it was a little lame, preferring the look of people from his bands, bands like Metallica and Dio. His uncle didn’t like that kind of music, but he was far from stopping him. He did sometimes wish he could put spurs on the back of his boots though, they looked cool. He didn’t even want to use them, having seen what they could do to a horse when they rescued a young mare who had been ridden to near death and had literal infected holes in her sides from the rider wearing spurs, he just thought that they looked cool.

He followed his uncle’s instructions, working through several warm-up routines before finally being allowed to pick up a trot. Wayne didn’t have the traditional Western background in horseback riding that he probably should as a rancher, but when he was growing up he learned English. He could ride both now, but he preferred to start Eddie off learning English because it taught balance, and prioritized it, far more than Western.

He worked Eddie hard for the hour that he was allowed to ride after school, making him trot, canter, and do some small jumps. They worked especially hard on flying lead changes. “Come on, you gotta know this if you’re riding out on trails and fields. You gotta help the horse balance.”

Eddie groaned, but he was determined and he worked the horse back into a trot, leading him back over the ground poles and shifting his left foot back, pressing in while also turning the horse's head slightly. Sonic stumbled, but he got the change.

“There you go, take a walk break and tell him he’s a good boy. He doesn’t know how to do these either.”

Eddie did as he was told and walked Sonic out, cooling him down and giving him a good brush. While Eddie did that, Wayne went to fetch one of the new horses. He returned to the arena a few minutes later and just slowly walked the horse around, letting him stop and sniff whatever he pleased. He gave him treats and eventually Eddie joined them. Out of the corner of his eye, he also saw Scott’s ATV coming back towards the farmhouse, he couldn’t help but smile a little at that. It had been just him and Eddie for so long, and really, Jack wasn’t all that talkative either. It was nice to have someone like Scott around, even if it was just for a little while, to fill the silence when Eddie couldn’t.

Wayne tried to pay no mind when he saw Scott lean against the fence, watching as he showed Eddie how to properly handle a horse who had only bad interactions with people. Luckily, those interactions were brief, but wild horses were just that: wild. They needed to be handled like they were dangerous, because they were.

“Stay in his line of sight, okay, and back up if he pins his ears. He’s not being tough, he’s just scared. Our job is to make him comfortable.” Wayne had already put a little work into the new horses, he wasn’t going to let Eddie in the ring with them completely green, but the horses were still nervous. “Go on, hold your hand out, don’t look them in the eye, but keep an eye on them so you can move your hand if he looks like he’s gonna bite.” Eddie did as he was told and waited patiently for the horse to nudge his hand with his nose. “Good, give him a treat.” Eddie moved his other hand slowly, holding his fingers flat and his hand palm up so the horse could get the treat out of his palm without accidentally biting his fingers.

They mostly worked on that, just getting to touch the horse. It may seem like a silly thing to spend hours on, but it was all part of gaining trust. “Back up Ed, he’s getting nervous.” Eddie took two steps back, but slowly, not fast like his instinct told him to. Sometimes it was still hard not to act fast when he was being told something, a holdover from his abusive childhood he supposed. “Good, you can approach again, but take it slow, keep an eye on his ears. He’s never going to attack without his body indicating that he’s gonna attack. You always have to keep an eye on that.”

Eddie nodded his understanding and they started the exercise all over again.

By the time they’d worked with both the horses, it was nearly sundown, “Come on kid, time to let the horses relax. They did good, so did you.”

He handed Eddie the lead rope and let him walk the horse back to the paddock. “That’s pretty amazing stuff.” Scott said, “I don’t know anything about animals. Well, I guess I know a lot about the ones that are extinct.” He joked.

Wayne offered him a small smile, “Well, I mean, I could never look at bones and come up with what they looked like. That’s impressive to me.”

Scott beamed at him like he’d hung the sun or something. “How’d you learn all this?”

Wayne sighed and turned towards the house once he’d watched Eddie put the horse away and get out of the paddock without incident. “Well, when I was a kid I wanted to be a cowboy. My daddy didn’t like being a dad too much, but he didn’t have an issue with me helping out on the farms near my home. Far as he was concerned, just meant one less kid ‘round the house. One of the farmers, nice old man, his wife loved riding and she taught me how. Everything else I kind of had to learn on my own. I used to have a farm hand who helped out a lot, Jack, and before Jack was Ennis.”

Ennis had stuck around the longest, nearly a decade before he moved on, married, and started a family. They hadn’t been a thing like him and Jack had been, but he’d been instrumental in helping Wayne learn the ropes of cattle farming.

When they got up to the house, Wayne opened the grill and lit it, leaving it to heat up while he went inside, followed by Scott and his commentary. Scott told Wayne about the small dig sight he’d set up, minimally invasive. He hadn’t found much yet, but he had uncovered some teeth, so he felt like he was probably in a good area. He’d tried to track the path of previous water sources, since science had pretty much already proven that dinosaur bones were normally plentiful in areas that used to be lakes or rivers.

“You sayin’ that the veritable desert I purchased and restored to grassy fields, used to be a river ?” Wayne asked, incredulous.

“Yeah, millions of years ago.”

“Sheesh.” Wayne huffed, leaning back on the counter and giving Scott a once over, “Yer not just yankin’ my chain?”

Scott chuckled and shook his head, “No, of course not, but I hope you can understand my fascination more now. These creatures, massive creatures , lived on this plant, but it was a completely different place topographically!” He grinned, “The fauna was different, I mean, we have reason to believe that the bugs were even huge!”

Wayne couldn’t help the small bundle of fondness that bloomed in his chest hearing Scott so excited about something that Wayne would likely never understand. It was like when Eddie talked about music or Dungeons and Dragons or heavy metal. He didn’t always understand what they were talking about, but he was more than happy to let them chatter away about whatever it was they wanted. Even though he really didn’t know Scott, he liked him already.

People tended to think that Wayne wouldn’t like people who chattered, that he would rather sit in silence with someone, and while that wasn’t entirely wrong, Wayne didn’t mind chatty people. He just preferred not to have to lead the conversation. He’d had plenty of practice with Eddie, he even liked it. “You don’t strike me as much of a sports person,” Wayne said, turning to grab the steaks out of the fridge and place them on the counter. He reached for a bag of potatoes as well, sliding them across the counter so he’d be able to sit and peel them.

“I’m not.” Scott agreed, “I don’t mind them, but sports aren’t really… my thing.” He grabbed the potatoes from Wayne, “Peeler?”

Despite Scott technically being a guest, he was also a trespasser and Wayne had no qualms about not having to peel the potatoes himself. “Eddie ain’t much into sports either, he’s more into the books and things. Wish he was into studying though.” Wayne said, handing Scott the peeler and a paper bag to catch the peels in. “

Scott chuckled, “Ah, I often wish that about my students. I love teaching, but for a lot of them, paleontology is just an elective. More enticing than biology maybe, since they get to learn about dinosaurs, but technically not something that they need to remember to get their degree. The students that come through for a paleontology degree though, some of the brightest kids. So curious.” He paused and looked at Wayne. “I used to think that a degree was the end all be all of life. Like you couldn’t live a fulfilling life without a degree in something, it just seems to be the way the world is going. But clearly, you’ve carved out a cozy little existence here for you and your nephew. No degree in sight, but still doing a job that requires knowledge. A job that I wouldn’t be able to start doing even with my degree. It’s very impressive.”

Wayne didn’t know exactly how to feel about what Scott had said, so he was silent for a long few moments as he prepped the broccoli. “You seem like a very nice man, Scott. I’m glad that you learned that not everyone needs to be educated to live a good life.” He looked at him, “But I really hope you’re not learning that just now.”

“Oh, no, God no. I just… hm, it seems I might have accidentally said something a little rude. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that I thought that up until now. I learned that a long time ago, but it was something that my parents drilled into me. Go to school, get a degree, get a good job, find a wife, have kids, and raise them the same. There is a lot about my parents that I’ve come to disagree with, but their view on climbing the social ladder is definitely something that I don’t like or believe anymore.”

Wayne nodded, “What about their views on family values?”

Scott was silent for a moment, just watching Wayne as he steadfastly kept his eyes on the broccoli instead of meeting Scott’s eyes. “Well, I don’t have anything against children, obviously, I enjoy teaching and if I could teach it in a middle school, that is where I would prefer to work. However, I don’t see myself ever settling down with a wife.”

It wasn’t a confession of sexuality, but neither man could afford to expect that of someone, not in a state like Montana and not in a time where dragging a gay man behind a truck until he died was considered ‘giving him what he deserved’. But it made Wayne a little more comfortable. A subtle drop to his shoulders from where he’d been tightly wound. A small exhale as he relaxed a bit. It wasn’t a confession, but it was close to. To someone not of the same persuasion, it just sounded like someone who was more career-driven. To a gay man, it was something else.

The topic quickly moved back to Eddie and the farm, Scott asking questions about ranching and Wayne answering them.

Once the steaks were off the grill, the potatoes were mashed, and the broccoli was coated with a hearty amount of butter and salt, Wayne rang the loud bell next to the door and shouted for Eddie, wherever the young man had run off to.

They waited until Eddie burst in the door, covered in dirt with a grin on his face. He’d probably been off playing with the other boys; the ones whose parents help out around the ranch. He walked in the door already blabbering a mile a minute even as he fixed his plate. Wayne lost track of the conversation at some point, though vaguely aware it had moved on from the Native kids to Gareth and his bandmates. Something about a ‘Battle of the Bands’, whatever that was. Though Wayne couldn’t keep up, Scott seemed to be on top of it, reacting to Eddie’s fast words with an ease that showed why Scott wanted to be a teacher. He just genuinely enjoyed being around kids.

After dinner, Gareth’s mom showed up to pick Eddie up, which was what Eddie had been talking about, apparently. “Bye Wayne!” Eddie shouted, playfully shoving Gareth and Jeff around.

“Bye Kid, be nice for God’s sake, please behave.” 

Eddie stuck his tongue out at Wayne as the car pulled away from the ranch.

 The two men were silent as they cleaned up the kitchen and dining area, but the tension between them felt palpable. Neither said anything or did anything about it. 

They stood side by side in Wayne’s small kitchen. It had been some weeks since Scott had started staying with them. Wayne was cleaning the dishes and Scott drying and stacking them up. There was some country music playing in the living room that Wayne had never bothered to turn off after he started it.

The dishes were almost completed when Wayne finally broke the silence, “So, how are you liking Montana?”

Scott hummed and dried his hands, “I’m liking it a little more each day.” He said softly, “The people are really nice.”

Wayne couldn’t have hidden his smile if he’d tried. He wasn’t the beaming type; he didn’t smile with all his teeth showing like Eddie did, but his small quirk of the lips portrayed a lot to the right people. He’d been told all his life that he’d been hard to read. Even his own brother had a hard time understanding how Wayne could just not portray every emotion all the time. Until Eddie, he’d truly believed that he was just bad at expressing emotion, but that kid…

One day Wayne had sat Eddie down, after things had calmed down a lot, he’d told him that Eddie never needed to be scared of Wayne, that even if he didn’t smile a lot or didn’t look happy, that he would never, ever hurt Eddie. For his part, Eddie had looked at him confused and said that Wayne never looked mean, or mad. After that, he made a point to grin back at Wayne whenever Wayne sent a small smile his way, his own little way of telling Wayne ‘ I see you smiling’.

“So, what do you normally do on the nights you get to yourself?”

Wayne huffed a little laugh, because he didn’t get a lot of nights to himself lately. “Used to just drink all alone here. Before Eddie. Not that much to do here and I didn’t need the reputation of a man who goes to the bar every night. Now though, I only get Friday nights and Saturday mornings to myself.” He drained the sink and took the towel from Scott to dry his own hands. “Not every Friday night, but enough of them that I’m usually expected over at the Hide Away. That’s just about the only bar in town, not even remotely busy considering the population of this town, but it’s good all the same.”

“I live near the university now, but I grew up in a small town.” Scott said. It was not as small as this one, but it had most definitely been small. “Did you still want to do that?”

Wayne shrugged and leaned against the counter, “I was thinkin’ of maybe just findin’ somethin’ to watch on the TV.”

Scott looked at the clock, “I think M*A*S*H airs on CBS tonight, in about 20 minutes. Have you seen that?”

“That the one about the Korean War?”

Scott nodded, “Yeah, with the doctors. I think the season finale is tonight, but that might be next week.”

Wayne wasn’t a cryin’ man, he really wasn’t, but by the end of the episode, he was a little choked up. He wasn’t entirely sure how it happened, but over the course of the hour-long episode, Wayne and Scott had moved closer to one another. Close enough for Wayne’s arm to brush against Scott’s shoulder when he wiped at his eyes. Next to him, he could hear Scott sniffling. “I lost a lot of good friends in the war.”

“Not the Korean War?” Scott said, rearing back a little confused, “I thought you were younger than that.”

Wayne huffed a little laugh, “No, no, the Vietnam War. I was unlucky enough to get drafted, though thankfully I didn’t have to serve very long. Even more luckily, Jack wasn’t drafted. He kept this place afloat for the two years that I served.”

“Jack sounds like he was a very good friend.”

“He was.” Wayne said slowly, he knew that if he were going to come clean about the nature of his relationship with Jack, then was probably the time to do it, but there was still so much uncertainty. “Though I suppose I wasn’t as good of a friend as I should have been.”

“My number never got called.” Scott said, “But even if it had, I don’t think it would have mattered since I was a student. I was working on my PhD at the time the draft was announced. Still, I knew some people who left and came back very different people.” Scott couldn’t help but think of his old police chief, a man who came back from the war a jaded shell of the man he used to be. Healing didn't seem to be something he cared to do, more interested in drinking himself to death. 

“I lost some good friends, made some other good friends.” Wayne looked to the TV where the credits were still playing, “One of my best friends died on his way home, like Henry.”

They lapsed into silence for a long while before Wayne shut the TV off and settled back on the couch. Scott looked at him, and just kept looking.

“Have I got somethin’ on my face?”

Scott shook his head, “No, I’m just trying to figure you out, Wayne Munson.”

Wayne huffed, “Been tryin’ to figure myself out for years, don’t see you as havin’ any more luck than I have.”

He was silent again, just watching before looking down at his hands clasped between his knees, his knuckles were almost white from clenching. He was nervous about something. He swallowed nervously, “You know, my very best friend is named Dorothy.” 

Wayne blinked at Scott, puzzling over his statement for a long moment before leaning over and kissing the man. There was no other meaning that Wayne could derive from his sentence and his posture other than a blatant, though coded, confession. He just hoped to hell that he had taken the confession the right way, that Wayne hadn’t been imagining the tension between the two of them. 

To his immediate relief, Scott responded to the kiss eagerly, if not a little unsure. Like, maybe this dinosaur nerd hadn’t kissed very many people. Maybe he simply hadn’t kissed many men. “Me too.” Wayne said between kisses, his smoker's lungs getting the better of him after just a short while. He pressed his forehead against Scott’s. 

Neither of them knew how long they kissed on the couch, though they changed positions several times. They only finally broke off the kiss when they were both hard, panting, and most importantly, when Scott accidentally rolled off the couch. 

Wayne let out a bark of laughter that made him feel much younger and twisted to get a look at Scott on the floor. “Maybe we should head to our respective beds.”

Scott huffed and sat up, “You don’t want to join me in your bed?”

The implication and invitation were there, clear as day, but Wayne shook his head, “I’d love to, but I don’t… Gee. I’m real sorry, I shouldn’t have kissed you when I knew I couldn’t commit.”

Scott furrowed his brow and turned to Wayne, putting his hand on his knee. “You don’t have to apologize for being scared, Wayne, we’re all scared. I mean, I’m not stupid, I know that this can’t… can’t go anywhere .” Scott twiddled his thumbs, Wayne wished he didn’t find that cute. “I mean, I’m not going to presume how you feel, but I’m sure Eddie has something to do with it, I’m sure living in this town has some to do with it, the fact that I live in Indiana and you live here, in Montana… But I’m here now, and I’ll be here for as long as you’ll keep me around until my sabbatical ends…”

Wayne swallowed, he didn’t have a great response for Scott. “Jack was uh, also a friend of Dorothy.” Wayne said, “And we would sleep together sometimes, but I was… I don’t know how much of it was that I didn’t like him that way, and how much of it was me being scared… The government could take him away from me, you know.”

Scott nodded, “I thought that might have something to do with it…”

“He doesn’t know either… Jack and I stopped for a long time when I first took Eddie in, then it was only occasionally when Eddie slept at Gareth’s house. I… I’m scared he’ll think of me differently. He doesn’t have any other family and even if he decided that he hated gay people, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to stop parenting him.”

“I understand, Wayne, I do. You don’t…” Scott took a deep breath, like maybe this was more than just a hookup to him, “You don’t have to justify not wanting to sleep with me.”

Wayne had to bite his tongue to keep from saying something stupid like “But I do want to sleep with you” because that would hurt both of them, and there was no need to do that. 

Despite both men putting in the effort to not be weird around one another, Eddie pointed out that they were, in fact, being weird. “Don’t worry kid, I’ll be leaving soon, then it’ll just be you and your uncle again.” Scott said, ruffling Eddie’s hair as he walked behind him to grab a mug for his morning tea. 

It hit Wayne as so incredibly domestic that Scott touched Eddie like he was part of the family, or a good friend, that he could fix himself tea in a kitchen that belonged to Wayne. He even had a favorite mug. “You what now?” Wayne asked, staring at Scott in shock.

Scott shifted nervously, “Well, I figured that…” he met Wayne’s gaze, “I’ve been freeloading here long enough, I have a life back in Indiana that I should get back to. I’ve collected quite a few specimens,” Wayne knew that, he’d helped pack them and ship them back to the University for study, “and I ought to get to studying them.” 

“Do you have to go?” Eddie asked, surprising both Scott and Wayne. 

“What, you don’t want me to go?” Scott asked, more than a little surprised. Eddie hung around sometimes, they got on well and chatted often, but he was under the impression that Eddie didn’t care about him one way or the other. 

Eddie turned to Scott, “You make Uncle Wayne happy, happier than Jack did.” 

Wayne could probably count on one hand the number of times he’d blushed in his life, but despite that, the feeling of his cheeks getting hot could only be attributed to that. “Is… is that what you meant if you asked if Scott was like Jack?”

Eddie turned back around to look at Wayne with a confused look, “Duh, what else could I have meant?”

“Did you know that Jack and I…?” 

Eddie rolled his eyes, “I take out the trash Wayne, including yours. I saw the condom wrappers. Which, gross, but like, yeah. Not like you were having women over, which left one choice.”

Wayne frowned and rubbed his temple, “That’s… Can’t believe I never thought about that. I’m careless.” He was quiet for a moment, “So then… you don’t care? That I’m gay? You know you can’t tell people, right?”

“I’m not dumb.” Eddie huffed, “I know I’m struggling in class, but even I know that it’s not safe to be like us in this stupid country.” 

“Like us ?” Scott said, setting his tea down, “You too?”

Eddie shied away under the attention clearly being put on him, but he nodded, “I mean, I think so. I still… girls are pretty, but like, so are boys. Am I broken if I like both?”

Wayne grabbed Eddie’s shoulder gently, “Never. Of course you’re not broken. You can like whoever you want to like, as long as you keep it quiet if it's a boy. A lot of boys aren’t gonna be acceptin’ of advances from ‘nother guy.”

Eddie nodded slowly, “I know, I’ll be careful.” He promised. He turned his big brown puppy dog eyes towards Scott, “Do you have to go?” 

Feeling suddenly very on the spot, Scott didn’t know what to say. His relationship with Wayne wasn’t likely to go anywhere, even with Eddie’s stamp of approval, and he didn’t feel like sticking around to get his heart broken. He did have a job waiting for him, but even if he tucked his tail and ran back to Indiana now, he would have to wait months before the start of the next teaching cycle. He couldn’t deny that he enjoyed being on the ranch, around the boys, “I… don’t know.” Scott said.

Wayne was silent for a moment, sorting out his thoughts about… well, everything. Scott wasn’t like Jack, if he stayed there would be questions from the social worker eventually. Plus there was Scott’s job, Wayne didn’t know how long a sabbatical lasted, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t indefinite. 

Eddie could feel the tension in the room, and sensing that he just made things awkward, he shifted and slowly backed out of the room, locking himself in his bedroom to leave his uncle and Scott there to sort their shit out.

Once Eddie had left, Wayne looked across the counter at Scott, only to find Scott already looking at him. “Can you give me time to think? Don’t leave yet.”

Scott bit his lip and nodded, “Yeah, as much time as you need.”

Days turned into almost an entire week, like maybe Wayne was waiting for Eddie to go to Gareth’s house again before broaching the subject. It had been a little awkward between Scott and Wayne, but neither of them allowed it to affect how they acted around Eddie. In almost a mirror of the week earlier, Wayne was washing the dishes and Scott was drying them. “I don’t want you to go.” Wayne said, “I never did, but I know you can’t stay forever.”

Scott hummed, “My sabbatical is approved for a year, that would leave us about nine months before I had to get back to Indiana.”

“Sounds like more than enough time for a heartbreak.”

The silence was long as they finished the dishes together, but once they were done Scott turned to Wayne fully, cornering him a bit against the counter. “I’m leaving with a heartbreak either way, I don’t know how I’ve managed to fall for you so fast, but I have. This is up to you Wayne. I’ve made my peace with it, one way or the other.”

Wayne didn’t like being cornered emotionally, but he couldn’t deny that he did enjoy how Scott felt pressed up against him. He missed sex, sure, but he was also realizing that he craved the emotional intimacy that he had never been willing to give to Jack, but that he already felt with Scott. He let his head fall forward and rest against Scott’s shoulder, “I’ve never had my heart broken…” He said softly, “I’ve always pushed people away first.”

Slowly, unsure if it was allowed, Scott wrapped his arms around Wayne’s back, his hands clasped together. “I’m not going to… pressure you, Wayne. Whether or not you want to take that leap is up to you.”

There was silence for a long, long time as Wayne just let himself be held, but eventually, he gently pushed Scott away with a hand in the center of his chest, “Well, I suppose if we’re going to have sex, I should probably take a pretty thorough shower.” 

Despite the moment of panic when Wayne started pushing, Scott burst out in a joyful laugh at the words from Wayne’s mouth, at least that told him what he needed to know about Wayne’s preferences . 

Days turned into weeks, turned into months. They laughed, the fucked, they fell in love. Wayne was enjoying waking up next to another person more than he ever thought he would. The end of Scott’s time with them was fast approaching and the tension was felt through all of them. Wayne rolled over and pressed his forehead to Scott’s hairy chest, breathing in his scent and relaxing into the bed. It was far past time for Wayne to get up, but he was comfortable, and a little sore. 

They both jerked upright in surprise when the bedroom door slammed open and Eddie stepped in looking frantic, “Cherry!” is all he said before Wayne was swinging his legs out of the bed and reaching for pants. Thank goodness he put on underwear before falling asleep. The three rushed outside, Scott a little further behind, and made their way to the horse field. Cherry was lying on the ground in the middle of the field, the rest of the horses kind of standing around eating grass and minding their business.

“Eddie, grab some water and some hay, but don’t touch her.” He directed, when Scott caught up to them he wrinkled his face a little in disgust. 

“What’s… that?”

“Baby’s legs.” Wayne chuckled, “Foals come out front legs first. Usually.” Eddie returned quickly with the items he was told to grab.

“Is the foal okay, Wayne? It doesn’t look like it’s moving.” Eddie asked, worried. 

“It’s fine kiddo, it’ll start movin’ once it’s out. Can’t move much right now or it’ll hurt the mom.” He ruffled Eddie’s hair. He set the hay down in front of Cherry and she nibbled on it while she rocked back and forth in the grass, putting pressure on her belly to help push the baby out. They stepped back, just watching, waiting to see if intervention would be needed. 

“It’s so gross,” Eddie complained, watching the foal, wrapped in a sack of… something, come out. Scott agreed. Wayne was used to it. When the horse had managed to push the baby most of the way out, she sat up and looked at her foal, finally moving its limb and head. Its hind legs were still inside the mom, but the mom seemed to be taking a break from pushing. 

Within an hour of Eddie coming to get them, the foal was up and moving around on its gangly limbs. Eddie was as amazed as he was grossed out, “That’s my horse.” He whispered, like he was realizing it for the first time, despite knowing for 11 months that the foal was going to be his. 

“Yes, but don’t forget that he’s gotta stay with his mom for a couple years. We can do groundwork and manners training soon enough, but you’re not getting on him until he’s at least 3.” 

Eddie pouted, but he understood. It was for the horse's health. “And make sure you don’t go near him without me, okay? Momma is gonna be a little protective of her baby.” He ruffled Eddie’s hair. After the birth, the men went back inside and got ready for their day. 

After dinner, Scott leaned over and kissed Wayne, just because he could. They were on his land and there was no one in sight, aside from Eddie. “Gross!” Eddie groaned, covering his eyes, he was waiting for Gareth’s mom to come get him.

Wayne rolled his eyes at his nephew and kissed Scott back, just to listen to Eddie pretend to gag. 

“Oh! Bye!” He said, standing up abruptly when headlights flashed through the shades. 

Once Eddie was gone for the evening, Scott and Wayne wasted no time in heading to bed, giggling like teenagers rather than the middle-aged men they were. 

Wayne grunted, “I don’t think this position is working for us.” Wayne exhaled, dropping his head against the pillow.

Scott’s hand slid up his thigh a little as he tried to change his leg position a bit, trying to trust his hips at a better angle. 

Wayne grunted again and tapped Scott's arm twice as his hip ached from the angle of his leg. "Don't think that is meant for old folks." 

Scott laughed, winded as he collapsed next to Wayne, "We're not old, quit letting Eddie get to you." He snorted. Wayne huffed and rolled onto his side, kissing Scott's nose before taking their pleasure into his own hands.

The nine months that Scott had left at the ranch flew by. They had planned a date for Scott to leave, but Wayne wasn’t ready to face reality. He knew what he was getting himself into, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt. He woke up early and watched Scott as he slept. Scott wasn’t perfect, he snored, he talked too much sometimes, they fought over what to eat or what to watch, but he was good, and kind, and he made Wayne want to try. He couldn’t give up the ranch for him though. He couldn’t give up the life he had built in Montana, not even for the man he’d fallen in love with. 

When Scott finally woke up, Wayne was already out of bed and making breakfast. It was going to be their last breakfast together; Wayne wanted it to be perfect, but he was so distracted thinking about never seeing Scott again that he burned half the pancakes.

Things were silent and awkward as Scott took a seat at the counter, both of them putting on a brave face, even Eddie, when he joined, avoided the elephant in the room. For a little while at least.

“Do you think you’ll come back to visit?” Eddie asked after breakfast was long gone and Scott was packing up the last of his belongings. 

Scott sighed, looking at Wayne briefly and feeling tears well up in his eyes, “I’d like to, but Montana is pretty far from Indiana…” 

Wayne wasn’t a man prone to crying, nor to outbursts of emotions, but the fact that he felt a lump in his throat, that he felt choked up at all, felt very telling. He had purposefully avoided telling Scott that he’d fallen in love with him.

Wayne decided to leave the farm work to his workers that day, instead deciding to stay inside with Eddie and Scott until it was nearly time for Scott’s flight home. They drove the hour drive to the airport, leaving Eddie and his tearful goodbye at the ranch. It was just Scott and Wayne, holding hands on the long stretch of highway. “I’m going to miss you.” Scott said. He had gotten Wayne’s number, but he didn’t dare think he could use it. He was causing enough damage, he didn’t want to prolong something that couldn’t last.

When they got close to the airport, Wayne pulled off the road into a hiking path parking lot that was empty and deserted. Before Scott could open his mouth to ask what Wayne was up to, the man had pulled Scott into a messy kiss. He tasted of longing and regret. 

Neither man paid much attention to how long they sat there, making out, knowing that they had more than enough time to get to the airport. When Wayne finally pulled back, both men had tears in their eyes, “You son of a bitch.” Wayne whispered harshly, pressing his forehead against Scott’s collarbone, “You made me fall in love with you.”

Scott sucked in a breath in an attempt to hold in his tears, pressing soft kisses to the side of Wayne’s head, “I love you too.” He whispered, “And, I’m sorry.”

Wayne let out a choked sob and pulled Scott closer. When they couldn’t put off Scott leaving any longer, both men had to pretend to pull it together. Wayne’s lip wobbled when he shifted the truck into first, then second, then third. They whispered one final goodbye in the parking lot, Wayne not wanting to go in and make a scene with Scott at the terminal, something that Scott completely understood. Bozeman was not a very busy area, but it was busy enough that neither man even dared try to kiss each other goodbye. This was it. 

Wayne drove back to the ranch in silence, not even wanting to listen to music. Eddie gave him space when he got home, allowing him to curl up in the bed that just that morning he’d woken up in with Scott, burned with the knowledge that he would never again wake up next to Scott.

Wayne had spent so much of his life not wanting to let stuff affect him, he grew a reputation for it even. But Eddie knew, he saw past his gruff exterior and saw the man underneath. Three days after Scott left, Eddie snuck into his room and curled up in bed with him, letting Wayne cry while Eddie comforted him. 

The pain slowly faded, especially as his phone never rang to have Scott on the other end, no matter how badly Wayne wished it had. It was weeks before Wayne got himself back into his normal routine, “Sit up straight, don’t fold in on yourself. You gotta help the horse balance.”

Eddie grunted and shifted in his canter, whining about how his abs hurt. 

The seasons changed, Eddie and Wayne both aged another year. Wayne wasn’t over Scott, not by a long shot, he still missed him, though the ever-present pain of him leaving was gone. He was moving on with his life. He’d thought plenty about reaching out to Purdue University and just checking in, but he was worried about how that might affect his progress. He was doing well, he didn’t need to be hurt again. 

He shifted, looking out towards the gate when he heard tires on gravel, he wasn’t expecting a pick-up nor a drop-off. The van was green and white, though the white was almost unnoticeable given the amount of dust and dirt on the thing. “Who the hell?”

Eddie had slowed the horse to a stop, staring in the same direction as Wayne was, “Who’s that?”

“I have no idea.” Wayne answered. 

It didn’t take long for either of them to get their answer though. They watched as the van came to a stop near the house and slowly, or maybe it just felt that way, Scott Clarke stepped out of the van.