Borrowing Trouble(6)

“Not much, man.” Jay pulled a bottle of Bud Light from the bucket of beer he’d ordered and offered it to Landon. Landon accepted it with a thanks. “Just in time. I ordered some wings and cheese sticks just now.”

“Perfect.” Landon was famished. Even his first pull of the beer had him feeling buzzy, so he needed some food pronto. “Thanks for inviting me. I really was lookin’ at another night of staring at four walls.”

“Not much to do around here.”

Landon snorted. You have no idea. “My friends live in Jackson now, but our schedules don’t exactly line up all the time. Plus, it gets expensive fueling up my truck for a trip down once a week.”

“I imagine so. What do y’all get up to down there?” Jay asked the question innocently enough, Landon would feel like an * not to answer. But he couldn’t exactly say “oh I go get my dick sucked by college boys so I don’t horn up every time I’m around you.”

“Oh, not much. Hit the bars. More interesting people than Buddy’s. I’m sure you’ve noticed the guys don’t exactly want us to hang out with ‘em anyways, so me showing up in Grenada wouldn’t thrill ‘em.”

Jay smiled sympathetically. “Older crowd there. Hell, that crowd is too old for me.”

“You’re right about that.”

“Anyways, thank you for coming out tonight. Too many nights being dad. Nice to get out for a beer with a buddy. Been a while.”

“I bet. Must be hard, just you.”

“Nah. It’s not so bad. Beths and I have a pretty good set-up, and her parents help out a lot now that I’m back home.”

Landon wasn’t sure what made him say it, but he suddenly had the urge. “Sorry to hear about you and Bethany splitting up. Good y’all are still friends, though.”

Jay shrugged again. “It just made sense. It wasn’t a bad break up. Just grew up and grew apart.”

“Well, it’s nice of you to let her go off to school like you did.”

“Nothin’ nice about it. It was the right thing. She’s gonna be able to provide a better life for herself and the kids. She’s got a damn good job now. After she’s done with her first year, she’ll come back to be with the kids again.”

There. Settled. She’d come back and it’d be just like the oldtimers said, Jay and Bethany would get back together. Nothing could make Landon kill his silly crush on the damn straight man like cold, hard reality. Not that there had been a chance before, anyhow.

“Okay, well that’s a heavy subject.”

“Oh. Sorry, man. Just been meaning to mention it since you came back, but didn’t think it’d be right to bring it up at the office.”

“No, it’s alright,” Jay said, offering another of his kind smiles. The cold water that had been dumped on his crush made the effect of that smile not burn as brightly as it had earlier. Good. A friend. Another he couldn’t be out to, but a friend nonetheless.

“Oh look. Game’s on.” Jay pointed to the TV.

After a few more beers and some wings, they’d both relaxed and had a decent conversation. They’d talked about their days at the local high school, Jay’s kids, and things as trivial as good places for hunting. Landon found himself having a great time. Jay was easy to talk to and didn’t seem to have the good ol’ boy attitude Landon expected from the man at first. Jay had talked about how they’d not forced the kids into church and how he and Bethany had spent a lot of time with a gay couple who lived on their street. That made Landon squirm a little, but it also made him think he might like having Jay around.

They ordered another bucket of beer and Landon excused himself to go to the bathroom. “Gotta break the seal.” When he came back to the table, he was annoyed to find one of the women from the bar had eased over during his absence to squeeze onto the booth seat next to Jay. When he sat back down, Jay shot him an apologetic look, which was incredibly endearing.

“Heya, Landon.” Jay sounded tipsy and his face was wide and happy when Landon sat back down. “This is Felicia.”

“Landon and I are old friends,” Felicia cooed, practically ignoring that Landon had returned. They were indeed old friends. She was only a year older than him and was a notorious bar fly. She’d slept with a few of Landon’s friends and seeing her on Jay didn’t surprise him in the least. Although, he had to give it to her, she had good taste, seeing as she was setting her sights on his new friend.

Landon didn’t respond because it wasn’t necessary, judging by the way Felicia was whispering in Jay’s ear. He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help smiling at the goofy look on Jay’s face. Too bad Landon couldn’t get that response out of the man. But good for Jay. Someone deserved to get laid and, from the sound of things, it had been a while for Jay. And that moment served as yet another bright, blinking, neon reminder that Jay was very straight.

“Well,” Landon said with a stretch. “I’m actually pretty whooped, Jay.” Landon pulled his wallet out and dropped a couple twenties on the table before standing. “Think I’ll head out.”

Jay jerked his head away from Felicia and frowned. “Wait. Don’t leave. The game’s not even over.” Felicia did not look pleased.

“Naw, don’t worry about it. I’m just tired as hell. May as well head on back to the house.” Landon wasn’t exactly lying. He was tired as hell. It’d been a long week and he’d gone and helped his daddy work on his tractor early that morning. Felicia almost looked like she’d thank Landon for leaving if it wouldn’t be entirely tacky. “Good to see you, Felicia.” She waved dismissively as Landon left.