***
Landon stumbled down his stairs, blearily rubbing his eyes. Someone was banging on his fucking front door and Landon’s hangover did not appreciate it. At all.
He flung the door open, poised to snap, but Jay stood on the other side looking worse for the wear.
“Um, Jay?”
“You quit?”
“What?” His brain wasn’t quite awake yet, so he didn’t know what crazy talk the man was speaking about. Jay’s shirt and jeans were rumpled and he was barefoot. “You drove here without shoes?”
“You quit the mill?”
What? Oh. “Oh, yeah.” He remembered his miserable night last night. He’d told his daddy about his new job after he left the grocery store, mostly to keep from calling Jay a thousand times. His mama had insisted Landon’s daddy accept his resignation—one Landon hadn’t yet intended to give.
“Jay… Just…” He shook his head, trying to wake up. “Fuck. Come in.”
Jay grabbed Landon. “I don’t want you to move. I told the kids everything. It’s all crazy and everything is tossed up in the air, but I don’t want you gone.”
Landon blinked.
“Landon, I realized long enough ago I should be ashamed for being so wishy-washy, that you’re so right. Just… you’re right. And you made all the lights in my head come on. Then I realized, you make me feel so comfortable with myself and I’m alive all of a sudden.”
“Jay, are you high?”
Jay scowled. “I’m trying to tell you I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you, more in love than I’ve ever been, and you think I’m high?” Jay threw his hands up. “I’m fucking this all to hell.”
Landon frowned. Jay only used words like that when they were having sex, so the man was frustrated but—wait.
Landon put his hands on Jay’s face and held his head still. “Did you just tell me you came out to your kids and that you think you love me?”
Jay suddenly went all bashful, cheeks getting pink, eyes casting down. And then he met Landon’s gaze straight on. “I’m saying I know I am. I love you, Landon.”
Landon felt his eyes go wide.
“I kind of thought, especially when I realized for weeks now, you just fit. In my life, in my bed. But I was so caught up in all these new things happening in my head and trying to figure it all out. I wasn’t listening to my heart.. But yeah. When your daddy said you resigned, I realized I thought you were hurt because you thought Beth was moving in with me because Clint told me Millie told him and I’ve never run that fast in my life. I’ve never want to stop from hurting someone so much, except my kids—but that’s a given, they’re my—”
Landon shut Jay up with a huge, smiling, laughing kiss. Even his hangover couldn’t stop him from wanting to sing like the Hillbilly Sound of Music or something.
“Are you kidding me?”
“No,” Jay said, seriously. Landon ran a thumb over Jay’s furrowed brows, smoothing the lines there. “I hate how much Beth is hurting over this, and it feels wrong because I don’t want to disregard our marriage. I care for her. I always have and always will. But Landon, I absolutely fucking love you. And I know it’s gonna be hard to deal with and hell, we may not last, but… Hell, I wanna try. I wanna make promises and spend time with you and I don’t want you hurt because you’re waiting for me to get my shit together.”
Jay stopped. “Although, I may just be assuming you want the same thing.” He winced.