“Grady, Forrester, tell me this boy ain’t going soft on us.”
The four of us had just plowed one of the lower fields in my father’s vineyard. It was on the valley bed, which meant it was full of rock and gravel. It was work better suited to oxen and draft horses than men. It was real hard work. My hands were blistered, my back was burned, and my shirt was drenched in sweat. I was grateful to them for taking the day to help me out. I was taking over the vineyard from Grant, he was ready to move on to a new project, but between the farm and the house there was more work than I could handle alone. They knew I was trying to fix the place up for Faith so they were happy to pitch in.
I took my shirt off and threw it over the back of the truck. Grady opened the icebox and pulled out four beers.
“It was right in the back of this truck here that it happened,” I said.
The others nodded. When we were younger, we used to recount our sexual exploits with each other. Now that we were men we did it less often. Only when it was something out of the ordinary. I’d been playing coy all day and they wanted to know what was up.
“I can’t imagine waiting twelve years for one girl and then finally being reunited with her,” Grady said.
Grant, Grady and Forrester were all single, all confirmed bachelors, all still skeptical of the idea of true love.
I knew better.
“Ain’t it ever happened to one of you?” I said. “Ain’t you ever just found a girl and known she was the one? Known it like a bullet in the chest?”
“Never let it,” Forrester said.
“Life’s too short,” Grady said.
I shook my head. There was a time when I would have agreed with them. I’d have one-hundred-percent agreed with them, right down to the very core of my being. When I was younger, I’d rather have lost my cock than give it up to any one woman. But that all ended with Faith. That girl had me good, and she had me since the moment she first set eyes on me. I couldn’t ever get her out of my heart, and if I could have, I wouldn’t have wanted to. She was my purpose now. My very soul. Without Faith, there could be no Jackson. Not after all we’d been through for each other.
Not after she’d given me a son, a son I still had to meet.
“Grant,” I said. “Come on. You must have fallen hard for a woman at some point in your life.”
Grant shook his head. He wasn’t trying to give me a hard time. He wasn’t trying to pretend that being a lone wolf was better than finding true love. All he was saying was that it hadn’t ever happened to him.
“I never met a girl that amazed me so much I thought I should give up all the other women in the world for her,” he said.
“Shit,” I said. “Maybe I am getting soft.”
“Look,” Grady said. “Don’t let us knuckleheads get to you. You’ve found what we’re all still searching for. We’re all talk. If any one of us found a love like what you have with Faith, we’d give up everything for her, just like you have.”
I nodded.
“Shit, you’ve still got Sam to meet,” Forrester said. “You’re going to love that little kid. He’s as stubborn as you, Jackson.”
I let out a long sigh. I was dying to see Sam. I’d been dying to see him his entire life, and I was nervous of what he’d think of me. I mean, I didn’t even know if Faith had ever told him about me. Who’d he think his father was? What was he hoping for?
“I thought it was nice when Faith named him after your father,” Grady said.
“I did too,” I said. “I did too.”
The other three looked at me, then looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
“You’re getting really sentimental in your old age, Jackson,” Forrester said.
“Shut up.”
“Is that a tear in your eye?” Grady said.
“Fuck you guys,” I said, joining them in laughter.
“All you need is to go back down to the Rusty Nail tonight, and you’ll be right as rain,” Forrester said. “Hell, lets all go. There’ll be some tail there tonight. I’ll bet dollars to donuts all four of us will get our socks blown.”
They were teasing me. They knew there was no way in hell I’d get with another woman, but I played along.
“Sure, let’s get finished up here and go for a few drinks. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
“It’s like you’ve been in prison,” Grady said. “You know the guys who go in for a long stint, come out changed men. Found Jesus. You need to get out and get good and drunk with your brothers, Jackson. We’ll set you straight.”
I nodded. I loved those guys. I’d have given my life for them. They’d have done the same for me. The years away had done nothing to lessen the bond between us.
Then I thought of Faith. That moment when my cock slid into her soaking wet *. That was something. That was something real.
“Grant,” I said.
“What is it, little man?”
“How was Lacey last night?”
“She was pretty quiet. Knocked back a few shots like she had something on her mind. Why do you ask?”