Chapter 88

“What about you?” Jimmy asked Barry.

Normally Barry got more pleasure out of seeing other people open their gifts but realized maybe Jimmy and Jake would like to see him open his presents.

“Okay.” Barry picked a gift at random and tore into it. “Oh, wow.” It was a leather-bound cookbook. It looked old, but in great condition.

“It’s from my mom,” Jake told him. “She said it was hers when she first got married and she thought you’d like it.”

Barry leafed through the pages, some of which showed color plates of various dishes. “This is wonderful.”

More gifts were opened, for the most part clothes. Every article Barry received was purple. He smiled to himself; it was definitely becoming his color.

“Whose gonna open this big one from my mom?” Jimmy asked.

“She’s your mom, so you do the honors,” Jake told him.

“Wonder what it is?” Jimmy said, peeling off a layer of Christmas wrapping paper to reveal a cardboard box showing the logo of a common brand of laundry detergent.

Jake laughed, but this soon died when Jimmy parted the flaps to show the contents.

“Oh, my,” Barry said.

“Yeah,” Jimmy replied, lifting the bolt of pale material from the box and spreading it out. “A quilt.”

“Not just any quilt,” Barry said, fingering the fine needlework. He didn’t know that much about the American quilting tradition, but if the intertwined red, blue, and purple rings were what he thought they were, then it was a triple wedding ring design.

“Amazing,” Jake said, also running his fingers over the design.

“Yeah,” Jimmy said, sniffing back a tear. “And she’s been sick.”

“Bess told me that your Aunt Margaret helped her,” Barry told him, throwing an arm over the big guy’s shoulder.

“But it still must have taken hours, weeks,” Jimmy said.

Barry nodded. Bess must have started the quilt not long after she’d first met Barry on Jimmy’s birthday. Had she figured out back then that they were a threesome?

The men removed the torn paper from the bed and unfolded the quilt. It looked even more impressive when fully laid out. And so warm.

“God, I’ll have to go see her and thank her,” Jimmy said quietly, still admiring the quilt

“We all will,” Jake told him.

Jimmy nodded, then looked over to Barry. “There’s just those mysterious gifts from you left.”

“Finally we’ll get to find out what you and Liam have been up to,” Jake said, reaching for his gift, which, like most of his others, was wrapped in shiny red paper.

Barry hoped his gifts wouldn’t be anticlimactic now Bess’s had been opened.

His cowboys unwrapped their gifts at the same time. Jimmy was first to exclaim, “A tablet computer?”

“Yes,” Barry said. He’d got them each a seven inch tablet. “I know you two play games on your phones, but these have bigger screens. And…” Barry bit his lip. “I wrote a special game for you. That’s what I needed Liam’s help for.”

Jake looked at him in confusion. “But you’re the one who knows about games. Liam doesn’t.”

“Start the tablets up and I’ll show you.”

It was probably the longest minute of Barry’s life as they waited for the devices to boot up. Had he made a big mistake doing this?

“Okay, now tap on the icon called ‘My Ranch’”

Jimmy and Jake did.

“Oh, look at that!” Jimmy exclaimed, pointing to a cowboy wearing a blue plaid shirt. “Is that me?”

“Yes and no,” Barry explained. “Don’t worry, Jake, there’s a cowboy who wears red in the game, too.”

Jake smiled. “Knew you wouldn’t leave me out.”

Barry took a few minutes to explain the basic ideas of the game, how it was like a virtual ranch, broken fences had to be mended, cattle herded, and horse stalls mucked. “But just like with a real ranch, things like feed, wages, and vet bills have to be paid out. You get money from selling cattle and other things.”

“Shit, it’s so detailed,” Jake said, flicking through the various screens.

“And you did all of this for us?” Jimmy said, sniffing once again.

“I love you,” Barry said, filling up with tears himself.

He was squished between his men as they kissed him thoroughly.

“Uh,” Barry said, knowing this was the hardest part. “While the game is indeed for you two, I plan to release it onto the app store so other people can buy it.” He swallowed. “And whatever money it brings in will go to the Double J.”

“What?” Jake asked. He didn’t sound angry, more confused.

“There’s probably a few bugs in the system, things that you guys might want to change. I can do that. But once you feel it’s working properly I’ll put it out there. I’ve no idea how many people will want to buy it, but I don’t think there’s anything quite like it on the market.”

Barry went on to explain that it wasn’t a gay game, as that would limit who would buy it.

“Aw, so the blue-shirted cowboy can’t kiss the ranch cook?” Jimmy asked, flicking a finger on the screen to try and make it happen.