Chapter 5
“I’ll guess I’ll help Dad and Joe with the farm. Maybe look for a job.”
“How about working at the mill with me?”
Ward’s heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t expecting this: working with Tyler! It would be like old times, hanging out together. “Yeah. I think I’d like that!”
“Great. You can start whenever you’re ready.”
“Uh…don’t you have to check with your dad?”
“Dad’s semi-retired. I basically run the business. He can’t quite give it up, so he runs the office. That suits me fine. I’d rather work out in the mill. Throwing those bags of grain around keeps me in shape.”
Tyler was still shirtless. Ward had been acutely aware of that all evening. Tyler’s deep, smooth chest, the rippled abdomen with its blond treasure trail, made Ward recall the many hours he’d spent enjoying that body. His cock responded to the memory as well. He wondered if Tyler were thinking of those times from their past, too.
They got another couple of beers and moved the conversation back to the living room. They talked and laughed for several hours, reminiscing about their years together in high school, their old friends and where they were now, and Tyler and Ward’s exploits both on and off the football field. The only subject they left untouched was the deep relationship that they had shared. For Ward it was the elephant in the room that he tried to ignore, lest he do something that overstepped where Tyler might be regarding what they had once meant to each other.
Tyler checked his watch. “Gosh, it’s one o’clock. I’ll be right back.”
He left the room. Ward sat on the couch, acutely aware he was getting hard, wondering what would come next, and if Tyler was experiencing any of the sexual tension that filled Ward’s body.
Tyler came back and held out a hand. “The boys are asleep.”
Ward rose from the couch and walked to Tyler, taking the man’s hand. Ward’s heart was pounding in his chest, his hard cock straining against his briefs.
Tyler turned and led Ward down the short hall. Ward noticed that Tyler had closed the door to the room where the boys were sleeping. They walked past the open door of the room Jack had vacated. Without letting go of Ward’s hand, Tyler said, “That’s where you’ll sleep later. It probably wouldn’t be good for the boys to find you in my bed in the morning.”
Ward nodded, his heart pounding in his chest.
They entered the room at the end of the hall. Tyler let go of Ward’s hand and closed the door. Then the two men turned and stood looking into each other’s eyes. For a long moment, neither made any move, nor said a word. It was as if after all those years they’d been apart, they were savoring the anticipation of their long drought coming to an end.
Finally, Tyler raised his hands and cupped Ward’s chin. Ward put his arms around Tyler’s waist. Tyler brought his lips to Ward’s. Ward parted his. With a soft gasp of emotion, Tyler’s tongue slipped between Ward’s lips. Then as if a dam had burst, their arms eagerly entwined around each other and their kisses became intense and urgent. Hands roamed and roughly explored every contour of their bodies, as if checking that the memories they had were accurate.
Then they broke apart, Ward urgently unbuckled Tyler’s belt, while Tyler pulled Ward’s tank top off over his head, dislodging the hat he’d been wearing all evening.
Tyler stopped. “Well now, this is different.” He stared at Ward, then ran a hand over the man’s shaved head.
“What do you think?” Ward asked, continuing his mission to get Tyler out of his jeans.
Tyler didn’t answer, just pulled Ward close and kissed his bald head.
“Guess you approve,” Ward quipped.
The interchange had slowed the frantic reaction to their being together again. They undressed more slowly and climbed into bed, holding each other, kissing and gently caressing.
“There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of you and how much I loved you,” Ward said as he ran a hand through Tyler’s thick, blond curls.
“I missed you, too,” Tyler confessed. “For a long time I tried to repress it, tried not to think of you. I felt it wasn’t fair to Tiffany. I loved her. But I knew in my heart I had married her for the wrong reason. It made me feel guilty to know I had used her love for me to create a life that wasn’t totally honest, a life that was designed to hide who I really was.”
“And now?” Ward asked.
“I don’t know. This is still Summerville, still a small town that isn’t ready to accept us for who we are and how we might feel about each other. I’m still tied here because of the mill and Pop. The boys, too, in a way. Their grandparents are here.”
Ward was quiet for a time. Then he said, “It was hard in the service.” He paused and lifted the dog tags that hung around his neck as he remembered. “They say it’s better now than under ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ but the truth is there is still a lot of prejudice. I never came out. I saw what happened to some of the guys that did and…well…I guess I was just chicken. So it seems like we’re in the same place we were the night I left.”
“Except for one thing,” Tyler said, pulling Ward to him. “I don’t want to lose you again. Somehow we’re going to find a way to make this work.”
A wave of relief swept over Ward. The fear that he and Tyler still didn’t have a future, ebbed and was replaced with hope that their love would find a way.