“Huh? No.” Taylor looked genuinely startled.The flip side of Will’s first reaction, because at home, Taylorwouldn’t think twice about surrendering himself to Will’s care.
“Yeah.” Will gave him another tug. “I’vebeen punched in the face. Don’t try to tell me you don’t feel likehell, because I know you do.”
“I’m fine, Brandt.” Taylor threw aninstinctive look at the hallway down which Grant haddisappeared.
Will tightened his grip. “I said comehere.”
After an uncertain moment, Taylor caved in,stretching out on the couch and resting his head in Will’s lap. Heclosed his eyes with a little sigh.
Will gazed down at Taylor’s battered facewith a rush of tenderness. Blood crusted his nostrils and his lipwas swelling. He looked both disreputable and defenseless.
“You’d better not be laughing at me,” Taylormuttered, not opening his eyes.
“I’m laughing with you,” Will assuredhim. He touched Taylor’s soft, dark hair lightly, and Taylorshivered. “What we should do is stop laughing and take youinto town to get someone at Urgent Care to take a look at you. Youcould have a concussion.”
“I’m fine.”
“Sure you are.”
“I’ve been concussed a million times. I’dknow if I was concussed.”
“A million times,” Will marveled. “Well,that explains a few things.”
Taylor laughed.
Will’s dad said from the doorway, “Clarysays Dennis is on his own from here on out.” Both Will and Taylorjumped. Taylor sat up straight and Will scooted over, both of themmoving apart as fast as if they’d been caught with their pantsdown.
Bill studied them, opened his mouth, thenturned away as the phone in the kitchen began to ring again.
After a strained moment, Taylor said, “Iwonder what the story is on Cousin Dennis?”
“Why?”
“Just the way he freaked out today.”
Will said carefully, “People freak out fordifferent reasons. It doesn’t always mean…”
“True.”
“I guess it’s reasonable somebody in WitnessProtection would be jumpy.”
“I guess.”
“Do you have a different theory?”
Taylor moved his head in negation.
From the other room, Bill called, “Will,that was Jack Hardy at Mist Bend PD. They found your SUV.”
Will rose and went into the kitchen. “Thatdidn’t take long. Where?”
“Parked behind the feed store on MainStreet. The keys were left in the ignition. It looks like CousinDennis may have grabbed the CC Rider to Willow Creek.”
“Well, he’s out of your hair anyway,” Willsaid.
“Looks that way. Jack says you can pick upyour vehicle anytime. Why don’t you ask Grant to give you a liftinto Mist Bend?”
Will thought it over. Cousin Dennis hadclearly left of his own free will, so there wasn’t any reason forthe police or sheriffs to hang onto Will’s vehicle. He wasn’t goingto press charges and it wasn’t like it was a crime scene. “I’ll dothat. Maybe I’ll show Taylor around town. Buy him lunch.”
His father’s blue eyes met his. Bill’s mouthtwitched. “I’d say he earned lunch,” he agreed.
“Hey,” Will called to Taylor in the otherroom. “You feel like driving into town for some lunch? We can pickup my car.”
“Sure,” Taylor called back. “I’ll just goput on a clean shirt.”
Will went looking for Grant. He found him inthe den watching Classic Global Wrestling. Grant must have seenWill out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t look away from theTV.
“The police in Mist Bend located my SUV,”Will said. “You mind giving me and Taylor a lift into town?”
“Sure,” Grant said. He pointed the remote atthe TV and the screen flicked off.
Will studied his brother’s profile. Notincluding the exchange in the kitchen, Grant had been polite butdistant all morning. He had relaxed a little when their dad hadstarted reminiscing about past fishing trips, but whatever rapporthad been gained was lost the minute they got back to the house andfound Taylor on the phone.
They needed to talk. Really talk. But Willwasn’t sure what to say. What more was there to say really?Wasn’t the ball kind of in Grant’s court now? If Grant needed timeto come to terms with learning Will was gay, okay. Talking wasn’tgoing to speed the process any. Not that Will could see. Frankly hedidn’t want to talk to his kid brother about his relationship withTaylor anymore than he’d have wanted to talk about any otherromantic relationship with him. The whole subject wasuncomfortable.
But…it hurt. He loved Grant. He’d beendelighted when he’d realized they were going to have thisunexpected time together before Grant went overseas. Now it lookedlike his brother was going to spend his entire visit hiding outwatching TV and sleeping.
“So…about five minutes?” Will said.
“I’m ready now,” Grant said. “I’ll meet yououtside.”
Will nodded and continued down the hall tohis bedroom. Taylor was tucking a black flannel shirt into hisjeans. He glanced up at Will’s entrance.
“Everything okay?”
“Of course,” Will replied.
Taylor eyed him a moment longer, and thenfinished dressing.
* * * * *
Taylor, not always the most sociablecreature on God’s green earth, made an effort on the twenty-minutetrip to Mist Bend. The three of them were wedged in the front ofGrant’s Toyota pickup, with Will acting as a buffer in the middle.Taylor’s lean thigh pressed against Will’s, his hard shoulderpushed into Will’s.
“Did you play football too, Grant?” Taylorasked.
“Yep.” Grant replied curtly.
“He was All Stars in high school,” Willsaid.
“Impressive,” Taylor said.
“Big deal. You were voted Most ValuablePlayer how many years?”
“Yeah, but —” Will’s words were cut off asGrant turned the CD player on full blast.
Gotta keep your head up and move along movealong
Gotta keep your head calm and carry on carryon
Will reached over and turned the volume downto the non-head-exploding range.
Grant scowled, gaze still locked on thewinding road.
“Lifehouse, right?” Will identified. A bandand a song he was very familiar with after the long drive toOregon. “Taylor likes them too.”
Grant reached over and punched the buttonfor a new CD. “Sorry. I’m actually kind of tired of them.”
There was a short silence while the CDplayer noisily shuffled through its selections.
The Fray came on. Another of Taylor’sfavorites. Will opened his mouth, but he felt Taylor’s elbow diginto his ribs.
Yeah, maybe not.
Taylor said, “What did you think of CousinDennis, Grant? Did you have any time to form an opinion?”
Grant shrugged. “He seemed okay. I didn’tpay a lot of attention to him.”
Will said, “Do you know what his story was?Did Pop say?”
Grant shook his head. “Something
