Indigo Road (7 page)

We talked for
a little while, Alex telling me about some of the jobs Sally May
had him doing. He sounded like he’d been run ragged. Up early to
start cleaning the cabins for the people who had checked out.
Running errands for other guests, like those who had gone out and
forgotten their hat, so Alex had to run back to their cabin and
retrieve it for them. Then, at the end of the day, helping in the
kitchen with the cleanup and preparation for the next day’s
breakfast for the early risers. As we talked, we both happily
ignored the fact we were still touching.

“
So I heard
you landed on your butt in front of a bunch of kids.” Alex
chuckled.

“
Yeah, laugh
it up. I’d like to see you do better. Those ponies get pretty
impatient when you’re not giving them what they want.” I chuckled
and shook my head. “At least I’m not scrubbing toilets.”

“
No, you’re
just picking up horse shit instead.” Alex’s laugh grew
louder.

“
Next time
you want to stop somewhere and work for a week, I’m dumping you on
your ass. Seriously, I didn’t realize how much horses shit. I’m
going to be smelling it for a month.”

“
You’d better
not stink, I have to sleep next to you when we get on the road
again.” Alex squeezed my finger. I couldn’t wait for it to just be
the two of us once more.

Just as I was about to tell him so, Sally May
and Josie found us.

“
There you
are.”
Hearing Sally May’s voice, we
quickly jumped apart, our fingers no longer tangled together. “I’ve
been looking for you everywhere.” She gave Alex a big smile. “Come
on, the food will run out if you don’t hurry up.”

She held her hand out to help him off the
ground. He looked to me, and I wasn’t sure what I saw in his eyes.
Disappointment maybe? Was he as annoyed as I was that we’d been
found and our spell broken? I couldn’t tell.

Before I could get a read on him, he reached
up and let Sally May help him off the ground and lead him to the
grill.

Josie
took
Alex’s place on the blanket as I
watched him walk away, Sally May’s arm around his waist. My chest
ached. Sally May sure seemed interested in Alex, but I couldn’t
tell if he reciprocated her feelings or not. Maybe that’s why I
hadn’t seen him come back to the dorm the past couple nights. Alex
had never been one to kiss and tell, and during college I almost
had to drag any information out of him. Even then I only got the
bare minimum.

A sudden pang
of jealousy hit me in the chest. Why would I be jealous of Alex
hooking up with a girl? It’s not like he hadn’t done it
before—hell, even I was thinking about a hookup with someone only a
few weeks ago.

Well, if he was having fun, more power to
him.

“
You like
him.” Josie’s voice brought me out of my musings. I’d forgotten she
was sitting next to me. “I can see the way you’re looking at
him.”

“
I’m not
gay,” I said in a croaky voice.

“
I was hoping
that, maybe,
me
and you could, you know? But now that I see the way you
look at your friend, I know it’s not going to happen,” she
finished
with
a
sigh.

“
I’m not
gay,” I said again, less sure of myself. Just because I felt…
something for Alex didn’t make me gay, did it? Maybe I
was
bi
.

Josie didn’t respond, but her smile was both
sad and warm.

“
I’m not… I
don’t know what I am,” I whispered. Alex and Sally May were
standing near the cookout, loading their plates. Alex looked
over
at
me and
smiled slightly, before looking at Josie. His smile faded and he
turned his attention back to Sally May, who appeared to be talking
nonstop.

“
This must be
a recent development if you’re not sure.” Josie’s voice was soft.
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you too. At first I thought you were
a couple. But then Sally May said she was going to make a play for
Alex, so I thought maybe I’d read your relationship
wrong.”

“
Has she…? I
mean, do you know if…?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking the
question I didn’t want the answer to.

“No, they haven’t as far as I know. She said
she was going to make her move tonight. I told her to be careful
and to make sure she wasn’t stepping on anyone’s toes. She’s not as
observant as I am.”

“
He’s been my
best friend since junior high. We went to college together and even
shared a room.” I thought about the times we’d wrestled over the
remote control when I always managed to pin him beneath me, prying
the remote from his hand. Had he known something back then? Had
I?

“
I don’t
know. I don’t think I’ve thought of him as anything
other
than
that until we started this road trip. But looking back now, I don’t
know.”

Josie patted my knee as she stood up. “I hope
you figure it out, Josh. I really do. You’re a great guy.” She
smiled and walked away, stopping to talk to a couple of guests as
she made her way to the grill.

I walked
around the clearing as I searched the crowd, but I couldn’t see
Alex or Sally May anywhere. I spoke with Elsie May for the first
time since meeting her on the side of the road. We chatted about
how the work was going and how she’d rather be outdoors shoveling
manure than stuck in the office all day. I told her I’d be willing
to trade. Afterward, I grabbed myself a plate of
food
but didn’t eat much, my
appetite gone. I was lost in my thoughts and I didn’t see Alex
again until it was time to climb on the wagon and head
back.

Alex gave me
a small smile when I sat next to him, but didn’t say anything. The
silence grew as I listened to the sounds of the
horses
’ hooves hitting the
dirt.

He kept his
hands
in
his
lap.

THE FOLLOWING morning, as I was eating breakfast
in the staff dining room, Alex placed his tray next to mine before
sitting down.

“
I’m sorry
about last night,” he started hesitantly. “Sally May had me
trudging all over the place and all I wanted to do was sit with you
and catch up. I can’t wait to get back on the road.”

Alex’s smile
was shy, probably knowing I was a little annoyed. I shouldn’t have
been, though. I had no control over who he spent his time with, so
I forced myself to let it go.

I smiled at
the
thought of continuing our adventure,
and when I looked at Alex, his eyes held hope… and something else I
thought maybe Josie was talking about. Plucking up my courage, I
wrapped my pinky around his and squeezed. “Three more days,
right?”

“
Yeah. Where
do you want to go next?” Alex asked.

“What, you mean you don’t have a planned
route?” I laughed and squeezed his finger again.

“
Well, I do.
But I’m trying your way of
winging
it.” Alex’s cheeky smile was back in place. I’d
missed it.

“
Okay.
Seattle,” I said without thought.

Alex laughed.

“What?” I asked, confused.

It was his turn to squeeze my finger. “That
was next on my list.”

THE DAY
before we left, Elsie May called both Alex and me into the office.
“Sit down, boys. I have a proposition for you.”

I raised an eyebrow before taking one of the
two seats opposite her desk.

Alex sat next to me. “Is everything all
right?”

“
Of
course.
You boys
have been doing a wonderful job. You’ve both helped us out
of a real tight bind and I couldn’t be more grateful.” Elsie May
leaned back in her chair. “Now, do you plan on going through Texas
at all?”

“We plan on going through most of the states,
if not all. What have you got in mind?” Alex asked, appearing
intrigued.

“
My cousin
Jed runs a longhorn ranch near Beaumont. I usually send him one of
my guys to help out with his yearly mustering in February, but
Craig’s wife is pregnant and due
around
the same time. He’s
reluctant to leave her in case she goes into labor early and I
can’t spare anyone else. It’ll be much the same duties as what
you’ve done here, except on a cattle ranch. Pay will be worth it.”
Elsie May leaned her elbows on her desk. Despite her easy words,
her look was one of slight desperation.

“February? We can work that. We didn’t plan
on doing much of the East Coast, as we’ve seen some of it anyway.
We can be in Texas in February and still be home mid-May as
planned.” Alex turned to me. “What do you think, Josh?”

Elsie May had a glimmer of hope in her eye,
which made it hard to say no. “I think after this week, I’ll let
you do all the mucking of stalls next time. Sounds good. Texas in
February it is.”

It was only August, after all. A lot could
happen in six months.

WE LEFT
Montana the next day as planned, but not before Sally May tried to
kiss Alex. He managed to turn his head at the last second, her lips
landing on his cheek. Josie and I stood off to the side, trying to
hide our
laughter,
while Alex blushed and looked at me.

“It’s been fun having you two here,” Josie
told me. “Any chance you’ll come back this way one day?”

“Never say never, Josie.”

She threw her arms around me, giving me a
warm hug. I hugged her so hard, her feet lifted off the ground.

“
I forgot to
ask, why does Alex call you
horse
?” she asked after I put her
on solid ground again.

“
He doesn’t
call me
horse
.
He says it every time I say ‘hey.’ He’s been doing it since the day
we met.” I smiled at the memory and I saw understanding dawn in her
blue eyes.

“
Because
horses eat hay,” we said in unison before doubling over with
laughter.

Still laughing, I climbed into Maude with
Alex and drove away from the Bar None.

“
YOU FEELING
okay?”
Alex asked with a frown as I trudged back to Maude after having a
quick shower at the RV site we’d stopped at.

We
’d passed through what felt
like a million national parks on our way to the Washington state
line and when Alex flashed an annual parks pass to avoid entry
fees, I realized just how much thought he’d put
into
this trip.

We’d left the
ranch
four days
ago,
but my muscles hadn’t
recovered yet and I was slow at doing things, like collecting
firewood or
packing
up. I was still exhausted, despite having plenty of
sleep.

“
Yeah, just
sore from all the horse
shit shoveling I
did, I think.”

Alex came
closer and cradled my face gently
in his
hands, searching my eyes for something. For a second I thought he
was about to kiss me and I questioned whether I wanted him to or
not. Before I could make up my mind, he kissed my forehead, his
soft lips lingering for a second longer than necessary. My heart
raced. Yes, I realized, I
did
want him to kiss me. At least
I now knew the answer.

Alex and I
hadn’t moved pas
t the finger-holding
stage. I sensed a hesitancy about him, and although I wanted more,
I didn’t push. We fell asleep holding hands, only to wake up and
pretend we hadn’t.

“You’re hot,” he exclaimed, releasing my face
and stepping back.

“
I
just had a hot shower.”

“You sure?”

“
Yes, I’m
sure I just had a shower.”
I laughed,
trying to make the concerned look in his eyes go away. It
didn’t.

“
Okay.” He
nodded and
started lighting the campfire,
but he kept one worried eye on me.

After dinner,
Alex doused the flames and crawled into bed beside me. I was
half
-asleep when he asked, “You want to
watch a movie?”

“
Hmm, sure.”
I closed my eyes again, exhaustion pulling me under. A moment
later
, I felt Alex’s lips at my forehead
once more. “Why are you kissing my head?” I asked without opening
my eyes.

“I’m not kissing you, I’m checking your
temperature. It’s a little high, by the way.”

“You’re checking my temperature?”

“Yes, your lips are more sensitive to
temperature so it’s a more accurate way to check for a fever,” Alex
stated matter-of-factly.

“
Who told
you
that?” I asked, opening my eyes, only
to close them again.

“
Rachael was
a nursing student.” When I
looked at him
again, he rolled his eyes. “I dated her for like, two months in our
second year at Purdue.”

“You never kiss and tell, so don’t blame me
for not remembering her.”

“Redhead, freckles. Big tits.”

Now I
remember
ed. “She was cute.”