Lazy L Farm
Quanah, TX
“Damn, I hate being sick.” Jack pulled out his handkerchief and blew his nose again, eyes red-rimmed and bleary.
“Can I get ya somethin’, a cup a tea?” Ennis asked.
“No, just sit here with me, keep me company,” replied Jack, patting the seat on the couch next to him.
Ennis pulled Jack close in his arms, tucking an afghan around his legs. “C’mere babe,” he said softly, feeling Jack curl up like a cat against his body.
“I’m fuckin’ freezin’ and I can’t get warm.”
Ennis could feel Jack shivering, and rubbed his arms, trying to warm him with his own body heat. Then suddenly, “I’m sorry, Jack, sorry for all of it.”
“Sorry for what?” Jack mumbled, his head buried in Ennis’s chest.
“For makin’ you go campin’ all those times, in the fuckin’ cold. You used ta shiver like this and could never get warm.”
“Ya don’t need ta apologize, En. It was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, but you’d get cold, yer muscles would ache. I never appreciated how busted up you were from rodeoin’ til we got here ta Quanah. I’d make ya sleep on the ground in the snow and rain…what a fuck up I was.”
“It’s all in the past, En. Don’t worry ‘bout it. Yer here now, keepin’ me warm.”
“I don’t know if there’s enough warmth in me ta make up for all those cold days.”
“There is babe, believe it. I’m feelin’ it now.”
“You are?”
“I am.”
“I love you Jack.”
“I know.”
(254 words)