Alma, Jr. and Cassie have this dialogue in the bar:
Cassie: …. Your daddy ever gonna see fit to settle down again?
Alma, Jr. Don’t know … Maybe he’s not the marrying kind.
Cassie: You don’t think so? Or you don’t think I’m the one for him?
Alma, Jr. You’re good enough.
Cassie: You don’t say much, but you get your point across.
Yeah, I think that's it. Either Alma means just what she says, or she suspects he's gay. I think I've heard someone suggest some even deeper meaning to this exchange, but I can't remember what it is.
What I don't get is what Cassie means. What does
she think Alma's point is?
There is a look Ennis gives at the end of "cow calf operation..." just as Jack touches his ear like 'I know I wish we could but...' or 'You only make it worse when you reach for me, that we cant be together.'
I think it's the first. He looks really sad there, partly because he's had to relive the horrifying experience. But it's also related, I think, to his desolate expression in the Motel Siesta when Jack asks what they're going to do now. He doesn't dare live with a man, but that doesn't mean he's not distraught at having to be apart from Jack.