The next morning, Jack got up earlier than usual. He had gotten to sleep earlier and had slept great, so he wasn't tired. And he wasn't surprised to see that Ennis was up already. And...cooking? Eggs were frying on the stove, but Jack could smell something burning. Ennis must have asked the Aguirres for some eggs. Which just made Jack think that Ron had been the one to hand the eggs over.

Why was he letting this get to him?

"Morning," Jack said as he stepped into the kitchen. This morning was a bit warmer since he had turned on the heater before he had gone to bed last night. He should have thought about that days ago.

"Morning," Ennis said, turning the stove off. The eggs in the pan crackled a bit. He scraped the eggs off into a plate then added some toast then sat down at the table, grabbing a fork on the way.

Jack just grabbed some fruit out of the fridge for breakfast. He was craving eggs, grits, and bacon, but he didn't want to go over to the Aguirre's by himself when Ennis was eating breakfast over here. And making his own breakfast just wasn't appealing. He was pretty sure he'd outgrow that the longer he stayed here. He was already used to getting up early in the morning. As long as he overlooked the hard work, the smell, and Ron, living here could be pretty good.

"Did you want some eggs?" Ennis asked, looking over at Jack with his fork raised toward his mouth. It wasn't all that often that Ennis said something to him without Jack asking something first.

"No, I'm good, thanks," Jack said, holding up his banana. He peeled it then walked over to the table and sat down across from Ennis. The chair creaked as he sat down and he was afraid it was going to break beneath him.

"Carrie gave me some yesterday," Ennis said then took a bite of his eggs.

"Carrie?" Jack asked. She was Joe's daughter. She had been anti-social toward him ever since he met here and he had gotten the impression that she didn't like anything. Rebellious teenage daughter. She was eighteen and planning on moving far away to go to college in the Fall. How she was going to accomplish that, he didn't know. The entire time he had been here, she had been mooching off her dad for money and Joe often turned her down. "That was friendly of her."

"She said she doesn't do it often."

"Apparently you caught her interest," Jack said, taking a bite of his banana. He smiled when Ennis looked a bit embarrassed over the fact that someone was interested in him. "Maybe she's always wanted a gay best friend." That seemed to make Ennis relax a bit. He obviously wouldn't know what to do if someone was interested in him that way.

"Ron, on the other hand," Jack didn't know where he was really going with that and was saved by the knock at the door. He checked the time on his phone to see that there was still another hour before they had to do anything.

Jack got to his feet and headed for the door. He opened it to see Joe standing there, looking a slight bit frantic. "Everything okay?" Jack asked, somewhat concerned.

"My wife came down with something last night," Joe said. "She couldn't get any sleep so I'm gonna go ahead and take her to the hospital." Hopefully it wasn't too serious. "I got Ron and Carrie up. Ron made plans for later today, but he promised he'd help with what he could this morning. Carrie's gonna be cleanin' house all day."

"All right," Jack said. "You better get goin'. We've got things covered here."

"Thanks," Joe said then turned and hurried off. Jack closed the door and went back into the kitchen and filled Ennis in on what was going on.

"Which means a little bit extra work," Jack said, tossing the banana peel in the trash. He leaned against the counter and pulled out his phone, seeing a text from his mom. She was letting him know that Mr. Newsome said something about Lureen missing him. Jack knew that was a blatant lie. And if Lureen knew her dad was saying something like that, she would certainly let him know what she thought.

"I don't mind," Ennis said. He stepped up beside Jack and placed his plate and fork in the sink. Joe had gotten the water running a few days before, but since there was no bathroom other than the tub in the kitchen, baths and showers were still taken in the Aguirre household. "Gives me somethin' to do."

Ennis took his time washing his dishes. All the while Jack tried to ignore the fact that they were standing less than a foot apart. Jack tried to focus on the other texts he had gotten, but the smell of dish soap and Ennis kept wafting over to him. Ennis smelled like pine and Jack was tempted to just close his eyes and imagine himself standing in the middle of a forest.

Then the fact that he wasn't much of an outdoorsy type of guy just ruined the moment.

Jack had to move in order for Ennis to put his plate in the cabinet. Jack put his phone away and stepped aside, his arm brushing against Ennis. The brief touch didn't seem to have even occurred to Ennis. He put the plate and fork away then cleaned out the sink.

"Do you, uh...wanna start early?" Ennis asked, turning away from the sink as he looked at Jack. He rested one hand on the counter, putting all of his weight on one foot as he kicked at something on the floor. Those brown eyes of his didn't stay on Jack for too long.

But Jack's eyes wouldn't move away from Ennis. He couldn't help but watch each and every movement he made. He was wearing jeans and a blue button down shirt. His brown jacket was draped over the back of the chair he had been sitting on and Jack was trying to picture him in it. Which was pretty ridiculous since it wouldn't be long before he could actually see that jacket on him. The cowboy boots fit the picture, but what completed it was the hat. Gay or not, Ennis was a down to earth cowboy.

And the best looking cowboy Jack had ever laid eyes upon.

Jack realized he hadn't answered Ennis when they were both just standing there in an awkward silence. "Yeah, we can go ahead and get to work," he said with a nod of his head. The words fell out of his mouth a bit quickly and it was obvious that he was embarrassed over the fact that he had been caught staring even though Ennis hadn't said anything about it. He probably hadn't even noticed since he hadn't been watching Jack.

"All right," Ennis said, stepping away from the sink. He grabbed his jacket as he walked past Jack and headed for the door. Jack got another whiff of soap and pine then turned and followed after.

They found Ron in the barn pulling hay off a trailer. Jack grabbed some gloves and went to help out. Ron was quieter than usual and he seemed upset about something. Jack figured that it had to do with his mom. Of course he'd be worried about her. He wasn't a complete a-hole. Jack wasn't going to say anything that might ruin the quiet even if saying something that would make Ron feel better could help. He didn't want to give Ron any ideas.

"You guys will be okay on your own today, right?" Ron asked once they were finished stacking the hay. He must have been really worried about his mom since there wasn't the normal flirtatious tone he had been using since the morning before.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Jack said, pulling off his gloves and dusting himself off. "Your dad said you had something planned today..." Why was he even asking?

Ron nodded. "A summer school project thing," he said. "I don't take summer school. I just go over to the school and help out with some stuff every once in a while every summer."

"That's neat," Jack said, finding it a bit weird to finally have a normal conversation with Ron.

"Yeah," Ron said. "And if Mom and Dad are still in town when it's over..." He trailed off with a tone that said he hoped that they wouldn't be in town all day.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Jack said, knowing he should say something to make Ron feel better no matter what the crap was going on between the two of them. "Your dad and the doctors'll make sure of that."

"Thanks, Jack," Ron said, sounding more touched than any other person would be. Jack was suddenly uncomfortable again and moved off to continue with his chores.

Later that morning, Ennis headed inside for a glass of water. Ron had already left and Jack was out doing whatever. It had been a quiet morning. Even more so when Ron had gotten a call from Joe, letting them know that they were still at the hospital. Ron didn't say anything about what was wrong with his mom and Jack and Ennis hadn't asked. But Ron had left earlier than he had planned.

When Ennis walked into the house, he paused when he heard someone crying. He walked down the hall to the downstairs bathroom. The door was open a crack. He glanced in to see Carrie sitting on the floor, toilet paper in her hands as she cried. Ennis pushed the door open slowly and she looked up, quickly wiping her eyes.

"Sorry," Ennis said, not stepping inside. "I just heard..." He trailed off, feeling a bit awkward for stepping in on her privacy.

"It's okay," Carrie said, getting to her feet. She walked over to the sink and washed her face. "Ron got a call from Mom and Dad."

"Yeah, he said something 'bout that."

Carrie didn't say anything for a moment then looked over at him. "What'd he say?" she asked, wiping more tears that were falling from her face.

"He didn't really say anything."

"Typical," Carrie said, shaking her head as she looked back forward, frowning at her reflection in the mirror. "Mom has cancer." She looked down at the sink, seeing the wet toilet paper clinging to the sides of the sink. She didn't grab the pieces and toss it. She just left it. "Too late to do anything about it."

"I'm sorry."

Carrie broke down crying again. Ennis stood there a bit awkwardly until she stepped toward him, putting her arms around him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. If this was all she needed, he could give that to her. Neither of them said a word. He just held her while she cried, letting it all out.

Ennis turned his head when he heard Jack enter the house a few minutes later, calling for him wondering where he was. When Jack came down the hall, he came to an abrupt stop when he saw them. Carrie pulled away apologizing then closed herself off in the bathroom. Ennis stood there for a moment then walked down the hall to where Jack was standing.

"What was that all about?" Jack asked, looking down the hall then at Ennis.

"Their mom has cancer," Ennis said. "Terminal." He knew about loss. He had lost his mom to breast cancer, so he knew what Carrie was feeling right now.

"That explains why Ron left so quick then," Jack said. "But why didn't he take Carrie?"

"My guess is, she didn't wanna go."

"You sound like you know more than you were told."

Ennis stood there silent for a moment. "I lost my mom to breast cancer," he said. "During that time, I was in the same type of mood as Carrie. When Mom died, we moved off the ranch."

"Ennis-"

"This ain't about me," Ennis said then stepped around Jack and headed back outside.

Jack watched Ennis go, not sure what exactly was going through his mind right now. He had learned something about Ennis, but all it was was something that would make him feel sorry for him. Carrie and Ron were going through this now and all he could think of was the loss Ennis had gone through months ago.

Putting it all out of his mind, Jack headed outside to get back to work.

Joe and Ron got back at the same time later that evening. Joe just came home to grab a few things for the night then was gone again. Jack stood at the window of his bedroom and watched as Joe drove away. He couldn't help but wonder what Ron and Carrie were talking about right now. Were they comforting one another? Or did they just isolate themselves in their rooms.

He turned away from the window and fell back onto the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world and that made him feel crappy. He didn't know what loss was like. He still had his family around. That wasn't fair to the people around him. He didn't know what any of them were going through. And he couldn't even imagine it.

Sure, he had sometimes wished he didn't have parents, but every teenager went through that phase. He wasn't too close to his parents, but imagining them both as dead was impossible. He just laid there, wondering why life was so unfair to everyone else when his life was going so good.

He rolled over and tried to get to sleep. Even his dreams were unfair to the world around him. He dreamed of a happy life, living the life everyone dreams about.

TBC