Ennis came in the next morning still wearing the same worn brown corduroy jacket Jack had last seen him in back in May.

"They told me you were here but damned if I believed them," Jack said.

Ennis pulled the curtain round the bed behind him and sat down on the bed. He reached out to hold Jack pausing unsure of what to do with Jack's arm resting in a sling. He rubbed his hand over the stubble of jack's cheek and leaned forward and kissed him; rough and pressured at first then easing back until his lips were slightly parted and yielding. Ennis's cradled the back of Jacks head caressing the back of his neck with his thumb as they kissed. Jack ran his hand over Ennis's arm and could feel his muscles hard and sinewy under his jacket from a lifetime of outdoor work. Jack's hand wound round Ennis's side feeling the hardness of his back. He pressed his face against the matted brown faux sheepskin collar that smelt of mown hay. Finding a gap between his T-shirt and pajama bottoms Ennis slid his hand underneath stoking Jack's hip.

"You alright?" Ennis said, then quickly stood up leaning against the window. Jack realized he got up in response to the regimental thud of a nurses shoes entering the room. He could hear brisk movements; stripping down a bed and remaking it. Ennis leaned against the window sill looking at the floor while the nurse hovered about changing the sheets.

Jack drew a breath. "Good to see you Bud. How did you find out I was here?"

"Your Mom wrote to me and let me know you were here. Asked me to come down and see how you were. What happened?"

"I was on my way to Wyoming Next thing I know I'm here. Broke my shoulder. Had surgery yesterday. Told me it should be alright now. Stuck me in a ward full of geriatrics. I told them to put me somewhere else. It's the end of the road for most of them. All I'm hearing is them comin in and out, listening to them wheelin them off and I can't get any damned sleep. It ain't therapeutic.

Jack hesitated, searching Ennis's face but saw that he had drawn into himself and was indecipherable. "I haven't seen you outside the mountains for years. Half expecting you'd be carrying your 30.06 with you. So how you likein Denver?"

"More traffic, bigger buildings. I dont't know.

The nurse went out. Her absence didn't appear to make Ennis any more relaxed and to keep the conversation going Jack said. "Sure as hell was surprised to see you."

"Had a hard time gettin off work. Could a lost my job."

"Look if you need some money."

Ennis's eyes narrowed, "I don't want your damned money. I came here last night and was talkin to your buddy Randall."

So that was it Jack thought and hoped that Randall had enough have the sense to keep quiet, "Oh so you met Randall - he was goin to give me a lift back down to Texas. Why? What he say to you?"

"We was talkin about ranchin. Seemed to think he knows a lot about it."

"He's been to college and studied animal husbandry."

Ennis turned away and looked around the room to see if anyone else was there. When he began speaking again the tone of his voice had hardened , "Seems to know you real well too. He the same as you? Is that it Jack Twist? You two been messin round with one another. Cause I told you last time I seen you I ain't standin for it."

So it was back to where they left off, Jack thought. The struggle had resumed but he was no longer up for the fight. "Yeah you did, didn't you? And you call the shots." Jack said. Even after knowing him this long he was never ready for the way Ennis could sweep him away only to send crashing down and was angry at himself for getting caught off guard again. "You want the truth. Randall come up here as a friend to see if I needed any help which is something you've never done. I am so tired of lying. Tell you what, I don't want to pretend to be somethin that I know I ain't and am never gonna be. You want a keep lying to yourself, you go right ahead. I'm done with it. Now I don't know what your fuckin doin here but I see nothin's changed."

"You never wrote. I ain't heard from you in months. Didn't you get my card?"

"Yeah. I got it."

"Why the hell didn't you write back. You should a let me know what's goin on."

"When the hell have you ever wanted to know? I have tried so hard to keep us together .You been tryin to get rid of me for years. Maybe I finally got the message. I don't know why my mom got you down here for but you can see I'm alright."

Suddenly,feeling tired, Jack leaned his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He could hear footsteps other people in the room and muffled conversations. . Jack regretted what he said and knew that his words would have wounded Ennis. He started to say, "Come on Ennis. I didn't mean it. It's alright," but when he opened his eyes Ennis was gone. Jack had spent the best part of twenty years hoping that Ennis would finally admit it, and they could share a life together. When they had last been together, and Jack had finally let him know the depth of his frustration it was the first time he had seen Ennis cry and as he held him in his arms trying to comfort him, for the first time he had begun to think that perhaps, meeting in the mountains a couple of times a year would be the most that Ennis was ever capable of giving him. As he stood watching Ennis drive away back in May, Jack remembered a time on Brokeback Mountain when Ennis had held him from behind and they gently swayed together in front of the fire. It was the first time he was aware that Ennis may be returning his feelings. At the time he remembered that embrace had been full of promise of a shared future together. Looking back the future that he had yearned for had never come to pass. Their feelings for each other were frozen in time; trapped on the cold snows of Brokeback Mountain in 1963. He wanted to ask Ennis what he wanted now, but he had disappeared again and the familiar feeling of desolation swept through him.