Chapter 14 "Deja Vu"

To the sound of the birds singing and the feel of the cool wind blowing through the opening window above the bed, Ennis blinked then slowly opened his eyes only to close them again as Jack loomed over him, placing sweet feather-like kisses on his eyelids. The last kiss lingered on the left eyelid longer than the other before those soft, smiling lips rested on his temple.

"'Morning," he heard Jack murmur and felt his breath as he sighed. Jack moved his body, rubbing his warm, damp skin against Ennis's.

"Ummmm," Ennis moaned, half from drowsiness, half from a sudden arousal down his groin.

"What's with you, huh?" he asked and hissed as Jack bit and licked on his neck. They had come back from watching the sunrise around six, and by the time they reached the bed, they were both naked. Jack dove down full body on Ennis, attacking every inch of his skin with his mouth and hands. Before Ennis could respond in kind, he had released himself in Jack's mouth, feeling completely drained and almost out of breath. Damn, his body always acted faster than his brain when he was around Jack.

Here he was again, just an hour later, kissing and licking down Ennis's throat, his touch was stronger and Ennis knew he would end up having goddamned hickey for days. Groaning low in his throat, Ennis ran his fingers through Jack's soft hair, couldn't help but crane his neck to give Jack more room. Jack left his damp neck to take care of his nipples and Ennis shuddered from the cool wind that was now making contact with his bare neck. Jack felt it. He moved his hands up and down Ennis's arms, toes rubbing along the length of Ennis's calf as his mouth returned to claim Ennis's. The kiss lasted, like, forever. One of Ennis's hands came up to Jack's nape massaging while his tongue gently pushed inside and licked Jack's soft and wet inner cheek. Jack's tongue joined the journey later.

The sound of their sloppy kisses, mingling with occasional satisfied sighs and that unique sound of naked flesh rubbing, echoed in the small room. Their teeth knocked together and Ennis let out an annoying deep grunt then. Jack had to smile when neither of them stopped. Instead, Ennis tilted his head. His hand on Jack's head unconsciously grabbed and positioned it to fit into the right angle so that they could continue the kiss in the most comfortable way.

There was no stopping when men kissed, Jack thought. With a woman, a man couldn't be too harsh….nor too tender. If you were too bold, plunking your tongue down her throat like you would swallow her whole, she would recoil saying you were no gentleman. But if you kissed her nice and slow, she would nag 'I ain't no china'. But with a man, hell no, with Ennis, he didn't have no hesitation. He let his feeling lead the way, moving his lips and tasting him the way he wanted, the way Ennis deserved to be kissed. Strong, assured kisses that told the man how much he meant to him.

Jack slowed down and finally stopped. Their mouths still playfully touched and parted and were so close that they could feel each other's warm breath. Chuckling, Jack planted his elbows on the mattress beside Ennis's ears, lifting his head up to look at the man beneath him. Jack shifted his groin and Ennis's shifted his, bending his knees, and planted his feet flat on the sheet to support Jack's weight. Ennis looked up and wondered how on earth a man could have a pair of eyes so blue like the clear sky, but yet send out the warmest rays stronger than the sunlight itself. The black dot in the middle of the blue pools was like a hole where he could lose himself forever and never return to the surface.

Ennis had no idea how long he had been staring at Jack. But the next thing he knew, Jack tugged on his earlobe, pulling him back to the present world.

"Yer heavy," Ennis whispered, his low voice even less audible than the sound of the birds singing.

"I'm a grown-up man, what ya expect, dumbass?"

"Um…"

Ennis's answer was a kiss on the corner of his mouth. Then he sagged back and closed his eyes with a low and groggy moan. Jack combed his curls, enjoyed watching the soft golden hair straighten and swirl back to cling around his fingers. Jack blinked his eyes and watched Ennis silently. Then a thought occurred to him.

Ennis had changed.

The same Ennis he'd known would flinch or move uncomfortably if Jack ever mentioned something about himself being a man. Ennis knew Jack was a man, of course. But somehow he hated to be reminded of that. Apart from bear hugs, he rarely hugged Jack face to face. That went the same way when they slept. Ennis never hugged him face to face on the bed, always spooned him up from the back and Jack figured it was for the same reason. Ennis Del Mar was no queer and he wasn't sleeping with a man.

But, goddamn, Jack had said it, said he was a man, to Ennis. But he didn't startled. Hell, he didn't even move a single muscle but stayed right where he was. Jack could feel Ennis's hands now rubbing leisurely up and down his spine.

Maybe the fact that Luke knew about them helped Ennis some. Damn his daddy, Ennis had always pictured a tire iron as a punishment for queers. That concept had been hammered deep inside his mind since he was a kid, the image nailed down so impossibly deep that he couldn't see any alternative consequence when it came to being queer. But here, there was Luke, being neutral and even ok with them. Ennis saw a different picture now for the first time, not being told, but seeing it first hand, recognizing it all by himself even. He knew a tire iron and death wasn't necessarily the only consequence for being the way they were, that not everybody would attack them for it.

Jack bent to kiss a trail across the faint freckles splattered like snowflakes on Ennis's nose and cheekbones, and he thought he saw Ennis smile slightly as he purred with pleasure.

Was it possible that Ennis had gained more self-respect from being offered the job as a foreman, too? With more self-respect, maybe Ennis could accept more about the way he was. Maybe he could slowly stop the battle he had been fighting for being the real him and finally could accept that he was different? Jack sighed. He wouldn't want to go that far though. Ennis didn't need to say that he was queer, just as long as he acknowledged Jack was a man. Jack would be happy enough if, for once, Ennis would hold him from the front and recognize that it was a man he was holding or sleeping with. That the warm body in his embrace was that of a man named Jack Twist.

"Ennis?" Jack whispered above his ear.

"Um?"

"Ya know I am a man, right?"

Ennis's hands stopped rubbing and he opened his chocolate eyes, fixing them on Jack. Ennis was quiet for a while, looking unfocused, the look he got sometimes when he was thinking. The silence started to panic Jack but then Ennis said,

"I do."

"Then take me," Jack breathed into Ennis's parting lips, "take me as a man."

"Jesus…"

Ennis gasped. Jack saw his eyes blackened with desire before he claimed Jack's mouth hard as if to confirm his words. Then there was nothing else to say as soft moans became the only sound they heard from each other.

----------

"What're we gonna do today?" Jack asked, biting an apple and used his sleeve to rub off the juice that flowed down his chin. Ennis walked to the couch and pressed his thin lips together, thinking.

"Riding?"

"That sounds exciting ta me, bud"

"Smartass, something else in yer fucked-up brain then?" Ennis smirked and kicked Jack playfully on his foot dangling off the couch, and Jack returned the kick, looking up with sparkling eyes,

"Trust me, you don't wanna know."

Groaning and rolling his eyes, Ennis walked out of the cabin and heard Jack's laughter as he closed the door behind him.

Ennis smiled and whistled some nameless melody as he turned Shooting Stars and Black Shadows out to stretch their legs in the corral, brought fresh hay for them to eat out in the open-air in the midst of the pine wood. He must have heard more songs from Buck's radio while they were working together. He paid no mind to all those country songs but somehow, the tunes had gotten stuck in his head nonetheless.

He didn't stop whistling when Jack joined him in the corral, preparing the saddles on the horses.

"Damn, I shoulda brought my harmonica," Jack said, a smile in his voice.

"Not in this life, my horses ain't use to that kinda torture."

They exchanged a bemused look and continued their little chores in comfortable, mind-soothing silence, hearing only the sound of the leaves swaying and batting in the breeze.

They had packed sandwiches, apples and several beers with them for the leisurely ride through the woods.

"The ground is so damn soft. We have ta go slow," Jack said, trying to pull the rein and lead Black Shadows to walk on the harder ground.

"Fucking rain."

"Yeah, look at that, it will rain again for damn sure."

Ennis looked through the pine leaves up at the now cloudy sky despite it being only two p.m. and shook his head,

"Figure we shouldn't go deeper then, might as well stay 'round the stream." He pointed to the north. "Let's go that way. I hear the sound of the water."

"Sounds more like a waterfall ta me."

Excited already, Jack followed the sound and, in not more than three minutes, he found himself standing on the bank of the small waterfall that decorated the dull pine wood with small water plants and flowers. Ennis got down from Shooting Stars while Jack continued riding further to the edge of the pine wood. He laughed to himself in disbelief when he saw the big empty space down the hill from where Black Shadows was standing. From here he could see clearly at least two ranches which were roughly separated by a wire fence. One ranch stretched down and faded into another pine wood on the right side, the other ranch was fully exposed its property before his eyes. He saw a big cow operation, having more than three hundred big cows wandering in the field, a few moving black and brown dots which should be the ranch hands who were going around them.

"Jesus Christ, that's something," Jack said when he felt Ennis's hand grabbing his rein. He couldn't take his eyes off the view.

"That's Don's neighbor, the Browns. They own the biggest cow operation in Riverton."

"That's sure big!" Jack said, "the biggest herd I ever seen in ma life, of course, except those uncountable stupid sheep on Brokeback."

Ennis chuckled. He looked up to Jack on the horse and winced when the thought of Jack's empty ring finger crossed his mind. Jack was now looking admiringly at the Brown's ranch and it suddenly came to Ennis that Jack might be thinking about his future now, that cow and calf operation maybe? Now it seemed he wouldn't go back to Lureen.

"I'm ashamed sometimes, Ennis."

"What?"

Their eyes locked and Jack smiled sheepishly, "Always want ta have our own cow and calf operation even though I don't know shit about it. The only ranch I ever worked for is my daddy's ranch and I never laid my hands on the cows, just did the small chores like mending fences, feeding the horses and stuff. All I did was rodeoing. Stupid of me to even think we could have that business someday.

Ennis rubbed Black Shadows's neck, "You're a dreamer."

"A stupid dreamer," Jack sighed.

They went quiet then. Ennis cast his eyes down the hill feeling the horse moving. Then Jack reined the horse back into the wood but Ennis stayed there a little bit longer, hands in his jacket pocket. He had been working on ranches his whole life, but he gave up his hope of owning one when those two five-dollar bills he'd had in a tobacco can back when he herded sheep on Brokeback Mountain went to pay the bills after his marriage to Alma. But Jack, being a dreamer as he was, never gave up his dream of a better life, and even shared that dream with him. Let's have a life together, you and me, Ennis. Those words always seemed to shout at his face every time Jack looked at him with those big blue eyes. Still, he ignored it. Now the dream seemed to have faded from Jack's mind. Having been turned down again and again, a dreamer like Jack finally lost his strength to fight for it.

Strange as it sounded, Ennis felt a pain in his heart just thinking about that.

When he went back to the wood, Jack had been settling himself comfortably on the soft ground, drinking more than half of the beer from the can already. He handed one to Ennis as he eased down beside Jack.

"What's that farm like?" Jack asked without heat and sarcasm. "What kinda farm Don's son got there?"

"He wants to run a fruit farm, a pear farm to be exact," Ennis shook his head, "but all he got are a coupla of dying pear trees. It would take his whole sorry life to earn money from it."

Jack laughed then, wondering if Joel and Ennis could get along as well as Don had hoped they would, "Then why do they need you there? Sweeping dry leaves?"

"There's a hay field. I gotta help him operate that hay field."

"Hay?"

"Yep. Don't ask me how. I still have no fucking idea. All I gotta do at Don's ranch is to bale the existing hay to feed the horses. Now I have to run the whole damn operation."

"Shit," Jack cursed, "That must be hard."

Ennis shrugged. He glanced at Jack and down to his empty ring finger of his left hand holding a can of beer,

"How 'bout ya?"

Jack met his eyes, leaning back on his elbows and stretching his long legs,

"I don't know, Ennis," he sighed heavily, "Gotta take care of the divorce first. I ain't gonna let Lureen deal with that L.D. bastard alone, although he sure is mighty glad to get rid of me. Then there's Bobby…"

He trailed off. Ennis shifted his body to face Jack, hesitated a bit before saying,

"You ain't giving up on that dream, are ya?"

Jack looked up now, wonder in his eyes. He saw hope in those brown eyes, something he never thought he would see there after all these years. Was Ennis asking him to wait? Did it mean he still could hope?

"I don't know, Ennis," Jack finally said. "I might draw up a vague plan first. Don't wanna go into details. I don't care now about that cow and calf operation. I wanna have it, but I won't die if I don't. I just…wanna be with you. I don't care what we do. I just…"

Jack didn't look at him the whole time he said it, just kept his eyes on his fingers fidgeting around the edge of his grey jacket. They listened to the sound of the water for a while, then Jack's head snapped up.

"Am I such a selfish bastard?"

"What?" Ennis couldn't quite follow.

"All these years saying I wanted this, I wanted that. Never asked you a damn thing. What do ya want, Ennis?"

"I don't know…"

"Ya wanna be a foreman in Aurora?"

Ennis didn't answer, keeping his eyes down on the grass.

"Then be it," he heard Jack say. "Be the foreman, you can do that."

Ennis opened his mouth to say something but was stopped short by the sharp sound of the gunshot breaking through the peaceful pine wood.

"Christ! What the hell is that?!?" Jack cursed and they both bounced up from the ground, each rushed to their horses to calm them. Ennis looked around and brought out his rifle,

"Stay close, Jack, ya don't have a gun."

Jack took Black Shadows close to Ennis, eyes roaming around trying to find something suspicious like movement behind the bushes, but nothing happened. The pine wood was quiet and the only sound Jack heard was their hissed breath. Sighing, Ennis lowered his gun. They turned to each other as another gunshot broke the stillness, this time twice but the sound was not near. It was from somewhere deeper in the wood.

"Shit," Ennis got on Shooting Stars then jerked his head to Jack to do the same, "We'd better get back to the cabin. Don't know what the fuck happened in there."

"Someone's hunting something?"

"Ain't likely. Only Don and his friends from the neighboring ranch can go up here. But last I heard, they agreed to hunt only in spring."

"Shit," Jack said, nudging Black Shadows to go a little faster back to the cabin.

They rode in silence and cautiously, going even slower once they were closer to the cabin. Just when they turned at the corner of the corral, a man with a gun jumped out from a bush and hurled himself at them, sending the horses jerking wildly, legs air-kicking with panic. Both Ennis and Jack fell to the ground. But Ennis was fast, he grabbed his rifle and stood up while Jack just stared with eyes wide on the ground.

"You son of a…" Ennis growled as he pointed the gun at the stranger then trailed off, brows knitting, "Luke?"

"Ennis??"

The stranger exhaled a heavy sigh then dropped his gun.

"My fucking god," Luke got down on his knees, panting hard as he looked at Ennis and Jack, who was still sitting where he was.

"What the fuck ya doing?!?" Ennis yelled, "Ya spooked the hell outta me!"

"And ya spooked the hell outta me, too!!" Luke hurled back, still panting.

Ennis grabbed the reins of the two horses and hurriedly took them inside the corral before turning back to Jack. He was still sitting on the same spot, looking at Luke like it was the first time he had seen the man. Luke was closing his eyes and taking a series of deep breath, trying to gather himself.

Walking back to stand in front of Luke, Ennis reached out his hand, asking, "Ya shoot something?"

"Hell, no," Luke grabbed Ennis's hand that pulled him up to his feet, "Some assholes were breaking the rules, hunting elk in summer. That's why I'm here. Ya gotta come down as soon as possible. Several men fully armed with all kinds of guns will be here to hunt down those people." Luke glanced at Jack then, jerking his chin toward the wood then back at Jack.

"Sorry, Jack," Luke grinned, "Didn't mean to spook ya none."

Luke bent down and caught Jack's wrist, pulling him up.

"Jesus," Jack cursed and patted his pants, getting rid of the dirt. "Ya think we won't be safe here?"

"Ya can't be safe from bullets in the wood, Jack. We never see shit and the next thing ya know…bang."

Luke pointed his two fingers toward his temple then pulled an air-trigger. Jack swallowed and startled when a big drop of rain made contact with his forehead. He looked up at the cloudy sky only to face more rain drops now pouring down out of the blue.

"Shit!" Luke jumped then ran off to the side of the cabin and came back with his horse, a young stallion with black hair. Jack looked over his shoulder to Ennis who was bringing the horses into the stable. Luke took his horse inside the corral and Jack watched Ennis and Luke talk, well, he'd rather called it 'fight' over where Luke's horse should fit in the small stable. He swore he didn't think about anything. He was pretty sure there was no jealousy. It was just weird to see Ennis with another man, up on the mountain when they were supposed to be having a fishing trip together, just the two of them.

The mountain didn't belong to only them.

The roar of the thunder stirred Jack. He rushed inside the cabin, Ennis and Luke followed closely behind. Ennis shook his head,

"Reckon we can't leave now. Might as well wait 'til the rain stops, tomorrow maybe. Don sent ya up here?"

Luke shrugged off his wet black jacket, "I kinda offered myself," he threw the jacket on the recliner before looking at Ennis with narrowed eyes, the corner of his lips curling up, "Wanna see Ennis Del Mar take a step behind the mountain."

"Shut up," Ennis ignored Luke and turned to see Jack looking at them in front of the kitchen. His expression blanked and Ennis stepped away from Luke instantly and almost automatically. Luke winced and cleared his throat,

"I can sleep right here, on the sofa. Ya guys go ahead, don't mind me."

"Shut up, I done told ya don't say shit like that." Ennis raised his voice and Luke raised his hands, the way he did when Ennis got riled up. All was under Jack's observation.

"Really, I mean it." Luke shrugged, "I can just hang out here by the couch or the recliner 'til the rain stops. Ya and Jack can have the bed…"

"I said shut up. There's nothing between me and Jack. Ya take the couch, I'll take the recliner here. And Jack…"

Shit. Ennis couldn't finish the sentence as he looked up and saw Jack's sad expression. But Jack didn't say anything, just went into the bedroom and shut the door. Shit. Ennis rubbed his face in frustration. He couldn't act normal in front of other people and Jack should know that. He just couldn't. Even if it was Luke, who already knew about them, he still couldn't act as if him being with Jack was something normal because obviously, it was not. Groaning, Ennis threw himself on the couch, refused to look up and meet Luke's eyes.

"Ennis…"

But Luke wouldn't leave him alone, he shoulda known better. The guy looked at the closed door and then toward Ennis, brows arching up,

"Why did ya do that?"

"What did I do?" Ennis threw his hands in the air.

"That. You shut him off."

"I didn't."

"Ya just did."

"I didn't," Ennis tried to keep his voice low, "I just told him he could have the bed. What's the big deal?!?"

"The big deal is, you shoulda said that ta me, not to Jack. You're with him, Ennis. You're in a fucking relationship here."

"I…what?"

"Shit, I don't know how or why two men would want to be together or have…shit…have feelings or se…ah, I mean…something. It ain't ma business. But I don't have to be a goddamn scientist to figure out what's between you and Jack. It may sound weird, but you, you are in a relationship, you and him."

Ennis closed his eyes and put his head in between his knees.

"Can you just shut up?" he murmured, sounding confused, "Ya don't understand."

"Yeah, yer right. I don't understand." Luke sighed, "And I don't have ta understand. The truth is nobody needs to understand it."

"It's fucking complicated. It's…" Grunting, Ennis balled his hand and punched the couch then jumped up on his feet. "I need some air."

"It's raining."

"Fuck it."

"You can't be hiding up here on the mountain forever, Ennis. Ya have ta go down sooner or later, ya know that, right?"

He heard Luke say as he closed the front door of the cabin, fingers shakily fishing out a cigarette. He flicked his lighter and inhaled the smoke deeply.

You're in a fucking relationship. God, Ennis turned back and leant his forehead to the cool surface of the door. Luke's words were echoing in his head like some goddamn song from the radio. You can't be hiding up here on the mountain forever, Ennis. Ya have ta go down sooner or later, ya know that, right?

Fuck.

Ennis looked up ahead through the pouring rain and the smoke from his cigarette. The mountain in the late afternoon somehow looked incredibly scary. It almost seemed like it was a different place from where they were this morning, just the two of them, warmed up under the sunrise in the arms of the strong mountain. But this mountain was dark and cold. And there were others wandering around unnoticed. Ennis shuddered at the thought. The mountain didn't belong to only them. And they were not alone here. There were always people everywhere you went, even the place you thought was the safest.

Some bastards were up here, swinging their guns to destroy the peace of the mountain.

Then there was Luke, nosy as hell, and he was coming up to bother them, too, but to warn them and drag them down to a safer place.

The hunters were outnumbered.

True.

Still, they had an ally.

Was that enough?

No, but you know what counted. The ally did exist.

The sound of the front door opening stopped the argument in Ennis's head. The thunder roared, the white lightning flashed across the sky as Jack stepped out to stand by his side, eyes going down to the cigarette hanging in between Ennis's lips.

"Can I have that?"

Without waiting for the answer, he took that cigarette to his mouth, inhaling a long, shuddery smoke into his lungs, "You know what, this seems like a fuckin' déjà vu ta me."

"A what?"

"Déjà vu, being in the same situation in a different time. I feel like I was thrown back to that day on Brokeback again, the day Aguirre told us to leave. If ya punched me right here, it'd be a damn full circle."

Jack pointed to his cheekbone, then handed the cigarette back to Ennis, "Ya ever think what we'd be like if there was no storm and Aguirre hadn't told us ta move our asses down to Signal?"

"Yeah, we'd be herding the damn sheep all the way to the moon." Ennis looked sideways at Jack, "Nothin' would change, Jack. The time would be stretching out but we gotta go down the mountain after all."

Ennis froze, his mouth hanging open in the air at the very moment he said that last sentence. We gotta go down the mountain after all. The next thing he knew, he caught himself chuckling bitterly. My fucking God, how funny was this? Ennis Del Mar, you were so fucking stupid. How the hell didn't he realize it before? The magic of the mountain? Bullshit. The mountain never cast no spell. It never saved them, not in '63, not on those fishing trips later and hell, not now, either.

Who was he to say the mountain would look after them?

Who held him when he was spooked from the bad dreams about the goddamned tire iron? The mountain? Fuck no, it was Jack.

And who kissed Jack and gave him strength when he needed it? Nobody else, not the damn mountain, it was him. It was the man name of Ennis fucking Del Mar.

The thunder roared fiercely then as if to give weight to what he was thinking now. The white flash of light struck hard, brightened the dark sky for an instant. Ennis shuddered, he felt like the lightning had hit his head. He closed his eyes tightly as he felt himself shaking.

"Ennis?"

He heard Jack calling him.

Who the hell is saying your name now with such a tender voice showing all the concern in the damn world?

Ennis opened his eyes. It was Jack. It had always been Jack, a man name of Jack fucking Twist.

----------

In the end they went inside the cabin, but didn't sleep much, just taking a nap here and there, at the table in the kitchen, on the recliner, on the bed. Sometimes they talked, but most of the time, they would just sit together, letting the sound of the rain and the thunder fill the cabin. Luke, who was passed out into a deep sleep on the couch since about seven, occasionally sent out his loud snore merging into the angry sound from the force of nature outside.

That simple sound of someone else, not one of them, snoring felt scary.

Ennis and Jack maintained their distance. They felt uncomfortable when there was someone else with them, even when that someone already knew what was going on when it came to the area of their relationship. Hell, even when that someone was asleep like a dead man, they still couldn't act naturally.

But Ennis couldn't refuse a little touch from Jack, as hard as he tried. So he didn't move away when he was at the recliner and Jack leant his back on his thigh as he sat down on the floor. And he allowed Jack's hand on his knee, too.

Sighing with boredom, Ennis leant his head on the rim of the window, with unfocused eyes glanced outside to the dark. He wished the next morning would come soon, hating to be trapped in this small cabin with a third person. He felt Jack's index finger drawing an invisible circle on his knee and his head slightly dropped on his thigh as he tried to fight the urge to sleep. Suddenly, Luke said something. Ennis and Jack both tensed up, Jack's finger stopped frozen where it was. But nothing happened, Luke shifted and went back to sleep, snoring even louder.

"Charming..."

Jack said and they chuckled softly. Jack leant his head back on Ennis's thigh, palm kneading on the sensitive flesh behind his knee. Ennis stretched his leg, giving more room to Jack, his own fingers playing with the curls on Jack's nape as he stared out into the dark again.

No question about this now, it sure felt more relaxed when they didn't have to pretend not to be themselves. That nosy-as-hell Luke almighty was right, someone needed to know about them before this secret was blurted out like a bomb, damaging more area than it should.

Ennis closed his eyes as he reached down, palmed his large hand on Jack's chest. The rhythm of Jack's breath was steady now, his head leant deadweight on his thigh, his hand that was rubbing his knee now fell down on the carpet. Jack had gone to sleep eventually.

Ennis then heard Luke snore again. Strange but true, the sound of Luke snoring was somehow more comforting this time. Comforting enough that Ennis felt like he could have forty winks, with Jack here beside him, throughout this disturbing night.

----------

They rode away from the cabin at first light. Luke went ahead, leaving Ennis and Jack lingering behind. A group of strong men led by Billy, the Sheriff's assistant, rode past them toward the pine wood, all fully armed. They greeted then parted ways. They were down at the ranch fifteen minutes later and never once while they went further down the mountain did Ennis look back.

Ennis later drove Jack back to his shack and, for God's sake, couldn't help but feeling like he, too, was having some kind of a déjà vu. They were now standing beside the truck, facing each other, exactly the same way they had stood when they parted in '63. Jack leant his lean body on the driver's side of the truck and nervously wetted his lips with his tongue,

"Shit, this is…just, shit," Jack ran his trembling hands through his dark hair and put on his hat, "Hate to say this, but I figure I'll go to my folks' place in Lightning Flat. This is such a fucking déjà vu…shit."

Ennis kept his eyes down, boot kicking the gravel road.

"Nope," he finally said something after a while of awkward silence, "It's different. Ya ain't…I mean…ya didn't steal somethin', this time, right?"

He looked up and caught Jack's crimson red face before Jack hid it under the brim of his hat. It took Jack a good three minutes to look up at Ennis again, clearing his throat, looking like he was about to say something. But he just shrugged and avoided Ennis's eyes.

That little endearing gesture coming out from a 31-year-old man was unbelievably...touching. Ennis smiled, feeling a bloom of warmth in his heart,

"Listen, bud, I know ya gotta do what ya gotta do. And I meant it when I said this'll be our last fishing trip."

He stepped closer until their toes touched and waited until their eyes met.

"Remember ya told me ta call you if I knew what I'd do next after the divorce?"

Jack just nodded.

"Ya know now what I wanna do and where I'm gonna be. No more fishing trips now that ya know where ta find me," Ennis took out a piece of crumpled paper from his jacket pocket and handed it over to Jack,

"Yer turn to make the call."

Jack took the paper and stared at the ten digit phone number written with a messy handwriting that belonged to only Ennis. His vision turned blurry and he had to blink back the tears. He wanted to hug Ennis, wanted to thank him for bringing hope back into his life. But he just couldn't move, couldn't even take his eyes off the paper in his hand.

303-366-5522
Joel Wroe Farm, Aurora, CO.

TBC