Jack opened his eyes to see that it was morning outside. He lay there for a moment trying to figure out where he was and how he got there. Suddenly, it all came crashing back into his head. Remembered where he'd been and, more importantly, his mission. Finally, he got his lazy ass out of bed cause his bladder needed some attention. Walking into the bathroom, he pissed and started to wash his hands when he looked in the mirror. Giving himself the once over he liked what he saw. He stood his usual 6' 1", still had his jet black curly hair, but, his eyes were now and ice blue instead of his usual blue. Well, he thought, can't have too many of the usual features. Not trying to get Ennis to think I'm a twin after all.
After admiring his figure for longest five minutes of his life, he went exploring his new home and the ranch it came with. The house itself was a large two-story affair with a kitchen, living room, half-bath and office on the ground floor, and four bedrooms and a bath upstairs. It was nicely furnished in early western. Walking into the office he liked the setup with a desktop in the corner looking out a window where he could see mountains in the distance. There were also a couple of comfortable chairs in front of it and a fireplace built into the opposite wall. Taking in the picture hanging above the fireplace, Jack damn near dropped his cup of coffee. It was identical to the one he'd had in his home office back in Childress all those years ago. It was a painting of Brokeback at sunset he'd had an art student do for him from a postcard.
Recovering from his shock, Jack walked out onto the back porch to look at the land. He knew that the ranch consisted of five hundred acres of prime grazing land with another hundred acres leased from the government to use as necessary. It had a house, large barn and a stable big enough to comfortably house ten horses at any given time. He owned one thousand head of cattle and had a crew of fifteen to run the place. He also had a very beautiful housekeeper that would help him to keep from putting his foot in his mouth as always. That was actually one of the conditions he'd put forth to Michael. The result was that his grams was now his housekeeper. What he needed though was a foreman and he knew just where to get one. Luckily Riverton was on a half-hour away.
Sitting at a corner table facing the door, Jack sipped his beer just taking in the atmosphere of the place. He was also staring at the man sitting by himself at the bar. He could see that physically Ennis hadn't changed too awful much since he'd been gone, but, emotionally he knew was a whole different ballgame. He knew he had to be careful in his approach cause he knew that even though his features had been changed there was still enough of his old features hanging around. If Ennis saw him at the wrong time in the wrong light he'd likely have a heart attack. He decided to do it the way he knew Ennis would approach a skittish colt, nice and slow. He decided to start off by letting Ennis get a good look at him so that after a bit he'd start seeing the differences and not just the similarities. Walking up to the bar he sat down a few seats away from him and ordered another beer just loud enough to catch Ennis's ear.
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Ennis was sitting at the bar minding his own business. He just wanted to have a few beers before he went home to that lonely trailer. He'd been trying not to think of Jack all day as usual. He was also trying to forget that today was the day two years ago that he's gotten the card with 'Deceased' stamped on it. Today was the day he found out that Jack, his Jack, had found a way to quit him permanently. He didn't notice the stranger that sat down near him, but, he couldn't help but hear when the man ordered a beer in a voice that was hauntingly familiar. Nah, he thought, it ain't 'his' voice. I'm just hearing things. Prob'ly just sounds like him cause I want it to sound like him. God, Jack I still miss ya so much. Why'd ya have to leave like that, Jack? Huh? Why? We had so much that needed to be worked out, but, now it's too late. It's all my fault that yer gone. If'n I'd held ya close to me ya might still be here to hold me.
Without moving his head he let his eyes wonder over to the stranger and damn near choked on his beer. This stranger looked so much like his Jack that he felt that empty place in his chest start to ache again. After studying that profile for a bit, he started noticing the differences, but, the ache remained. Without a conscious effort on his part, his eyes started roaming all over the stranger from the way his hat looked to the way his jeans fit just right. What in the hell am I doing? he thought blushing and averting his eyes again. Can't be doing that. Guys a perfect stranger. Don't know what he's libel to do he catches ya eyeballing him like that. But, damn, those jeans sure do know how to hug that ass. STOP it, Del Mar. Stop right there. He was even more put out when he noticed that his jeans were starting to fit a little tighter. Try as he might, though, he just couldn't help glancing in the other fella's direction from time to time.