Jack looked at the note again:
Hello, Ennis, bring some fish home. Love, Alma
It would have been eight years since he had seen her, and for no more than a few moments, standing there in the hallway of Ennis's apartment looking at him wide eyed and startled. He guessed then she had must have seen something. He had heard one of Ennis's little girls babbling in another room. For once, he was stuck for words, but managed to blurt that he was a married man with an eight month old son. Alma wasn't reassured by this news and just kept staring at him like a rabbit caught in headlights. He backed out the door hearing Ennis telling her that he probably wouldn't be back that night.
As soon as soon as they shut the door of the ramshackle motel room, they took up where they had left off outside his apartment. Ennis pulled his vest and shirt over his head at once, all while not taking his eyes of him. Boots and jeans quickly were just as quickly removed. He pushed him hard onto the bed, and kissing roughly murmured , "I been waiting four years for this." His hands were everywhere, over his arms, chest and back as if wanting to touch everything at once. Jack still had his jeans on, and Ennis massaged him through his denim. Jack pulled his own jeans down, and moving on top of Ennis and said consolingly, "Soosh, we got all night." He kissed the pulse on Ennis's neck; his blood was hammering under the skin. Jack's mouth moved down his body, and he ran his tongue along pale skin on his hip next to the pubic area which was damp, and covered with a fine film of sweat. Ennis's member arched toward him, weeping slightly. He parted his lips, letting his mouth cover it, and Ennis inhaled a sharp breath as Jack wrapped his hands round his hips, pulling him closer to encourage him. Ennis began stroking his chest and then reached further down, grasping him, his hand sliding up and down him before abruptly pulling away from Jack's mouth groaning , his hips were still shuddering as if he still wanted to thrust. Jack turned his back toward Ennis and could feel the front of Ennis's thighs touch the back of his legs. Jack could hear him moistening himself with salvia, slowing down, and gently stroking him with the tip. Jack's muscles tightened in anticipation. As Ennis penetrated him, he grabbed Jack by the waist with one hand, pulling him back close against him. The fingers on his other hand curled round Jack's bicep. Jack felt the hair on Ennis's chest brushing against his shoulder blades. Each thrust bought him a jolt of pleasure, making him crave his own release, he grabbed Ennis's hand and pushed it against him.
As Ennis climaxed he said Jack's name in a gravelly whisper, and Jack silently mouthed, "I love you" into the pillow. They both lay exhausted in a sultry tangle of limbs. Jack reached for the cigarettes in his pocket of his shirt lying beside the bed, lit one and handed it to Ennis, lit another and took a draw on it. Throwing a protective arm round Ennis, he pulled him close and said "Four years, damn." On the long drive from Texas, he had guessed that nothing would have changed between them, and he had been right.
Looking back, this was the moment that he was sure they were about to begin a life together. Once he had sent the post card to Ennis, Jack had already had a plan thought out. He wasn't going to let Ennis disappear from his life the way he had when they had finished the job on Brokeback. He knew Lureen had become disillusioned with the marriage and her father treated Bobby like the son he had always wanted, and kept hinting that he wanted Jack out of the picture. Lying in bed in the afterglow of sex he was ready to tell Ennis the next step of his plan; that he had thought of a way for them to get their own place.
He would never have imagined, lying on the bed in the motel room, that years later he would only see Ennis a couple of times a year up in the mountains where no one could lay eyes on them. He again thought of Alma. She had known something was going on back then, and she would know that they never did any fishing on their fishing trips, as the fishing box was unopened and the line never touched the water. And how many fishing trips ago had she first tied the note to the line?
He began to write,
To Alma, I'm writing this note cause I'm guessing that you have got some questions on your mind about me and Ennis. I know that Ennis would have told you nothing. I would welcome the opportunity to talk to you. I will be up in Lightning Flat for the next week and after that I will be returning to Texas If you don't want to talk to me, I understand. If you do, you can call me collect at my folks place.
He paused from writing. What if he had got it all wrong and she'd come up with some explanation for what she had seen outside the apartment, and managed to put it behind her? He looked towards Ennis lighting a fire, getting out pot getting ready to cook them some supper, just like when they worked together herding sheep. Even though he wished it could be like this all the time, he knew he couldn't risk losing what he had. He would make sure that the line looked like it had been used before they left, and not tell Ennis because he knew it would just make him feel even worse about things then he did already. It wasn't the first time he had hid things so as not to endanger what they had together. He folded up both notes carefully, the one that he had just penned, and the one that Alma had stuck to the line, and put them in his pocket. He took a couple of folding chairs off the back of his pickup and sat them next to the fire. One day Ennis will come round, he needed to be patient, be grateful for what he had. As he stood there, he could feel Ennis's arm's wrap round him round him from behind and his breath warm on his neck. In a voice low and gentle, vibrating close to his in his ear, he said, "Jack, you know I wish we could meet up sooner."
He leaned back into the embrace and said, "It's alright." Then turned towards him, and kissed the corner of his mouth. Ennis looked down. Jack placed his hands on the side of his head and pulled him towards him, kissing him again, this time more intently.
"Don't worry about nothing."
"I know six months is a long time, but next time I can make it ten days. The foreman said that I could borrow his cabin if I wanted. We can shoot an elk."
"Yeah sure, sounds good. I'll go and get that kit up to them hippies to so they can be on their way."
"You sure you don't want me to come with you?"
"I won't be long. Open that bottle of whiskey I bought. Have some ready for me when I get back - we still got one night together."
Jack rode back up the trail to where the hippies were camped. They were sitting around a fire and a man with a beard and a head band was strumming a guitar. Jack dismounted and approaching them said, "I brought what you need to fix that tire."
The young woman that had called to him over the stream said, "Lucky we ran into you. We thought we missed you. Lucy saw you and your friend riding up the mountain earlier. She went up after you but came back and said she couldn't find you." She gestured to a girl with long stringy hair and small round glasses. The girl averted her eyes from Jack and looked flustered. Maybe it had been her that had seen them. Just as well Ennis hadn't have come with him. He might not even want to meet in mountains again if he thought they had been seen.