Jack sat in the kitchen eating supper round an old scared wooden dining table with his parents at Lightning Flat. Jack said, "That's all of the fences mended."
His old man said, "I could do with some more help with the mowing. Now it's calving season, its hard to find the time myself. "
Jack shook his head regretfully and said, "You know I'd stay longer but Lureen's expecting me back. Got a new model comin in and she needs me to demonstrate it."
"Just have to make do with what you done," his dad said, getting up from the table stretching. Jack noticed he was starting to look old.
Jack stayed in the kitchen with his mother and helped her clean away the dishes. He always tried to time his visits to Wyoming for when his father needed the help most round the ranch, but how ever much he did it was never enough to please the old man. His arm muscles and back ached. He had not done physical work for some time, but he liked the change from his normal routine, but despite being tired he mind still drifted restlessly back to the note he had written to Alma, stuck on the end of Ennis's fishing line. At first he had felt relief that that note had been unanswered. Each time the phone had rang, which it didn't very often, he had caught his breath expecting it to be her. Once he reached Lightning Flat writing the note seemed foolhardy. Better to wait and approach Ennis once his marriage had ended and talk again about the two of them living together, but now he would be driving back down to Texas tomorrow, and the next time he would see Ennis would be six months away, he felt disappointed that nothing had come of it.
.Interupting his thoughts, Jack's mom said, "Your leaving tomorrow. Seems like you only just arrived here. Maybe next time you'll bring Bobby and Lureen up with you. Give your daddy and I a chance to get to know them."
Jack said, "You know I would, but Lureen's always busy with the business. Truth is, I don't get to see her that much myself. I'd like to bring Bobby up here some day, may next time I come up. You can always come down and visit me. I can show you round Texas."
Jack's mother eyes lit up momentarily, then she sighed and said, "Doubt if I could get away. There's always so much to do with just me and your daddy here. You and Lureen don't seem to spend much time together. Is everything all right between you two?"
"Sure. What makes you say that?"
"Oh I don't know. I was watching you over supper. You looked kind of sad."
He suddenly wanted to confide in her. She knew him so well and whatever he said to reassure her, he knew she would see through it. He began hesitantly, "The thing is mamma. Lureen and me... it was never much of a marriage. There's someone else. Someone I see when I'm up in Wyoming. I'd leave Lureen if I could and start a life with this person, but they don't want that."
"I guessed that was what was goin on."
"I keep askin them to live with me- and they keep turning me down. I suppose you must be wondering who it is?"
"I always thought it was whoever fitted into that shirt you got stashed away in your wardrobe upstairs." He realized she had suspected for some time what was going on. Jack felt a rush of gratitude that she knew but appeared unfazed by it.
"You know that it's a guy I want to live with. I've wanted to tell you before but I thought you'd get upset."
"Some folks would say it's it wrong It don't matter what they think or what I think. I just know that you got a good heart. You follow your heart and you won't go wrong."
She finished putting the dishes away and was wiping over the plastic table cloth. He was not sure what else to say to her but gave her a quick hug, and went outside to where his father was sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette. Jack got a packet of smokes out of his own shirt pocket and his dad handed him a lighter.
His father said, "Next time your up here, maybe you can stay longer. Sure could use the help."
He had already told his mother, and although he might despise for it, Jack thought he may as well tell his father what his plans were. It might make him happier knowing that he was finally going to get more help to run the ranch. Jack said, "Daddy, you know I'd stay longer but I got a help Lureen with the business. But I'm going to moving up here with in the next few months. Me and Lureen is going to be splitting up."
His dad didn't look at him but drew on is cigarette and said, "You know I can do with the extra help. All the other ranches have got their son's helping out. Didn't expect you to move down to Texas."
"You' ll be getting two extra pairs of hands. I got a friend in Riverton, name of Ennis del Mar. Hes worked on ranches all his life. He'll be coming up here with me. The two of us can build us a log cabin and help you run the ranch.
"The two of you build a cabin?"
"Yeah. In a few months time."
"What's stopping you at the moment from coming up here if helpin me run the ranch, if your marriage is over?"
"Well ...Ennis. He's got a wife and family in Riverton."
"What makes you think he'd want to do the same thing as you - split from his wife and move up here. You asked him about it?"
"Not yet He said his marriage weren't goin to last - more or less said it was over."
"Well, why we talkin about it like its gonna happen if you ain't asked him yet?" His father finished his cigarette and went inside leaving Jack sitting alone on the porch. He sat for a while watching the red sunset, then climbed the stairs to his room.
On a school desk in is room, he picked up a wooden model of cowboy riding a horse. As he held it in his hand staring at it he remembered back to a time when he was with Ennis on Brokeback Mountain. It was early evening and soon Ennis would be riding back to spend the night with the sheep. As they sat round the fire, without warning, the sky's overhead turned dark and lighting flashed across the sky. They stood in the entrance of the tent, watching the rain coursing down. Ennis had said, "Them sheep'll drift if I don't get back up there tonight."
Hail lashed at the tent, Jack replied, "You'll get pitched off your mount in a storm like this. You'll wish you hadn't tried it. It's too cold! Close it up" The fought the wind to tie up the opening of the tent closed.
They lay together huddled in the bedroll listening to the rain pelting down The branches of trees flaying in the wind, tore at the tent like the talons of giant birds. Ennis pulled jack closer towards him. It was the only night they had stayed together while they were on Brokeback. Jack shifted, moving close against Ennis. He could feel something sharp sticking out of Ennis's pocket. He moved and Ennis felt in his pocket and bought something out. Jack switched the torch on and could see cowboy and horse that Ennis held up. Jack said, "Hey, did you carve that yourself?"
Ennis said, "Yeah. Not much to do a lot of the time up there with them sheep."
"Its really good," Jack said surprised that Ennis could carve something so intricate with his large hands.
"You can have it if you want."
"I got nothin to give you."
"You given me a lot."
"Since we started this job, I ain't been much of a shot, and I can't cook worth a damn."
"Never could talk to any one, same as I can talk to you. Meetin you was the best thing that happened to me in a long while."
Jack who had been staring at the little wooden cowboy and horse looked up at Ennis's face. Ennis was looking at him, his gaze was soft and intense. He smiled shyly at Jack. Jack lent forward and kissed him gently on the mouth. The urge to tell Ennis he loved him was so strong Jack had to bite his lip. If he did that he would have admitted to Ennis he was queer. He trembled with a kind of suppressed longing. Ennis must have thought he was cold and pulled him close towards him. Jack leaned against Ennis rubbing his hand under his shirt over his stomach muscles, which were taunt; enjoying the smooth, warm feel of his skin. He could feel Ennis's breathing deepen and they both drifted off to sleep.
They woke the next day. The camp supplies were strewn round on the ground, and day was fine and clear. Ennis was already getting ready ride out to the sheep to see if they were still in one herd. Wordlessly Jack mounted his own horse. They spent the rest of the day trying to separate their sheep that had been mingled with a with another herd belonging to Chiliens. As he tried to make out the faded brands and drag the sheep back, it occurred to him that that although Ennis planned to marry Alma when he left Brokeback, it wasn't Alma that Ennis said best thing that happened to him in a long while; it was Jack. As Jack worked, he resolved himself to tell Ennis what he wanted to tell him during the stormy night, but somehow the time was never right. Now, eleven years those words were still left unsaid.
As he held the carving of the cowboy and horse in his hand, Jack felt engulfed by a wave of regret. At first he had been relieved that he had not heard from Alma, but now he wondered if some moment where he may have been able to change things had slipped out of his hands, and he would now be waiting another six months to see his Ennis again.
Early then next morning he was getting ready to begin the fourteen hour drive back the Childress. He hoped that Lureen had talked to the school about Bobby who was getting more and more behind at school, and wished that her father stopped sticking his nose in and telling him how to raise his child. He thought ahead, without enthusiasm to the round of trade shows the Lureen planned when he got back to Texas.
His mamma held out her arms and said, "You ring when you get back." Jack hugged her, and was just about to get into his truck when he heard the phone ring from inside the house He stood beside his truck . His mamma saw his expression change and looked at him curiously.
His father came out of the house and said. "You got a phone call. Some lady by the name of Mrs Alma Del Mar." He shot him a contemptuous look, and added "Maybe its the wife of the fella you say's going to move up here with you."