Page 14 of Covington Acres

Colby nodded. “Thank you for this…for everything. Don’t think I’ve ever had a friend like you before, someone I feel so comfortable with being myself. Even if I don’t know who that is.”

Vince’s fingers twitched, and…fuck, he wanted to touch Colby’s hair, wanted to let his fingers thread through the strands. What was wrong with him? “You’re Colby Covington– O’Brien.”

He cocked a brow. “We’re hyphenating our last names now?”

“Oh, did you just want to take mine?” Vince teased.

“Maybe I want you to take mine.” He grinned, then closed his eyes. “I should head back to my room.”

“Shut up and go to sleep,” Vince told him.

That earned him another of Colby’s smiles, this one with his eyes still closed, and to his surprise, Colby did exactly what Vince said. He went to sleep. Vince turned out the lights and climbed back into bed, pulling the blankets over them, and did the same.

CHAPTER FIVE

Colby

Colby had thoughtit would be awkward waking up in bed with another man, but it hadn’t been. Vince’s alarm had gone off, and they’d both grumbled good mornings, Colby grabbing his box of cereal and slipping out of the room before Vince could stop him.

It had been on the tip of his tongue to explain to Vince that he didn’t think it was possible for him to be in love with someone, that he didn’t think he worked that way, but he hadn’t been able to make himself do it. Vince had such a big heart. He had only been in love with one man, but still, Vince knew how to love so well that he’d done it twice, even though his ex hadn’t deserved it.

But talking with Vince about the other things had helped. It always did. He didn’t have any real answers, but for the moment, that didn’t seem to matter. He was looking forward to figuring things out with his friend by his side.

They were at the farm now. They’d just finished working on the irrigation, which they’d been able to fix. They’d spent most of the day on it together, and Colby had had his doubts, but luckily, he’d been wrong.

“The first movie with goats for this summer is this coming weekend. It would have been the worst time to have something major go wrong that we couldn’t fix.” Colby wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm.

“Your cheeks are getting pink. We need to reapply sunscreen.” Vince grabbed the bottle, squirted some in his hands, and tossed it to Colby. They applied on their necks, faces,and hands, both wearing long-sleeved shirts to protect their arms from the sun.

“You didn’t rub it in all the way.” Colby came forward, lifting Vince’s hat and blending the cream into his forehead. “There you go.” He almost joked and called Vince husband, but he thought that might be weird. They’d joked around about it last night, but that was just a thing that happened in a random moment between them. Keeping the joke going would be strange…right?

“Vince! Can I get your help real quick?” Dennis came over.

“Yep.”

“Where’s Dad?” Colby asked.

“He had to take a break. He was getting hot,” Dennis replied. It was warm and humid, but still, Colby’s dad rarely took extra breaks. He worked harder than anyone Colby knew. Always had.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, he’s tough. He’s slowing down some, but I think that had to happen at some point. That’s what he has us for.” Dennis reached over and squeezed his shoulder.

It made sense, of course, but thinking about his dad slowing down was so foreign to him. Taking a bigger role in the farm was something he thought about often, but this made it feel more real.

Then he felt like a dick for thinking about himself in a moment like this.

“I can help too,” he said, needing to feel like a good son.

“It’s all good,” Vince told him. “Meet me back at the house for lunch. I’ll be right there.”

Colby nodded. They were taking a late lunch today because they’d been so busy with the irrigation. He headed to the house and in the back door that led to the kitchen. His mama always had sandwiches and drinks there for the workers each day.

He washed his hands, then noticed there was only one ham and cheese left, and he pulled that out for Vince, knowing it was his favorite, before grabbing turkey for himself.

“Hey, you,” his mama said, coming into the room.

“Hey. Just fixing mine and Vince’s lunch before we’re back at it.” He grabbed paper plates from the cabinet.