Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

Vince

"H ey, Aunt Marin, how are you?" Vince asked when his aunt answered the phone. She was a good woman—both she and his uncle George were good people. But they weren't close in the traditional sense. Not in the way Colby's family was, but he didn't figure most people were like the Covingtons. Vince had never met any family like them.

"Not too bad. How is life in South Carolina?"

"North," he reminded her. He didn't take offense that she didn't remember which Carolina he'd moved to. She'd sent him a Christmas card, so she knew. She must have just forgotten.

"Shoot. I'm sorry. I know that. I'm not sure where my brain is."

"It's fine, Auntie. Things are going well. Colby and I are going to start trying to brew beer." He wasn't sure how that would go, but he was excited to give it a go. He was always up for doing new things, and even more so when he was doing them with Colby. Vince wanted his friend to find whatever it was he was looking for. Their conversation from the other night still broke his heart. He hated knowing that Colby had all that going on beneath the surface—that he doubted himself, didn't feel like he knew himself, and maybe felt a little trapped.

"Are you sure this Colby you're living with and constantly talking about isn't a boyfriend?" she asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Vince chuckled, thinking about their jokes about being husbands. "Nah, just a friend." He paced around his bedroom.

"Well, it sounds like he's a better man than that ex of yours. I might not have ever met him, but I don't like him. He didn't treat you the way you deserve."

Vince sat on the edge of his bed. No, Gregory hadn't treated him the way he deserved. "Can I really blame him when I went back a second time?"

"Don't you talk like that, Vincent O'Brien. You have a big heart. You got it from your daddy. Don't ever fault yourself for that."

He did get it from his dad. A pang hit his chest, and he rubbed it with his hand, as if the ache would go away. It wasn't constant, but even after nearly thirty years, he still missed his parents, so fucking much. He had so many memories of hanging out with his dad, learning to braid hair from his mama. While he wore it short now, she used to put it in cornrows for him when he was a kid. They'd laughed and loved, and an asshole on the freeway had taken them from him. Vince would feel their loss forever. "I miss them," he admitted.

"I know you do. I hate that you lost them. I feel guilty that George and I weren't more like them."

"You were great. You loved me and raised me."

"We were mediocre, but thank you for the kind words. You deserved people who were better with kids. We lacked in that department. My big brother was better at being who people needed, at wanting to give that to them. Again, that's something you get from him."

Vince soaked in her words. He loved hearing that he was like his dad.

"He loved your mama so much. Started dating her at sixteen and told me he was going to marry her. Not many sixteen-year-old boys are thinking that way, but he was. He always wanted to be a family man."

Vince couldn't help wondering if his parents would be disappointed he wasn't. They wouldn't have cared that he was gay. He knew that in his heart, and his auntie had said the same thing, but would they be disappointed that he didn't marry? Didn't settle down and have or want kids? That was something Colby's parents didn't understand about him, and for the first time, Vince wondered if his own would have been the same.

He didn't have the balls to ask his aunt that—didn't want the answer.

"How's work going?" he asked, changing the subject. They only spoke for a few more minutes before getting off the phone.

Vince wasn't working at the farm today. It was a Saturday, and while Holden typically made sure to take weekends off to be with his family, he was putting in a ramp for an older woman who would be coming home from physical therapy on Monday. She was new to a wheelchair, and Holden was helping make her home more accessible for her and asked Vince if he wanted to pitch in.

Colby would be at the farm and Roe at the store. Monroe Covington ran Covington Supply Co, a one-stop shop for everything someone might need on a farm, or hell, any kind of outside projects, animal feed and stuff like that.

Vince finished getting ready and headed out to the house to meet Holden. When he arrived, he saw that Sean was there with him. It wasn't unusual for him to help Holden. Sean was good with his hands and liked to either work with his uncle or at Covington Acres, but usually where Sean was, Wyatt was, and so far, he had yet to see the other kid.

"What's up, guys?" Vince asked as he approached the two. Holden already had stacks of wood out and his saw, along with other equipment. "Where's your twin?" he teased Sean, who rolled his eyes.

"With Bianca."

Holden gave Vince a look. Oh. He got it. Now that Wyatt had a girlfriend, he was spending more time with her. That was a tricky time—when suddenly your friend had done something you haven't. And Wyatt likely wanted to be with Bianca all the time. If Vince had had a boyfriend at sixteen, that's how he would have felt. It was exciting to date when everything was so new.

Holden ruffled Sean's hair. "The novelty of having a girlfriend will wear off soon."

"I don't care if he has a girlfriend. I just don't see why he wants to hang out with her or talk to her all the time . We had a sleepover, and all they did was text. If I had a girlfriend, I wouldn't be that obsessed with her."

"I'll remind you of that when you have one," Holden told him. "But we're glad you're hanging with us today."

"Lay it on thick, why don't you," Sean teased his uncle.

"What? I like quality time with you. We can hang out all the time now," Holden teased back while Vince just enjoyed watching him interact with Sean. He was used to it now, but it had taken him by surprise the first time he came to Harmony. Holden used to keep people at arm's length. He'd been a pilot who didn't like to stay in one place too long and didn't do emotional attachments, not even with Vince. When they'd dated, he'd made sure Vince knew it wasn't serious, and that had been okay with Vince too. It was between his two attempts with Gregory. But coming to Harmony and falling in love with Roe had changed everything for Holden. Well, it had allowed him to open himself up to the big feelings Vince had always known were inside him. It fascinated him, the way love could transform people. With Holden, it was for the better. With Vince, it had just made him dumb.

The three of them got to work on the first ramp. They were putting one at the front and one at the back door.

It was humid already, the air thick with moisture. He enjoyed sweating, though, enjoyed working his muscles and feeling the heat on his skin. As silly as it sounded, it was slightly weird to be doing it without Colby. They'd gotten so accustomed to doing almost everything together over the last year that Vince noticed it when Colby wasn't around.

They had just finished the first ramp when Sean said, "Uncle Holden, do you mind if Reese comes and picks me up? We're going to hang out with Scout. If I need to finish here with you first, I can."

Holden shook his head. "Nah, go have fun with your friends. Us old guys have it handled."

"Speak for yourself when it comes to being old," Vince teased. "Age is all up here, babe." He tapped his temple.

"Right. So Sean is older than both of us," Holden joked, and they laughed.

They found shade under a tree and unpacked their lunches. Reese swung by and picked up Sean. As soon as he was gone, Holden said, "I gotta get him a vehicle." Holden took his position as Sean's uncle very seriously. He tried to make up for the fact that Sean's father wasn't around—was currently in prison, to be exact. "Both Wyatt and Reese have one. Marilee doesn't want to let me buy it, but she doesn't have the money. He has money saved from work, but I'd rather him keep that for when he's in college. He's a good kid and works hard. I want him to have that for his future. It's hard. She and I grew up with nothing, and I don't want that for Sean."

"Sean has a mama who would do anything for him and an uncle who loves him more than anything in this world. He's already got more than you and Marilee had." Their parents had been abusive. Holden had practically raised his sister.

"Yeah, I know. I just…hell, I love him. I don't want him to hurt for anything. Roe and I are hoping to be able to buy it if we let Marilee agree to make us payments on half of it."

Vince nodded, his respect for his friend growing even more, something Vince hadn't thought possible. "You're a good man."

"Lies." Holden winked, then leaned back against the tree. "I'm glad you're here." He tapped Vince with his foot.

"Helping you do this house?" He knew that wasn't what Holden meant, but he played around anyway.

"In Harmony. It's good to have you here. You and Colby are close."

"Ah, hell. Not you too. Doesn't anyone realize Colby is straight? And even if he wasn't, after Gregory, I'm never doing that shit again, man."

"Wait. What? I didn't mean romantically. Who thought that?" Holden smirked.

Oops. Vince had jumped the gun on that one.

"Vicki talked to Colby, making sure he knew it's okay if he's queer too. And that she's okay with the two of us being together."

Holden almost choked on his sandwich, he laughed so hard. "That's funny. Even if Colby were queer, I can't imagine the two of you together."

Vince shifted uncomfortably, not sure why hearing that rubbed him the wrong way. "Why? What's wrong with me?"

"What? Nothing. Why would you think that? I dated you, remember? You're the best. You're just…more worldly than Colby. He's sweet…kinda innocent. I feel like he wouldn't know what to do with you."

Vince could see that…maybe. He still felt some kind of way about it that he couldn't explain, though. "With sex, you mean?"

Holden's forehead wrinkled. He was probably wondering why Vince was asking. "Yes and no. Honestly, I wasn't thinking about you having sex with my brother-in-law, so thanks for that visual."

Vince laughed.

"I hope that didn't come out wrong. There's nothing you've done that I haven't. It's less you than him. People never talk about Colby being with anyone, not since Lulu. I don't know if he's dated at all. I think he loves the farm more than anything else."

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. He figured that was what everyone thought about when they thought about Colby, but Vince knew the truth. He felt…hell, really fucking important in that moment—that Colby had shared such intimate parts of him that no one else knew. There was more to Colby than anyone understood, more to Colby than he understood.

"Is there something you should tell me?" Holden cocked a brow.

"No." Vince shook his head.

"I love you and trust you with my life, but I don't want Colby to get hurt. That said—"

"Jesus, Holden. I'm not fucking Colby. I would never risk losing his friendship or hurting someone who means so much to you." He groaned, wishing like hell they had never started this conversation.

"I was going to say that I also don't want you to hold yourself back. That if there is something there with you and Colby, that he's not Gregory. Just because he was an asshole doesn't mean you shouldn't trust yourself to fall for someone else. Even Colby."

Vince held up his hand. "We're getting way off track. You're talking about things that will never happen." Because even if Colby was queer and Vince wanted more with him, he wouldn't let himself have it…after Gregory. He didn't have it in himself to give Colby what he deserved.