Chapter 7

Ryder shouldn’t be this excited about having dinner with his neighbor. Maybe it was the residual anger from last night finding relief because he was having dinner with someone he’d asked over, not someone his parents set him up with.

This wasn't a date, though. He'd never even thought of dating a guy before. Heck, Nolan would probably be pissed if he even joked about it.

As he soaped up his body, he brushed his hand over his hard cock, surprised a little that he was that hard. He decided to jack off quickly so Nolan didn't think it was for him. God, that would have been embarrassing. The thought of Nolan looking up at him with his dark eyes as he…what? He knew gay guys had anal sex, but what else was there? He pushed the thoughts of sex with a guy—Nolan—from his mind as he pulled on his shorts and a loose shirt. It had been a while, maybe when he was a teenager since he'd had a random hard-on—and this had to be random. He wasn't into guys, never had been. Besides, Amy's death had crashed his libido to subbasement levels. It was nice to have some desire sliding through his veins, though he wasn't sure where it was coming from.

He stepped outside in bare feet and saw that Nolan was by the fence petting Mavis. “Is she being a jerk?”

Nolan turned around, a smile on his face. "No, not at all." He chuckled as Mavis nudged him. "Though she did try to drink my wine. I had to go get a plate from my house to cover it."

Ryder glanced at the table and nodded. "Ah, yes, she'll do that. In France they give some of their meat cows wine to make the steaks taste better."

"You are joking?" Nolan gave Mavis one last scratch, then started walking over.

Ryder’s heartbeat sped up. What was wrong with him? It had to be excitement about the conversation, nothing else. “Not joking. They call it vinbovin. I don’t know if they’re still doing it, but it was a thing a few years ago.”

“Is Mavis a meat cow?”

Ryder chuckled. "Any cow can be a meat cow, but no, I'm not sending her to the slaughterhouse any time soon. My uncle, Steve, used Mavis as a milk cow for years. She's old, and he didn't have the heart to send her off to become burgers and steaks. I think she was his best friend. Anyway, part of me buying the place was a promise not to send Mavis off until she was ready to pass. She's old, around eighteen or so. So she'll live maybe another year or two."

“Wow, I didn’t know they lived such a short life.”

“Yeah, but she has it good. She gets treats and enjoys music. I have a speaker out in the barn that I put some smooth jazz on for her at times. She tends to like it. If she could live inside my house, I think she would. If I had a bed for her, she would love it.”

Nolan chuckled. “That would be messy.”

“Yeah. One of the goats got inside once while I was showering. It was awful. I had little goat pebbles all over my house.”

Nolan’s eyebrows bunched together. “Goat pebbles?”

“Their shit. Little droppings everywhere. Took me ages to clean it up.”

“Dang. That’s awful.” Nolan moved to the table and picked up a cooler. “I brought you some beer. I mean, you’re welcome to have wine, but I didn’t know if you drank wine.”

Ryder felt slightly insulted, but he understood. Not a lot of Texas men, especially out in the country, drank wine. Though the alcohol by volume was higher, guys tended to think of wine as a girly drink.

"I drink both. I'll have a glass unless that's Shiner-Bock."

“Yes!” Nolan said as he pumped his arm. “It’s Shiner-Bock.”

“I’m surprised. Do you drink Shiner?” Ryder asked.

Nolan shook his head as laughter bubbled up. "Nope, I never drink beer. I don't like the taste. I like wine and cocktails." A weird expression crossed Nolan's face as if maybe he had something to hide.

Ryder pushed away the thought and moved to the grill, turning on the gas and lighting the burners. "I have corn and some vegetables already seasoned that need to go on first. I hope you don't mind waiting a bit for the steak."

“No, not at all. I had to eat a late lunch today, so I’m not starving yet.”

“Well, I am. So let me get to it.”

Ryder had no doubt now that he was just excited about spending time with someone other than his family. Many of his old friends from high school had either changed in bad ways or hadn't changed at all and were stuck acting like they were still juniors in high school. Or they had families and were busy with kids and their wives. So, since moving here, he hadn't really hung out with anyone.

Over the years, he'd grown and become someone a bit more rational and maybe even a little more levelheaded than he'd been in high school. Part of it had been getting out from under his father's thumb. Another part was he didn't still party like it was their senior year, and he wasn't into conspiracy theories. He just wanted to live and maybe have something to look forward to a few days in the month as he passed the time.