I scrambled for my clothes and shook the hay from my hair. Lola Belle stumbled, pulling on her panties and giggling. She was chattering on about something, I didn't care, and I wasn't listening. I walked out of the barn before she was done talking. I was preoccupied with whoever had been spying on us from the barn doors. I checked all around the area and saw no trace of anyone. All the lights in the house were dimmed, no obvious movements. My head swam with beer.
Jesse's truck was gone. It was late, after all. Candy had so many wine coolers I imagine she made herself sick. A few uncles sat on the front porch smoking and dipping chewing tobacco. They laughed, teasing about me getting lost on the ranch I grew up working. I said my farewells and set to walking the seven miles back to Jesse and Candy's. The humid night air was cooled by a pleasant light breeze.
The stars were so beautiful. Wispy clouds raced across the sky with the prairie breezes. The night wind kissed my face and wicked the sweat from my chest. I still tasted Lola Belle on my lips, smelled her on my fingers. The roar of the chirping bugs filled my ears, loud as the ocean waves in California. Rustling in the brush, like rabbits and foxes chasing each other, is the only occasional noise. A lonesome hound bellowed from a house somewhere in the distance.
About halfway back to Jesse and Candy's, I took my eyes down from the sky and found myself blinded by truck headlights with high beams. I recognized the roar of the engine, and Jesse's long lean figure stretched across the cab to open the passenger door. He'd changed from his good suit to a thin white t-shirt and jeans. His blue eyes all the bluer for being bloodshot, his face pale but his cheeks rosy. Drunk as a skunk.
"I was headed back that way to fetch you, Lee. Candace was tired; I thought I'd take her home first. I could not find you anywhere to tell you," he said. Jesse's voice was so soft and deep, like the purr of a tall, thin tomcat. I climbed in the cab and he handed me a frosty can of beer from a cooler. I looked concerned and took a sip.
"My brother is a deputy sheriff, as long as I'm not speeding, he don't care if we drink on the back roads." Jesse winked at me and turned his eyes back to the road. "Where were you anyways?"
I shifted uncomfortably on the long bench seat. "I was..."
"Where ever you was," He interrupted. "You stink like pussy."
We both laughed. The remainder of the car ride was quiet until we reached the main gate.
"I lied about not being able to find you, there. I wanted to apologize for ..." That velvet voice of his faltered. "I want to apologize for interrupting you earlier."
So it was Jesse! At least it wasn't my Mom. "Well that's what happens. " I said, "No harm done."
We both laugh again. His cheeks flush nearly purple, embarrassed to be talking to me in such a way. We had only ever exchanged polite words, little jokes here and there. The silence is awkward and Jesse does not move the truck. He finally reaches across my legs for the gate remote; his unsteady hands brush my knee. The glass of his eyes catches mine as if he's going to say he's sorry. A nervous laugh escapes his throat. Jesse rests his hand on my knee. My thigh.
There is such a tentative look on his face. His knuckles are white, his fingers tremble. He's chewing the dark pink of his thin cupid lips as he leans towards me. Partly out of shock, maybe even a part of curiosity, maybe I don't want him tattling on me about the barn to Candy ... I hold perfectly still and let my brother in-law brush his lips against mine. His face is prickly with stubble. My beard had grown out long enough to be soft. We seemed stuck together, like Velcro, two unshaven beards slick with sweat.