Page 6 of The Lover
The feeling that we had gotten this all wrong.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Ellie was going to fix that with one really stupid mistake.
Two
Ellie
February
“Denny, have you ever been in love?”
We were sitting in the coffee house after class as usual. I had quickly become addicted as expected. See, that was how Starbucks did it. The great con. You drink one damn caramel macchiato, and suddenly the idea of paying four dollars for a cup of coffee doesn’t seem like a stupid idea at all.
“Of course. Like a thousand times.”
I glared at him. “It couldn’t have been love if there were a thousand different guys. Which I’m having a hard time believing there are even a thousand gay guys in the entire state.”
He tilted his head. “Okay, maybe not a thousand.”
“Is it hard?” I asked, curious about a lifestyle I knew so little about. “Being gay in Montana? People don’t harass you still, do they?”
“Some. But it’s not like it was years ago. Besides, being gay in Montana does have its upside.”
“What?”
He leaned in and wiggled his eyebrows. “Gay cowboys. Hawt!”
I laughed.
“Why are you asking me about love? Are we back to the guy you are always mooning over but won’t tell me about? Sister, have I not explained the advantages of a gay BFF? You can tell me everything you would tell your girl friends, only I can tell you what the guy is thinking from the male perspective. Remember just because I’m gay, doesn’t mean I don’t still think like a man.”
“I told you it’s complicated.”
“That’s the best kind of story!”
I thought about what I had done this week. I knew it was going to be a fight. One I thought I stood a better chance of winning over the phone.
Or not. Either way, this Sunday’s call was not going to go well.
But I had made up my mind, and when I did that I could be really stubborn.
Denny was right. I was brooding again. Because Jake and I were going to have this fight first, but the next fight after that was going to be even worse.
I had to be strong.
“Oh my goodness… Speaking of hot cowboys. Yum! Please let him be gay, please let him be gay.”
I looked over at the door that had just opened.
Holy shit. Jake! My heart nearly flew out of my chest and up into my mouth. He was here. In person. I was actually looking at him again and it was like this missing piece of my body suddenly reconnected.
“He’s not gay,” I told Denny almost breathlessly.
“Bitch, how do you know?”
“Because that is my… ex-husband.”
Jake was looking around the coffee house as if expecting to find me here.
