Cody closed his eyes, leaning his temple against the cold window. “Was this before or after Nate said he wanted to see me?” Because it was possible Nate had asked to see Cody, but then changed his mind after Larry flapped his fat mouth.
“Before. Larry went off. You know how he is. He’s a loudmouth asshole, and he started saying, well . . . He said—”
“I know what he said. I know what they all say.”
“But after that, Nate and I left, and he asked me if any of it was true.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“I told him to ask you.”
Cody wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse. He appreciated that Logan wouldn’t talk shit about him, and yet it almost would have been easier to let Nate get the confirmation he needed from somebody else so that Cody wouldn’t have to see the disgust on his face when he found out the rumors were true.
Some of them, at least.
“And even after all that, he asked me—no, man, he practically fucking begged me—to tell you that he wanted to see you. I think he really misses you.” Logan’s voice was quieter now. Upsettingly gentle. “But I thought you deserved fair warning, so you could decide what exactly you wanted to say.”
Cody nodded. He couldn’t deny just how far Logan had gone, not only to deliver Nate’s message, but to make it easier on Cody. “Thanks. For the ride, I mean, and—” for being my friend. But he wasn’t sappy enough to say it out loud. “Thanks for everything, man.”
He went quietly into the trailer. His mom’s car was gone, so either she was working, or she was at one of the local bars. He was glad to have the house to himself.
He wouldn’t lie to Nate. That was the one thing he knew. Whatever Nate asked, Cody would tell him the truth. It’d be a relief to finally have it out in the open.
And then?
That was the part he wasn’t sure of.
He brushed his teeth, changed into a pair of sweats, and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, imagining all the ways their conversation could go.
Some of them ended with them as friends.
Some ended with Nate turning his back on Cody forever.
A few strayed into a place he hadn’t dared imagine before—a place where Nate took Cody’s hand. Where Nate leaned forward and kissed him while the Wyoming wind tried to blow them both away.
He wasn’t sure which possibility scared him more.
Nate spent half the night thinking about the things Larry had told him, and about Logan’s refusal to give him straight answers. He suspected Larry hadn’t lied about the Hole. As much as Nate hated to think it was true, it fit. Why else would Cody have worked so hard to hide his home from him? It bothered him that Cody hadn’t trusted him.
As for the rest of the things Larry had said?
Nate was pretty sure those would turn out to be nothing more than teenagers being assholes. He spent the next morning debating whether or not to confront Cody with Larry’s lies.
Nate arrived at the Hole just before noon. He parked his car where he always did, on the edge of the dirt lot that held the four decrepit trailers. He climbed out of his car and glanced at them, each one somehow seeming worse than the last.
Yes, he was pretty sure Cody lived in one of them.
He ducked through the barbed wire and headed into the field. He didn’t really expect Cody to be there, even if Logan had delivered his message.
He pulled his coat tighter around himself as he trudged through the field. The cows barely spared him a glance. The sun was shining. At almost seven thousand feet above sea level, the rays were intense, but the wind was bitterly cold. They’d have to find a better place to spend their time. Hanging out in a damn field obviously wasn’t going to be an option for very much longer.
With the wagon sunken into the earth facing the highway, he couldn’t tell if Cody was at their meeting spot or not. Not until he was right on top of it, at any rate. But when he finally reached the upper edge of it and looked down, he found Cody there, grinding a cigarette out against the sun-bleached planks of the wagon.
For a moment, Nate just stood there, suddenly unsure what to say. Everything that popped into his head felt ridiculous after a month and a half of barely speaking to each other. He shifted awkwardly back and forth on his feet, debating.
“You gonna sit down or what?” Cody asked without even glancing up at him.
So much for niceties. Nate stepped over the upper edge of the wagon and slid down to the side that served as their bench. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be here.”
Cody shrugged, hunching his shoulders and rubbing his hands together. He was only wearing his usual too-small jean jacket with a zip-front hoodie over it. Nate wondered if the shirt underneath at least had long sleeves.