of kids who were out, and I think they did okay. But I was never what people thought of when they thought of gay guys, so I didn't fit there. And all the things I loved were the things the straight guys loved. Like Shop and Ag classes and rodeo. They thought I was trying to pretend, like I had been lying about who I was, like I was trying to trick them. I don't know. I didn't fit anywhere, except with the horses.”
“Well, you fit here, now, with me. Now let's go get you some food.”
21
Miller
This was the first time I’d ever been to any event in town with a date. Not that I dated much anyway, but anytime I’d taken a guy out, it had been in the city, not in River Gorge. We were getting some looks, that was for sure, but Landon seemed to be oblivious to them.
We wandered up around the courthouse square looking at all the booths and picking up a few items here or there. It had taken us forever to make our way around. I figured it was a combination of everyone knowing me and my whole family and people being curious about Landon, but either way, everyone wanted to talk.
“People here really like your mom, huh?” he asked the third or fourth time someone asked me about her.
“Yeah, they do,” I said. “It's always been that way. That's what made her so successful. She could charm the pants off a snake. And that has benefits. People were much nicer about me coming out than they would have been if I came from a different family. No one wants to make an enemy out of one of the richest families in town, so that got me a pass of sorts.”
“But I noticed no one said much about your dad.”
“He wasn't from here, she was, and when they divorced, he moved away. He didn't go far, but still, he left River Gorge so that just proved to them he was never really one of them. That matters to the older people in town, but not so much the younger ones. I think that attitude is dying out. I hope so, anyway.”
“I think it is. Oh, speaking of people who aren't from here, look at the line at Donovan's booth.”
“Nice,” I said. “What does he have besides honey, I wonder?”
“I don't know, let's go see.”
We made our way to his booth and stood in line.
“Hey,” he said with a grin. “What are you two up to today?”
“Just checking out the booths,” I said, looking around. He had his normal honey, but he also had some jars of jams and preserves, and other items as well. “You seem really busy.”
“Yeah, people seem to think my honey stick will make great stocking stuffers. Those and these spoons.” He pointed to little baggies laying on the table. I picked one up and looked at it.
“Oh, my mom bought some of these at a booth up near her a few years ago,” Landon said. “You use the spoons to stir your tea, and the flavored honey melts off.”
“Right. I have a few different flavors. The orange and the lavender seem to be the most popular ones.”
“Yeah, the lavender was my mom's favorite.”
“I have mint chocolate ones too that are great for hot chocolate.”
“Okay, I'm sold. Let's get some for your mom and some of the chocolate ones for the kids. I bet they’ll love that.” We purchased those and then turned the corner back where we started. If I’d been here by myself, I would’ve made another round to chat with people and maybe hand out a few business cards, but not this year.
“The tree lighting isn't until almost dark. That’s still a few hours away. What are we supposed to do until then?” Landon asked.
“Well, we can go hang out in the coffee shop, or we can go back to my house and put up my Christmas tree.”
“I vote for your house, but we'll have to see if we get the tree up or not.”
One Christmas tree and two orgasms later, and it was time to go watch them light up the tree in the square. As we walked that way, I kept an eye out for any of our friends, not to find them, but to avoid them. I loved the guys, but I wanted this to be just the two of us. I pictured the big window in the back of the stone house. The