Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Hey, y’all. Good to see you,” Clint greeted them. “Hey, Scout. You visiting for a while?”
“Yes, sir,” Scout replied, sticking close to Grady, their gaze flickering over to Reese, clearly unsure.
“This is my friend August and his son, Reese.” Clint turned to them. “And this is Deacon, Grady, and Grady’s…” He realized his mistake right then. If Scout’s pronouns had changed, Clint didn’t want to misgender them by saying nephew.
“Nephew is good for now. Scout uses he/him pronouns. We just don’t believe clothing and pretty things belong to a certain gender,” Grady said.
“Hey…” Reese said, “cool to meet you. I paint my nails black sometimes.”
Clint let out a relieved breath. He didn’t doubt Reese, but you never knew. While Reese did use black polish, he didn’t wear any other stereotypically feminine things. Clint liked that the kids could just all be who they were.
Scout braved a step away from Grady, knowing he was safe. “That’s cool. If you ever want to do other colors, I’m your guy. I’ve been practicing for a year—and with makeup. If you’re not interested, that’s okay too.”
“Okay. I haven’t tried anything like that yet, but if I ever want to, I definitely won’t be going to Dad, so I’ll hit you up.”
“Hey, brat. I could figure it out.” August ruffled Reese’s hair, just as Wyatt and Sean came over.
“Cool. You guys met. Wanna go play football?” Sean asked.
“Yeah, but you should know I’ve been practicing and I’m probably going to own you all,” Scout teased.
“Wait, you know who you’re talking to, right? I’m Wyatt Covington, future NFL player.”
Sean rolled his eyes. “In his dreams.”
“Come on,” Scout said to Reese, motioning toward the open field area in the yard.
Scout went to take a step, when Reese said, “Wait. Your shoe.” Then he knelt down and tied the loose lace on Scout’s scuffed-up sneakers.
“Thanks.” Scout grinned.
The four of them walked away together, teasing and tossing the football as they went.
“I think their generation is going to change the world,” August said, and Clint risked a quick squeeze of his hand, one both Grady and Deke noticed.
“I hope so,” Grady said. “Scout’s much more comfortable here than in Georgia. He’ll wear skirts at our place, or if we’re coming here, but he doesn’t wear them outside of the house at home. But then he doesn’t always want to wear them either. He has some trouble back home with some of the kids, and they don’t even get to see this side of him. Scout is just as comfortable playing football as he is wearing a skirt and putting makeup on. He’s the coolest kid I know.” Grady wore his pride for Scout openly.
“He’s got a good role model.” Deke looked at Grady with so much love, Clint could feel it. Damned if it didn’t make loneliness sludge through his veins. He wanted that. He wanted August.
Grady winked. “You’re getting a surprise later for saying something so nice to me.”
They laughed, and Deke said, “We should get the ice cream out of the car. I almost forgot.”
Grady and Deke grabbed two large containers, and the four of them headed for the house. Colby, Vince, Lindsey, Marilee, and some of Roe’s family were all outside.
“Wanna go say hi to Colby and meet Vince?” Clint asked, and August nodded.
Deke and Grady went inside to put the ice cream away. Colby and Vince were talking and laughing about something when they approached. Vince was an attractive guy with warm, brown skin, dark eyes, and a goatee.
When his gaze caught Clint’s, he said, “Hey, man. Long time no see,” and the two of them embraced in a quick hug.
“Here for good this time, huh?”
“Hell yeah. Atlanta was killin’ my ass. I need a change.” This time his eyes caught ahold of August and…was Clint losing his mind, or was there a dash of interest there? “We haven’t met. I would have remembered. I’m Vince.”
“This is August,” Clint said rather than letting August introduce himself. He placed a hand on August’s nape, who looked over at Clint and grinned.
“Nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for Vince, and they shook.
“Wow…Possessive Clint. I’ve never seen him before,” Colby said softly.
“Message received,” Vince added with a smirk that said he found this development very interesting.
For just a moment, Clint thought about correcting them, but when he looked at August and saw all the heat in his eyes, he didn’t. August liked Clint staking his claim any way he could. That much was clear, and Clint didn’t regret it.
A few minutes later, Roe, Holden, Deke, and Grady joined them outside. They all had a beer and chatted, catching up with one another and on Briar County gossip. Clint couldn’t help watching August interact with them, seeing him so at home with people Clint considered friends.
He watched August laugh and talk with Deke about ice cream. He asked about Deacon’s favorite flavors, and when had Deacon first realized this was what he wanted to do, and about his first memory of making ice cream with his grandma. These weren’t the kind of questions Clint would ever think to ask, but August was sincerely interested in people, in getting to know them and learning about them, which Clint thought was a good quality to have.