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didn’t matter so much if he made a gesture that might come off a little too feminine. Even Cody’s dad didn’t seem to care or notice.
    Through the front screen door Johnny could see straight down the hallway to the back door, which also stood open to catch the breeze. The smell of chili and cornbread made his stomach grumble and reminded him how hungry he was.
    Cody let the screen door slam, and the tall, thin figure of his dad loomed into the dim hallway at the sound. “Val, the kids are home.”
    “Just in time for supper. Wash up, boys, or no dessert,” a female voice called out.
    Cody grinned and whispered the words, “Can’t wait for dessert,” before going to the kitchen to hug his parents.
    The kids. It was their calm acceptance that made Johnny feel secretly at home, although he wasn’t quite able to say it aloud just yet. It still felt weird. He paused to look into the living room. The furniture was just ordinary ranch stuff, but on a custom stand by the fireplace stood the King trophy saddle Cody’s mother had won at her last rodeo over twenty years ago.
    “Want to bow down and kiss it?”
    “I thought that was just for when you want to make Cody swear on it.” Johnny let Valerie Grainger pull him down to plant a kiss on his cheek.
    She slipped her hand into the crook of his arm and stood there admiring it with him. “That saddle is better than a Bible for swearing on. It’s how I taught Cody to always tell the truth.”
    “It’s a beautiful saddle.”
    “It really is. Cody used to think it was silly I made a shrine to it, but he’s just the same now about his buckle collection.” She waved a hand to the wall-mounted display case filled with gleaming metal. “It’s good to have you home again, dear.” Val patted his arm and released him. “Supper’s on the table. We’d better get in there before the boys vacuum it up.”
    The kitchen was a big room, fitted out for hands who had worked hard to relax in and eat without worrying overmuch about manners or tracking dirt in. Val herself dressed like any ranch worker in jeans and a worn plaid shirt that suited her athletic frame, her long hair caught back in a careless ponytail as she loaded food into serving dishes.
    The lamps were lit even though it was still light out, giving a warm, homey glow to the room. At the long table, Davis Grainger was seated at the head, while the two top hands sat on a bench on one side, leaving room for Cody and Johnny on the other.
    After washing his hands and sharing a dish towel with Cody, Johnny sat down and dug in. Even though he didn’t have much to say, merely sitting and listening to Cody and his parents talk made him feel comfortable. It was nice they didn’t try to make him talk.
    The two ranch hands were as opposite as two men could be. Although they were both in their fifties, RJ was huge, a silent mountain of a man, especially next to the slim and talkative Travis. Maybe that was why they got along so well like one big family. In fact, Johnny realized, the Graingers didn’t think of them as hands. Even Cody acted as if they were his gay uncles. It was rare Johnny had ever seen any exchange of physical affection between them, but there was some sort of psychic glue that seemed to mark them as a couple. At least, it was obvious to him.
    The fact that Travis and RJ were a couple never seemed to fluster Val or Davis Grainger, and maybe accounted for the way they took Cody’s homosexuality in stride. Having a gay son, it probably didn’t make any difference to them if their hands were also a little light in their boots. Johnny wished his family could have been a bit more like that, but it was what it was.
    After serving himself, he shoveled it in while he listened to Davis playfully rag his son about the weekend’s performance. Talking over the week’s ride was the only time he ever saw Davis get worked up like that. Or maybe he was just excited and relieved whenever Cody came home in one