Marcus was just passing through Texas when he met Kent. In his cowboy hat, low-riding jeans, and black boots, Kent looks like the type of guy Marcus desperately wants to love.<br><br>But two years later, he's discovered Kent is cold and distant, the quintessential American cowboy, and spends more time drunk than sober. Marcus can never predict his mood and blames himself for the flailing relationship.<br><br>Then, one day when Kent rides into town, Marcus finds a young runaway hiding in their barn. Luke is warm, loving, and quick to please ... everything Kent is not. Though the answer seems obvious, Marcus finds himself torn between the boy who demands his love and the man whose love he craves.

Cowboy

Before he left this morning, Kent unfurled


the tent flaps, removed the tarps from the vegetable stands, and


watered everything down. He’s all about watering those plants, he’d


do it all day long if the customers didn’t bother him. The hose is


still wound through the make-shift aisles, between plants and over


stones, and when Luke wants to know if there’s anything he can do


to help out, the first thing I ask is if he’ll coil the hose back


up. I don’t need someone tripping over it and suing me because they


We get a meager turnout today—half the women


who stop come straight up to the register beneath the tent to ask


me where Kent is. “In town,” I tell them, and their eyes light up


like they’re actually going to go looking for him when they leave


here. Check the bars,I should say. I’m sure he’s already


spent that twenty in his pocket, and I just hope he had enough


sense to make the deposit before he started hitting the bottles or


Chapter 13