"I'm glad." Jimmy hugged him impulsively.
Coop held still, holding the knife carefully away from them, and chuckled. "What?"
"I'm gladyou like me best."
"Oh boy.Thatwas never a question. I guess I'm not the only one who gets a little insecure, huh?"
"I guess not." Jimmy smiled ruefully. "Don't get me wrong; I love my bros. But I feel pretty invisible when they're around."
"Well," Coop said, putting down the knife carefully and turning to give Jimmy his full attention. "In that case, I'd better take every opportunityto remind you that you are, absolutely and without a doubt, my favorite Holdst." With that, he put his arms around Jimmy's neck and drew him down for a kiss.
Later, after a big, hearty supper which Cooper didn't hold back from eating, they spent the night in Jimmy's old room. Jimmy had to admit he was glad his parents had kept it for him. At first, he'd been annoyed, thinking they believedhe couldn't cut it on his own, that he couldn't be a responsible adult with a job and an apartment. Now, he was glad for the familiar comfort of the place, to share it with Coop and not have to do any more driving that night.
The walls were thick in the old farmhouse, and even if they hadn't been, Coop and Jimmy would definitely have had sex. The fresh air and relaxed atmosphere seemed to haveworked as an aphrodisiac for Coop, who was more insistent and certain of what he wanted than ever before, a passionate, hungry lover, open with his emotions—so giving and willing to let go.
When he fell asleep on Jimmy's chest, breathing deeply, obviously and finally at peace, Jimmy realized he had some thinking to do.
#
"Dad?"
It was before dawn; he had to get up early if he wanted achance to talk to his father. Now, here they were, in the barn, milking the two cows side by side. It was beautiful this early, like another world, dim and quiet and isolated-feeling, even on a busy farm.
"Yes, Jimmy?" Dad spoke with the patience of a man with all the time in the world. Did he know what this was about?
"I've been thinking." He didn't want to admit this, butIt's not thatmuch farther to drive, really.It's not that I'm actually admitting defeat, since I'm not quitting my job.But it's not just about me now, either."I was thinking I might want to move back here. With Coop."
"If that's what you want to do, we're always glad to have you."
"I mean, we'd still do our jobs. Just stay here. Is that okay?"
"Of course. We'd kind of hoped you would. To be honest,it seems like all the reporters want a chunk of Cooper. Your cousin chased off a couple of them last night. We can take care of him better here. He wouldn't have to face anything like that alone. And, of course, we like having you here, too."
Jimmy laughed. "Yeah. You like him better than me already, huh?"
Dad laughed too. "Well, son, he's easy to like. Far as I can tell, he's neverhelped flood a gymnasium, either."
"That was Mike's fault!" Jimmy protested, but the accusation didn't sting as it once would have.
"Be that as it may, we'd be glad to have him here, as long as he wants to stay."
Jimmy was grateful that his father didn't probe him with questions about how serious the relationship was, or try to make him doubt that Coop was the right one for him. It was obviouswhere he stood on the matter.
His family had always been pretty blasé about mates and the idea of finding your One True Love. They put a lot less emphasis on it than any other pack he'd encountered, and he hadn't understood it when he was younger. "If it's right, it'll happen," they'd always said, and, "Don't be in a hurry."
It had annoyed him when he was younger. They should be matchmaking;they should be providing more opportunities to find mates. Most of his family members still lived on or near the farm, and a lot of the younger generation didn't have mates. But he was glad he'd waited to meet someone on his own, and he couldn't imagine his brothers were anywhere near ready to find their forever spouses.
Maybe their reluctance to rush things had been a maturity thing forhis parents; he could see that now, sort of, and he hadn't back then. But maybe it was also that they refused to think of your purpose in life as finding a mate. That was also sort of reasonable.
He didn't completely understand his parents any more than he had when he was a kid, but he liked them better now. They made at least a little more sense to him these days.
"Just make sure he knowshe doesn't have to move in here," Dad said after the conversational lull.
The soft steam of cows and the smell of warm milk were comforting in the near-darkness of the barn. "Huh?" said Jimmy. "No, of course. I wouldn't make him think that." He was a little hurt at the implication.
"Not on purpose," Dad said gently. "He strikes me as the sort who'd be easy to push around without trying."
If only he could absorb some of my brothers' rowdy confidence.
