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Chicago and had recently moved back.
    “A prodigal son, eh?” said the male of the older couple.
    “We were just asking Wes when he was going to wake up and propose to Lucy here,” the woman said. “We know there are any number of young men who’d be interested in her. You must know that, too.”
    “How long have you two been dating?” the man asked.
    It took all the control of his facial muscles that Jesse could muster not to let his jaw drop. Dating? Wes and Lucy?
    “Oh, we’re taking our time, nothing wrong with that, is there?” Lucy said, offering the couple and Jesse a sweet smile.
    “See ya around, Wes,” Jesse said. He walked from the canopy as fast as he could, making his way to the bike rack. He was unlocking his bike when he heard Wes behind him.
    “Look, Jesse, what happened back there, it’s just some silliness I have to put up with sometimes,” Wes said.
    Jesse straightened up. “You have to put up with? Why?”
    “How about I come over tonight and we can talk about it? How does 8 o’clock sound?”
    “It sounds like shit, Wes.”
    “Come on. Let’s not do this here.”
    “Why not? You know what? I like you, Wes, a lot. I care about you, which sucks for me because I can’t do this.”
    Wes glanced around and stepped closer to Jesse. He placed his hand on Jesse’s arm. Jesse pulled away.
    “I’ve been with closeted guys, but you’re not completely closeted like they were, which is almost harder. You’ve got one foot out of the closet, but the rest of you is firmly still in the closet way back behind the winter coats with your ass poking out into Narnia,” Jesse said.
    “I tried to explain before. I could lose everything I’ve built here if I came out to all and sundry. It’s fine the way it is.” Wes kept glancing around.
    Jesse looked over Wes’ shoulder and saw Lucy. She wasn’t within earshot, but she could probably see that the conversation he and Wes were having was awkward to say the least.
    Wes had seen her, too. He waved to her. “I’ll be right there!” To Jesse he said, “We can talk about this later.”
    “What’s the point? It’s not fine the way it is. Your life is good enough for you, but it’s not good enough for me.” Jesse got on his bike.
    “What, Jesse? Because we don’t go to different restaurants or because I didn’t bring you as my date to this picnic?”
    “You’ve got stuff you need to work out, Wes. I won’t be anyone’s dirty secret, and, to top it all off, you’re still mooning over some dude you fucked twenty years ago. That’s the truth. You wonder where he is now, and you can’t admit it. Well, why don’t you go find him, if you’re not afraid of what you’ll find out?”
    Jesse biked around Wes. “This is a nice picnic, though. You got a good day for it.” He rode off. He thought he heard Wes call after him, but that could have just been the wind.

Chapter Seven
    That night, Jesse called his old friend Jack. They had met on the gay swim team in Chicago. They had tried dating, but it became clear pretty quickly that they were better friends than lovers. Jack was about Wes’ age. Maybe he could help Jesse better understand what was going on with Wes. Jesse knew that Wes could have a better life involving more than just selling real estate, showing up to community events with a “girlfriend” and periodically getting glory hole blow jobs at the Emporium. He also knew he liked him, and it wasn’t just because he was the Wes Western! It was because he was Wes Mitchell, too. Closet and other issues aside, Jesse was attracted to him.
    Jack and Jesse played catch-up. Jack’s old dog Gretchen had just been diagnosed with diabetes, and dealing with that was taking up a lot of Jack’s time. He also was launching a new consulting business and had a new boy toy in his mid-twenties who was running him ragged. Jesse told him about his business and his brother and sister-in-law’s hunt for the perfect house. And then he told him