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In 1983, Jack Twist died with his head smashed in on the side of a lonely highway. As his blood oozed over the cracked asphalt, his last thought was of Ennis Del Mar.
In 1983, Ennis Del Mar promised never to forget the love of his life and saw his baby girl married.
In 1984, Ennis’ horse wandered in from the range late in the afternoon with Ennis slumped on its back. They found an old postcard tucked in his shirt pocket that Junior buried wrapped with him in two old shirts she found at her daddy’s place. The doctor called it a heart attack, but Junior thought her daddy died of a broken heart.
In 1984, a baby boy was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming with soulful brown eyes. That same day a baby boy was born in Wichita Falls, Texas. That baby boy never seemed to stop crying. The doctor said he had colic, but his granny said he was an old soul that had been dragged back to earth and was none to happy about it.
When the brown-eyed boy was two years old he wouldn’t answer to the name he was christened with. He had a stubborn streak a mile wide and would only answer to ‘Ennis’. His parents thought he had taken a liking to the name Dennis and just couldn’t say it right. Thinking he’d grow out of it, they humoured him until nothing else seemed to suit the boy. Ennis grew up with a love of horses and was always sneaking off to the outskirts of their suburb to stare at the horses on a nearby ranch. His well off folks sent him to summer riding camp when he was barely old enough to be away from home and he was happier than they’d ever seen him. Happy being relative because Ennis was what they called melancholy and got sent to the best psychiatrists his folks could afford. His folks never seemed to understand him, but they loved him all the same.
With those eerie brown eyes, Ennis always seemed to be looking for something, or rather, someone. When his parents, teachers, and psychiatrist asked him what he was looking for, he would just mumble, “Just waitin’.”
Ennis remembered. He knew Jack was out there waiting for him.
When Ennis was seventeen years old, he graduated high school early just so he could scratch at that itch that wouldn’t go away. His folks wouldn’t let him leave until after the day he turned eighteen. Promising he’d go to veterinary college after a year of “finding himself”, he set off looking for his Jack. Not knowing why, Ennis left Wyoming sure that Jack had escaped the desolation of his previous life. Heading to Texas was the only thing that seemed to satisfy Ennis’ wanderlust.
Ennis haunted the rodeo circuit for months. After awhile Ennis knew that Jack or whatever God had damned them both and then given him a second chance wasn’t going to make it easy. He wandered aimlessly, even going so far as to watch an older woman with thin, peroxide blond hair who seemed so damn lonely. Ennis left her with her red acrylic nails and blue eye shadow, feeling no jealousy now.
Ennis’ nineteenth birthday came and went with no sign of Jack. Missing the deadline for college registration didn’t endear himself to his parents anymore, but he put them off with a mumbled call on his cell phone outside of a gay bar in Dallas. Wondering if this was his hell, being born with those memories of another life and love, but unable to find Jack. Feeling like he was that old man in a rundown trailer with only blood stained shirts for comfort, Ennis wandered into the bar with his fake ID looking for a bottle of whiskey.
Sidling up to the bar, Ennis growled in frustration as he was bumped by some yahoo wearing a black cowboy hat and shirt with cut off sleeves.
“Watch it, asshole,” Ennis huffed.
When the man turned around, Ennis’ breath was caught when he saw the man’s eyes. Jack’s eyes this time around were green, not blue, but Ennis recognized him all the same.
The pissed off look on Jack’s face slipped into a smirk as Jack’s gaze took in Ennis from head to toe. Ennis held his breath, waiting for Jack to say something and recognize him.
“Well, hey there, cowboy,” Jack drawled out in a thick Texas accent. “I’m damn sure I would’ve remembered seein’ you before…” A look of confusion and lust crossed Jack’s face. “But, you’re awfully damn familiar.”
Ennis’ hands itched to touch Jack again and he gave into the impulse, settling his sweaty palm on Jack’s hip. In this reincarnation, Jack was still fit and lean, all wrapped in tight wranglers. “Jack?”
With the same silver devilled tongue and confidence Ennis remembered, Jack whispered to him, “I can be whoever you want me to be, cowboy, if you promise to stick around…”
There were no words. Ennis lunged forward and grabbed Jack, gripped the wranglers by the belt loop and pushed him back against the bar. At the same time, Ennis’ other hand came to grab the too long hair and pulled back Jack’s head before he leaned in to ravage Jack’s mouth. Ennis didn’t relent, pushing his tongue into Jack’s mouth, roughly pressing their bodies together.
This was the first time in this life that Ennis felt right. His soul and body ached for Jack.
Jack didn’t fight him, but melted against him. Jack gave back as good as he got while his shocked friends looked on. Jack moaned as he kissed a stranger who felt like an old lover.
When Ennis moved away just enough to rest his forehead against Jack’s own, he whispered the promise he made so long ago. “Jack, I swear…”
END.