Bryant couldn’t believe how much this mattered to Vaughn. It seemed like a simple thing, strolling down the street together holding hands. For them, it was huge.

It was important that his boyfriend realize he was glad to be seen together with him.

And secretly, Bryant suspected Vaughn liked to parade him around and make sure everyone knew who he belonged to. Bryant had never been the kind of person anyone wanted to show off before, but he was willing to admit he liked the feeling.

They talked about everything and nothing as they spent Vaughn’s day off wandering around the downtown area of Laramie, Wyoming, one of the closest cities to Compton Pass. Sure, it wasn’t a megalopolis like New York or L.A., but it was bigger and busier than their sleepy little town.

They walked along the main street, browsing through shop windows. It was incredible to spend time like this, like a normal couple. Bryant was hardly paying attention to the goods in the stores until they passed a high-end antique dealer, which ordinarily wouldn’t have been his thing.

Except something caught his eye.

He stopped in his tracks, jerking Vaughn to a halt. Then he practically dragged the guy inside and over to a display case where he leaned in for a better look.

“You like that watch?” Vaughn asked subtly, maybe hinting around for Christmas or birthday ideas. Not that either of them could afford the one he was studying with his photographic memory.

“Of course I do. I’ve admired it my whole life…when my dad was wearing it. It was JD’s.” Bryant clenched his fists. Had his dad sold it to help raise some of the cash for Bryant’s experiment? Oh shit, that couldn’t be it, could it?

“Hang on a second, maybe it’s just one similar…” Vaughn’s grim face spoke volumes.

“It’s not. See the tiny ding on the band? It’s from when I was eight or nine. Doug and I were goofing around on the back of one of the tractors. His jacket got caught on a tree and tugged him off. He was heading straight under the tire until my dad jammed his hand down and grabbed him before something awful could happen. But the watch took the brunt of the impact. My dad always said it saved him from breaking his wrist that day. Besides, it’s engraved to JD from Vicki.” Bryant bent over with his hands on his knees.

Vaughn caught the eye of the shopkeeper and raised his hand. “Hi, could I take a look at this?”

“It’s a beaut, that one. A rare find. Solid gold. Handcrafted by a master watchmaker, too. They don’t make them like that anymore.” The guy nodded as he unlocked the case. He was careful as he handed it to Vaughn, who immediately flipped it over.

With my timeless love…Vicki

Bryant thought he might be sick. Doubly so when he caught sight of all the zeroes on the price tag. A perpetual student with no job, he couldn’t even dream of affording it. His only option was to accept that this was what it had cost his family to support him in an effort that hadn’t succeeded.

Might never succeed.

It was going to rain eventually, but until it did, he wouldn’t even know if all this had been worth it. And what if it hadn’t been?

He felt that familiar urge to run tugging at his boots.

Until he looked over at Vaughn. The creases around his mouth and between his brows made it clear he was wondering how Bryant would react. Would this be the wedge that drove them apart forever?

Not if Bryant had anything to say about it.

This time he wised up and leaned on Vaughn instead of shoving him away. They thanked the shopkeeper and left a significant piece of his family’s history behind when they went back to the truck, where he slid across the bench seat to rest his head on Vaughn’s shoulder, defeated. “I don’t have any way to make this right. The system and all my improvements have to actually work before I can make any money from them. What am I going to say to my family? What will I say to my dad?”

Ah, fuck.

“I don’t know, Bryant. But we’ll figure out something. Your dad believes in you. If he didn’t, he would never have done this. Think of it this way—he’s so sure that your technology will advance the farm and the improve life for everyone involved that he was willing to gamble that watch on it.” Vaughn shook Bryant’s shoulders. “He’s willing to let the past go in order to make the future better. He has faith in you. And so do I.”

In that moment, there was only one thing Bryant knew to be true. So he didn’t try to repress it. “I love you, Vaughn.”

“I love you, too.” Vaughn kissed his temple. “I know it’s tough to deal with now, but this is going to be okay.”

Bryant sat there for a while, wrapped in his lover’s arms.

After he felt steady again, he reached for his phone and called Doug.

“Hey, there’s the cousin I was just thinking of!” Doug joked.

“Why?” Bryant was afraid to hope. “Do you have good news? What’s the weather doing?”

Doug turned his phone around so that the video transmitted an image of his laptop screen and the weather forecast running on it. It was blotchy with red blobs. Rain. Heavy rain everywhere.

Bryant held his breath as he reminded himself it was only a simulator the storm-chasing crew used. “You think it’s actually coming?”

“Yeah, but I thought that the last four times there was a low pressure system over this way, too.” His cousin shrugged. “The weather this summer is more confusing than a woman.”

“Or a guy.” Vaughn rolled his eyes so Bryant smacked him in the gut with the back of his hand.

If this rain didn’t come, not only would the herd suffer, but the money his father had sunk into the irrigation and water retention systems would keep them from being able to ship more hay in from a neighboring farm.

Bryant might have fucked them all.

“Calm down.” Vaughn rubbed Bryant’s thigh out of sight of his phone.

“Sit tight, cuz. This can’t last forever,” Doug said.

“But will we make it until it rains again?” Bryant was pretty sure his nerves were shot. He needed to go home and let Vaughn distract him before he had a nervous breakdown.

Doug tried to help. “I’ll bet you my autographed World Finals Rodeo poster that it’ll be raining before morning.”

Unfortunately, Bryant won that bet.