Hard Sell by Morgan Kendall

Author:Morgan, Kendall [Morgan, Kendall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tulabella Ruby Press
Published: 2015-09-26T07:00:00+00:00

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 about Wes and how he was sweet on him.

“In a way, he’s really open. He’s good with people, but on the other hand, he’s so closed off. His life is in little boxes,” said Jesse. “He’s only out to a handful of people—his mom, his gay friends. I blew up at him. He’s using his office assistant as his beard.”

Jesse told Jack what he had said to Wes at the picnic, about Wes and Bobby Hawkes and his frustrations about being Wes’ dirty secret.

“I deserve better than that.”

“You’re right, but you have to understand,” Jack said. “Gay men of a certain age carry survivor’s guilt and trauma. They had sex, and people died. And he moved back to Urlack. You know Urlack better than me. His life is beautiful and cozy. It’s like you said. It’s good enough, and he doesn’t want you changing it.”

“How do I make this right?”

“That could be tough but not impossible,” Jack said. “Maybe he needs time. Maybe he does need to find Bobby. Maybe he needs to learn how much times have changed. He doesn’t have to be in the closet.”

“In a way, I can see his point about the porn stuff. I’m sure loads of guys and some women in Urlack watch porn, but Wes is a respectable guy now. Being gay is one thing, but doing porn? That might be too long a bridge for some people to cross. He could lose his business,” Jesse said.

“That’s a fair point, but someone has to really be hunting for him to find his old porn stuff. And people in smaller cities aren’t necessarily more homophobic. Wes is a hometown boy. He’s done well. From what you’ve told me, people really like and respect him. These days, that goes a long way. But you can’t push him. You’ve said what you needed to say, Jess.

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