Chapter Six #4
Not sure how to respond, Jeremy quickly becomes distracted when he hears a squawking from behind him.
Pocketing his phone and searching the dusty barn floor, he finds a baby barn owl tweeting madly on the ground and flapping its tiny nugget arms. Gently scooping the creature up in his hand, he checks to make sure it isn’t hurt.
Seeming to be fine and nibbling at his thumb, Jeremy puts it in his shirt pocket as he looks up for the nest. He spies a mess of branches and debris clumped together in the crux of a support column right above where he found the little owlet.
Looking around, the beam is next to the hayloft.
Climbing up the ladder to the secondary platform, Jeremy knows he still won’t be able to reach up there.
There’s a stepladder somewhere up here in the storage area, being mindful of the small creature in his pocket as he leans over to move crates away from the wall.
He finally spies a full ladder and decides to test his luck.
Extending it from the elevated platform, he leans the top against the post and shakes the ladder to make sure it’s stable.
He starts his climb up the precarious incline when footfalls echo below. A shadowed figure walks into his view from the dimming light that spills in through the open barn doors and nearly knocks Jeremy right off his ladder, calling down, “Hey! You scared me!”
“Jeremy?”
“Clark?” A whole different fear chills Jeremy’s blood at hearing that familiar voice.
“Yeah, it’s me!” he confirms from below, calling out, “Why are you up there?”
“Oh, uh,” Jeremy suddenly feels vulnerable, explaining himself as he continues to climb the ladder, “A baby barn owl fell, I’m putting it back in its nest!”
“Be careful!”
Jeremy finds the nest and gingerly takes the bird out of his pocket and rests it in the bedding of twigs next to its brothers and sisters. Starting to climb down, Jeremy asks the next question on his mind, “What are you doing here, Clark?”
“I was looking for you! Sheila said you were steering a bull here!”
“I meant what are you doing back!” Jeremy gets to the safety of the hayloft, collapsing the ladder and stowing it back where he found it. He continues over his shoulder, “I thought you were in Vancouver!”
“I was!” Clark sounds closer, like he’s right under Jeremy’s feet, “But I’m back now!”
Jeremy descends the loft’s ladder and when he reaches the bottom, Clark is right in front of his face. He blinks before telling him at a normal volume, “Welcome back.”
“Thanks,” Clark throws him a half smile. One hand in his jean pocket and the other pointing up, he asks, “Should I call animal control? Or get an exterminator?”
“For the owls?”
“Yeah.”
“No way,” Jeremy tells him, stepping away, “Let ‘em stay here and you’ll never need an exterminator again. They’re nature’s pest control.”
“Good. I like owls,” Clark comments.
Jeremy looks behind him once more and asks, “So you were looking for me?”
Clark catches his eye, surprised at something. Jeremy wrinkles his brow and Clark wipes the expression off his face, nodding instead and saying, “Uh, yeah. I need to talk to you.”
Biting the bullet, Jeremy guesses for him, “So you’ve been to see Laurelai, I take it.”
“Oh, that?” Clark flicks his wrist, “Yeah she tried to sell me on some story of you and Barry hitting it in the tack room. But I don’t care.”
Jeremy raises his own brow of shock, “You don’t?”
“Nope,” Clark flattens his palms out and smooths over the air, “I’m totally over it. That’s what I came to tell you.”
“Oh,” Jeremy should feel some relief or hope that things can get back to normal.
But there’s a sadness to the underbelly, like a confirmation that he was right; Clark could never seriously be with Jeremy.
His passion on that beach had been a lark, a whimsy that was superficial at best. Just a week passed and Clark is already over him. Jeremy nods, “Okay.”
“So, yeah. I wanted to come say sorry to you,” Clark steps forward, past the ladder, “Sorry.”
Jeremy shrugs, “Forget about it.”
Smiling, Clark taps his foot for a moment before asking, “But you didn’t, right? Sleep with Barry in the tack room, I mean.”
Jeremy acts offended, “Seriously?”
“No, no you’re right. It’s whatever. I don’t care,” Clark chuckles, wafting at the air casually.
Jeremy nods his head, the knife in his chest twisting a little more. Knowing there was no way but forward, he asks, “So we’re all good? We can go back to being friends?”
“More like boss and employee,” Clark raises a brow then cracks a smile, “But then friends, yeah.”
Jeremy smiles back weakly, light rapidly fading from inside the barn.
They both start walking toward the entrance when Clark says, “There’s something else I wanted to ask you, though.”
Not knowing what to expect, Jeremy tells him, “Shoot.”
“This weekend, I’m throwing an exclusive wrap party up at the ranch house,” Clark says from beside him as Jeremy puts his weight into closing the large barn doors, “EPs, the cast, the director, everybody will be there.”
“Okay,” Jeremy shrugs, locking the gate as he asks, “And the question is?”
“Well, it’s more of an invitation,” Clark smiles at him expectantly, “Why don’t you come?”
Jeremy could laugh, “You want me to come to your big Hollywood party?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Clark shrugs, “C’mon, I want to celebrate with you! I couldn’t have done this movie without you, so come party.”
Chewing on that, Jeremy looks out to the first stars that start to sparkle in the sky. He doesn’t see how this party could be fun, still not entirely convinced on why he’s even invited in the first place. Eyeing down Clark, Jeremy hesitates in even responding.
Clark reads his reluctance and sighs, admitting, “Okay, I want you to also represent Willmaker Ranch. You know, buff me out to some of the big wigs and make it seem like me moving to Colorado wasn’t a huge mistake.”
Remembering what Laurelai had shared in the tack room, Jeremy can’t stop his tongue as he asks, “Why did you move here?”
Clark chuckles, “What?”
“Why move back after all this time?”
“I told you,” Clark readjusts his stance, “For a change of pace. To try to save my marriage.”
“Yeah, but why here? Why not North California, like she wanted?” Jeremy wishes he would stop pressing the topic but he doesn’t know how to restrain himself.
“Because this is my home. I grew up here,” Clark seems uncomfortable, hands in his pockets and shrugging a bunch, “What’s this all about, Jeremy?”
He shakes his head, finally being knocked out of his stupor and telling Clark honestly, “Nothing. Sorry. It’s just something Laurelai said got under my skin.”
“Dude, you need to forget about Laurelai. She’ll say anything to get a rise out of people,” Clark shakes his head, “For some reason I figure she has it out for you.”
“It’s okay,” Jeremy rubs his toe into the dirt, asking as nonchalantly as possible, “So. When is she headed back?”
“Hm? What’s that?” Clark asks.
Jeremy doesn’t look directly at Clark as he reminds him, “You said you two were signing your divorce papers as soon as you got back.”
“Oh, no. That’s off again,” Clark laughs to himself, “Yeah, she wants to give it another shot. Again. So that’s all been put on hold.”
“Oh. Great,” Jeremy nods, “Congratulations.”
“Hmph. Thanks,” Clark shrugs. He eyes Jeremy and asks outright, “So are you coming to my party or what?”
Sighing, Jeremy forgets about seeing Merle this weekend and submits to the request, “I don’t really have a choice, huh?”
Clark smiles fully, “Nope.”
Jeremy thinly smiles back, “Then I’ll be there, boss.”
They walk under the first moonbeams together, Clark asking Jeremy about being back and him asking Clark about Vancouver.
They walk on into the night and don’t make it back to their respective living areas until much later.
It’s as if that day on the beach and their miraculous kiss secretly still meant quite a lot to each of them without either addressing it.
Instead, they indulge in each other’s presence, neither eager to separate again.
When they do, they both rock on their heels and hold out until the end.