Gale smothered a grin, and my skin tingled. I liked it when he smiled—or tried to. He was so painfully reserved that each time his lips curved, it felt like a hard-earned gift.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It was… There was an opening, so I enrolled.”
I chuckled. “Seriously? That’s kind of a weird way to make a career decision. There was a spot available, so what the heck?”
He shrugged. “It’s a long story.”
And he didn’t seem inclined to share.
I glanced out the window. Trees bent to the wind. The sky roiled and stirred. Soft thunder rolled over the plains. The rain had lessened, but it still pelted the earth relentlessly. The Jeep felt like its own private bubble, far from the rest of the world.
I wasn’t one to dance around topics. If Gale was anyone else, I would have called him on his erection. Who knew where we would be now.
Except something in his demeanor held me back. It demanded caution.
“Can I ask you something?”
Gale gripped the door handle, eyes widening. He didn’t say no, but he didn’t say yes.
I proceeded anyhow. “You say it’s a long story. Does thislong storyhave to do with your short stint in the seminary?”
Gale didn’t speak. I didn’t think he could look more uncomfortable, but he shrank under the question.
I waited, giving him a chance to answer or tell me to fuck off.
“Y-yes, but… I’d rather not talk about it.”
“I’m a good listener.”
He shook his head.
I let it go and scrambled for another way to get the answer I was looking for. “So… Got a girlfriend?”
Gale huffed a sad sort of laugh. A disbelieving laugh, like I’d asked the most ridiculous thing in the world. “No.”
I hedged, then blurted, “Boyfriend?”
His panic-stricken gaze moved from his lap to my face, eyes bulging. “No! Why would you… No. A-absolutely not.”
“Okay. Chill.” I held up my hands. “It was a question. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Gale studied me for a long time, his cheeks rosy and telling. Eventually, he cut his gaze to his lap. A stitch appeared between his brows.
“I wouldn’t have cared.”
He said nothing.
I’d hit a nerve and wasn’t sure how to continue, having exhausted all avenues of query.
Gale was the one who broke the silence. “What about you? Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No. No boyfriend either. I’m proudly bisexual, for the record, so… yeah. I wasn’t being a jerk. It was honest curiosity.”
Gale didn’t respond, but he sat so still and was so unreactive that I couldn’t tell if he’d heard me. This odd chemistry was notone-sided. His defensive reaction reeked of guilt and shame and a truth long buried. It was the reaction of a person who wasn’t comfortable admitting their sexuality out loud. Maybe he had yet to admit it to himself. I knew all kinds of people like that. In denial. In the closet. It had never been me, but not everyone was as rebellious and determined to ruffle feathers.
I studied Gale, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze.
Despite my admission, he didn’t seem to want to open up and confess, so I was as much in the dark as before.