Page 104 of Our Own Light

“Naw, we like to play cards late sometimes, is all.”

Pursing his lips, Roy hummed like he was thinking that over, and then he clicked his tongue and said, “You know, our homes, them walls ain’t as thick as you might think.” Floyd swallowed thickly, shame and fear closing around his throat. “Ain’t a problem for me, Floyd, so long as you keep it private. Other people, they might not take too kindly to that sort of relationship. I like you, and I like Oliver, too, so I’m taking the time to warn you. You two best be more careful. You never know who might be watching. Or listening.”

Roy turned and left, not even waiting for a response. Little colorful spots began obscuring Floyd’s vision, his heart beating so ferociously that he could hear the blood whooshing past his eardrums. He finished shopping as fast as he could.

When he arrived back at Ollie’s house, Ollie was sipping a mug of coffee at the breakfast table.

“I hope you’re ready for my mediocre eggs. Assuming you found some,” Ollie said cheerfully as Floyd kicked off his boots. When Floyd looked up, the two of them locked eyes, and Ollie’s face fell. “Something’s wrong.”

“Yeah,” Floyd admitted, setting the poke on the floor before pulling out a chair. “Roy knows about us.”

“I’m sorry—what?”

“I seen him at the company store this morning. He, uh, must have heard something.” Floyd cleared his throat. “Something interesting.”

Oliver’s hands flew to cover his mouth.

“Oh my God,” he said, the words muffled by his palms.

Floyd reached over to pull them away.

“Roy won’t say nothing. But we need to be more careful.”

“God, I wish we could be ourselves here. Or, hell, anywhere.”

“Me, too,” Floyd said, a heaviness in his heart.

Ollie slid a mug of coffee across the table to Floyd. As Floyd moved to sip it, Ollie took the eggs from the poke and brought them over to the stove. One by one, he took them out of the pickling lime and rinsed them in some water.

While Ollie cooked, Floyd read over the newspaper. Still not a peep about the whole battle that had taken place over at Blair Mountain. Seemed like the coal companies in the region were trying to keep the news from reaching the miners, which was kind of silly since the miners had lost the battle, but, well, the coal companies probably were concerned about their image.

Funny how certain images were so important to keep.

“Hey, Ollie?”

“Just a second,” Ollie said before cursing under his breath. “Well, so much for over easy. Scrambled it is.”

Smiling, Floyd shook his head. Jeez, he couldn’t have loved Ollie more in that moment if he had tried.

“Take your time.”

A couple of minutes later, Ollie came back to the table with two plates of eggs.

“I’m sorry about my faux pas with the yolks. They’re kind of half-scrambled, half-overcooked now.”

“Ah, they look tasty enough,” Floyd said, which wasn’t really true, but eggs were eggs. He started prodding them with his fork, though his stomach was still too sour from his encounter with Roy to eat. “Gosh, I wish people were more accepting.”

“Sweetheart, can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

Rather than bursting out whatever it was he wanted to ask, Ollie started chewing on his bottom lip, which was pretty unlike him. Floyd could tell how nervous he was. Hoping to provide some kind of reassurance, Floyd reached for Ollie’s hand, lacing their fingers together.

Seconds ticked by on the clock, and then Ollie said, “Well, it looks like there’s no chance of UMWA taking hold here in Logan County or maybe even in West Virginia now that the whole horrible fight happened, and sweetheart, I want something better for us. I like mining together. Really. I love working with you. I love the challenge of mining. I love the way your butt looks when you’re shoveling coal.” Floyd couldn’t help but let out a little snort at that. “But I want a better life for us, especially now that I know that we need to be more careful not to let on about what we are to each other. I mean, will you even be able to stay over anymore?”

“I...” Floyd’s words caught in his throat. Truthfully, he had no idea whether they’d be able to spend as much time together now, especially not overnights. “I can’t say.”

“Our community here, everyone has been very nice to me, but it’s so small, and people here, they probably won’t ever accept us. And now, it feels like everyone is watching us.” Ollie’s voice shook a little when he was saying this, which hurt Floyd’s heart. “I’ll stay here forever if that’s what you want, but... would you ever want to start a new life somewhere else? With me? And Effie and Jo, too, of course. I know you said you never wanted to leave the coal industry, though, so I completely understand if—”

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