Page 10 of Covington Acres

“Hey, Uncle Colby!” Wyatt, Roe’s son, greeted him. Sean, Holden’s nephew, got out of the passenger seat. Scout, Grady’s nephew, and Reese appeared from the back.

“God, stop. I can’t get used to seeing you drive. It makes me feel old,” Colby replied.

“You are old!” Sean teased, and Colby ran after him, catching the kid and giving him a playful noogie. Sean was family to him, just like Wyatt was.

“Take it back, you brat.”

All the kids laughed, and Colby let him go.

“He could have taken you, but we have to respect our elders,” Reese teased.

“What are we going to do with this generation?” Colby pointed to them, but really, he thought they were fucking great. They were so different from when he was a kid. While Scout used he/him pronouns, he didn’t stick to gender stereotypes. He played sports and liked to dance. Sometimes he wore dresses, and others, he’d be in what people considered more typical boy’s clothing. It wasn’t odd to see him playing football in a skirt or wearing a basketball jersey with painted nails. Colby couldn’timagine someone being that brave when he was young, and then when he looked at the other boys, how accepting they were, how no one batted an eye to gender nonconformity or being queer; hell, they made him prouder than Colby could say.

When Wyatt’s phone rang, he said, “Oh, it’s Bianca. I’ll meet you guys inside,” then headed back to his vehicle to talk to his girlfriend. The whole thing was new. It was Wyatt’s first one from what Colby knew.

“You’re here early this summer,” Colby said to Scout as the rest of them walked toward the house.

“I’m going to stay the whole summer with Uncle Grady and Deacon. I like it here better.” He glanced at Reese, then looked away. “I want to be here for the wedding too.”

Roe and Holden were getting married toward the end of summer. Colby figured the whole town would shut down for the occasion.

“Well, you know we’re all glad to have you,” Colby replied.

The house was packed like always—Roe and Holden, his sister, Jackie, and her family, his brother Dennis and his family. Wyatt’s mama, Lindsey, was already here with her boyfriend, Larry. Holden’s sister, Marilee, and Ozzy, a guy she was dating. Plus, his parents, of course. Deke, Grady, Clint, and August weren’t here, but that wasn’t a surprise since this was more a Covington family thing. Sean and Wyatt must have asked to bring Reese and Scout.

“Hey, brother.” Holden hugged Vince, having seen them first.

“Good to see you, babe.” Vince kissed his cheek.

Colby shifted uncomfortably, unsure why. Probably because being at family functions now did this to him. He wasn’t proud of it. It made him feel like shit. He was surrounded by the most loving people in the world, yet they made him feel insecure.

“Hey, Colb. You keeping him in line?” Holden asked Colby.

“Someone’s gotta do it.”

They all chuckled.

Cousins ran around the large farmhouse, playing. Wyatt was the oldest. Siblings and spouses talked. It was like a party every time they were all together. Colby stayed engaged like he should, but damn, sometimes his own family was overwhelming to him.

Everyone chatted and visited for a while. Dennis and Dad were talking to him and Vince about some of the crops on the farm and things that needed to be done. Once dinner started, his mama had a rule about not talking work when they were at the table, so Dennis and Dad tried to get it out of the way now.

“I’m worried there are some problems with the irrigation,” Vince told Dad. “Maybe clogged or something. I noticed last night that there seems to be an uneven distribution of water on the western edge. I meant to say something yesterday and forgot.”

Shit. Colby hadn’t even noticed that.

“Oh, that’s all we need with the hot weather,” Dad replied.

“I’ll take a look in the morning,” Vince told him. “If I can’t figure it out myself, then we can look into calling someone, but I’m pretty handy, so maybe I can do it.”

“Thanks, Vince. We appreciate the work you do for us.” Dad squeezed his shoulder, and Colby just stood there watching them. Why did he find this so interesting? There was no jealousy that his dad was speaking to Vince this way. In fact, Colby liked it maybe more than he should. It made him feel good that Vince had been brought into the fold so easily.

“Dinner’s done!” Mama called. “Get your butts in here and help me.”

There was a mad dash for the kitchen, where they helped grab serving dishes to place on the tables. They’d bought a second one a while back, pushing two of them together so there was enough room for their growing army.

Once everyone was seated, his dad said grace. Colby used to go to church a lot more with his family, but it wasn’t something he did much now. Roe hadn’t gone since he was eighteen, but it took Colby longer to start skipping out. He just wasn’t sure he believed the same things his parents did, and if he did, he didn’t think sitting in church on Sundays mattered as much as how you treated people. He would rather focus on those things.

“How are the wedding plans going?” Mama asked because weddings were always on her mind. She was so damn happy that Roe and Holden were tying the knot, and while Colby was happy for them, he couldn’t deny that the question made his gut roll. It wasn’t usually long before they went from that to Colby’s love life—or lack thereof.

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