The Ranchers Son by RJ Scott

details.”
    They ended the
call with no goodbyes, no further conversation. Ethan had had a few days to get
used to the idea that Adam was back; that was Nate’s first hearing of it. He
was likely in shock.
    Ethan climbed into
the car, put his cell to charge, checked Adam’s seat belt, and left the old
diner. And through all of it, Adam slept.
     
     
    The inn Ethan
found was nothing fancy, but the room was clean. He’d picked up dinner on his
way through town, so they wouldn’t need to leave the inn to eat.
    Adam woke up
enough to stumble to the room. He looked dazed and confused, but allowed Ethan
to get him to bed. The room had a microwave and a fridge, and they at least
managed to get some food inside them.
    Adam appeared to
wake up a little, lying back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. “What
the fuck happened?” he asked.
    Ethan wasn’t sure
if that was a rhetorical question, and he hesitated a little.
    “I mean,” Adam
continued, “my brain is a mess, but that wasn’t just a dream, that was a full-on
panic attack.”
    “Maybe you’re
right with the leaflet, that it’s because we’re getting near Montana?” Ethan
sat on the edge of his bed and waited for Adam’s perspective on that.
    “I don’t know. You
think I don’t want to be in Montana? Like my brain is telling me it’s not a good
idea.”
    “Could be.”
    “Some kind of
self-preservation,” Adam mused. He moved a little to get comfy and let out a
noisy sigh. Despite the panic attack, he looked a bit better today, although
the orange lighting against the scarlet bed covers probably accounted for the warm
tones in his skin.
    “We’re aiming for
Billings tomorrow, then the ranch the day after.”
    “Is Billings far
from wherever this is?”
    “Beach,” Ethan
said.
    “North Dakota.” Adam
nodded. “See, I remember all those kinds of things. I know geography, and I
recall place names as I see them. But I don’t know why I was able to tell the
doctors about a place called Crooked Tree.”
    “Or the name Ethan.”
    Adam turned his
head and smiled at Ethan, a soft smile that reached his eyes. “I’m guessing you
meant a lot to me, and not even my fucked-up brain can put that in a box and
close the lid.”
    “Maybe.”
    Ethan couldn’t
bear imagining that somehow, in all of what had happened to Adam—whatever that
was—Adam had clung to a wispy memory of Ethan’s name.
    Like Ethan meant
something to him.
    Like Ethan was home .

Chapter Ten
    Adam squirmed in
his seat, the sign for Montana was right there. Ethan had pulled the car over
just before it so that Adam could face his fear.
    Not that he put it
that way, but clearly he thought Adam was a complete wimp over this shit, and
needed to protect him from himself.
    “I’m sorry,” he
said again. That must have been the third time at least. He didn’t know what
else to say.
    “Seriously, you
have to stop saying that.” Ethan didn’t sound irritable, just resigned. “Do you
know how brave you are?”
    Adam huffed; he
was so not brave. He couldn’t even cross a state line without losing
control.
    Ethan wouldn’t let
it alone. “You wake up and you’re in a whole new world. It takes guts and
bravery to even have left the hospital, let alone get in a car with a total
stranger and travel across the country.”
    Adam looked at
him. Ethan meant every word. Ethan thought he was brave. So maybe he should try
and be what Ethan thought he was.
    “Okay,” he said.
His chest was tight, but his thoughts were clear. “Let’s do this.”
    “Really?”
    “Don’t say that. Just
go.”
    So Ethan did. He
turned on the engine and, in a few seconds, they had crossed into Montana.
    And nothing
happened. Adam didn’t die, he didn’t break down, and he felt brave.
    Nearly four hours
of driving with some breaks had them pulling into a rest stop, still ten miles
outside Billings.
    Crossing the state
line had been a non-event. Or rather, Adam made it a non-event. He’d swallowed
his