Broken Strings

Twenty

Now, though, Brock wanted to know more about this mysterious cowboy that he walked beside. He glanced at Travis' face before glancing towards the creek where some people were swimming. "Has your family always been close?"

"I would say so." Grinning ruefully, he added, "Though Jake and I went through a phase where we tried to ditch Bailey at every opportunity. Typical kid stuff, you know? We'd run off and she'd just follow. Didn't matter what we were doing. We thought we'd gotten rid of her when we started getting into the rodeo but then she took up barrel racing and that went out the window too. It was only when she really started up with her music that we got rid of her."

Travis chuckled and began to steer them away from the water a little bit. Not far but up towards a small copse of trees behind an outcropping of rock.

"Is anyone else in your family musically inclined?"

"Not in the way that Bailey is. My father is probably the closest, actually. He'll deny it but he's got a nice voice too. Jake and I can't sing, my mom is...rough. And that's putting it kindly." Another deep, throaty chuckle. "What's your family like?"

Brock hesitated a moment and then said, "Unconventional."

That earned him a look. One complete with a raised brow and a snort. "Oh?"

"My parents divorced when I was eleven. There's no bad blood," he said quickly as Travis blinked like divorce was a foreign concept. Perhaps in his house it was. Brock had seen the happy smiling faces and the family that truly seemed to enjoy being together. A rock-solid unit. It was something Brock hadn't had when he was younger, not until his parents had actually figured out co-parenting.

"Still. I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard." Travis stopped walking and Brock paused to look around.

The cowboy had been right. This spot was pretty secluded. Sounds of rushing water still reached his ears but the creek was half-hidden out of sight where he and Travis were sandwiched between trees and rock. From the backpack, Travis drew a blanket which he spread upon the ground and plopped down, folding his long legs beneath him. Brock gingerly set his guitar nearby and sat next to Travis, keeping a respectable amount of space between them.

"It was hard at the time," he said, resuming their conversation. "But two years after the divorce, my mom announced that she was seeing someone new – and that the someone was a woman."

Travis' head whipped around. The sun shined directly into his eyes but as he squinted, Brock saw shock resonate there. "Your mom is a lesbian?"

"Bisexual. She got remarried when I was eighteen to that same woman. Don't believe all the stuff they tell you about step-mothers, by the way. Eloise is awesome."

And she really was. Brock had liked his mother's new partner immediately. It had taken over a year for his mom to bring Eloise home to meet him but once she'd entered his life, it was almost like she'd always been there. Eloise was a teacher and she'd helped Brock through his homework for years which was a true feat given how much schooling Brock had tried to blow off to work on his music.

"Well," Travis said slowly. He seemed to be thinking hard about something but eventually, he settled on, "That's great. How'd your dad take that news? Must have been a shock."

"It was, a little, but it wasn't the reason they divorced so I think it was easier for him to process. They were actually better parenting from different households than they did when we were all living together. Their relationship was healthier, like when their marriage ended they went back to being friends instead." Brock chuckled a little and added, "My moms and then my dad and his girlfriend are actually all on vacation together right now. Month-long trip to Greece."