MICHAEL

I saw Lindsay, Mel, and Gus in the diner. If anyone knows where Brian and the guys went, it's his Wendy. I’ve always wondered how she managed to get Brian to listen to her. It's like he doesn't get that I know him better than she ever did. Going in, I paste on a smile and keep from demanding to know where Brian went.

“Hi guys, what are you doing here?” I ask.

Mel looks at the food and shrugs at me. “Eating.” She tells me.

“Well obviously, but normally I don't see you here for breakfast,” I tell her.

“I got a hundred on my spelling test and I said I wanted to come to show Grandma Deb,” Gus tells me.

“I would have brought you a comic if I'd known,” I tell him.

“Dad did so much better.” He tells me, excited.

“Gus, why don't you go tell Deb about your test,” Mel tells him.

Gus took off to Ma and got hugged to death. I sat down, hoping Lindsay would get off her phone. She was writing down stuff in her calendar but shut it when I tried to read it. Like I couldn’t tell she was talking to Brian. Her voice always gets softer and she smiles in a certain way.

“I'll check with my sister if she knows them, bye.” She says, hanging up.

“How's Brian?” I ask.

“He's good, just wanted to check on Gus and make sure I got any mail that he needed to Cynthia.” She tells me.

“How long is he planning to be gone?” I ask.

“I didn’t really ask.” She tells me.

“He left without saying where he was going. I just wondered.” I tell her, waiting for her to tell me.

“I don’t know. Like I said, I forgot to ask.” She tells me.

“Don’t you think he should have let one of us know where he went?” I ask.

“As long as he answers when I call, I don't see any reason he needs to tell us.” She tells me.

“Mel, you probably agree with me, Brian shouldn’t take off without telling you guys,” I tell her.

“Why would he need to tell us?” Mel asks.

“If there's an emergency like if Gus got hurt, we should know where to find him,” I tell her.

“If anything like that happens, we can call him.” She tells me.

“What if it's all three of you, I might have to be the one to find him,” I tell her.

“That's a bit morbid, but Deb knows how to pick up the phone and reach him. Cynthia can too, so as I said, it shouldn't be an issue.” Mel tells me.

“What's the big deal, it's like it's some big secret. None of the guys are answering when I call.” I tell them.

“I don’t know what to tell you. We don't see the reason he needs to tell us everything unless it concerns Gus.” Mel tells me.

“I'm going to get Gus to school. I'll call you later, I might need your help.” Lindsay tells Mel.

“Why wouldn't she just tell you now?” I ask, feeling like they are hiding something from me.

“Bye Mama, if Dad calls can you tell him I want to go see him?” Gus asks.

“I’ll call him and ask him for you.” She tells him.

Lindsay kissed Mel as if they were still newlyweds, before rushing out the door after Gus. When we were alone I figured Mel might say more, she's never been thrilled that Brian was Gus’s father.

“Don’t you just hate the way Gus wants Brian more than you?” I ask her, waiting for her usual rant.

“He loves all of us equally. I'm thrilled that Gus has that.” She tells me.

I backed off because she was staring at me like she didn't like what I said. “Have you talked to Ted?” I ask, hoping she'd stop acting suspiciously.

“Not really, why are you asking? Why not just call them instead of quizzing me?” She asks me.

“I wasn't quizzing you, just making conversation. Obviously, whatever’s going on, you all feel I'm not allowed to know.” I tell her.

“What do you need to know?” Ma asks.

“I wanted to know where Brian went,” I tell her.

“Probably somewhere to get away from your matchmaking. Son, just because you're with Ben doesn’t mean they want the same thing.” Ma tells me.

“I just wanted them to meet guys that weren't empty-headed twinks,” I tell her.

“They didn’t seem to agree and took off so they wouldn’t have to listen to you complain about it. I need to go.” Mel tells us, handing Ma the bill.

“I wasn’t going to complain,” I tell her.

“Michael, you’ve been complaining to anyone who would listen. I have people coming in the diner hoping to avoid you and your complaining that the gang didn't include you on every thought they might have to do anything without you. If you plan to keep Ben around, you need to stop bitching.” Ma tells me.

LINDSAY

I hated what I was about to do, but Brian asked that we not tell anyone where he was. Gus was so excited when he got off the phone and didn’t understand it might not be good to tell anyone he got to talk to Jus T.

“Gus, I know you're excited about talking to Jus T, but I think he and your Dad might not want anyone to know about it,” I tell him.

“I can’t tell my friends?” He asks.

“Jus doesn’t get a lot of privacy, and if anyone found out that your Dad was with him, they might bother Jus,” I tell him.

“I sort of told Grandma.” He tells me.

“I’ll talk to her about it. Maybe soon you can tell people, but I’m sure Jus would really appreciate you not telling people.” I tell him.

“You think Dad will let me meet him?” He asks.

“I think he will if he can. We’ll see if he’ll let you visit this weekend.” I tell him.

Gus got out, telling me that meeting Jus would be more exciting than telling anyone. I left and drove to the address he gave me, trying to think of a reason I would be knocking on a stranger's door. I really wondered why Jus didn’t just hire someone.

The guy that answered told me he bought the house from a couple who divorced but couldn’t tell me anything else. I left to see Mel, not really wanting to deal with my sister unless I had to.

“The guy said they were divorced and I looked through the phone book but there are a lot of Jen, Jennifers, and J Taylors,” I tell her.

Mel called their investigator in and asked him what he would do next. “Look at the addresses and call the ones that fit the person you're looking for. Unless the divorce caused a change in the circumstances, people tend to live the way they always have.’’ He tells me.

“I’m really not sure what to say, the person doesn’t seem to want them to know he’s looking,” I tell him.

“Tell them you're doing a survey about when children leave the home. People will usually answer unless the questions become too personal.” He tells me.

I started making calls with the mock survey the investigator gave me. I got to one woman who told me that her son left home before he turned eighteen.

“Did he leave to attend college?” I ask.

“No.” She said, before hanging up.

I went to the address since it was someone who at least had a son and daughter. A young teen was standing out front talking to friends. I called out Molly and she turned to look at me.

“Sorry, I thought you were another person,” I tell her.

She turned back around and I left to call Jus. Brian gave me the number to call him directly.

“Hi, I’m Lindsay,” I tell him when he answers.

“Hi, I been thinking about what I asked and I don’t really know if I want to know.” He tells me.

“I found your mom and sister, I think. Your parents got divorced, and I sort of called a lot of J Taylor’s before I found someone who at least had a son.” I tell him.

“I really just wanted to know they were doing okay.” He tells me.

“I couldn’t tell you unless you want me to talk to them,” I tell him.

“No, if I want that I’ll do it.” He tells me.

“Let me know either way. By the way, Gus is now determined to get hundreds on everything, if you’ll call when he does.” I tease him.

“Tell him it’s a standing phone call. I have to go, I think Emmett’s about to collapse.” He tells me, as he hangs up laughing.

JUSTIN

I hung up and ran to Emmett when he laid down in the middle of the corn, praying to anyone, to stop the insanity. Ted just sat down next to him and agreed.

“You guys could have stopped anytime,” I tell them.

“I would have if I thought you and Brian were really only running. I couldn’t do it anymore when you answered the phone still running and not even sounding out of breath. I only go to the gym to look at potential tricks, not to exercise.” He tells me.

“We’re in the middle of a cornfield, where did you expect to find a potential trick?” Ted asks.

“Where are all the rugged farm hands that all those pornos show?” He complains.

“At a studio, not on a farm,” Ted tells him.

“Are you ladies done, or can we actually run?” Brian asks.

“Go ahead, I’m going to convince Ryan to share his juice,” Emmett tells him, pulling Ted with him.

We both started running the last lap around the field.

“Did Lindsay find them for you?” He asks me.

“She did. I guess my parents divorced.” I tell him.

“Why didn’t you just hire someone?” He asks me.

“It’s hard to trust people who you pay for information. Someone offers more for the information, and suddenly the past I’ve kept hidden, comes out.” I tell him.

“How did you manage to keep it hidden?” He asks me.

“When I got my first record deal, my father told me if I let it out I was gay, then he wanted nothing to do with me. Instead of using my real name, I changed Taylor to Tailor. Rita changed it again, saying it sounded better. My life wasn't that remarkable before, so it's not like now, where you'd find hundreds of posts about me. In fact, if you looked up my real name, you wouldn’t find anything that relates to me before I started my career.” I tell him.

“Why bother looking into it at all? By the way, hundreds of thousands of posts.” He smirks.

“I guess because of listening to Emmett say he was surprised by Martha. My mom might not have taken it well, but at least she tried to talk me out of leaving.” I tell him.

“Why didn't she contact you, would be my first question," Brian tells me.

“Who said I was planning on seeing her?” I ask.

“You wouldn’t have tried to find her if you didn't. I might have had a hard time reading you at first, but it's not hard to understand why you asked.” He tells me.

“Wouldn’t you be curious about your family?” I ask.

“No.” He tells me running faster.

“Why not?” I ask.

“For a lot of reasons I don't talk about.” He tells me, slowing to a stop.

“Ready to go in? It's almost noon anyway.” I ask him.

“You aren’t going to ask?” He asks, following me out.

“Nope. Everyone should be allowed their privacy.” I tell him.

“Unlike you. I took it from you. Is that your point?” He asks.

“Not at all, if I didn't think you were interesting, you wouldn’t be here,” I tell him.

“You really think the Sheriff could run me off?” He asks.

“I don’t need the Garrett to do it. Did you really think Ryan didn’t have someone watching him? This farm is in the middle of nowhere, but it's not impossible for someone to find out.” I tell him.

“Yeah, I found you.” He tells me.

“I live under the assumption someone might, and Ryan’s safety comes first. Hopefully, Emmett will like the farm hands I hired to keep my son safe.” I tell him.

“You hired people because we showed up?” He asks.

“They've been here since I brought Ryan here. When I'm here they take time off, except one.” I tell him.

“I haven't seen anyone.” He tells me.

“That's because Justin asked me to make sure you didn't.” A guy says from behind us.

“We're headed back, you can take a break,” I tell Drew.

“Daphne got a call, I just came to let you know.” He tells me, leaving.

“Is that why other than being pissed, you didn't seem that concerned?” He asks.

“If you caused problems, I had a way to leave with Ryan. Drew taught me how to hide Ryan and what to do if he was found. It doesn’t mean I ever wanted to use it. If I ever have to, you'd never see him or me again.” I tell him.

“I hope if that ever happens you'll know you can trust me to help you.” He tells me.

“I don’t get you. Why are you trying to act like you care that much?” I ask.

“I wish I could tell you something that makes sense. I look in your eyes and see possibilities that I never thought I wanted.” He tells me.