This was the first
Halloween night in five years that Eric would be manning the front door alone
to welcome all the little ’uns out for the annual treat grab-fest.
It was also the first time
that he had made the apples dipped in caramel and rolled in nuts for the
evening, solo. Eric watched the afternoon talk shows in the kitchen as he
prepared the treats for the kids in his Fairfax neighborhood.
‘Has it really
been eight months since Pete pulled the plug on our relationship?’ he
ruminated. Eric Morris had met Pete Llamedo in the fall of their freshman year
at UCLA at a LGBT Alliance mixer. The transition from high school in Sacramento
to university had been a difficult, challenging experience for Eric. Becoming
friends with Pete provided a needed anchor for Eric’s young life.
Not only was he a
little homesick from being away from his family for the first time, but also
Eric missed his best friend and fuck buddy, Steve Watson. Steve had moved to
Seattle with his family after high school graduation and would attend the
University of Washington in the fall. Eric was aware that he looked to Steve as
more than a friend in high school. In addition to being socially and
intellectually compatible, the physical closeness of the two teens took the
edge off the continuous demands of raging teen hormones. ‘Pretty hot,’ he
considered, thinking of their last encounter after high school graduation and Steve’s
move. Looking back now, Eric pinpointed his junior year in high school where
guys in general, and Steve in particular, were his primary sexual interest.
They kept up with
each other via emails and finally Christmas cards. The last card that Eric received
had been in his junior year at UCLA. Steve announced that he had become engaged
to a terrific woman in his class and planned on marriage in the distant future.
That was the last time Eric had heard from his old pal.
In the meantime,
the friendship with Pete revved up to boyfriend status by the time they became
sophomores. Pete lived in Orange County and his family unofficially adopted
Eric as an honorary Llamedo when he became a frequent houseguest on weekends.
Likewise, Eric took Pete home to Sacramento once in a while. Both sets of
parents were pleased that their respective sons had chosen ‘special’ friends
wisely and were not surprised when Eric and Pete announced that they were in
love and life-partners at the start of their junior year.
Halloween was
always considered a gay holiday and the guys braved the masses for the annual
parade and festivities in West Hollywood while they were in college. However,
by the time they graduated and found jobs in L.A., the WeHo silliness gave way
to house parties with friends. When Eric and Pete – with the help of their
parents – bought a small home in the Fairfax district, they opted to become
homebodies and dole out treats to the kids on ‘All Hallows Eve’ before joining
friends later.
Pete was the cook
in the partnership. Their first fall in the house, he came up with the idea to
give out caramel-dipped apples. Eric became chef’s helper but used his graphic
design background to create some very clever jack-o-lanterns that would be a
welcoming beacon at the entrance to their front door. They established a
pattern of prepping for the evening in advance and always took off from work
for that day to organize for the younger early visitors. In their neighborhood,
parents would start the journey with the youngest...from toddlers to kids
around 10…at 5:00 p.m. By the time 8:00 p.m. arrived, the older kids had made
their rounds. On the second year, Eric and Pete had added small bottles of
water for the parents.
Two years ago
marked a landmark promotion for Pete and his career in sales. Just after
Halloween in 2004, the division boss of the software firm for which he worked
gave him a larger area to cover. While heretofore Pete was busily building and
servicing clients in a small district including part of Orange County and the
fringes of L.A., he was given the growing ‘Inland Empire” cities, San
Bernardino and the burgeoning Palm Springs desert area.
At least twice a
month, Pete would be gone for a couple of days due to the long drive to ‘San
Berdoo’ and Palm Springs. For a while, Pete would schedule his desert trip to
coincide with a Friday so that Eric could come out for a visit to the
energetic, gay Mecca in the sand. But gradually Pete’s scheduling became more
complex and Palm Springs usually was a mid-week sales call.
As the time away
from home became a predictable routine, so did their sex and love life. To be
sure, Eric and Pete were very healthy guys in their mid-twenties. However, Eric
sensed that romance had left the room…and certainly the bed. Even when he would
go ‘the extra mile’ with candles, music and flowers, the feedback from Pete was
polite but hardly enthusiastic.
After a very
pleasant 2006 Valentine’s Day dinner, Pete feigned exhaustion when Eric wanted
to play in the privacy of their bedroom. Sitting on the bed, legs crossed, Eric
looked at a sprawled out Pete and asked, “Babe, you wanna talk about anything?
I thought maybe this would be a nice time to make love.”
“Dinner and wine
was great, Hon, but I’m pooped. Gotta get up early to drive to Palm Springs,”
Pete replied with a sheepish smile and shrug.
“We’ve been a team
almost eight years and I love you…but there doesn’t seem to be the excitement,
anymore.” Eric sighed and stroked Pete’s leg.
“I love you, too.
But eight years is a long time for two people; guys especially. Tell you what:
let’s have a long talk this weekend when I return and am a little fresher.
It’ll all work out,” Pete replied with a yawn.
“Okay, we’ll cook
in but you’re the chef.” Eric picked up on the ominous undertones but chose to
ignore them.
“Aye, aye,
captain.” Pete closed his eyes and was off to slumber land within minutes.
Eric tossed and
turned the rest of the night and finally drifted off to sleep in the early
hours of the morning. He didn’t hear Pete leave the bedroom, later. To beat the
morning L.A. commute traffic, Pete was always on the Interstate 10 by 6:00 a.m.
at the latest.
The rest of the
week was uneventful. Eric was now a design member of the NBC-Universal graphics
department. The team was putting the final touches on the summer film releases
and nothing approaching crisis mode was imminent. Eric was able to get over to
Crunch for a late afternoon workout Thursday before going home to a solo dinner
and the nightly phone call from Pete around 7:00 p.m. He tried not to verbalize
his disappointment when Pete said that he wouldn’t be coming home until
Saturday morning. Apparently there was an important new client that Pete needed
to schmooze over dinner Friday night. ‘Shit,’ Eric thought, ‘just another night
to jerk the gherkin to some cam clips downloaded from DudeTube.’
The weekend
arrived and Eric decided to do the shopping without Pete. He figured that a
trip to the cleaners, Ralph’s and Whole Foods should fill the morning and he’d
be back in time to greet Pete with a sandwich and soup. After a final stop at
an ATM for a wallet refill, he was ready to head home. When he rounded the
corner and pulled into the driveway, Eric saw a Hertz van in the rear by the
garage. He was puzzled by the cargo van as he parked next to the front door
walkway.
“Hi,” Pete yelled
as he strolled out of the house. “Let me help you.” He smiled wistfully and
opened the rear door to retrieve the dry cleaning.
“Hey, yourself.
I’ll grab the groceries.” Eric felt that the atmosphere was a little off.
‘Strange that Pete just greeted me like I had just returned from taking out the
trash,’ he thought as he picked up the two paper bags. “What’s with the van?”
“Needed to borrow
some wheels to get down here,” was Pete’s only reply.
Silently the two
guys went into the house; Pete took the dry cleaning to the bedroom and Eric
went to the kitchen with the groceries.
“You wanna beer?
I’m going to make some sandwiches. Okay?” Eric asked in a loud voice.
“Um, I’ve got a
few things to do in the bedroom. I’ll meet you in 10 minutes.”
Eric busied
himself by first putting away the groceries and then made two sandwiches with
ham and Swiss cheese that needed to be used before ‘bachelor mold’ appeared.
‘To hell with the grams of fat,’ he thought, when he ripped open a bag of chips
and garnished the sandwich plates. Just then, Pete appeared in the kitchen.
“Good timing.”
Pete walked over to the refrigerator and got bottle water. “I decided it’d
probably be best to stick with no alcohol.”
“Maybe I’ll just have
water, too.” Eric sat the two plates on the table and eased into a chair as
Pete joined him. “You on the wagon all of a sudden?”
“No, ah, I’m goin’
to be driving today,” Pete replied, looking at his plate.
“Driving? As in to
see your folks?” Eric took a bite and looked at his partner staring down at his
sandwich.
“Eric, this isn’t
easy. I’m, um, going to be returning to Palm Springs. A lot of stuff has been
going down and I’m going to be working out of a new office in the desert.”
“You…you’re doing
what?” Eric asked with his mouth full of food. He quickly chewed, swallowed and
took a drink of water. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I…I’ve made a
difficult decision. You asked some questions after dinner earlier this week
about our lives together. As much as I hate to admit it, what we had is not
there anymore. I’m, ah, I’m moving on and going to Palm Springs is just part of
it.”
Eric sat there
dumbfounded as he absorbed the news that the 7-½ year relationship had ‘gone
south’. Pete went on to say that he’d met a guy in Palm Springs a year earlier
and the casual friendship developed into a full-blown love affair. Full-blown
enough for Pete to be moving into his new lover’s Palm Springs home.
“You just waltz in
here and tell me our relationship is over and I’m being tossed away like
yesterday’s garbage? That’s bullshit…complete and utter bullshit.” Eric was
trembling as he stared at his now ex-other half.
“Hey, calm down.
It isn’t easy for me,” Pete said firmly.
“You sneak around
behind my back with some new honey and ask me to calm down? Screw you.”
“I guess I
deserved that. Just hear me out.”
“This better be
good.” Eric snarled, while resisting the urge to throw something and storm out.
Throughout Pete’s monologue, Eric’s emotions
internally went from explosive shock, to disbelieving, to seething and,
finally, to defeated neutrality. Pete’s admission merely added substance to
what Eric had felt for the past several months. ‘Jeez, what a naïve, dumb fuck
I must be,’ he thought as partner – make that former partner – droned on.
Pete seemed
remorseful as he laid out his feelings and plans. When he suggested that Eric
could buy his part of the house for the amount of money that his folks had lent
him over five years earlier, Eric numbly shook his head in agreement. Pete
handed him a legal document that represented the buy-out.
“I suggest you
have a lawyer check out everything As far as I know, it’s all in order. We can
figure out a payment plan later.”
“Dad can probably
come up with a loan,” Eric replied, flatly. He was amazed at the detailed
planning that had gone on behind his back. “Um, what happens now?”
“I’m going to grab
all of my clothes, computer and stuff and take it back to Palm Springs.”
“Define stuff.
There’s a lot here that we bought together.”
“In the agreement
you’ll see where I’m surrendering all rights to our furniture and furnishings.
I won’t need it out in the desert.”
“So, you’re outta
here…just like that?” Eric felt his stomach churning and took a deep breath to
calm the passing nausea. ‘Seven and a half years…and that’s that?’
“As soon as I get
packed. I don’t need any help, unless you want to stick around to make sure
nothing is missing,” Pete said with a shrug.
“I think that it’s
best that I get out of your way. Except for ripping out my heart just now,
you’ve never done anything to make me think you’d take anything of mine. Um,
how much time do you need?” Eric was now just mouthing words without any
emotion. ‘Pete must have been planning this for a while,’ he decided. ‘This is
all too calculated.’
“I should be
finished and on the road in an hour or so.”
“Leave the keys on
the kitchen table when you take off. Maybe we can talk rationally…someday.
Right now, I’m too upset to say anything else.”
“I understand how
you feel. I only hope that we can be friends…down the road,” Pete replied.
Eric nodded to
Pete and walked out of the kitchen and the house. He got in his car and took
off to the nearest bar – The Gold Coast on Santa Monica Boulevard – for a few
beers.
Eric had to admit
that Pete’s modest buyout proposal was very generous. ‘Probably did it to ease
the guilt,’ Eric decided, when he returned with a slight buzz. He entered the
kitchen and found the keys on the table with a note.
“My dearest Eric,
I’m sorry. It just
happened. Maybe we can be friends?
Love always,
Pete”
Eric crumpled the
note and threw it in the garbage. “Fuck,” he yelled to himself. ‘Friends don’t
stab you in the back,’ he thought as a lone, belated tear appeared. ‘On the
other hand, we had some good years. Maybe we’ll run into each other under
different circumstances. I wonder what the new other-half is like?’
That was eight
months ago.
Ellen DeGeneres was just starting her opening
monologue on the TV and that signaled to Eric that he had exactly one hour to
pull his act together. The caramel apples were firming in the fridge and he had
filled a tub with ice to chill down bottled water. The jack-o-lanterns that he
had carved Sunday needed to be brought out from the coolness of the pantry and
positioned outside on the sides of the stoop.
He noticed that a
slight chill was in the air when he arranged the carved pumpkins. ‘Ideal
weather,’ Eric decided. No wind meant that the candles illuminating the faces
he had carved would not blow out. With the jack-o-lanterns in place, he went
inside and stripped out of his sweats.
While the shower
water was warming, Eric stood and absent-mindedly touched the towel bar that
used to hold Pete’s bath towels. The bathroom was more orderly now…but less lived-in.
Once satisfied that the shower temperature was hot, Eric stepped into the
shower and performed the quick, efficient shampoo and body cleansing routine
that he had perfected now that he was living alone.
Toweling off
afterwards gave him pause to remember when showering was a sensuous, two-man
operation. Eric shrugged and looked at his trim, nude body with satisfaction.
The remaining prep included hair gel, teeth brushing and moisturizer. ‘What
would a gay man do without Clinique?’ he wondered with a sardonic smile.
The choice of
clothing was a no-brainer: post-preppy khakis, a cotton crew sweater and
Topsiders. Eric and Pete did try wearing costumes on the second year of
greeting the kids but ended up scaring too many of the little ones and pissing
off some of the parents. ‘No reason to give the adults a reason to hate the
neighborhood queers,’ they decided. Costumes were 86’d from that point on.
Eric went back to
the kitchen, poured himself a glass of wine and watched the remaining moments
of ‘Ellen’. As she went to the final commercial, Eric took the first of three
trays of caramel apples out of the fridge and brought them to a table just
inside the front door. Next he carried the tub of water bottles to the table.
Lastly, he lit the candles inside the jack-o-lanterns and turned on the door
light. Eric smiled when he spotted the first of the costumed visitors coming
down the sidewalk with their parents or older siblings. He kept the front door
open and allowed the screen door to be the minimal security to the house.
For the next hour,
Eric entertained and was entertained by a steady trickling of tiny Supermen,
Sponge Bobs, Cinderellas, witches, pirates, ghosts, and clowns. He chuckled
when a young girl, perfectly made up as Elvira, arrived with her mother in
matching costumes. Many knew him and were very polite to ‘Mr. Morris’. The
parents were equally appreciative to be provided with bottled water.
Around 6:45 p.m.
the sky was starting to become dark; twilight was settling in earlier as
daylight savings time had ended just two nights earlier. Eric was flipping
through the latest issue of Vanity Fair when the doorbell rang. He went to the
door saw a little boy dressed as Spiderman and an older girl dressed as Little
Miss Red Riding Hood. He guessed the girl to be 10 years old and the boy…maybe
six.
“Hi, kids.” Eric
opened the screen door and smiled.
“Hi, Mister. Trick
or treat?” said the girl.
“Oh, a treat to be
sure,” Eric said with a smile. He took two caramel apples, wrapped them with
waxed paper and handed one to each of the children. He looked at the little boy
and something stood out. ‘Jeez, who is this kid?’ he wondered. ‘Must be a
neighbor but I don’t recognize him. He certainly looks familiar, though.’
“Oh, wow,” said
the boy. I’m going to eat this when I get home.”
“Thanks, replied
the girl. “Come on, Stevie, your dad is waiting to go to dinner.”
“Just a minute,
kids. I’m curious…do you live around here. I’ve seen Stevie somewhere but I
can’t place it.”
“Stevie’s my
step-brother and we just recently moved here. His real dad is taking us around
tonight so my parents can go to a party,” the girl replied.
“Um, Stevie’s dad
is with you?” Eric started feeling as if he was filling in the last part of the
morning crossword puzzle. The more he looked at Stevie the more he remembered
what his best friend, Steve Watson, looked like as a boy.
The miniature
Spiderman nodded and said, “Daddy is waiting for us by the curb.” He turned and
pointed to the silhouette of an adult standing under a tree next to the street.
“Ah, would you
take me over so I can say ‘hi’ to your dad?” Eric asked with restrained
excitement. ‘This has to be my old buddy, Steve,’ he decided when he looked
closer at the man in the shadows. ‘What’s he doing here?’
“Um, sure, follow
me.” Stevie took Eric’s hand and led him to his dad with the girl trailing
behind.
“Well, Stevie, who
have you brought to…uhhh, oh god. Ah,
sh…Eric, is that you?” Steve said with a gasp. He instinctively placed his hand
on Eric’s shoulder and squeezed firmly.
“Long time,
Steve.” Eric released little Stevie and grabbed his dad’s firm, adult hand for
a shake. “Way too long.” He realized that his eyesight was becoming blurred
from the spontaneous tears as a jolt of energy surged from the touch.
“What, eight or
nine years?” Steve asked as he pulled away to look at Eric. “Age seems to agree
with you,” he added, with a smile.
“Hey, being 26
isn’t over the hill.” Eric used the comment and chuckle to ease the emotional
tension between the two.
“Let me officially
introduce everyone. Kids, this is Eric Morris. Mr. Morris and I were best
friends many years ago in Sacramento. The beautiful Little Red Riding Hood is
Lucy, Stevie’s stepsister.”
“Hi, Mr. Morris,”
Lucy said. She held out her hand and let Eric shake it.
“Hi,” was all
Stevie could say as he looked at the tall male stranger and his dad.
“Um, can you come in for a few minutes and
tell me how you happen to be in my neighborhood?”
“Yeah, I don’t
have to get Lucy and Stevie home for a while. His mother and her husband are at
a party. I was going to take the kids over to Canter’s for some food, as a
matter of fact.”
“Then come in and
let me feed you guys. It’ll give us a chance to catch up,” Eric said as he
naturally grabbed Steve’s hand. Eric was aware that Steve had no intention of
letting go.
“Kids, Mr. Morris
has invited us in for some dinner. That okay? I’ll get you back home in time.”
“Yes, Daddy,” came
an affirmative answer from Stevie. His stepsister just smiled and nodded.
“Great, let’s go inside.
There will be a few more tricksters coming by for treats but we can handle that
and make some food.” Eric led his long lost friend and the children back into
the house. Eric and Steve eased into two over-stuffed chairs while Lucy
politely sat on the couch. Stevie plopped down on the carpet and crossed his
legs.
“Lucy, I think
that Mr. Morris and I were your age when we first met. He and I played
together, went to the same school, attended church and joined scouts at the
same time. Those were good times.”
“I wish I had a
good friend like that,” Little Stevie said quietly. “Being in a new town is
tough.”
“Buddy, you’ll do
just fine. New town and new school is a big deal. It just takes a while,” Steve
said in a reassuring tone.
“Let me get
something to drink. I’ve got Cokes and beer. I think Coke for the kids?” Eric
said with a laugh. “Beer okay for you?” Eric stopped and looked at Steve.
“That’s something
I’ve never turned down…as you know.”
Eric brought back
the drinks and relaxed with his guests. For the next several minutes, Lucy and
Stevie told Eric more about their lives and projected general happiness about
being part of a new family. The two men swapped some harmless tales about their
growing up together. Occasionally Eric would excuse himself to answer the door
and dole out goodies to his costumed visitors. Finally, he noticed that the
youngsters were started to fidget. ‘Whoops, the attention span as been
short-circuited,’ he observed. ‘Time to take action. Plus, I want some solo
time with my old friend.’
“Ah, there’s a TV in the next room. Why don’t
you two take your drinks and find something to watch so I can talk with
Stevie’s dad? The remote is on top of the set.”
“Yes, Sir,” the
girl said with some relief. She took Stevie by the hand and walked over to the
den.
“Steve, to say
this is a surprise is an understatement. Why don’t you watch the door while I
get a couple more beers?”
“Gotcha. I’ll do
goblin patrol until you return.” The two men just smiled and stared at each
other. Steve shook his head and said with a chuckle, “I can’t friggin’ believe
it”.
“Yeah, amazing.
Back in a sec.” Eric made a dash for the kitchen and retrieved two more
Heineken’s. ‘Man,’ he thought, ‘my old bud has really turned into a hunk. Well,
a young daddy hunk.’ He returned to the living room and handed the bottle of
beer to Steve before joining him on the couch.
“Thanks, buddy.
After hauling the kids around the neighborhood, beer really hits the spot.”
Steve winked and took a long pull from the green bottle of beer. “Nice place
you got. Have you lived here long?”
“Five years. I
bought it with another guy…he was, um, my partner.” Eric decided not to beat
around the bush of half-truths and fabrication.
“Partner? As in…”
“Gay life partner.
Well, ‘life’ I thought at the time.” Eric expelled an audible sigh and took a
sip of beer while looking at his old best friend.
“I, err, um,
assume that this is no longer the case?” Steve looked into Eric’s eyes with an
intensity mixed with uncertainty and questioning.
“Pete – my ex –
found love out in Palm Springs and dropped me like a used rubber. He left in
February.”
“So, you’re single
and…”
“Yep, your old
best friend is gay.” Eric swallowed hard and continued, “I guess I should admit
that the, um, messing around we did had more meaning for me than it did for
you. I hope you’re not pissed at this news?” Eric’s voice trailed down to
almost a stage whisper.
“Pissed? As I
remember, we got off pretty good,” Steve said with an equally low voice.
“And pretty messy.
“I remember the
contests we had…seems you always won.” Steve smiled and shook he head. “I think
that it might be a little simplistic to file away the stuff we did as just two
guys with raging hormones going through puberty.”
“Buddy, puberty
was around 12 or 13. What we did when we were in high school got pretty
advanced.” Eric studied his old pal for any subtle reactions. “Seriously, are
you okay with me being gay?”
“Yeah - no problem. It wasn’t like I was forced
into anything I didn’t want to do.” Steve paused for a few moments before he
continued, “I wish, though, we had been a little more honest with each other.”
“Meaning?” Eric
asked with a raised eyebrow.
“That I had
special feelings for you. I thought about that when I moved to Seattle.
However, as I started college and met the woman who would become my wife and
Stevie’s mom, I just pushed what we had done into my sub-conscious – like, um,
just part of, ah, you know, growing up and nothing more.”
“What we did…I,
ah, never forgot. Guess it was just natural that our lives would move on with
so much distance between us.”
“Certainly nothing
planned. I got married, graduated from university and Stevie was born. However,
when I started my first job it suddenly hit me that I was denying who I was.”
“Hit you? Who you
were? You mean that…?”
“That I started
thinking about what we had done and began to occasionally mess around with
guys. Basically, I became more attracted to men at work, on the street and at
the gym. Here I was; a working family man and my feelings for other men were
pressuring me into sexual activity on the side.”
Eric was
completely mesmerized by Steve’s story. A ring at the door interrupted him.
“Um, hold that thought. I’m going to give out the last of the apples and shut
down the trick or treat routine.” Eric went to the door and gave out the last
of his apples to a group of older kids. He also gave each a bottle of water and
wished them a safe and fun evening. After they left, he extinguished the
candles in the jack-o-lanterns, closed the door and turned off the outside
lights. He saw Steve coming from the den.
“Just checked in
on the kids. They’re doing fine with ‘Nick at Night’.” Steve sat down with Eric
and they both quietly took a long swallow of beer.
“I guess this is
where I ask you what you’re doing in L.A. and my living room…not that I’m
complaining,” Eric said with a broad grin.
“Three years ago I
came clean with the wife and told her that I was absolutely sure that I was
gay. To make a…well, the bottom line is that we decided upon an amicable
divorce and I moved out immediately.”
“No problems?”
“Nothing ugly,
thank god. There was the initial shock, of course, that her husband was gay.
But the priest at our Episcopal church counseled her and laid out the
substantive facts about sexual orientation and the biological data that
concludes it isn’t a choice.”
“You’re one of the lucky ones. I’ve heard of
guys coming out and the wife ‘outing’ them at work, spreading vicious rumors
and making the guy’s life hell.”
“Yes, very lucky.
She took custody of Stevie and kept the house. But she always honored my
visitations and custody weekends.”
“Sounds like a
terrific woman,” Eric said.
“Yep, absolutely,
fantastic. About a year later, she met a guy – good man, by the way – and they
eventually got married. In fact, I attended their wedding and watched little
Stevie be the ring bearer.”
“Wow, talk about
dodging a potentially bad situation.”
“We all became
good friends. However, the rub came when her husband took a job promotion that
meant moving to L.A. I obviously wasn’t going to be in a situation where I
couldn’t see my son. So, I asked my boss about a transfer to L.A. and he came
through. Stevie and family moved down here in May and I arrived a few months
ago.”
“Where do you
live?”
“I’ve got a small
apartment over at Park La Brea. It’s not too far from Stevie in Hancock Park
and my office in Santa Monica.”
“Um, and not too
far from here.”
“Not at all.”
“Steve, I’m not
going to go altruistic and unrealistically optimistic on you, but I’d love to
figure out if we can get back to friend status…at the very least.” Eric clasped
his hands and leaned forward.
“We drifted apart
because we lived in far away cities…it just happened. Now that we’re almost
neighbors, I’d really enjoy getting you back as a friend.” Steve reached over
and grabbed Eric’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
“Um, maybe you can come
back for a few drinks and dessert after you take the kids home?” Eric said with
a grin.
“Oh, I think that
an adults-only reunion is definitely in order. I want to share what’s happened
in our lives…in detail.”
“Buddy, this is not a trick
but certainly a treat. I look forward to getting together a little later.” Eric
took a deep breath and clasped his hand over Steve’s. “Now let me figure out
what we’ve got to feed you and the kids.” The two old friends smiled and stood
up simultaneously.
“And I’ll save a spot for
dessert.”
“The dessert I have in
mind, you’ll remember.” Eric looked over to the den to make sure the kids were
not in viewing range before continuing, “But here’s a little hint.” He pulled
Steve into a tight embrace and offered a short, warm, wet kiss.
“Mmmm, I like. And as much
as I’d like to figure out what’s poking me in the leg, we’d best maintain a ‘PG
- 13’ rating until later.”
“Later, then. Come on out
the kitchen and help me fix some dinner.”
___________________
This story first appeared as part of the
Gay Authors 2006 Fall Anthology.