by JQ Jones
* * * *
The Mendez brothers stood in a line blocking all the heat from the fireplace in the den. They did not smile at either Linc or Jeff, nor did they speak. They just stood mute and still, waiting for Willie to return to the room.
Jeff had offered to make coffee, but the tallest had declined with a very curt shake of his head. No one else bothered to answer.
“I’m having coffee. You want some, babe?” Jeff asked.
“I’ll wait until our friends leave. I might need to have both hands available,” Linc answered. That made the middle man smile briefly. It was either in humor or anticipation. Linc couldn’t tell which.
Willie bounced into the room talking. “Man how did you guys get here? Did Mortez fly? I wish you hadn’t done that, it’s just not the kind of weather that you should practice your tricks in. How are Mamá and Papá? They didn’t tell me you were coming. I talked to them yesterday and they just said that Abuela had come to visit. It must not be snowing at home. Did you guys introduce yourselves? This is Jeff Antonetti and Iona’s brother Lincoln. They’re doctors and partners. Not business partners, life partners. Guys, these are my brothers, Miguel, Mortez, Mano, Macro, and the oldest, Moises,” she said. She reached up to give each of her brothers a kiss on both cheeks as she introduced them.
“They don’t talk a lot, do they?” Jeff said.
“No, not really. Never understood why,” she said.
Moises actually laughed. He gathered Willie into his arms for a hard squeeze. Each of the brothers followed him in their hugs.
“Mamá said that you were staying in West Virginia until the storm was over with a gay couple, but I find you here pretty much naked. So I ask myself, how gay are they? So, gentlemen, can you answer that question for me?” Moises said.
Willie laughed. “Linc and Jeff don’t know that you’re kidding, Mo.”
“That’s because he’s not,” Linc said.
* * * *
Jeff and Willie smiled at each other from across the table. They had made a very simple vegetable lasagna with a nice biscuit. Jeff had done the biscuits. Willie grabbed a glass of wine to try to moisten her throat. Mano sat beside her on the left with Mortez to her right with Miguel and Marco and Mano sitting on either side of Jeff across the wide, wooden, artisan table. Linc and Moises sat at either end.
Jeff, Miguel, Mano, and Willie participated in a lively conversation about the weather, politics, movies, and plans for the next months. She flashed smiles at her two lovers, comfortable flirting because her brothers were there to block any of the reckless behavior that she wanted to indulge in. That feeling of freedom lasted until Cynthia arrived.
The Mendez men reacted the way they always did when a desirable woman walked into the room, they went into acquisition mode. Only Moises stayed in his chair while his brothers got to their feet. He leaned back to watch Cynthia enter the room. She had on a long red down coat that brushed the tops of fur-trimmed snow boots. She peeled it off along with a thick wool scarf and matching hat.
Willie stood to introduce her brothers. After Cyn received handshakes and an unnecessary kiss on the wrist from Mano, she accepted a hot chocolate. Willie helped Jeff collect plates, loading dishes after he rinsed them and talking to Cyn as she worked.
“Moises is the oldest. He travels all the time. He’s a glaciologist. Mortez is next. He’s a cowboy, you know, what do you call it? He’s a rodeo guy. I can’t understand it but when I watch him, it’s magic. I ride pretty well but on a horse Mortez is a centaur. Miguel, oh Miguel, well some things even I don’t speak of. Mano and Marco are twins. Our family was very pleased to have twins. Mi abuela says they are a gift from God, but sometimes God gives you a devil and we have two, that’s double the blessing,” Willie said from the kitchen.
None of the men at the table interrupted Will as she spoke. After casting a puzzled look around the table, Cyn laughed. “How do you do that, Willie? All these guys are mesmerized by the sound of your voice,” Cyn said. She smiled broadly. Jeff turned to her with a matching smile.
“Well, I was way younger than even the twins. I’m twenty-seven and they’re thirty-three. Mamá says they should be married by now but, who really wants them? Anyway, they don’t talk much so since I like conversation, I talk. Sometimes they answer but they are very shy around new people,” Will said. They all moved into the den. Will sat on the large chaise lounge between Linc, who leaned against the back, and Jeff who laid his back against Willie. He slid his shoulders back and forth on her, making her his own personal comfy pillow. Moises scowled. Cyn laughed.
The next few hours they watched movies and drank Irish chocolate. Cyn got up to leave after The Great Dictator went off.
“Come on, guys, you’re going home with me tonight,” Cyn said as she stretched. She performed a huge stretch, from the top of her knees all the way up to her neck. Marco groaned. Moises growled.
“Linc, you don’t want all these guys cluttering up your house, besides the house has three bedrooms, excluding mine of course,” Cyn said. She began the process of adding the earlier discarded layers.
The brothers left to get outerwear still lying on a much-abused chair. Moises stayed where he was until the room was empty of everyone but Jeff, Linc, and Willie Mae. Will was warm and protected by her two lovers.
“You have to come with us, Willie Mae Dollar Mendez,” Moises said.
“My government name?” she said.
“Full name, this is from Papá and Mamá. They don’t think that because these guys”—here he stabbed a finger at Linc and Jeff—“say they’re gay, don’t mean shit. I came here thinking the parents were smoking that good stuff. But now I see that they were right. You’re fucking them both. That means somebody was lying. Will, you’ve never lied, so I think these two, they’ve been messing with your head. Before I take other action, you just come with me and it’s no harm, no foul,” Moises said.
“It’s not for anybody to decide something like that but me. I’m twenty-seven, I’m a grown woman, I can decide what—”
“Nuestra abuela tuvo un sueño,” Moises said.
“Fuck! Shit a brick sideways. I have to go,” Willie said.
Chapter Nine:
Fewer Words are What We Need
“I don’t understand. What are you doing? Everything was okay. Moises says something to you in Spanish. You kiss me and Linc. Come in here and to tell us that you have to go right now. This is not to be believed.” Jeff was pacing the floor, kicking rugs out of the way, and ranting. Willie sat on the bed watching him. He was so damned pretty, eyes flashing, a faint blush highlighting his dusky complexion. She wanted to eat him, all mouth, no spoons needed.
Linc leaned back into the plush settee. Willie smiled at him slightly when he caught her lusting after Jeff. A slight shake of his head brought her attention back to her raving lover.
“Tell me again what Moises said, if you can stop stroking Linc for a minute,” Jeff said.
“Meow, Jeff,” Linc said.
“Jeff isn’t catty, slightly bitchy, but no way catty,” she said. “As soon as he stops for breath, I’ll explain to you both why I have to go. I’ll just sit here quietly until he finishes speaking then, talk.” She sat, quietly, without speaking for at least five minutes.
Jeff stopped ranting but continued pacing and talking to see how long it would be before she found her voice. Jeff exchanged a look with Linc because she sat patiently, looking serene and unworried. It was the longest she had been silent since she’d arrived. She smiled broadly at them both.
“Ready?” she said.
“More than,” Linc said.
“Okay, here’s the deal. Abuela is Papá’s mother and way old. She had Papá after her other children were in their twenties and she well into her forties. Abuela said that she had a speaking dream that she would have a special child and there he was, Papá. Unfortunately, her other children, four boys and a girl, left her when they grew up and never really came back. Visits and stuff but not
like Abuela likes. I don’t know the whole story behind that but Abuela is a strong woman and it takes a strong personality to stand up to her.” Willie took a sip of water from the glass sitting on the bedside table. She smiled over the glass at the look of impatience on Linc’s face. Jeff leaned against the fireplace and slowly shook his head.
“Anyway, Abuela has had only four of these speaking dreams that I know of. One when Papá was born, one when he met Mamá, then she had one when I came to live with Mamá and Papá, and finally, one when Mortez—let us not speak of that incident. For her to have one just about me, the other one was about Mamá getting her wish to have a girl, means that I need to go home and see what it is. She’s already flown up from her ranch in Monterrey. That means she called Papá, he called CJ, who got Clint, and he flew down to pick up Abuela. She came to the ranch to tell Papá and Mamá that I was getting ready to do something, she didn’t say bad, she said not normal. You guys have to agree what we’re thinking about is not exactly normal so she was right. She wants to talk to me, personally, now. I have to go and see what she dreamed. It’s important to me.”
“We’re not important to you?” Jeff said.
“That’s a stupid question. Do you think I sleep with a gay couple every other weekend or something? You’re starting to get me mad. I’m leaving and if we decide, we, you, me, and the silent giant here, decide we’re going to be together then we’ll figure out a way to do that. Meanwhile, I’m outta here for a while.”
“Are you leaving tonight?” Linc’s voice deepened. He slumped forward with his elbows on his knees. He and Willie looked one another in the eye.
“Yes I am.”
“Had enough fun with the queers already?”
“Linc, that was uncalled for, man,” Jeff said.
“Linc knows that, Jeff. He’s just trying to fuck with my head because he’s having an issue liking fish,” Willie said. She took in a deep gulp of air before continuing. “I like having sex with him, he likes having sex with me, you like having sex with me, and you like having sex with him. It’s practically perfect in every way. We should be having an all-over orgasm right now, but Linc has to fucking psychoanalyze everything we do. I’m going to see what Abuela has to say. You guys do what you want. If you want my opinion, which neither one of you has asked for, you and Linc need to make sure that this is a relationship you can commit to. Think about this, I don’t fuck just anybody, certainly not two men at a time, but with you guys it feels real and right and wonderful but if you”—here Willie looked at Linc—“can’t take that last step and stop worrying about losing your gay card because you want to dip your wick into something other than Jeff then you need to make that decision. And you”—she turned to Jeff—“need to grow a pair and tell Linc to get with the program. You’re the only person he’s going to listen to. Come on and give me a kiss and I’ll go with Moises and see exactly what Abuela has to say. I’ll call you as soon as Abuela tells me what she dreamed. I think I love you guys but I’m not going to go crazy if you decide to dump me and go back to the old life you had. I could understand that, wouldn’t agree with it, but I’d understand if you want to go back to something that’s at least normal. You could forget me, although I don’t think that either of you ever will, adopt a child from Haiti or China but you won’t have the Mamá there to give them the maternal love that they’re gonna need. But you can do it as a couple. Whatever kid you have will be well loved and nurtured and will grow up healthy and happy. Not that I’m saying that a same sex-couple couldn’t be good and loving parents but not a lot of them are comprised of one bi guy and one gay guy who seems to like women way more than he should.” Willie started to say more, but she was interrupted by Moises standing in the doorway clearing his throat.
“Got to go, darling,” he said from the doorway. His voice was gravelly and pitched to carry into the room, encompassing both of the men. He was a little under six feet but carried himself like the soldier that he had been.
“You need to think about what it is you want and need from me.” Willie kissed Jeff first then leaned over to kiss the top of Linc’s head. “You guys are simply the best.”
She left the room with her brother. Linc and Jeff stood frozen, watching as she bounced her way out of the house surrounded by her brothers.
* * * *
The house had an eerily quiet. Without Willie there to fill in the silence the wind could be heard over the soft music Jeff turned on to make up for the loss. But there was no way to replace the constant chatter that seemed to hypnotize you with the sheer overwhelming amount of it. Over the click of the cutlery they chewed themselves through a tasteless dinner, sat in front of the fire watching old movies without comment, and went to bed.
After three hours of each man staring up at the ceiling, neither talking nor speaking, Jeff snuggled up to Linc. He kissed him softly on the shoulder before leaning in for a more solid kiss.
“What should we do?” he said. He leaned back, staring at the ceiling. Light from the outside spread over the room. The patterns ran in and around the room before coming to rest in the corner by the door. Jeff fell back onto his back.
“We continue on as we were. We were perfectly happy without her and we will be again,” Linc said. He lay with his hands interlaced behind his head.
“You act as if you have absolutely no feelings. That’s a lie. I saw you with her. Even when you weren’t fucking her you listened to her nonstop bullshit and smiled. You’ve been more relaxed than I’ve ever seen you. It wasn’t some game that we were playing. This is the real thing,” Jeff said to the ceiling.
“It felt really good, but how do I know that it wasn’t something that every straight man feels? After all, I don’t—” Linc said.
“Do fish, walking or swimming,” they both finished. There was nervous laughter that ended when they realized that Willie wasn’t there to laugh with them.
They slept on their respective sides of the bed.
* * * *
Linc inched his way down the mountain to the diner in Mount Olive, watching for black ice and major sink holes in the road. He parked in front of the diner, waiting in the car until he saw Cyn’s SUV coming from the opposite direction. Cyn, as always, looked as if she had stepped out of a fashion magazine. She wore a winter white hat, matching high-collar coat, gloves, and snow boots all trimmed with what Linc figured was fake fur but with Cyn you could never tell. They met in the middle of the small sidewalk and hugged.
“Kind of overdressed, ain’t you doll?” Linc said as he smiled at his sister.
Cyn brushed her shoulder-length bob back behind her ear. Her earrings winked in the light from the diner. “I have to give Mr. Browning and the boys at the barbershop something to think about,” she said.
“Look, they came out on the porch. Hey, Mr. Browning, Mr. Smith, Mr. Adams, how y’all doing?” Cyn called across the two-lane street. The men on the porch shouted back their hellos to both Linc and Cyn.
“You think that little ol’ foreign thing gonna get you back over the mountain, Cynthia? You liable to end up in the ditch and I’ma have to come out in my station wagon and pull you on home,” Mr. Browning said. He and the other men, all over seventy and all visibly missing teeth, laughed loudly.
“Mr. Browning, you know that if you try to come up the holla road that you would rattle that old car ’til you got down to the chassis,” she shouted over the wind. The clouds were gathering and just beginning to puff out the new four inches of snow that the weatherman promised for tomorrow.
Linc held the door for his sister and preceded her into the warmth of the diner. His glasses fogged up immediately as they took one of the little tables that sat in the bow window of the room. Vanessa Davis came over with plastic glasses of iced water.
“Hi, you, Cyn, Doc? Had to get out today?” The brassy little owner and cook came from the kitchen to act as waitress. Later she would be the dishwasher. She smiled down at them and waited for Linc and Cyn to pull off a few of the layer
s of outerwear. Cyn fluffed her hair after she pulled her hat off. Linc stuffed his simple knit cap into his pocket.
Cyn said, “After four days watching TV it’s time to come on off the hill for something somebody else cooked. Can I have a lemonade? That special lemon syrup you create makes the best lemonade anywhere.”
“Why thank you, Cyn. What can I get you, Doc?”
“I’ll just have water.”
“Make him a lemonade, too, Vanessa, he’s learning how to live large these days,” Cyn said. She laughed at the huge frown dominating Linc’s face.
“’Bout time. He and Dr. Jeff are becoming hermits up there in that holla. I told Lacy that they’re the nicest gay couple we have in town. You know David and Mike are just so damn catty but you can’t say nothing about that cause then they mess up your hair. Never piss off a hair queen, I always say. Let me go work on those lemonades. Sure you don’t want no chocolate? It’s real cold out there,” Vanessa called out from behind the counter.
“No, Vanessa, if I drink another chocolate, I’ll scream. Never thought I’d say that, but it’s the truth,” Cyn said. She turned back to her brother. “Spill, Linc. What’s up with curly curvy one? I thought you and Jeff were bonded forever.”
“Jeff wanted to try something new. I was reluctant, but it was good for the weekend, but you know I’m an out, proud gay man.” Linc smiled as Vanessa put two tall glasses of the tart, sweet drink that was made with a special lemon concentrate sweetened by local honey that came from Vanessa’s own hive behind the diner. She stood waiting for each of them to take a sip before she went into the back.
Cyn stretched out in her chair, drawing circles in the puddle of water released from the glass. Linc glanced at the snow beginning to come down quicker.
“Willie was an experiment, that’s all.”
“So why are you so down in the dumps then? You look a little sprung to me.”
