Not for the first time, I wished my son had been born without the ability to talk.
“Oh, I see.” Brian chuckled, grinning at me.
“And then he brought you to my game and asked you to sleep over,” Tiger added his additional logic for his decision.
“But, Tiger,” Brian said. “That doesn’t mean your dad and me are going to get married.”
“But aren’t you in love with each other?” Tiger asked, and I could see the beginnings of disappointment on his face.
“I’ll let you answer that one,” Brian said softly.
“Come here, Tiger.” I patted my lap which Tiger immediately crawled up into. “Let me ask you something. How would you feel about me being in love with Brian and maybe him living here all the time with us?”
Although I hadn’t discussed any of these details with Brian, it was the logical conclusion of our feelings for each other. I could see him staring intently at me as I asked this of Tiger.
“It would be so cool!” Tiger exclaimed.
“Oh?”
“Yeah! And it would make you happy, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes, Tiger. It would make me very happy.” I was speaking to Tiger, but I was smiling over his head at Brian, who grinned back.
“Please, Brian. Come live with us. Please!” Tiger begged, turning to Brian.
“Well…I don’t know, Tiger. Your dad’s the one ‑‑”
“Please, Brian. Come and live with us!” I said, cutting him off and grinning at him.
“Tommy, do you mean that?” Brian asked seriously.
“With all my heart.”
And with that, Brian leaned over, put his arms around me and kissed me passionately. I kissed him back, completely forgetting Tiger for the moment who sat in my lap, watching the whole thing. When we broke the kiss, I suddenly remembered him and looked down. He was looking up at us, a look of awe on his face.
“Tiger?”
“Geez! That was so cool!” he sighed.
The sight of two males kissing passionately? Cool? Hmm…I had a feeling I wasn’t going to have to worry about Tiger going for girls.
“Can I?” Brian’s voice broke into my thoughts.
“What?” I asked, looking at him.
He slightly nodded his head toward Tiger.
“Oh? Of course!”
Brian then leaned down and gently kissed Tiger on the cheek. Tiger threw his arms around Brian’s neck and wouldn’t let go. Brian finally put his own arms around Tiger and pulled him over into his lap. Tiger sat there, his arms around Brian’s neck, grinning happily at both of us. I leaned over, kissed Tiger on the cheeks and then wrapped my arms around both of them. Suddenly, I realized I now had two men in my life I loved very, very much. More importantly, we were on our way to building the most important of all human inventions ‑‑ a family.
“Daddy, I’m hungry,” came Tiger’s plaintive little voice.
Brian and I both broke up laughing. Leave it to a kid to bust up a tender, romantic moment.
“Okay, I’ll go make breakfast. You get yourself ready for school,” I told him.
He hopped off the bed and ran for his room.
“So, I guess you have to get ready for work?” I asked Brian.
“Well…actually, no. I took today off. I was going to scout around for someplace to live, like we talked about.”
“Well…uhh…I guess you don’t need to do that now.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, confused.
“Well…didn’t you hear him? Tiger wants you to sleep over all the time. And so do I.” I leaned over and gently kissed him on the cheek.
“Are you sure?” he asked, looking at me questioningly.
“Yes. I’m sure. And even if I wasn’t, that little talk with Tiger would have convinced me. He wants you here. I want you here. Unless you don’t want to be here?”
“I want to be here more than anything in the world,” he said quietly, taking me back into his arms and kissing me.
“Then it’s settled. I’ll take the day off and we’ll go to your apartment and get your things. Since it’s Friday, that will give us the whole weekend together.”
“I’d like that very much.”
“Let’s get up and get breakfast.”
“I guess I should shower.”
“You do and I’ll shoot you! That can wait until after breakfast when Tiger’s gone to school. You haven’t seen my shower. It has plenty of room for both of us and I plan to use it to its full capacity.”
“Oh, okay.”
While I made breakfast, I called Ted to tell him I wouldn’t be in until Monday.
“What’s the matter? You’re not sick, are you?” he asked.
“No, I’m not sick.”
“It’s not Tiger, is it?” Ted asked, really sounding worried now.
“No! Tiger’s fine.” Then, finally in exasperation, knowing he’d worm it out of me eventually, I said, “I’m taking the day off because Brian is moving in with us.”
“Holy SHIT!” Ted’s voice came screaming through the phone. “One dinner and a baseball game and you’re married?”
“What the fuck is all this ‘married’ shit? You and Tiger sound like twin stereo speakers. Brian and I…well…we decided to be lovers.”
“Well, I’ll be damned! I don’t believe it. All I’ve ever heard out of you is how two guys can’t make a relationship and the next thing I know, you’ve got a fucking lover. How do you account for that, Counselor?” I could hear him laughing through the phone.
“I account for it very simply. We fell in love,” I said with as much dignity as I could muster.
“Well, I’ll be damned! Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” I said simply.
“You take all the time you need. I can handle things here. Just out of curiosity, though I think I already know the answer, how did Tiger take all of this?”
“This was mostly Tiger’s idea to begin with. His whole take on it was that it was ‘cool.’”
“I think that boy is very, very smart. I think he realized you were unhappy and needed someone to love you. Besides that, now he’s got two daddies. Double the attention and double the love.”
“I suppose you could be right. Anyway, I have to go cook breakfast. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“If you need more time, you just take it.”
“Well… Brian has to go back to work on Monday so I’ll be in. Besides, I’ve got to get his papers filed and get him divorced.”
“Yeah. Might be a good idea at that.” He laughed and we hung up.
I cooked breakfast and then Tiger ran off to catch his bus. Brian and I sat there drinking coffee and talking.
“I hate to bring this up, but how do you think your wife’s going to deal with you leaving?”
“I don’t think she’s going to take it very hard. We haven’t been close for a long time. I thought I’d offer to pay half the rent on the apartment until the divorce is final. That way she won’t have to leave and it will give her time to find someplace else to live.”
“I think that’s a very good idea. Since there are no children, there won’t be any child support and she won’t be able to ask for alimony since she’s gainfully employed. The court will look positively on you continuing to contribute to the household even after moving out and filing.”
“Well, it’s only right as far as I can see.”
“Brian, you are a very honorable man. Most guys don’t see it that way at all.” I watched his face turn red at the compliment.
“I just wanted you to know because it’s going to affect us financially. I won’t be able to contribute much until the divorce is over. After that, I’ll make it up to you, I swear I will!”
“Uhh…Brian, that isn’t necessary.”
“Yes, it is. I don’t want you thinking I’m a deadbeat or something. I know lawyers make a lot of money, but once I can get myself through school and get my contractor’s license, I can make a whole lot more.”
“Brian…uhh…I don’t even much notice how much I make as a lawyer. It isn’t the reason I practice law. I practice law to help people. I don’t need the money.”
“You don’t?”
“Brian, I don’t know how to put this but…well…I’m filthy rich. I inherited, from my grandfather, a trust fund with more money than several people could spend in a lifetime. I don’t have to work to make a living. I work because I like what I do.”
“Uhh…you’re that rich?”
“Yes. Unfortunately.”
“What do you mean ‑‑ unfortunately?”
“Because once it’s known you’re rich, you can’t trust that people really like you for yourself and not your money.”
He seemed to think about that for a moment.
“Does that include me?” he asked hesitantly.
“No! Until this moment, you didn’t know anything about the money. And besides, didn’t you just tell me how important it was for you to contribute to our living together? If you were after my money, you’d have never made an offer like that. No. What I guess I’m trying to say to you is…well…I don’t want you to go back to work. I want you to take the opportunity to go back to school and get your contractor’s license.”
“But if I do that, I can’t help Sandy with the rent on the apartment and I won’t be able to pay for school.”
“How much is the rent on the apartment?”
“Twelve hundred a month.”
“And how much are the classes for your contractor’s license?”
“Last I checked it was about five hundred.”
“Okay. I figure you’ll be obligated for rent for no more than six months, which would be thirty-six hundred. Another five hundred for school and that would make forty-one hundred. So we’ll run by the bank and I’ll draw out ten grand and that ought to take care of everything. But you can’t put it in your bank account. You’ll have to give your wife cash and the school as well. If you put it in the account, she’d be entitled to half of it.”
“Ten thousand dollars!” Brian exclaimed.
“Brian, I don’t want you in a position of having to ask me for money. When your divorce is final, I can add you to all the accounts and to the deed on the house but, up until then, I can’t because California is a community property state. That means your wife is entitled to half of everything you acquire during the marriage.”
Brian sat there, not saying anything for a few moments. Finally he looked at me.
“I’ll pay you back. Every cent.”
“If that’s the case, then this relationship between us will never work.”
He looked at me in shock.
“What do you mean?”
“Did you pay Sandy back for everything she ever did for you?”
“Well…no.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s my wife. We were married.”
“And what am I? What are we?” I asked quietly.
That caused him to stop and stare at me for a moment. Then he smiled sheepishly.
“You’re the man I love most in the world and we’re lovers ‑‑ and I guess, in our own way, that makes us married, doesn’t it?”
“That’s the way I see it.”
“I’m sorry. I guess it’s gonna take me some time to wrap my head around all of this,” he said, the embarrassment and apology showing in his voice.
“It’s gonna take me some time, too. After all, I’m the one who swore this would never happen to me.”
Brian reached over and put his arms around me.
“You forgive me?”
“We’ll see how well you do in the shower.”
Chapter Six
We went back to the bedroom and stripped down. Then I took Brian into the bathroom and showed him the shower. Well, I actually showed him more than that. I also showed him the small sauna and the Jacuzzi as well, but he was most impressed with the shower.
“Holy shit! You could fit an NBA team in here,” he said after surveying the large cubicle with eight showerheads, two up and two down on facing walls.
“Well, I like a lot of room and I guess I was kind of hoping I would have someone to share it with some day,” I said, slipping my arms around his waist and leaning my head against his chest, taking in the musky scent of him.
His arms went around me and gave me a hug.
“This isn’t just a shower, is it.” He made it a statement rather than a question.
“No. I always kind of thought of it as a wet playpen. That’s why I had ‘on demand’ hot water heaters installed on each line. The water is heated as it goes through them, rather than heating a reservoir. You never run out of hot water, no matter how long you shower.”
“So, I take it I’m the first one to get to play in this playpen with you?”
“Well…no. Tiger’s been in here a couple of times.”
“Well, that’s only to be expected. But I’m the first adult.”
“Yes. You’re the first adult. And the only one, if I have anything to say about it.”
“Don’t worry about that.” He reached down and swatted me on the bare butt.
“Hey! What was that for?” I yelped.
“Just to remind you that you’re mine. All mine. Nobody else’s.”
“That’s not something I can easily forget. Just don’t you go forgetting you’re all mine.”
“Not a problem, babe. Ain’t nobody else I want.”
Then his mouth came down on mine in a hard and passionate kiss. We broke the kiss and climbed into the shower. I turned on all the spigots and we were lost in the water and steam.
“Fuck! This is great!” Brian grinned at me.
“I’m glad you like it.”
I took a bottle of liquid soap and, after pouring some in my hands, began to wash Brian’s chest. He wrapped his arms around me.
“Hmm! It’s been a long, long time since somebody washed me.”
“Get used to it. I’ve dreamed of doing this for a long time.”
“No problem, I can get used to this real easy ‑‑ just so I get to wash you.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
As I had expected, we spent an inordinate time in the shower, what with tenderly and intimately exploring every part of each other’s bodies, giving in to our oral cravings, and even taking the time to gently and thoroughly shampoo each other’s hair ‑‑ something I found to be incredibly sensuous and erotic. Then, when we came out of the shower, Brian grabbed a towel and rather than drying himself, proceeded to gently and tenderly dry me. So, of course, I had to dry him and that led to us kissing and more time was lost as we stood in the bathroom, making out like teenagers. Finally, Brian pulled his mouth away from mine.
“If we’re ever going to get my stuff moved, we’d better head out.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“The faster we get it done, the faster we can get back here and pick up where we left off.”
“Okay, I get the message.” I went into the bedroom and pulled on a T-shirt and blue jeans.
I went downstairs and brought up a couple of empty cardboard boxes before we headed off in Brian’s truck. We stopped at the bank near my office where I was well known. I was glad I was because it was a sizeable withdrawal I was making and I didn’t need any hassle over it. Because the teller recognized me, as did the manager he had to call over to approve the withdrawal, I didn’t have to go through any vetting or special procedures. They simply asked how I wanted the ten grand and then handed me a banded block of one hundred 100-dollar bills. I stuck the packet of bills into a bank envelope they gave me and went out and got into Brian’s truck. I handed the envelope to him and he opened it.
“Fuck!” He gasped quietly. “I’ve never seen this much money in one place at one time.”
“Well, trust me. There’s plenty more where that came from.”
“I still can’t believe you’re that rich.”
“Why
not?”
“Well, you don’t act like it, for one thing.”
“Oh, you mean I don’t act like a snob who thinks everyone else is beneath him? That’s my family. I’ll take it as a compliment I don’t act anything like them.”
“I guess I don’t want to meet your family, huh?”
“Not if it can be avoided. And, trust me. It can. However, someday, I’d really like to meet yours.”
He looked at me strangely and then said, very quietly, “I’ve been thinking about what you said. I think maybe I’m the one who’s been acting like a snob ‑‑ a reverse snob. I guess I haven’t given Matt a chance, just prejudged that we didn’t have anything in common and let it go at that.”
“I think maybe you were afraid your brother would be ashamed of you, that you hadn’t accomplished as much with your life as he had?”
Brian looked at me in shock. His mouth opened, but nothing came out for quite a while. Finally he turned away and said quietly, “Yeah. I think that’s exactly what it was. I hadn’t accomplished anything ‑‑ didn’t even have kids or nothing. He’d been to Rome. I heard he’s got a doctorate in some kind of theology. I just figured he wouldn’t want anything to do with a guy who worked construction.”
I could hear the immense sadness in Brian’s voice. I reached over and took one of his hands in mine.
“He’s not dead, you know. You can still talk to him. Why don’t you ask him over for dinner?”
“I don’t know that he’d come.”
“No, you don’t know, and you never will if you don’t ask him.”
“Do you think he might?”
“I’ll bet he’d drop a dinner with the Pope to come.”
“Well…I guess it can’t hurt to ask.”
“So ask, already.”
“I don’t know how to get ahold of him.”
“So take your cell phone out and call the Archdiocese office. They’ll be able to tell you how to reach him.”
“I don’t know the number.”
“415-555-5500.”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“Uhh…well…our law firm’s been involved in several cases that have involved the Archdiocese,” I said, not bothering to mention those cases had to do with boys who had been sexually molested by priests.
Rock Paper Scissors Page 9
