couple of times. He certainly wasn’t going to kiss his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, too,
buddy,” Ed said. Then he turned to Jonathan and said, “Jonathan’s told me so much about
you.” In fact, Jonathan had barely mentioned Mike. Ed was still smiling, but his back
teeth were bonded together.
On the way to the hotel, Mike sat in the back seat with Noah behind Jonathan.
Mike did most of the talking. He complained about the flight, trashed the flight attendants,
and ranted endlessly about the senile fat woman who had been sitting next to him on the
plane. Noah’s eyes grew large, but he didn’t speak. “It was like sitting with Aunt Clara
from
Bewitched
for over six hours,” Mike said.
Mike wasn’t outrageously flamboyant, but he had noticeable effeminate qualities.
The way he sat with his knees together and his feet crossed at the ankle; he waved his
arm and his hand wobbled at the wrist. Ed kept looking back at him in the rearview
mirror, wondering if his blond hair was natural. When he said the word “rather,” he used
a pretentious accent and it sounded like “rah-thah.” Ed rubbed his jaw and creased his
eyebrows while he drove, trying to imagine what this guy and Jonathan could possibly
have in common.
Halfway there, Mike ran his hand across the back of Jonathan’s leather seat and
said, “You have a
lovely
car, Ed. I was going to buy a Range Rover, but I heard there
were problems with the suspension. So I bought a Porsche Cayenne instead.”
“Ah well,” Ed said. “I don’t have any complaints about the Range Rover. It’s
rugged and sturdy. A real man’s car.” He made a fist and pounded the arm rest on the center console. He wanted to spit out the window and belch, but he didn’t want to upset
Jonathan.
“I see,” Mike said. Then he folded his hands and rested them on his knees.
Ed caught Jonathan rolling his eyes. Noah’s mouth dropped open as he stared at
Mike’s clear nail polish.
When they finally reached the hotel, Noah tapped Ed on the shoulder and said,
“Can I stay with Jonathan, Dad? I’ve never seen his hotel room.”
Ed smiled. He felt like reaching back and hugging his son. He wished he’d been
clever enough to think of this on his own. He’d been wondering about leaving Jonathan
alone with Mike. The thought of them in a hotel room made his stomach churn. Jonathan
had already assured Ed that they had separate rooms—Mike preferred to sleep alone—but
he had a feeling Mike would try to get into Jonathan’s pants before the party. So Ed told
Noah, “Of course you can stay, buddy. As long as it’s okay with Jonathan.” Then Ed
looked at Jonathan with his most innocent expression and shrugged his shoulders.
Jonathan gave him a look. He seemed to know what Ed was doing. “Sure he can
stay. I’ll just bring him with us to the party in a few hours. We’ll meet you there.”
“Ah well, I guess I can take a short nap then,” Mike said. But he wasn’t smiling.
It was a good thing the party was casual and Noah didn’t have to change his
clothes, because they didn’t show up until after eight o’clock. Ed and Lisa arrived at
seven o’clock, then Ed paced the living room floor for more than an hour waiting for
them. At first he was worried about Mike and Jonathan, but then he started to worry
about Noah. When they finally arrived, Ed pulled Jonathan aside and asked, “Where were you?
I was ready to call the police.”
Jonathan shrugged. “Noah and I were ready to leave at seven, but Mike took a nap,
a long hot bath, and then he couldn’t decide between the lime green jacket or the faux fur
sweater. We sat in my hotel room waiting for him for over an hour.”
Ed turned his head in Mike’s direction. Lisa was introducing him to Frank and
Greg. Mike was wearing a black sweater with brown, fake fur trim that ran down the
front in two straight lines. His right arm was stretched out, palm down, and he was doing
the almost-curtsy thing again. “He should have gone with the lime jacket,” Ed said,
“because the sweater was a mistake.”
Jonathan kissed him on the cheek and said, “Be nice, and stop worrying. You
have nothing to be jealous about. I’m going to talk to him before he leaves and tell him
we’re finished. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.” Then he went into the kitchen
to help Lisa and Frank set up a small buffet table in the dining room.
But Ed wasn’t thoroughly convinced of that yet. If Mike could be persuasive
enough to attract Jonathan once, he could always do it again. So he volunteered to be the
bartender that night. He told Frank and Greg that he wanted to help out because they
were so busy organizing the food. And when Mike quietly asked for a club soda with a
twist of lime, Ed slapped his back playfully and insisted on making him a special drink.
“It’s something you’ll love, buddy,” Ed told him.
A few minutes later, Ed handed him an amber-colored drink in a tall crystal glass
and said, “Drink up, buddy.” It was his version of a Long Island Iced Tea, which was all
booze with two small ice cubes. Ed had learned how to make it one summer when he’d worked part time as a bartender in college. His version tasted even more like real iced tea,
without a hint of the taste of alcohol.
Mike took it from him and sipped from the edge of the glass with his pinky finger
extended. His lips smacked a few times and he looked surprised. “That’s very tasty,
indeed. Thank you.”
“Drink up, buddy,” Ed said. “There’s plenty more.”
In spite of Mike, it turned out to be a nice party. The food was good, they played a
few games, and Noah seemed to forget about Tucker for a few hours. Ed kept giving
Mike refills, and Mike kept drinking them down as if he were drinking ice water. He
didn’t seem drunk at all. The alcohol seemed to relax him. His voice became more
animated and he stopped sitting with his knees clamped together. When he started
bonding with Frank and Greg, he didn’t even notice anymore that Jonathan was in the
room.
Mike sat in the middle of one sofa most of the night holding court. Frank sat on
his right and Greg was on his left. When Mike told them he collected vintage cars, he
batted his eyelashes at Frank and ran his fingers along Greg’s arm. When he said he
owned a 1972 AMC Hornet and a 1973 AMC Gremlin, they pretended to be fascinated.
Greg leaned in closer and stared at his lips and Frank squeezed his thigh. Mike blushed
and said he’d even named his Hornet and Gremlin after characters in the old Bette Davis
movie,
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
The Hornet was Blanche Hudson and the
Gremlin was Jane Hudson.
While Lisa, Jonathan, and Noah played a board game on the other side of the
room, Ed sat alone in a club chair and listened to Mike talk about his cars. The more he drank, the longer he talked. Ed rested his chin in his palm and pretended to be interested,
but for the life of him he couldn’t understand why anyone would want to collect old
AMC cars, especially a Hornet and a Gremlin. In Ed’s opinion, they were two of the most
God-awful, ugly cars ever produced in America. He remembered a mean aunt on his
mother’s side who had a Gremlin. She also had hair on her upper lip and a mole on her
chin; she always wore navy blue skirts like an ex-nun. She drove that hideous old car
until she died in l988. If Ed were going to collect old cars, it would have been something
strong and important, like an old Cadillac or Lincoln. Or one of those cool, old pickup
trucks with wood from the 1940s. He couldn’t picture Jonathan sitting behind the wheel
of an old AMC car. But he could see Mike driving one, wearing pink lipstick with
matching pink sunglasses.
By the time Ryan Seacrest counted down to the New Year on television, the party
started to wind down as well. Ed, Lisa, and Jonathan kissed each other and said, “Happy
New Year!” then Jonathan got up to use the powder room. Noah was sleeping on another
sofa near the TV. He’d tried to stay up until midnight, but he’d started drifting off around
eleven.
So Ed decided to carry him over to the guest house and put him to bed. Lisa was
ready to leave, too. Ed told her he’d stay with Noah in the guest house alone, but she
pulled him to the side and said, “I think it’s time to go now.” Then she nodded at Mike.
He was still on the sofa with Frank and Greg. They didn’t even know it was after
midnight. Mike’s eyes were red, his voice was slurred, and he kept laughing for no reason
at all. Greg had his hand on Mike’s thigh and Frank was massaging his shoulders. There
had been signs all night, but now it was obvious they were trying to get into Mike’s pants. Ed smiled. “Interesting,” he said. “Let’s get Noah to bed.” They weren’t doing
anything offensive, but he didn’t want Noah exposed to something he wouldn’t
understand.
Lisa punched him in the arm. “You love it and you know it,” she said. “I saw the
way you were pouring Mike drinks all night. I’m surprised he hasn’t passed out yet.”
Ed shrugged. “I wanted him to have fun. But I honestly didn’t expect this to
happen.” He was telling the truth. He thought he’d just get him too drunk to do anything
with Jonathan. He never expected Frank and Greg to lure him into their bed as a third.
She laughed and leaned closer. “Oh, he will have fun. I know for a fact that both
Frank and Greg are top guys in bed. They told me so. And they love three-ways.”
Jonathan came out of the powder room and saw Ed and Lisa talking. He looked at
the other side of the room and raised an eyebrow. He crossed to the sofa where Lisa and
Ed were standing and said, “I’ll carry Noah to the guest house.”
“I was just going to do that,” Ed said. “I thought you might want to stay here a
little longer and enjoy the party with old Mike.” He was teasing him.
Jonathan smirked, and with a sarcastic tone he said, “You’d better let me carry
Noah. I’m younger than you are. I don’t want you to hurt your back, old buddy.” Then he
bent down, put his arms under Noah’s body, and lifted him slowly off the sofa.
Ed turned his head to the sofa on the other side of the room. Frank and Greg were
gazing at Mike, and Mike’s eyelids fluttered. “Should we say we’re leaving?” Ed asked.
“We’ll call them in the morning and thank them for the party,” Lisa said. “Trust
me, I know these guys. They won’t be upset if we just leave quietly.”
Chapter Sixteen
On the first day of March, Ed threw a party in the newly renovated house. It was a
warm, dry day and typical of San Francisco’s pleasant springtime weather. Noah was
turning eleven years old. Jonathan had suggested to Ed a few weeks earlier that having a
large birthday party for Noah would also be a great way to celebrate the end of the
renovation.
This was a Saturday, and the film crew was wrapping up with one final shoot in
the middle of the week to show the finished house. When it aired in the fall, it would be
the final episode of
Dream Away
.
The house looked good. The walls had been painted white, the old wooden floors
had been refinished with a dark stain, and the kitchen and all the bathrooms were brand
new. The furniture and artwork had been delivered and everything was perfect. Ed had
been firm about maintaining as much of the original architecture as possible so the
integrity of the house would not be compromised, and he’d been correct. With the help of
an excellent contractor and a dedicated crew, he’d managed to bring both the exterior and
interior of the house back to its original glory in a relatively short amount of time.
Along with Noah’s school friends, everyone involved with the renovation
attended the party. Ed had asked Jonathan to make up a guest list, and Jonathan had
invited them all, including his own film crew from the television network. He’d even
invited Frank and Greg. He hadn’t seen much of them since New Year’s Eve, but Lisa
and Noah were still talked to them daily. Greg had been calling Jonathan for two weeks
about a possible job at the TV station in San Francisco where he worked. Jonathan had been planning to get back to him sooner, but wrapping up the show and dealing with the
party had taken up most of his time. He wanted this party to be special, a day that would
make Noah smile for years to come. The poor kid hadn’t been the same since Tucker had
disappeared, and Jonathan hated the thought of leaving him and going back to New York
without giving him something wonderful to remember. Jonathan knew they would always
