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1
Tal
"So who is this Marsh guy, and why are you flying to the other side of the planet to see him when you've just settled in here?" Rove asks me across the table.
"This fish is incredible," I say around a mouthful of barramundi. "Nothing beats freshly caught seafood, right?"
I stare out at the sun hovering above the horizon line and lighting up the sky with an ethereal pink and orange glow while Rove and Leo exchange a look. Leo's my best friend, Rove's his partner, and we're sitting on the bridge deck of my Riverra 78 Motor Yacht, which is berthed at their marina in North Queensland, Australia, a.k.a. my new home.
Yep, at the ripe old age of fifty-four, Tal Bellamy is finally ready to settle down.
Well, almost.
There's just one teeny tiny matter I need to take care of first.
"Marsh is a good friend of mine," I say.
Rove narrows his eyes. "Then how come you've never mentioned him before?"
"Because Tal's the king of compartmentalization," Leo answers for me.
He's right on the money, so I simply nod.
I have four distinct lives, in Florida, Palm Springs, Berlin, and London.
Or,had.
I'm entering into my consolidation era.
"That's actually come up in therapy," I tell them. "My therapist in Palm Springs has been encouraging me to explore why I feel the need to lead these separate lives."
Leo stops eating. "And what did you say to that?"
"I told her I'd be seeking a second opinion from my therapist in London."
Now, Leo knows me well enough to know I'm deflecting with an attempt at humor. Rove, on the other hand, looks like he doesn't know what to make of this conversation.
Or me.
I tend to get that a lot.
I'm almost fifty-five, and I'm the first to admit I can be a lot. Too much for most people to handle.
I think that's part of the reason why I've compartmentalized my life the way I have. I've always been a short burst guy. When I did athletics in high school, if I ran around the track, I came last. If I had to do a hundred-meter anything, I won the blue ribbon. I thrive on frenetic energy, and on some subconscious level, I suspect I never hang around in one place for too long so I don't outstay my welcome and get on people's nerves. Not everyone is the same as me, and I can be a lot.
"I've known Marsh for close to twenty years," I begin, leaving out the precise circumstances of how we met, since that's a story for another time. "He lives in a small mountain town in the US, and I pop in to visit him two or three times a year. We hang out and have fun. He's a great guy."
"I thought you didn't do repeats," Leo teases.
"We've never had sex."
Both of their mouths fall open. That also tends to happen a lot.
"H-how is that possible?" Leo manages to do something other than gape at me.
I could continue down this lighthearted banter path…or I could verbalize what's been going on in my head.
And my heart.
