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"I'm going to tell my friend I'm in love with him and pray like hell that it doesn't fuck up our nearly twenty-year friendship."
2
Marsh
"How did you and Tal meet?" my younger brother Harrick asks.
The five of us are having what's become our weekly Sunday dinner at his and Eddie's place. My other younger brother, Branum, and his partner, PJ, are also here.
"Yeah," Branum chips in. "Tal's an awesome dude. I really like him. He's been visiting you for years, but I don't think you've ever told us how you two met."
"Remember when I turned twenty-one and took a job renovating that gaudy mansion in Beverly Hills?"
"Yeah," my brothers reply.
"That's how."
I could stop the story right there. I could mention that Tal was a friend of the house owners and that I saw him when he popped in one day, that we struck up a conversation, and that we've been friends ever since.
But that's not the full story.
I've just turned forty-one, and I'm sick of my life being onenot full storyafter the other. It's time to start living truthfully.
Like Tal does. He's the most fearless, badass person I've ever met.
I put my knife and fork down and try to keep my nerves at bay. "Once the job was done, the owners, a gay couple, invited me to a party they were having at the house."
Everyone nods along, so I continue. "It wasn't a regular party."
"Was it themed?" Eddie offers. "Urgh, I hate theme parties. I can never decide what to go as and then I spend the whole night feeling self-conscious when I compare my shitty outfit to what everyone else is wearing."
"Not a theme party," I say, steepling my fingers. I take a fortifying breath. "It was a sex party."
One of the things I like most about living in the mountains is the peace and quiet, and right now, in Harrick's tiny dining room, there's plenty of silence. More the awkward kind than the peaceful kind, though.
Not that surprising since it's probably the last thing anyone expected me to say.
Most folk 'round here see me as nothing more than a big, burly mountain man. A recluse. Someone who tends to keep to himself.
My brothers, and now their partners, obviously know me better than that. They see I have a softer side. That I'm a hugger. A kick-ass board game player. That I'm more than just the limited image the townsfolk in Thickehead have of me.
But even my brothers don't know the real, full me.
No one does.
I plan on changing that. Not tonight and not with these guys. As much as I love them, there's only so much I'm willing to share with my family.
No. What I need is someone who's better positioned to help me.
Someone like my good friend Tal.
He arrives in a few days, and the plan is as follows: catch up like we normally do, then get shit-faced and open up to him.
It's a solid plan.
But right now, I've got these guys staring at me, waiting for me to elaborate. So I do, giving them the PG version of how, with an orgy unfolding by the pool, Tal and I met by the grill, struck up a conversation, and became good friends.
I'll save all the X-rated stuff for Tal when he gets here.
