Chapter 3-2
797 Words
“Jess, this is really good. Did you make it different this time?” Denny asked as the two men sat on the patio eating the meal Jesse had prepared the day before. The candle flames swayed in the light breeze that blew from the north, cooling the late August evening.
“No, it’s your mom’s recipe, but since I made it yesterday it had a chance to marinate. Seems sauces like this get better with age.”
Shelby sat looking intently at the table. She was drooling.
“What’s with her? You been feeding her from the table again?”
Jesse looked sheepish. “Well, you weren’t coming home, so I told her she could have some. So, when Nick and I sat down to eat—”
Denny looked up. Anger flashed in his eyes. He lowered his fork slowly to the table.
“When you and Nick sat down to eat?” he said accentuating each word.
“Yeah, well…” Jesse realized he had made a major error.
“So, Nick gets our anniversary dinner, and I get leftovers?”
“Denny, listen, please. I don’t understand. You seem so tense tonight. Nick came over to use the phone. His stove wasn’t working. I had all this food. Denny?”
“What?” Denny was looking away into the backyard.
Jesse reached out and put his hand over his boyfriend’s. Denny pulled his away.
“Is he gay?”
“Yes, but what difference does that make?”
“What difference does that make? What difference does that make?” Denny said, his voice getting louder. “If he was straight, he wouldn’t have put the make on my boyfriend.” He said the final word in a mocking accusatory way.
“Denny, nothing happened. He didn’t put the make on me. We just had dinner and walked the dogs.”
“So you had a little doggie walk tete-a-tete. Since I don’t like to walk the fuckin’ mutt, you had to go find someone who would.”
“Dennis, this is getting ridiculous. I don’t know what’s gotten into you tonight, but you’ve never acted this jealous before. I swear there’s nothing going on between Nick and me. We just met, we may become friends, but you’re my boyfriend. You’re the one I love.”
These words seemed to get through to Denny. He sighed and looked down at his hands on the table. He ran his tongue over his lips. Finally, he reached out and took one of Jesse’s hands in his. “You’re right. I am being ridiculous. I’m sorry.”
“Forgiven.” Jesse squeezed Denny’s hand.
They began eating again.
“Just so you know. We jogged this morning, had lunch together and worked out at the gym.” Jesse waited hesitantly for Denny’s reaction.
Denny smiled. “You see him in the buff?”
“Yeah.”
“He built?”
“Yeah.”
“Better than me?”
“No one is better than you.” Jesse smiled.
So did Denny.
“He big?”
“Don’t know. He wasn’t hard.”
They both laughed.
They ate for a few minutes. “If he was hard, what do ya think?”
“Dennis!”
“Well, just wondering. He is kinda cute you know.”
“Now who should be jealous?” Jesse said, teasing.
They finished eating, and Denny retired to the living room and switched on the TV.
Jesse went to the kitchen to clean up the meal. When he joined Denny he was carrying two dishes of ice cream. He came in just in time for the tropical update on the weather channel.
“Tropical Storm Deirdre has moved up the coast and it looks like she will veer off into the Atlantic. There is no threat to the U. S. mainland. Aside from the sizeable amount of rain the storm dumped on the eastern Florida coast, Deirdre is a non-event, weather wise.”
Jesse stared at the screen for a few seconds, trying to decide how to bring up his concerns. Finally, he said, “You know the other night when you called and said you wished I was in Miami with you cuz the weather was great and a midnight swim would be cool?”
“Yeah?” Denny responded hesitantly.
“Well, this storm was dumping a load of rain on Miami…”
Denny looked flustered. Then regaining control, he said, “I…uh….I was actually in Tampa.”
“Tampa? But you said you were assigned the trip to Miami.”
“You know how it is. You fly for so many days and are in and out of so many airports, you hardly know where you are. I don’t usually go to Tampa. I have the Miami run all the time, so I got the cities mixed up.” He took the bowl of ice cream from Jesse’s hand. “Come on, sit down and enjoy your first dessert. The second one is gonna be even better.” He gave Jesse an evil grin.
Jesse sat, and they ate the ice cream. He accepted what Denny had said about being in Tampa, not Miami. He knew the hectic flight schedules and quick layovers could be disorienting. He felt relieved: he knew there had to have been a logical explanation. As Jesse was getting up to take the empty bowls to the kitchen, Denny’s cell phone rang. Jesse stopped, turned and looked back at Denny.
Don’t let it be another emergency flight assignment!
“Hello. Oh…uh…hi.” Denny looked at Jesse. He waved him on.
Jesse started out of the room but stopped again in the doorway. Denny got up and walked toward the patio. As he was going out the door, Jesse thought he heard him say, “This is not a good time—”
- Writer
