Daddy Business

Chapter 6: Boyfriends and Dates

Chapter 6: Boyfriends and Dates

Dugan Brae flirted with me for the next five or ten or fifteen minutes. Time seemed to stop during our closed-door meeting. Throughout that conversation, we talked about our childhoods. He’d been born and raised in Pittsburgh, went to Yale, and drew his first blueprint at twelve. He said he loved his older sister but didn’t see her often.

“Her name is Georgina. She lives in Florida. I prefer the cold up here. Fall and winter are my thing.”

He knew so much about me: no siblings, my parents lived in Chicago, I drove a Quest, and my last boyfriend’s name was Clay Johnsen.

I told him, “Faye’s told you a lot about me.”

“Faye likes to talk.”

“What else do you know about me?”

He chuckled. “I’m not stalking you. I’ve just paid attention to Faye when she talks to me.”

I laughed. “I get that. Tell me what else you know about me.”

“You can’t cook. You want to drive a Winnebago around the United States and visit every state. You spend hours reading.”

I huffed. “Jesus. You do know a lot about me. What did Faye tell you about Clay?”

Dugan knew everything about Clay Johnsen. He pretty much told me that Clay could have been the gem of my life had he not been a liar and constantly unfaithful.

Lies became Clay’s gig, in and out, every day. The biggest lie he told me entailed being gay. Behind my back, he had slept with numerous women: coworkers at construction jobs, female clients, and strange women he picked up in bars and restaurants that he diddled in their private homes or city apartments. And then he lied to me when I asked him if I was the only man in his life: “I love you, Paul. You’re mine. There’s no other man.” Truth told, there were seven other men in our two-year relationship. Then our boyfriendhood ended. We fought like hell. How couldn’t we after I learned about his infidelity?

Dugan added, “You held a knife against Clay’s throat and told him to get out of your life.”

“It’s no exaggeration. I’m not proud of that moment.”

“It’s understandable,” he said. “Relationships can be tough. Sometimes we overreact.”

I thought it only fair to ask Dugan if he occupied his heart in current relationship.

“I’m single right now. The right guy hasn’t come along.”

“Who’s the right guy for you, Dugan?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ll know when it happens, though. The guys I’ve dated in the last year have been creeps. One was a hustler. Two were married. Then there was Fredrick.”

“What about Fredrick?”

“He was a she, which I didn’t know about until the second date and we started to play around. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against transgendered people, but a man needs to know who he’s getting into bed with.”

“That was awkward for you, I’m sure.”

He chuckled. “It’s funny now, but then it wasn’t. I was looking for body parts that just weren’t there.”

“As I’ve always said, honesty is the only route to take.”

“I agree.”