Текст книги "The Distance Between"

Автор книги: Zillah De Rigaud

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brother to him. But I could not separate those two things; it was all or nothing for me. So most of the time I

was cruel and irrational and sided with my dad. I now that David wouldn’t take this bullshit from any

other person in the world, he’s not a complete idiot, but he loved me so much that he was willing to

overlook most of my behavior. Sometimes I think he knew that I was only being mean to him to create a

distance, but other times he was genuinely hurt too. When we fought at the dinner table and me and my dad

agreed on one of David’s many stupidities, I could see he had a hard time swallowing it down. He wanted

dad and me to like him. He wanted to be accepted by us as a son and a brother.

Always eager to please, he usually wouldn’t respond to one of my cruel remarks. But he knew a more

effective way to hurt me.

He started dating again and brought home a new guy for me to be jealous over. He would make out with

him in front of me, let that guy French kiss him and stick his tongue deep down his throat while he knew

that I was watching. He’d invite the new guy, Mark, over for birthday parties and barbeques until finally I

thought I was dying inside. I had to get out of there.

“I want to go back to Paris for another year,” I told my dad. “Why?” he asked me. “Things are going so

well at the firm, I thought you liked working there.”

“I do,” I said. “And I’ll work at the firm again once I come back, but I need some more time on my own.

I want to go back to the Sorbonne for another year.” My dad could tell that I was serious.

“You have been working really hard the last couple of months.” My dad said. “I don’t want you to have

a burn-out before you reach thirty.”

“I won’t,” I said. “But there’s so much I still want to do. I want to live another year in Paris before I

settle down here.”

“Alright then,” my dad said. “But promise me you’ll come back.”

“I will,” I said.

David took it hard when I told him I would be leaving for another year. “You’ve won again,” he said

bitterly when I went to say goodbye to him.

“What do you mean?” I said. “I didn’t think this was a game.”

“Then why are you leaving again?” he said.

“You have Mark now,” I said. “Why do you want me to stay anyway? I’m always such an asshole to

you.” He threw me a bitter smile. “Mark doesn’t compare to you.” I swallowed down the lump in my

throat.

“You won’t even miss me,” I said.

“Fuck you,” he said and I could see he was trembling. “I’ll miss you like crazy,” he said. “But I won’t

hear from you, just like the last time. I’ll write you but you’ll just forget about me again.”

“I didn’t forget about you,” I said. I closed the distance between us and hugged him hard. He tried to

back away from my touch.

“I can’t do this anymore,” he said. “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want to not hear from you for another

year.”

“This time things will be different,” I said.

“Do you promise?”

“Yeah I promise,” I said and I kissed the top of his head. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” he

said with a sad smile. “I’ve known you longer than today.”

PART 5 PARIS

19. A second time in Paris

So I went back to Paris and this time I enjoyed the city a lot more than the previous two years I’d spend

here. I enrolled into university classes once more, in a post-graduate Public international law program

and practiced my French. I also worked part-time for my dad’s acquaintances’ law firm, the guy who

rented me the apartment the first time I was in Paris.

With my dad’s financial aid I now rented a really nice apartment at the ‘Le Marais’ district, which

spreads across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris on the Right Bank of the Seine. The

apartment still wasn’t large but a lot bigger than the last one where I’d lived. It was also more luxuriously

furnished and had a bathroom with an actual bathtub. I was on the top floor of the building and the view

from my living room was spectacular.

I loved my new neighborhood too. The rue des Rosiers, close to where I lived, is still a major centre of

the Paris Jewish community, with numerous restaurants and other places to get great kosher food. I liked

new experiences like tasting all the unfamiliar food and checking out the interesting sites in the area.

There was so much history here in Paris and it was cool to be a part of that.

The neighborhood had a thriving gay scene too with many gay cafés, nightclubs, cabarets and shops. I

hadn’t been out much when I was working for dad but now that I was on my own again I didn’t want to sit

at home alone every night. Near the streets Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie and Vieille du Temple were a

couple of places I went to on occasion and that’s where I met Remi too.

I often went to ‘Le Duplex’ at the Rue Michel le Comte for drinks and in the hope that I would meet

some nice guy that would make me forget all about David. It was a small club, the cosmopolitan crowd

was crammed together so after a couple of beers everybody started talking together. The people were

what you could describe as ‘champagne socialists’, a hip politically correct bunch, just like my stepbrother.

The guys I hung out with at university came here often because of the atmosphere and the nice

musical line-up.

Remi was standing at the bar looking at the crowd when I came up to order drinks for a new friend from

university and myself. When I saw him lounging against the bar I was immediately struck by how

handsome he was. He was shorter than I am, I could almost rest my chin on his dark glossy hair, and he

was slim but not in a girlish way. His arms were slender but nicely muscular and he had this ethnic

leather bracelet around his wrist. He looked up to me when I was standing next to him. I couldn’t help but

stare into his dark eyes, which had a sweet innocent look about them.

“Are you going to buy me a drink?” he asked in French and I did.

When I went home with him a couple of hours later it turned out that he wasn’t nearly as innocent as he

looked. We were both a little intoxicated when we undressed in the dark and I nearly tripped while I was

stripping off my jeans. Luckily it was so dark that he didn’t see much of my clumsiness. I was still

undressing when he put one some French music that I didn’t recognize and started kissing me. His mouth

tasted ashy. It was the first time I’d ever kissed someone who smoked. He was a great kisser though.

I pushed him towards the bed and when he let himself fall backwards I was on top of him in one fluent

move. His skin was hot and smooth against mine. It felt amazing to feel someone’s naked body against

mine after all of those months of jerking off alone.

His hands were in my boxer shorts kneading my ass and I pulled his briefs down without ending our

kiss. When I finally felt his hard-on against mine, my heart jumped. We rubbed our dicks together while

my hands touched him all over. He was so hot that his hips were already bucking against mine. He

grabbed behind him on the nightstand and offered me a condom and some lube. It was so dark that I

couldn’t get the package open quickly enough and he had to rip open the foil for me. He put on a condom

as well, I guessed so that the bed wouldn’t get too messy. I massaged some of the lube on my dick and slid

a slicked hand between his legs too. He was eager and experienced enough to know what to do. He turned

around, facing away from me and

I fucked him hard while he was on his knees, clutching the bed. All the while he was moaning little French

words, which sounded incredibly hot. My hands were on his hips as I was bucking against him and with

every stride he was grinding his ass against me, encouraging me to fuck him even harder. He stroked his

own dick while I was fucking him. We were both so horny that the whole ordeal took less than ten

minutes.

He came first and the contractions of his body made me go over the edge as well. In those last few

seconds I could think of nothing else than that I wanted him to be David. When I came it was with so much

force that I cried out loud. I felt totally exhausted and slumped against him.

Afterwards we lay in bed together on the damp sheets. Remi was smoking a cigarette. The air in the

apartment was hot and smelled of smoke. The tip of the cigarette glowed red in the dark, besides that I

could only see Remi’s vague contour.

“This was good, we should do this more often,” he said. “I’m glad I got your approval,” I replied. “You

were the best American lover I’ve ever had,” he said and exhaled some smoke. “How many Americans

did you sleep with then?” I asked and he pinched me lightly on the arm. “Just two, but you were definitely

the best.”

“Do you want me to go home?” I asked reluctantly. I really didn’t feel like getting up. I was tired and

the bed was nice and warm. “Non, you can stay,” he said and put out the cigarette in an ashtray that he

kept on his nightstand. “We should get some sleep,” he said and pulled the cover over our bodies

Although I was really tired, it took me a while to sleep. I always find it difficult to sleep when I’m not

in my own bed. My thoughts wandered and then I was thinking of David again. I wondered what he was

doing right now and if he missed me. I wondered if he thought of me too right after he’d fucked another

guy.

When I woke up the next morning, I was slightly disoriented. I lay on the ‘wrong’ side of the bed and

the room was brighter than I was used to. Remi was already up, standing in his briefs next to the opened

window smoking his first cigarette of the day.

He looked amazing with the morning light setting his skin aglow. He was darker skinned than me; he

had a sort of Mediterranean olive complexion and his white briefs contrasted with his skin tone nicely.

His slender frame looked young and athletic. I had no idea how old he actually was, but I guessed in his

early twenties.

When he saw that I was awake he tossed his cigarette bud out of the window and came back to bed to

kiss me. I’d never kissed anyone in the morning before without brushing me teeth and I felt self-conscious.

After a few seconds Remi released me from the kiss and gave me a sweet smile. “You can take a shower

if you want to,” he said. “I’ll make some coffee.”

I nodded and walked to the shower, which was no bigger, then a closet with a shower-head and a sink

in it. Through a narrow window you could look outside and I stared over the Parisian rooftops as I

washed my hair.

I brushed my teeth with Remi’s toothbrush, another thing that made me uncomfortable. I rinsed it out

properly and hoped he wouldn’t mind. When I came back to the living space of the apartment, there

weren’t actually any separate rooms, the smell of coffee made my stomach clinch. I picked up my clothes

from the floor where I’d left them the night before. They smelled horribly of sweat, stale beer and smoke.

“I’ll give you a shirt,” Remi said when he saw my smelling my clothes. “You can give it back next time

we see each other.” I nodded thankfully. I wasn’t just thankful for the clean shirt but also for the

implication that we would see each other again. It spared me the awkwardness of having to ask him if he

wanted to see me another time.

I put on the shirt that he gave me. It was too small but at least it was clean. We had our coffee standing

up at the kitchen table. There was no breakfast because Remi had forgotten to buy anything. He didn’t

seem hungry and just smoked his second cigarette. It was almost noon. “I’d better be getting home,” I said.

“Okay,” he said.

After we’d exchanged phone numbers and email addresses, I left.

It was a sunny day and instead of taking the metro to my own apartment I decided to walk. I felt excited to

have met such a nice guy.

Remi called me two days later again and asked me to drop by. I’d washed and ironed his shirt and

brought a nice bottle of red wine with me. He’d cooked dinner for us, some exotic Moroccan dish with

figs and honey. We drank the wine I’d brought over dinner and then another bottle too. The wine was

making me confident.

“I really like you,” I told him. He got up from his chair and sat on my lap, straddling me. He put his

arms around me and kissed me intensely. I kissed him back hard. One of his hands grabbed my hair at the

back of my head and pulled me in even stronger. I liked him taking control like that and I had a hard-on

immediately. I could feel his’ pressed against my stomach. When the kiss grew even more heated I lifted

him up from the chair, he was a lot lighter than me, and pushed him on his bed. He fumbled with my

clothed and I took off my shirt over my head without unbuttoning it. I kicked off my shoes and pulled my

pants and boxer shorts down in one move. My hard-on bopped up and hit my stomach. He undressed

quickly too and he got a condom from his nightstand and slid it over my dick. He bent down and started to

give me a mind-boggling blow-job. I was ready to come in to his mouth but he got up again.

I was so horny that I could barely cope with his mouth leaving my erection. He massaged a handful of

lube over my dick and then he pushed me backwards so that I was lying down and he straddled me again.

He just slid over me and started riding me hard. I reached for his hard-on and started pumping his dick in

my hand at the same time. With every stroke he was moaning and impaled himself deeper on to me. We

were both heaving like crazy. Sweat drops were appearing on his chest and forehead and clung to his dark

hair. I was bucking my hips against his ass every time he moved.

When he started to climax he was mumbling things in French and threw his head backwards. The line of

his throat and the tensed muscles in his shoulders and arms looked so incredibly hot. He was clutching the

sheets and I was holding his hips in my hands. He came with a sudden jerk and shot his jizz over my hand,

my chest and on my throat. Dewy pearls of come were stuck in his own pubic hair as I was still milking

his dick with my hand. Then my own orgasm hit me and I convulsed inside of him. I threw back my head

in the pillow and let the waves of pleasure pass through me. This time, I didn’t even think of David when

I came.

Afterwards, when we’d cleaned up and were having dessert in bed, Remi said: “I really like you

Michael, we should be friends.” “Yeah we should,” I said and I fed him the last of our ice-cream while

we watched ‘les Blues’, a French TV show with a super cute gay cop and his detective-lover who was

kind of a jerk.

20. Late night confessions

And so Remi and I became friends. Some nights we would have amazing, hot sex but there were other

nights too when we would just hang out, drink wine and talk or even play poker with some of his friends.

After one of those nights where I did fuck him, we were in bed together and totally exhausted. It was a

beautiful night, hot enough to leave the window open so that we could hear the traffic and people on the

streets below us. We were drinking the last of our second bottle of wine together and then I could see by

the look on Remi’s face as he lit up a cigarette that something was the matter.

“What is it?” I asked. He exhaled some smoke before he could say anything.

“Michael I really like you.”

“Yeah, I like you too,” I said. “

“I like you, but I don’t want you to get the wrong idea,” he said. He inhaled from his cigarette. I was

puzzled.

“What do you mean, wrong idea?” He looked at me with those sweet eyes.

“I mean I really like you being my friend and I like having sex with you…but that’s it.” He sighed and

looked at me seriously. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m just not in love with you. I just don’t feel it.”

“I’m not in love with you either,” I said and when I’d spoken the words out loud I knew I meant it. “Can

I have one of your cigarettes?” I asked. He gave me a cigarette and lit it for me. I never smoked but now I

needed something to get rid of the uneasy feeling in my stomach.

“Then why did you say that you loved me when I woke you up last morning?” Remi asked.

“Did I say that?” I replied puzzled. Sometimes when I woke up here it was still hard for me to

remember where I was. There were some many places where I had spent the night frequently that I lost

track. I was confused between my parents place, my old apartment in New York, my new apartment back

home, my Parisian apartment, Remi’s place… Sometimes when Remi was lying next to me I dreamt I was

back in New York and it was David holding me instead of him. When Remi would wake me up with a

kiss I would dream it was David.

I poured myself another glass of red wine. Our second bottle of the evening was almost empty.

“So who were you saying I love you to then?” Remi asked. “It’s complicated,” I said and swallowed

some more wine.

“You can tell me,” Remi said. I had clearly awoken his curiosity. “There’s only one guy for me,” I said.

“So why aren’t you with him?” Remi asked. “It’s impossible,” I replied. Remi giggled, “Nothing is

impossible, unless he’s straight… Is he straight?” I shook my head.

“Come on, you can tell me about him,” Remi said, but I couldn’t say anything at that moment.

At least Remi was relieved that I wasn’t in love with him either. It was weird that both of us didn’t feel

that way about each other because we seemed like a perfect match. He was smart and talkative and not

such a nerd as David. David was a really sweet guy but Remi had an edge and a very cynic sense of

humor that I also liked. And of course he was really handsome. When we walked outside together I could

see girls and sometimes guys checking him out. Remi loved the attention.

Still, when I thought of David I would be melancholic for hours. I hoped he was happy working for dad.

I hoped he was happy together with Marc, but sometimes I hoped he missed me too.

21. “Bonne fête a toi” (Happy birthday to you)

Then it was my birthday again, another year gone by. I would go out with Remi and a couple of his

friends, who were now my friends too. I’d already received some packages from the States for my

birthday but had decided to leave them unopened until today. I could read Glenn’s scribbled handwriting

on one of them and I was pleased that he’d remembered. I really missed Glenn.

I made myself an espresso with the fancy machine that I’d bought second hand in some dump shop near

by and sat down. The first package I opened was from Christine and contained, like always, some

clothing. She loved buying me shirts, even though I now lived in the fashion capital of the world. It was a

nice shirt though and I decided I would wear it in the evening when we went out.

My dad and Juliette had sent me a card saying that they’d put 500 Euro’s on my account so that I could

treat myself to something nice. The twins had bought me a CD from a band I’d never heard of before, but

which turned out to be pretty cool. My little brothers were growing up fast and they’d both acquired a

taste for nice indie bands.

Glenn had sent me some raunchy porn DVD’s with guys dressed as US Marshalls. He’d written me a

card too, which read: “Just so you don’t forget the boys back home…Hope you’re enjoying yourself

over there. Make sure to come back to the US in a couple of months. I’m bored to death without you.” I

smiled. It was nice to know that Glenn missed me too. I would have to call him again to urge him to come

over and stay with me for a vacation.

I’d kept David’s package for last. My stomach felt clenched when I looked at it. I didn’t really want to

open it but at the same time I felt compelled to do so. When I opened the package I saw that there was a

birthday card inside that I kept for last.

There was also an bunch of pictured that I picked up and flipped through. He’d send me the pictures that

we’d taken in our parent’s backyard. Some of them had David and me on them, while we lay in the grass

in each others’ arms. Two of the pictures had actually been taken when we were sleeping. Christine must

have made those secretly with David’s camera. I’m holding David in my arms on those pictures and our

legs are tangled. The set also contained the picture of David standing next to our pool. I felt sad looking at

it. Seeing him on that picture made me realize that nothing had changed; I loved him just the same. I

framed that picture later and put it next to my bed.

I opened David’s birthday card. It read: “I hope you’re having a great day Michael. I really miss you

back home. I think about you all the time. Love David.”

I felt like crying. Here I was, thousands of miles away from my brother and still I felt bad. I still wanted

him more than I could ever want Remi, although Remi was perfect for me in every way.

I picked up my mobile phone and called David’s number. It was the first time I’d ever called him from

France on my initiative. All of a sudden I was desperate to hear his voice and the thought of him not

picking up the phone was agonizing.

The phone rang a couple of times, which seemed to take forever, and then he finally picked up.

“Hey it’s me,” I said, “Can you talk?” I hadn’t even thought of the time differences with the US. He

was silent for a moment and then said “Yeah of course. I’m so glad you called.” Just hearing his slightly

husky voice made my heart twitch.

“I just opened your package,” I said, “Thanks for the pictures.”

“You liked them?”

“Yeah, they’re great. It was really thoughtful of you.”

“I miss you,” he said.

“Yeah I read that on our card,” I replied, “I miss you too.”

I could hear his tearing breath through the phone.

“I miss you quite a lot actually,” I said hoarsely.

“I miss you a lot too, I think about you all the time,”

“Me too,” I said, “I try not too but I can’t stop myself. I think about you all the time, even when I

shouldn’t.”

I could hear him catch his breath on the other side of the line.

“Sometimes I wake up here thinking I’m back in my old apartment in New York, with you being there...

But then when I really wake up it’s never you of course and then I feel so empty inside. I’m sorry I haven’t

called you more often, you mean more to me than you might think.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, “I’m just glad I’m hearing your voice now. Sometimes I can’t sleep

because I miss you so much.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” I said, “I’ll call you again soon.”

“Michael,” he said, “Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.”

“I love you,” he said and then he hung up.

After our conversation I felt drained. I missed David and I missed my family back home. I was even

contemplating to buy a plane ticket to fly back and see them when Remi was in front of my door.

“So what’s wrong?” he asked when we walked to the restaurant were we would have diner. “It’s your

birthday, you should be happy!”

“I am happy,” I said and forced a smile on my face.

“Are you sad because of the guy you can’t be with?” he asked.

“Yeah I am, but I’ll be alright,” I said. I really wanted to believe that was true.

The birthday dinner turned out to be great so the day wasn’t a total loss. Remi took me to a Lebanese

restaurant where we ate farrouj mehshi and felafel among other exotic things and drank wine with Remi’s

friends. His friends were all young and cute and from various ethnicities. One of them was Lebanese, his

uncle owned the restaurant, another was from Algiers, two were French and the fifth was a Czech. That

last one I liked the most; he was quiet with sad, serious eyes. But after a couple of drinks he turned out to

be really funny and he had the cutest accent in English. He sounded like a Russian in a bad movie and he

had an awful haircut too. Something about him reminded me of David somehow. The way he was shy in

the beginning of the evening and how his face lit up when he smiled. I really wanted to sleep with him but

I was afraid that Remi wouldn’t like it, although we were not officially dating.

When Remi and I both got up to go to the bathroom he threw me a wicked glance. “So you like Pavel?”

he said when we were alone together. “I saw you looking at him.”

“Do you mind?” I asked carefully. He laughed. “No of course not” He sat down on his knees in the

bathroom and started pulling my pants down.

“You can sleep with Pavel later if you want to, but first let me give you your birthday present.” Then he

started giving me a blow-job and I was torn between anxiety that someone might come in and pure lust.

Later that evening, I did go home with Pavel. He was a very inexperienced but sweet lover and I tried

to take things slow with him and show him a good time.

The week after my birthday I was busy at university so I didn’t see much of Remi. Remi never seemed

to study or work. He’d gotten a large inheritance a year ago and he was thinking about what to do with his

life. In some way I envied him, he was completely free to do what he wanted. There was no demanding

job at a law firm waiting for him. But I knew I would be bored to death within a week if I didn’t work or

study.

We saw each other again on Saturday. I was completely exhausted from studying long hours next to my

job. I really needed a break. Remi told me that he would take me out for coffee so that I could think about

something other than law for a change.

We met around noon for coffee and then had lunch. We sat outside on the terrace for the rest of the

afternoon, just watching people and talking. We had a couple of glasses of wine and decided to go out for

dinner in the evening. Remi knew an Italian restaurant near my place, which was cheap but good.

We went to this restaurant, had some risotto and more wine and both of us flirted with our waiter who

had smoldering black eyes.

It had been a week since Remi had given me that last blow-job and I’d slept with Pavel. I really needed

to get laid. “We can go back to my apartment,” I told Remi. He agreed.

I’ never taken Remi home with me before that time. We always met in the city or at Remi’s own place.

This time I was intoxicated and horny enough to take him with me back to my place.

We started kissing in the stairway to my apartment and just when we were ready for action I saw

David’s picture staring at me and I kind of had a break down in front of Remi. After that I told him

everything…

Luckily he wasn’t weirded out by my feelings for my stepbrother when I told him about David. If

anything, Remi felt sorry for me. I could tell by the look in his eyes.

“It’s clear you love him very much,” Remi said. “I just don’t see why it’s so impossible for you to be

with him. He’s not your sibling by blood, just your stepbrother.”

“You don’t?” I said. “Let’s sum things up shall we… He isn’t just my stepbrother, we grew up together

and share our last name; our little brothers share our blood. My dad would totally freak out if he heard.

He would never speak to me again. Nobody at work would take me serious anymore. I can name another

couple of problems if you want too.”

“It’s definitely complicated,” Remi said. “But if you had to choose between David and you dad, who

would you choose?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. I was sure that my entire family would spit me out if I started sleeping

with David. I couldn’t imagine us sitting around the dinner table if David and I were lovers. I wanted

David so badly, but the thought of losing my family terrified me.

“Have you talked to your brother at all while you were here?”

“I called him on my birthday,” I said. “But I haven’t spoken to him after that. It just freaks me out too

much to hear his voice.”

“Why don’t you ask him to visit you in Paris?”

“No, I really don’t want to do that,” I said. I knew what would happen if I invited David to stay with

me. I’d gone to Paris in the first place to keep my distance from him.

“I wish there was just some switch that I could use to turn my feelings for him off,” I said.

“That’s not going to happen I think,” Remi said, “I would like to meet him, this David. I’d like to see

what kind of guy it would take to get you to feel this way.”

Now that my big secret was out to Remi, I talked about David all the time. I hoped I wasn’t annoying

Remi, but it was great to finally share my feelings with someone.

“You should call him,” Remi said. “He’s probably waiting by the phone for you to call.”

On the next Saturday morning I finally picked up the phone and called my brother. Again, I felt the same

anxiety when I was waiting for him to pick up the phone.

“David Adams,” he finally said when he picked up. My heart surged again.

“It’s me,” I said. “I promised you I’d call so here I am.”

“I’m glad you did, sorry I didn’t recognize your phone number when I picked up, it’s still the middle of

the night here.”

“Did I wake you?”

“No I couldn’t sleep so I was watching Farscape, let me just put down the volume.”

“You’re such a nerd,” I said. “How many of these science fiction things do you watch?” He laughed.

“Don’t pretend you don’t love them too. I know you like hot guys in space-suits just as well.”

“So what else are you doing except for watching hot guys and aliens?”

“I’m just working for dad…Actually, I’m working for dad a lot. He keeps me at the firm until midnight

if he thinks he has to.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said.

“He misses you a lot,” David said.

“I miss him too,” I replied. “I miss all of you back home.” For a moment I wondered if should speak out

loud the next sentence that came into my head, but then I did. “I miss you the most actually.”

“You do?” he asked and sounded genuinely surprised. “Yeah I do. I mean, I’m not here alone pining

away. I’ve made some friends. One of them, Remi, is actually pretty cool. We hang out a lot. I stay over at

his place sometimes too…but he just isn’t you.” My voice was hoarse all of a sudden again. “How about

you?” I tried to say it casually.

“I broke up with Mark a while ago,” he answered. “He was really a control freak, it started to annoy

me.”

“Have you found a new guy yet?” I asked.

“No, I’m just working all the time and waiting for you to come home.”

“I’ll be home in a couple of months and then I’ll be annoying the hell out of you again soon enough,” I

said.

“You can boss me around any time, I’ll just be happy to see you again.”

“I’ll call you soon again okay,” I said.