Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
“Is sept six?”
“It’s seven, actually.”
“So, you had an orgy.”
“Yes. For the record, I used condoms, and I’ve been tested several times since then.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to point that out, since Kit and I weren’t sleeping together.
“Was it an all-male orgy?” I nodded, and he asked, “Have you ever had sex with a woman?”
“Once. I was nineteen. She and I were good friends, but she really wanted us to be more than that, so we gave it a shot.”
“And how did it go?”
“Not great. Even though she meant a lot to me, I just wasn’t into it.”
“Are you still friends?”
“No. Our friendship fell apart after that.”
“That’s sad.”
“It was. She ended up doing great, though,” I said. “She went on to earn her MBA, married a dentist, started a successful business, and has two brilliant kids.”
“How do you know all of that?”
“Because I ran into her the last time I was in Baltimore, and she took great satisfaction in telling me how fantastic her life is now. I think she took my failure to turn bi as a personal insult, and that was her way of… getting back at me, I guess?”
“People can be so weird.”
“I know. Anyway, back to your bucket list. Tell me more about what you’d include.”
“Number one on my list would be making enough money to help out my dad,” he told me. “Then, like I said, I’d love to travel.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Anywhere and everywhere. I’ve never been outside California, so it’d be a really long list.”
“For real?”
“Well, yeah. I’ve always been broke, so travelling wasn’t really an option.”
“If you could go anywhere without having to worry about the expense, where would you choose?”
I thought he might name a dream destination like Paris, or Tokyo, or Fiji, places that had seemed impossible to me while I was growing up. Instead, he said quietly, “I always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, but I never managed to make it happen.”
From San Diego, that was maybe an eight- or nine-hour drive. It broke my heart that something which should have been easily accessible had felt out of reach to him.
“I’d also love to take a road trip and visit my friend Hal in Texas,” he continued. “I told you about him. This used to be his room, and he left me his sewing machine and all of these wonderful things when he moved away.”
“I remember. You said he fell in love with a cowboy.”
“Right. That cowboy runs a horse rescue. They also have a bunch of goats, and chickens, and a donkey, and a whole pack of dogs. It would be great to see all of that in person, and to spend some time with my friend and his fiancé.”
He said that so wistfully, as if it all seemed impossible. I was about to tell him we could rent a car and leave on a road trip right now if he wanted to, but then his phone dinged. He read the message and told me, “It’s a group text from my supervisor. He’s asking the entire staff to come in for an important meeting at five, which is an hour before the club opens. I wonder what that’s about.”
“Can I go with you? Not to the meeting, obviously. I want to grab a coffee, do some exploring in the Castro, and then come back to the club for tonight’s drag show.”
“Absolutely.” He closed the journal and handed it to me before climbing off the bed. “I need to get ready, but I’d like to finish looking through your book later, if that’s okay.”
“Of course.”
I changed out of my sweats and into a clean T-shirt and jeans while he took a shower. Kit usually walked to and from work, and I worried about him out there at night, since he got off work at two a.m. That was why I’d been making a point of ending up at the club every night and hanging out until closing, then walking him home.
I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to take care of him like that. He was a full-grown adult, and it wasn’t like he needed or wanted my help. But there was something about him that called out to me, something that made me want to protect him and keep him safe. I kept that to myself, though. Kit wanted everyone to know he was strong and self-reliant, so he’d probably yell at me if I ever said that stuff out loud.
Kit worked at a club called Miss Lady Jane’s, named for the drag persona of its seventy-two-year-old owner. It had been in business over thirty years, and Miss Lady Jane herself still showed up every night in full drag and acted as emcee. I thought that was pretty amazing.
We paused outside the employee entrance at the back of the building, and Kit turned to me and asked, “Do I look alright? I feel like I threw myself together.” He was dressed in his work “uniform,” a black T-shirt and black jeans, and his thick hair was pinned back from his face with a sparkly barrette.