He pats my shoulder. “No problem. Jesse’s a lucky guy to have you and that you care about him as much as you do. When it first happened, I knew intellectually it had to be special to have gotten to the point it did, but more than that, it’s nice seeing how special you are to each other. Now pray to the gods he doesn’t say no.” He flashes a cheeky smile before adding, “Kidding. Just want to see you squirm a bit,right?”
“Onlyfair.”
“You gonna get him like a ring or something? What’s the protocol with twoguys?”
“I’ll find him something nice, and then I figure he can either keep that or we can get him something together when we choose rings. Whatever he thinks is best. I don’t want him to be stuck with something he doesn’tlike.”
He narrows his eyes. “Yeah, I have a funny notion that he’ll be fine with whatever you choose. Come on, Eric. You have amazing taste. In design, in men, so surely that’ll translate tojewelry.”
I can’t help but laugh. “My taste in men was pretty crappy untilJesse.”
“I’m happy for you, Eric,” he says, as though he knows I need to hearit.
He offers me a hug…a fucking hug, and I embrace the moment, his acceptance, his blessing…and that I have such an amazingson.
We have our climbing session, and when we finish up, I find I’m too impatient to wait on this. I tell Jesse I have to run an errand and head to Tiffany’s at LennoxMall.
So many options, so many things toconsider.
Something he’ll like…something he’ll be proud towear.
Something that says…he’s allmine.
I peruse their men’s ring selection. The sales associate offers to help, but I’m the only person who can figure this out, so I thank him for his time and move along, keep up myquest.
I’ll have to size whatever it is because God knows there’s no way I’ll be able to figure that out. I mean, I can take a guess, but it won’t beprecise.
And once again, it has me considering this proposal I’m planning in Mexico, because one thing I’m certain of is that Jesse’s the only man I could imagine spending the rest of my lifewith.
I need the perfect symbol ofus.
Something soJesse.
Something simple but meaningful. Something to represent the beginning of our happyending.
21
Jesse
Ty searchesthrough the movies available on our flight to Puerto Vallarta, scrolling across the touchscreen on the seat in front ofhis.
“What do you think will be good?” Ty asks from the window seat. I’m in the middle, and Eric’s near theaisle.
“Something twisty and mind-bending sounds nice,” I reply as I start searchingtoo.
“I don’t know about that,” Eric jumpsin.
“Come on, Eric. You weren’t complaining during your second viewing ofMartyrs,” Tyretorts.
“If you’ll recall correctly, I complained straight through thatviewing.”
We all laugh together at the truth of hisremark.
“I wonder how they were even allowed to have that on the plane,” I note. “Aren’t they supposed to censor this stuff orsomething?”
Ty smirks. “I can’t imagine there’d still be a story if they censoredthat.”
Disturbing as the movie is, it holds a special place in my heart. Always will since it was the one we all watched together when we reconnected on our campingouting.
