“You’re not just saying that, are you? Honestly, Bo... if I’m just a rebound, it’s OK. I can leave. I’m used to it.”
Seeing Ralph so vulnerable was heartbreaking. The man before Bo was handsome, successful, and, now he knew firsthand, a dynamo in the sack... not your usual case for low self-esteem.
“No, Ralph. No. I’ve never seen you this way. Where’s that confident, macho salesman that was pounding me into oblivion last night?”
“I don’t know. I guess it was the tequila talking.”
“Well,” said Bo. “You’re not going anywhere unless you’re taking me. I don’t even have a fucking chair to sit on here... not that I’ll be sitting down comfortably, for a while.”
Ralph managed a small grin, his eyes twinklling.
“That’s more like it. I knew Realty-Man was in there somewhere.”
“I like you, Bo. A lot. I’m scared to say how much.”
“Alright, let’s talk about this a little.”
“Here it comes.”
“Nope. It’s not what you think.”
Ralph sighed more than said, “OK. I trust you, Bo. I always have.”
“That’s what I’m getting at, Ralph. It’s not like we just met. We’ve known each other for—what—three years?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
“We’ve had a business relationship, but also a friendship for that long, wouldn’t you say?”
“Absolutely.”
“Last night, we both admitted a longstanding attraction to one another. Something we never acted on, other than that brief slip in Shirlington. You have always been the perfect gentleman ever since, Ralph. In retrospect, maddeningly so... gracious, respecting boundaries, business as usual.”
“Wait a minute, Bo. What do you mean bymaddeningly so?”
“I saidin retrospect, Ralph—meaning you did the right thing, but in hindsight, had you not, we might have gotten together sooner.”
“That’s not me, Bo.”
“I know it’s not... and I love you all the more for it. I just hate wasting time and, now, I feel like a lot of my time with Dale—the last year especially—was squandered.”
“No one’s ever told me they love me, Bo... aside from family.”
Bo looked at Ralph. “Wait, did I... No, I—”
“Yeah. You did, Bo,” Ralph said, glowing. “And I’d say you being unaware of it makes it twice as sweet.”
Bo was flummoxed. He traced his words back, realizing that hehadused the L-word. It had slipped in organically, just a verb between a subject and its object.
“It’s OK to be a lesbian, Bo. I’m quite fond of lesbians.”
“I... I’m...” he stammered.
Ralph reached out and took Bo’s face in his hands. He kissed him, attempting to stir him from his stupor. “Let’s get back on track,” he said. “I’m curious to hear what you were going to say before I interrupted. Something about ourlongstanding attraction.”
Bo was still hazy, but his focus returned. “Yeah,” he said. “What I was saying is that we’ve kind of had something between us for a while, Ralph—the timing was just off. You steered clear of me because I was in a relationship, or some semblance of one. I was hesitant with you because you’re my boss.”
Ralph tried to object, but Bo beat him to the punch, hands up.
