Taylor’s head snapped up from his hand, and his eyebrows hit his hairline. “Youwhat?”
I jumped up and closed my office door before turning to him with my hands out, “Jesus, keep it down, I don’t want Aunt Helen to find out yet. She’s the one that set us up in the first place. She’s friends with his mother or something. I just don’t want to cause any waves.”
“Well, alrighty then.” Taylor reached down into a bag I hadn’t noticed him bring in and pulled out my idea of nirvana. “Then, I guess it’s lucky I brought you more of these babies today.” He held up the bag of jelly beans, and I grinned like a loon. I loved my friend so hard. Taylor proceeded to open the gigantic bag and dumped them into the bowl I kept on my desk for just that purpose. Without thinking, he then meticulously reached in and started removing every black one, placing them in a separate bowl to take back to his desk. Yes, I was anal, and Taylor got me perfectly. If only he were more my type, or I was more his type, we’d be perfect together. I heaved a sigh at the unfairness.
Oh, well, at least he sorts my jelly beans for me.
I reached into the bowl and reveled in the flavor of fake cherry and whatever flavor the white ones were supposed to be. I had never actually figured it out but didn’t really care. My first-grade teacher had always had jelly beans on her desk and gave them out whenever we got an answer right or did a good job on a test. She was always so nice and kind to me at that tender age when I needed the love and encouragement I never got at home. I worked extra hard every day to earn her approval and a jelly bean. My work ethic was ingrained in me that year, along with my lifelong love of these small fruit flavored candies. Jelly beans, to me, would always represent happiness. “You know I would totally sleep with you for bringing these to me, don’t you?”
Taylor halted his sorting and gave me the evil eye, “Eww, Ladd, don’t talk like that.” He leveled a glare at me, pointed his finger in my face and said solemnly, “You are no man’s jelly bean whore.” And with that bit of wisdom, he finished his task and swaggered back to his desk.
I once again went back to my morning ritual of making sure everything on my desk was where it should be for the day to come. The stapler and tape dispenser parallel to the desk sides, pens and pencils in separate but matching containers, computer cords not kinked and neatly bundled. Any of these things could ruin my concentration if they were out of order. After fifteen minutes of arranging my space for the day, Taylor came back from depositing his stash of licorice horrors onto his desk and handed me my cup filled with my vanilla mocha from the break room. He then sat down at the table I had in the corner of my office and began spreading out the blueprints we needed to go over this morning for the Mason building project. It didn’t seem like he was ready to let the Parker situation go just yet, however.
“So, what exactly happened with Parker anyway? I thought it was going well up until now.”
I walked over to the table and sat down next to him to start looking over the plans. As I scanned, I shared. “Well, he stayed over last night, and the action was less than stellar.” I returned his surprised look with a nod of my head. “I made the mistake of telling him some of the things I liked. How was I supposed to know he would think I was a freak? He kept trying to boss me around and be all dominant and shit. I like that kind of thing. You know, I need to get out of my head to have a good time, but he wasn’t natural with it. I know he’s bigger than me, most guys are, but he had this attitude that just turned me off.” I snapped my fingers as the perfect analogy came to mind, “It’s like I was his servant and he expected me to jump whenever he called. That’s not sexy, that’s bullying and a complete turnoff. Then he told me this morning that I was a freak and everything I wanted wasn’t right.”
Taylor nodded his head in agreement, “Yeah, I can see that about him for sure. He’s pretty to look at, but his attitude sucks most of the time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be taken out of your head for a while. If anyone needs to be out of their head, it’s you. And I know you like the big buff dommy types just like I do. I may be too big to reside in Twinktown, but I still like my guys bigger than me and deliciously toppy.”
I wasn’t prepared for that bit of sharing and had the misfortune of having coffee shoot out my nose at his confession. “For fuck’s sake, Tay, warn a guy next time you’re gonna be all witty and shit first thing in the morning.” I jumped up and grabbed some tissues from the box on my desk to wipe up my mess. “And Twinktown? That’s where I reside these days, is it?”
He looked at me with a sincere nod, “Absolutely, Ladd. You, my red-headed twinkie friend, with your bow ties and sweater vests, are the Mayor of Twinktown.” I glanced down at my outfit and nodded my agreement. I was indeed a nerdybut professionaltwink. I loved my bowties and my crisp clothes. The feel of the tight tie and the starched lines of my pants and shirts comforted my mind and assured me they were clean and perfect.
“Well, if I’m the Mayor of Twinktown, then I give you permission to live there. I’d be lonely by myself. You know James doesn’t qualify, Remy’s Bi, and Rhett’s supposedly straight. What would Twinktown be with just me and no one else? Unless it was located right next to Bearville, then you could keep your ass here, and I’d keep all of the big guys to myself.” I smirked into my coffee. Taylor had a fixation on big hairy guys, and I knew I’d get a reaction.
“Fuck that! You may be my best friend and like a brother to me, but don’t get between my hairy construction worker fantasy man and me.” I couldn’t help but laugh because my best friend was funny as shit. I waved him back to what he was doing, and I was happy to see neither my white starched shirt nor my aforementioned pink and navy striped bow tie had sustained any damage from my impromptu spit take. I’d hate to have to change this early in the morning, although I did always have three backup outfits in the closet just in case. Yes, another quirk. Can’t have wrinkles or stains. It was unprofessional.
I sat down at the table next to Taylor and looked over the blueprints. “Okay, let’s get this proposal finalized. I’m meeting their rep in a week and want to put our best foot forward. I really want this one to be the best we’ve ever done.”
* * *
As I was makingmy way out a little after five p.m., Aunt Helen called me into her office. I had been dreading this all day but knew I had to talk to her at some point. I shuffled into her office and shut the door, taking a seat on the rich plum velvet camelback sofa she had nestled in the bay window of her office. She had designed the space beautifully in shades of plum and gray, and her classic taste was on display for all of her clients to see. The room was as relaxed and inviting as Aunt Helen’s softly rounded coastal accent.
She was actually my great aunt, sister to my grandfather. She never married and still had the Eldridge name which she bore proudly. She had become like a mother or grandmother to my brothers and me when we had moved here with Uncle James. Along with her sister, my aunt, Lillian, they had helped us settle into the family home on the Bay, and we’d all created one big family in the sprawling creole. The twins had both excelled in school, graduated early and were now both lawyers in town. Rhett’s career looked exceedingly promising and Remy, well, Remy was just Remy. He had a side gig that seemed to make him happy. We hoped for the best for him and he usually always surprised us. They were both out on their own, and I had moved into the carriage house behind the main house two years ago when I came back after graduation.
My Architecture Degree from The University of Florida had been a great accomplishment for me. Aunt Helen had been thrilled to welcome me into her business. I looked up to her not only for encouraging me to follow in her footsteps and giving me a job right out of school but also for being the stable motherly figure we all needed in our lives and had never had with our own mother. That was one of the reasons I wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. I really didn’t want to ever disappoint her.
This evening, she looked elegant as always with her silver hair cut in a sleek bob that framed her slightly rounded face perfectly. She had told me once that she had prematurely grayed and since she liked it, she decided to own it. It suited her. Her cream slacks and bright blue top made her blue eyes stand out even more than usual today. She really was an attractive woman. Herlady friendGwen would no doubt agree.
Aunt Helen cleared her throat, pulling me from my straying thoughts. She stood up and came around the desk to sit next to me on the sofa, lightly placing her soft hand on my navy slacks clad thigh. “Ladd, sweetheart, can you tell me what happened between you and Parker this morning? I got a call from Mary Katherine this afternoon saying you went crazy and attacked him.” I looked down at her hand on my leg to avoid her searching gaze. I was embarrassed at my actions but owed her an explanation. So, I laid out my conversation with Parker from that morning in its entirety. Finally, I ended the tale with my ill-advised punch to Parker’s perfect face, all the while looking anywhere but at her. I knew she would be unhappy with my actions. I didn’t often let my temper flare, unlike Remy, but I was almost always embarrassed when I did.
She was quiet for a moment, then squeezed my thigh tightly. “That’s what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. Parker has always been a prick ever since he was knee-high to a grasshopper. That Mary Katherine never did a damn thing to discipline him. Good riddance if you ask me, and good for you for hitting the little shit in the kisser. He’s been needin’ to be brought down a peg or two for years, and I’m tickled shitless it was one of us that got to do it.” I snapped my head up and saw that Aunt Helen’s face was flushed and her smile went from ear to ear. Was she happy? No, not happy, she was elated.
“You mean you’re not mad that I broke up with him? You’re the one that set us up. I thought you wanted me to give him a chance.”
She looked puzzled for a moment, and then clarity shot across her face followed by annoyance. “Did that little piece of shit tell you that I gave him your number?” I nodded because that was exactly what had happened.
“God, that woman is gonna be the death of me, I swear. If I didn’t have to serve with her on the Fairpoint Historic Preservation Board, I would just as soon never talk to her again.” She looked out the window for a few seconds, then glanced back to me. “I gave Mary Katherine your phone number because she said she wanted to get your opinion on having her husband’s library redesigned and she knows how beautiful you’ve made your own library in the carriage house. I let that slip one day, and evidently, she took advantage of the information. She’s a piece of work, I tell ya. I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything sooner, but when you asked about him and said you were dating, I didn’t want to cause you any problems if you actually did like the boy. But now that you know, you keep away from those Redcliffs, Ladd. They’re bad news.”
Well, all I could say was, “Yes, ma’am, I definitely know better now.”
She gave one firm nod of her head, then gave a little shake of her hand on my leg, “Well, now that that’s settled, let’s get back to the homestead. Lillian and Gwen are meeting us over there for family dinner, and we’ve all got the meteor shower to watch on the pier tonight.”
Now, this I had been looking forward to for weeks. The meteor shower tonight was supposed to be the most active in recent memory. I had always loved watching the skies, never knowing when the next star would fall. I had seen a few in my lifetime, and I always made a wish. Rhett said it wasn’t logical to call them falling stars or to make wishes on random space debris burning up in the atmosphere. Remy had always been too restless to sit still long enough to watch for them. Uncle James always watched, and I secretly thought he made wishes, too. I just had no idea what he would wish for since he seemed to have everything he could ever want, well, except a partner. Actually, maybe I did know what he wished for. He had never dated much since we had come into his lives. It bothered us to think that he put his life on hold for us. The last time I saw Remy, he said he had an idea to help. As with most things Remy, I knew better than to ask.
It didn’t matter to me though if any of them believed or not. It was my thing, just like my jelly beans and my crisp dress shirts. Tonight, I’d lay out on the end of the pier behind my carriage house and watch the skies for my falling star. I knew exactly what my wish would be.
I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight. Please let me find someone to love me just the way I am and help me become the man I wish to be.
