“My best friend, Sarah.”Jamie took a sip of his wine.“I thought she would have a problem since she was such a churchgoer.I was surprised when she hugged me and said that it was okay.That we could ogle the boys together now.”
“Have you seen her since you’ve been back?”Mike asked.
“I have.And then I found out she married one of the guys who bullied me in school.”Jamie shook his head.“That was a bombshell I didn’t see coming.”
“Tell me,” Mike said as he cracked eggs into a bowl.
“There were two of them, most of the time.”Jamie watched Mike.“The one I ran into.He works at a fish place where I got the shrimp for the shrimp and grits.He was...actually, very nice.Apologized.I was shocked.Then I found out the other guy is in prison for shooting a cop.That didn’t surprise me.”
“Wow.”Mike used a wire whisk to mix the eggs and cream.“I’d have been surprised too.You know that he married your best friend and then apologized.”
“He even said he’d have me over to dinner.That hasn’t happened yet.But Sarah knows what’s going on in my life right now and hasn’t broached the subject, although she does text me to check in on how things are going.”
“Think she will?Have you over for dinner?”
“I think so.”Jamie watched Mike as he poured the egg mixture into the pan; its slight sizzle told him the pan wasn’t quite hot enough.“What about you?”
“I didn’t really get bullied.I mostly blended in, kept my head down, and did what any boy was supposed to do, I guess.My mother is a teacher, and if I’d gotten into any trouble, she would have come down on me hard.My father is an accountant.”Mike smiled over at Jamie.“Now, I love my dad, but damn, he is so boring.I can predict what he’d say most of the time on just about any subject.”
Jamie laughed.“So, you got your sense of humour from your mother?”
Mike thought a moment as he lifted the sides of the eggs in the pan.“I’d say I got most of my personality from my grandmother.My mom’s mom.She could do just about anything and was really funny.My mom would often frown at some of the stuff she said.”
“I guess that’s something we have in common then.”
Mike added the cooked ham, veggies, and then cheese.“You could say that.”
“When did you...like, come out?Is that a thing when you’re bi?”
“I suppose it’s a little like coming out.”Mike looked at Jamie, his eyes seemed troubled.“I mentioned it to my mother once when I was on leave...I was stationed in Japan at the time.I think she was shocked more than anything.Kept saying I couldn’t be bi.She’d known I was in a short relationship with a girl there.”
“And?”Jamie asked.
Mike put a handful of asparagus into a steamer basket on the stove.“It took her a while, I guess, to figure out what being bi meant.She’s not stupid at all, but I think it caught her off guard more than anything.”
“Have you had a lasting relationship with another guy?”Jamie felt he was testing Mike, which he was.
“Only once.It lasted for a few months.He was a marine.”Mike turned out the omelette onto a plate, put it in the oven, and began the process over again.“I thought I was in love with him.Not sure I really was.”Mike shrugged.“It ended when he was transferred out.We kept in touch for a while, but it dwindled down to nothing.I knew I wasn’t in love with him when it barely hurt.”
Jamie didn’t say anything for a while, watching Mike as he made a second omelette.“I would find that kinda hard, I guess.The moving away part.”
“Yeah.It wasn’t easy.It’s never easy.”Mike took a sip of his wine.“You make friends and then you have to leave.But that’s part of it.I think I’ll retire at the twenty-year mark or if it looks like I’d get transferred again.I don’t want to do that again.I think I may call Columbus home.I like it here.”
“Really?”Jamie asked, slightly surprised.“You’ve been in since you were eighteen, right?”
“Yep.”Mike picked up the plate he’d pulled from the oven.“It’s chow time.”
