Epilogue
Chapter 54
Louis
28 years
“Lou? Are you home?” Oh, he’s early today. My heart skips a beat. Since David joined the company, he’s been working some really crazy hours, but his father wants to retire in two years, and he wants to be prepared.
To be honest, my mind goes blank when he tries to explain work stuff, it’s a bit better when numbers are involved though. After all I am good at math, you can ask my 12thgraders.
I was lucky. After my practical exam, I got a job at a Gymnasium in our region and we moved back. Back to whereit all began. The hardest part was actually leaving our team, but with work, neither of us would have had the capacity to practice as intensely anymore.
Nevertheless, we miss the guys. Every now and then, we travel to games on the weekend and cheer them on. When they need us, we also jump in. Even though we no longer practice with them, we are both still registered and can’t seem to leave that part of ourselves behind. We practice with another team twice a week, but we don’t play in their games.
While David’s mother is still difficult, his father is one of our biggest supporters. Thanks to him we got the house we’ve been living in for two years now, even if he would never say so himself. I am warmly invited to business dinners and company parties, and I accompany David to most of them. Wolfgang Strasser proudly introduces his son and me to business partners, always with the same words: “May I introduce you to my son David, who will soon be taking over the business here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact him at any time. And this is his partner, Louis Delfosse.”
David’s mother emphasizes a little too often for my taste that being gay is no longer an issue these days, but honestly, that’s peanuts.
Being openly gay as a teacher requires a thick skin, especially at the beginning. Kids can be cruel, and teenagers can be devastating, but it has always been important to me to be authentic. Hiding who I am was never an option for me. After six months, even the last student realized that they could have a good time with me as long as we all treat each other with a certain level of mutual respect.
In short, we’re doing well. We renovated an old three-family house and converted it into a spacious single-family home. Both David’s parents and minecontributed generously to the financing, which would have been difficult on our own. We feel very comfortable here and we know that we don’t want to live here alone in the future.
“Lou?”
“Hey, babe!” I dash down the last few steps and throw my arms around David. Yes, I know, it’s been a day, not a week, but hey.
After dinner, we sit on the terrace with a beer, David’s hand in my curls, and I enjoy his closeness. We didn’t see each other for five years, and we’ve been back together for five years now. Sometimes, very secretly, I shake my head in disbelief and pinch myself somewhere.
“We’re having visitors later. Did I tell you that?” I feverishly search my memory for that moment, but there’s nothing.
“Not really but okay? Who’s coming?”
“Everyone.”
Is he serious? “Who is everyone?”
David looks at me with complete innocence. Most of the time he is, but today there’s something else flickering in his eyes. He’s up to something. Should I be scared?
“Well, everyone. Your family, mine. Friends. Sixteen people.”
We don’t have any food or drinks. “What do you want to offer for drinks? Tap water? We don’t have anything!”
David is still sitting behind me, completely relaxed.
“When?”
“A few minutes. But first I wanted to discuss something with you. I love you and I love this house, but there’s one thing that’s just not right. It’s been bothering me since we moved in.”
Surprised, I raise my eyebrows. We’ve been living here for two years, why is he only bringing this up now?
“I don’t like our doorbell sign.”
Is he serious? The doorbell sign?
“The font? The color? What exactly is your problem?” I hear myself; my tone is a little snappy. We’re about to have a house full of people and he wants to talk about the doorbell sign. Timing is everything.
But David doesn’t seem bothered at all, he just smiles gently. “The look is actually quite good. The content is the problem.”
