I went down the middle path to check out the lake. As I went down the path, the sounds from the lodge faded and all I could hear were the sounds of nature. It was a regular chorus of bugs and birds, which was really soothing. You don't get these sounds in the city, and I hadn't heard them since I was up in Clayton which reminded me that I needed to call momma. I hadn't spoken to her yet since she came over for her surprise visit.
The lake was empty except for a couple in a row boat stroking their way out to the middle of the lake. Paul was right that this place covered a lot of land. I could see how you could get lost if you went off the paths, which I had no intention of doing since I was extremely allergic to poison ivy and just looking at it made me break out in a rash. I found a beach chair under a tree and just sat taking in the beauty of it all.
My moment of peace didn't last long, as Arnold and his cozy friend came down the path hand in hand and went off on one of the paths. Luckily their interruption was short-lived as they disappeared into the woods. Good for them.
I sat there for a bit, enjoying the quiet. This place really did remind me of home and being up by the lake. Clayton wasn't a bad place, but it had just become a place I was from. There wasn't much up there anymore for me except momma. I really do miss my dad. His time was short, and I learned a lot from him while he was alive. I didn't realize how stupid I was because it took till just now to realize how much he volunteered and helped people. Maybe it was built into my DNA, and I was just discovering it. Dad, wherever you are, I miss you.
I finally dosed off, but I was awoken when the boys in the boat finally docked. I looked at my watch and saw that I actually got to nap for an hour and a half. It was much needed. I felt my batteries were recharged and ready for the night's excitement.
The excitement started a little early as Arnold came running from the bushes butt naked screaming that he had been bitten by a snake. I really believe it was just a trouser snake from his little friend. I watched as he ran screaming like a little girl up the path to the lodge. It was time to follow him and rejoin Paul.
Paul was still at the pool. He had a little, cute cub lying with him on the beach lounge chair wrapped up in a beach towel. They looked so content that I didn't want to disturb them, so I decided to follow the other path and explore cabin row.
The cabins were spread out a little so you weren't on top of one another even though I'm sure plenty of them would like to top something. Each one had a fire pit in front with chairs around them which would be great at night for entertaining. As I kept walking, I could hear country music pouring out of one of the cabins. It was a number Miranda liked to do. No sooner than I thought that the cabin door flung open, there was Miranda in all her country pride.
"Sugar, come on in for a drink," she said.
"Don't mind if I do," I said as I made my way onto the front porch. As I entered her cabin, I was immediately in awe of how decorated her cabin was. I guess I can't say decorated because it was more a shrine to women in country music. She had pictures of everyone from Patsy Cline to Wynonna Judd on every wall and every table.
"This is the house cocktail," she said as she handed me a Jack and coke which was her drink of choice. "Welcome to my home away from home."
"It's lovely," I said. "I knew you liked country music, but I never realized it was to this extent."
"It's been my passion ever since I was a little boy growing up in Tennessee. My parents loved country music, so that was all I ever heard. As I got older, I even performed in Dollywood in one of their shows. It was very gratifying."
"Did you ever get to meet Dolly?"
"I was not so lucky. She did come to the park one day while I was there, but our paths never crossed. One of these days it will happen," he said.
"You seem so relaxed up here," I said.
"It reminds me of home up here, and I let the tension go. Whenever I get back to Atlanta, the tension builds up and I become very high-strung. Sometimes it doesn't come out the right way. I'm sorry if I've been a cunt to you."
And he hugged me. "I can't promise I won't be a bitch when I get back to Atlanta, but just know that I think you are a great performer and I did hear great things about your show. You need to run with that for a bit."
"Why thank you. That's a great compliment coming from you."
"Don't let that get around too much. I don't want people back home thinking I got soft. You are coming to the show, right?"
"Yes, I will be there."
"Also, I might need your help on Sunday for the amateur show. You do good make up and most of these girls will need your help," he said.
"I would be glad too," I said as I chugged the rest of my drink. "I better let you get finished getting ready and go get cleaned up myself."
"See you tonight sugar," he said as I headed on my way. Did I actually just make friends with Miranda?
CHAPTER 45
When I got back to the room, Paul was just waking up from his nap. He was alone. "What happened to your little friend?" I asked.
"That's just Stefan. He's adorable, but he is just a good friend. We see each other up here a couple times a year. It's just platonic, but I think he wishes it was more. You want to get something to eat?"
"Sure. What did you have in mind?"
"There is a cute little bistro in Wildwood about ten minutes from here. The owner is a friend of mine and the food is excellent," he said.
"You seem to have a lot of friends everywhere," I said.
"What can I say? I'm a likeable guy."
"Yes you are."
Paul hooked up his iPod and we both jammed out to dance music as we got gussied up for dinner. Paul looked extremely handsome in his white button-down Oxford with tufts of fur sticking out at the top, khaki shorts, and Jesus sandals. I think he even had product in his hair and his beard was trimmed. I, on the other hand, only had a t-shirt and some beat up shorts. I really didn't think we were going to dress up this much, but Paul didn't seem to mind.
We hopped into the jeep and off we went. It had cooled down a little bit, and it was great having the wind blow threw the jeep keeping us cool. Paul definitely had product in his hair because it didn't move one bit. We got to Wildwood, which was about three blocks long with one stop sign in the middle. It was extremely picturesque with the brick sidewalks, gas lanterns, cute shop after cute shop, and of course, an ice cream parlor where the local town folk mingled around chatting and waving to everyone else. With this being a small town, I'm sure everyone knew everyone else's business. Some things never change.
We found a parking space in front of a very cute restaurant, Bistro Milizano. There were people already sitting on the benches out front, so it looked like we were in for a wait. As Paul opened the door, I could already hear his name being called and someone in a chef outfit coming up and hugging him.
"Hello, my friend. It's so good to see you," Paul said as he hugged the chef. "Herman, I want you to meet my friend, Tyler."
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Tyler. Welcome to my bistro. I have a table reserved for you," he said as he led us to a table where you could see everyone and everything that was going on in the bistro. There was a single rose in a small, deep-blue, 1930's-looking vase and candle on the table. The chairs were leather and soft as a baby's bottom. Paul was kind enough to pull the chair out for me. He even ordered a bottle of wine for the table.
As I looked around, I noticed at most every table it was a couple. This must be a huge date-night restaurant, as everyone looked dreamily into the other person's eyes. The dim lighting and the jazz music in the background made this a very romantic spot. Suddenly, a light bulb went off over my head. Was Paul trying to woo my affection? I had the fantasy when we first met, but I didn't think it would ever happen since he usually went for more bear-looking boys than me. I needed to play it cool and see how things progressed.
Herman brought over the bottle of wine and opened it at the table. He poured a thimble-full into the glass for Paul to taste, and of cours
e, Paul approved. He filled both our glasses. "Enjoy," he said. "Your waitress Gertrude will be over shortly."
"How do you know Herman?" I asked.
"We were in the navy together. His family is from here so I guess I just had an affinity for the area.”
"If you like everything up here so much, why don't you move up here?"
"Because this is a great vacation spot and not a place to live. Some people get confused when they go on vacation because they fall in love with the place and decide to move there not knowing anyone or anything. Then they wonder why they end up miserable. I like my life in Atlanta, and I like my time here."
Our conversation was interrupted as a very mature waitress came over dressed in a pressed linen shirt and black pants with black apron. "Good evening, gentlemen. My name is Gertrude, and I am your waitress this evening. I see you have your drinks already. May I get you some water or an appetizer?”
It really was a butch moment as Paul asked me, "Do you mind if I order for both of us? There are some things on here that I know you will love."
I said, "Sure, why not? You've been here before, and I haven't." I didn't mind giving control to Paul because I always felt safe and secure when he was around.
So Paul placed out orders like a true gentleman.
We finally got back to our conversation, "Did you ever date Herman?"
"No, we were just really good friends."
"You have a lot of friends, but have you ever had a boyfriend?"
"I've dated around, but I've never met the one person. I had a huge crush back in the day, but it never worked out," he said.
"Why didn't it work out?"
"He was a hot bartender, which was one of the problems. I had a rule that you never date a bartender, bag boy, or a gas station attendant. If we had ever dated I'm sure I would have been jealous when all the drunks hit on him. The second problem was he was married.”
"Did you meet him before he was married?"
"No. When we first met, it was just by chance at the grocery store where he was stoking a big zucchini as I was picking though the rest of the fruits. Our eyes met, and I just couldn't look away. He had the same feeling, I could tell."
"Who spoke first?"
"I did, since I had nothing to loose. I don't even remember what I said. It was probably the dumbest pick up line I could think off. He was kind enough and laughed, so I thought everything was going well, and I checked and there was no wedding ring on his finger."
I took a swig of the wine as Paul continued.
"I introduced myself, and he said his name was Matthew. He had a bar t-shirt on for Blizzard, a bar in Norfolk, so I asked if he worked there. He did and he said I should stop by some time on Saturdays because he opened the bar early. This was just the invitation I was looking for. So I would get to the bar just before they opened because he always left the door open when he was prepping the bar. I would come in and we would make out with a lot of heavy petting, but that is as far as it usually went. The bad part was he never really told me much about himself which is never a good sign."
"So he never told you he was married?"
"Never did. It wasn't until I overheard him talking to one of the other patrons one Saturday that I find out. I was crushed. I had already planned out our fantasy life in my head and that's all it really was. Just a fantasy."
"You go on Mariah Carrey."
"Ha ha."
"So what happened next?"
"I realized he was never going to leave his husband. I found out his partner made good money and traveled a lot for work, so he was never around. Matthew had it too cushy with a great house with a pool and a pool boy, yard-man and cleaning lady. He didn't have to do much. As it turns out, he was screwing the pool boy. Working the bar was just to keep him busy and socializing. I finally had to come to the conclusion that the fantasy was dead and I needed to move on."
"That must have been hard," I said. "I've never been there so I don't know what I would do."
"You would do what I did. You make the decision to do what is best for you and you move on. The fantasy is nice, but reality can kick you in the ass. Luckily the job in Atlanta came up, so I moved."
"What ever happened to Matthew?"
"I don't know. Last I heard his husband had dumped him for being a whore, and then he kind of disappeared. The first crush is always the hardest. Why haven't you found anyone yet?" he asked.
I took another swig of the wine to drain the glass before I answered. What I really wanted to say was that people sometimes don't realize what a good thing they have staring them in the face. Instead, I copped out. "I don't really know. I'm a nice guy, but I haven't clicked with the right person yet?"
"What about your online person?"
"How did you know about that?
"Chas. You know he can't keep his big mouth shut.
"Not much is going on there. We chat when I do my webcasts, but he hasn't emailed me yet even though I gave him my private email. I'm sure a lot has to do with the fact that he thinks I'm married."
"And the guy at the hotel?"
"Chas told you about him too?"
"No, that was Marjorie."
"Spencer had to go back to Knoxville. We never had a second date, but he did send flowers to the show."
"That's thoughtful," he said. "I heard you got a second bouquet. Who were they from?"
"Don't know. There was nothing on the card and no florist name either.”
"That's a shame. If I ever send flowers to someone I want to make sure they know they are from me.”
So I guess they weren't from Paul. Maybe I'm just reading this all wrong. I had had a lot of wine, and I usually don't drink wine.
Dinner arrive. It was delicious just like Paul said it would be. I could have sat there for hours, but I wanted to get back to the lodge for the show. Paul was even kind enough to pick up the check. We said goodbye to Herman and thanked him for his hospitality, and then we went up the block to get some ice cream for dessert. For a non-date, this was pretty magical.
CHAPTER 46
We grabbed a couple of stools at the bar to watch the show. The bar was packed with men everywhere. I can't say they were boys because these men all had a little girth on them. It was a very friendly crowd and everyone was primed and ready.
The gummy bear shooter girls came around pushing their gummy cups. Paul bought the first round. He gave them ten dollars, so the next thing I knew, there was a rainbow of gummy bears in front of me. We each had two and gave the rest away to the people around us. They were glad for the free shots. Since these were vodka bears, they mixed well with my screwdrivers. Paul was back to his beer. With the show starting on drag time we had time for another round of gummy bears. I plunked down ten dollars again and we had another rainbow of bears in front of us. This time we each did three rounds and gave away the rest. I'm sure this was just a stall tactic to sell more gummy shots since all the money went to charity.
The show only started thirty minutes after the posted time, which wasn’t too bad for drag time. It was a total country show with enough Dolly, Tammy, and the Judds to keep the crowd tipping. And at every break between entertainers, the gummy girls were right there selling more gummy shots. It got to a point where I lost count of how many shots I had. Paul was keeping pace, but with his body size, he could handle his liquor better and he was only doing one beer for two of my screwdrivers. By the time the show ended, I finally had hit the point where I was on drunk patrol and couldn't remember anything.
The next thing I knew, I woke up chilly back in the room with no idea of what had happened except that my head was killing me and that I was cold. It wasn't till I looked under the blanket to realize that I was naked. My butt wasn't sore, so I didn't think I had been penetrated by anyone, but you never know. Paul wasn't in the room and his bed hadn't been slept in. Did we sleep together? I think I would have remembered.
There was a jiggle at the door and Paul entered carrying two cups of coffee and some d
onuts. He tossed me a bottle of aspirin and said, "This should help."
I grabbed the top sheet and wrapped it around myself as I got up and went to the bathroom to get a bottle of water.
"Shy today? You weren't last night?" he said.
"I don't remember a thing."
"Baby, how could you forget a night like last night? It was magical. I don't know how to describe it."
"Did I make an ass of myself?"
"I wouldn't say ass, but you have such a sweet one."
Oh my God, we did sleep together. How was I ever going to live with this and what would our friends think? There was nothing I could do but ask. "Did we sleep together?"
"Sleep? There was no sleeping going on baby. I can't believe you don't remember everything that we did."
"I am so sorry, but last night is a total blur. I remember the show starting, but nothing after that," I said. "I'm sorry if that hurts your feeling."
Paul let out a hearty laugh and kept laughing.
"I don't understand."
"I can't do this any longer. You've suffered enough. We didn't do anything. If you want I can tell you what happened over breakfast. Go get cleaned up.”
I immediately felt a sense of relief wash over me. I had never been that drunk in my life, and I was paying for it this morning. I opened the bottle and took three aspirin hoping it would stop my head from throbbing as I dropped the sheet and hopped into the shower. The hot water felt good and helped clear up some of the fuzziness I was feeling. I dried off and put on some shorts and a t-shirt and we headed downstairs to the restaurant.
We grabbed a private booth and ordered food. I had our waiter keep bringing me glass after glass of water and orange juice. I needed to get my system flooded with something healthy.
I finally asked, "So what did I do last night?"
"The real question is what didn't you do? No, in all honesty you were pretty good for how drunk you were. I knew you were in trouble when you started getting all glassy-eyed and kept telling me how much you thought our dinner was a date at first. It was really charming that you thought of me that much as you kept leaning on me for support as the show was winding up. You just kept repeating it over and over and over."
The Crown Is Mine Page 18