H: Getting in the cab. How long will it take? Is Brooklyn like a faraway planet?
S: LOL … you’ll be here in 10 minutes
H: That’s 9 NY minutes too long
S: ☺ See you in a few
Seth quickly looked around his brownstone duplex. It looked perfect to him, right down to the minutest of details, the artwork, the original ceiling medallions, the throw pillows and area rugs. And he knew that if it looked perfect to him, it was perfect. Stepping into the bathroom he artfully messed up his dark curls and smoothed down his pale grey V-neck cashmere sweater. As his fingertips noted the softness of the Scottish wool, he smiled at the thought that this would be what Henry felt when they hugged. He had literally rubbed a dozen cashmere sweaters across his cheek to see which was the softest, knowing Henry’s face would be nestled in it.
Shaking his head he thought, when do I ever do that for anyone?
By the time the doorbell rang, his stomach was fully knotted with excitement.
Opening the heavy wood and glass door, a rush of cold winter’s air blew in around him, but the warmth of Henry’s smile, and his rested eyes, obscured the grey threatening skies.
“Come in, it’s freezing.” Seth ushered him into the front hallway.
Henry’s hands were full carrying a medium-sized corrugated box, its top flaps nestled into one another, but not sealed. He unzipped his overcoat and eased his arms out one at a time, transferring the box from one hand to the other, but not putting it down. Seth took his coat and hung it on a brass coat rack.
“This is amazing,” Henry exclaimed. “This view.” He walked through the living room and dining room with its modern, open kitchen to the glass French doors and windows lining the back of the brownstone. “You have an unobstructed harbor view of downtown Manhattan. This is like something out of Architectural Digest.”
Seth came to stand next to him and take in the majesty of the New York City skyline, trying to see the view through a first-timer’s eyes.
Elbowing Seth, Henry smiled at him, “My place must’ve seemed like a hovel to you.”
Seth smiled, still looking at the view, “No. Not at all. It felt very comfortable. I loved being there.” Decorating for Edwin’s party was one of the happiest days he could remember. Just being with Henry in his home, and feeling the easy camaraderie they shared as they worked side-by-side to create a vision, was what had made it so special.
“What is that down there?” He pointed to a walkway.
“That is the famed Brooklyn Heights Promenade. We’ll go take a walk on it later.”
Turning back to face the living room, Henry scanned everything appreciatively from the wood parquet floors to the bay window off the living room in the front of the flat, to the exquisite molding on the twelve foot ceilings.
“This should be in Architectural Digest.”
Seth laughed.
“Has it been?” Henry was wide-eyed.
“No. Not Architectural Digest.”
“But it’s been in magazines?”
“It has,” Seth was trying to be humble, but it was hard. “Come sit.” He touched Henry’s upper arm, guiding him toward the couch. He needed him to put down that damn box so that he could get his hug. He had not gotten his hug yet and he needed to feel Henry’s arms around him.
Sitting on the couch, Henry turned to face Seth. “So,” he began, “I carried this on the plane with me, because I wanted to make sure it got to you safely.”
Seth’s eyes widened, “There’s not a cat in that box, is there?” Visions of fur balls on his rugs was seriously disturbing.
Henry laughed, “No cat. But it is something you can kill.”
There was alarm on Seth’s face and Henry laughed even louder.
“This is my holiday gift to you and a house gift. And well it’s just something I hope you’ll love.”
“You carried this box on a plane. I know I will love this.”
Handing the box to Seth, Henry looked like he had stopped breathing.
Disengaging the flaps at the top, Seth pulled them open and peered in. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at Henry with an astonished smile, “Wow. What an amazing gift. That is so beautiful. Let me put the box down on the table so that I can get it out without damaging it.”
Carefully he lifted it from its box and held it out in front of him, marveling at its delicate intricacy and beauty. “Did you…”
Henry was nodding. “Yes. I grew it. It’s from a bush I have and I’ve been working on it for many years now.”
“And you are giving it to me?” Seth’s awe was evident.
Henry’s eyes misted as he smiled. “You’re the person it’s meant for.”
“I am honored.” Seth continued to inspect it from all angles. “How is it in bloom in December?”
Henry laughed, “That hasn’t been an easy feat, but with my greenhouse and grow lights and, well, the right drugs, I played a little trickery on it.”
“Promise me you’ll teach me how to care for it.”
“I will.”
Looking up at Henry, “I love this. I don’t think anyone has ever given me a more beautiful or thoughtful gift and knowing you created it… I just don’t have words.” Putting it down on the coffee table, he continued to closely inspect its intricacies. “The windswept shape is just magnificent and the gnarls in the bark.”
Henry sat there silently, watching Seth’s heartfelt reaction.
Looking up at Henry, “A bonsai lilac tree. It is so elegant. I really, really love it.”
“It’s going to look good in this space.”
“Yes, it will,” Seth agreed. Standing, he walked into the dining room and picked up a box lavishly wrapped in blue foil paper with blue and white ribbons. “Well, my holiday gift to you is not even in the same league, Mr. Clark.”
“You gave me that beautiful gift I was wearing last night,” Henry protested.
“Well, I have a little theme going here.” He handed the box to Henry and sat down next to him.
Smiling, Henry ripped off the paper of the flat square box and opened it. “Oh, that is gorgeous. You really don’t want me to get cold, do you?” Lifting the elegant, oversized blue and white silk and cashmere scarf from its box, he looked at Seth, lost. “How do you do one like this?”
“C’mere, give me that.” Seth took the scarf from Henry and draped it so there was a solid ring around the front of his neck, with the ends falling chicly on the sides.
Henry stood up and walked over to a decorative mirror hanging on the wall. “I like that. I’m totally rocking a New York City hot guy look now.” He admired himself in the mirror.
Coming back to the couch, he sat down next to Seth. “I love it.”
“And I really love the bonsai.”
Henry’s arms went around Seth, pulling him close and Seth laid his head in the soft scarf, taking in Henry’s clean scent and the warmth of his arms.
“I’m so glad Schooner and Mia had plans today.” Seth burrowed his face in a little more.
“Do we have plans today?”
“We do.” He moved out of Henry’s embrace, looking at his watch. “And we’d better get a move on it, so we don’t miss our reservation.”
Grabbing a coat, Seth expertly wrapped his own scarf around his neck in one quick motion that yielded perfection.
“I need to learn to do that.” He mimicked the motion of Seth’s expert scarf slinging. “I don’t have a lot of practice living in San Diego.”
Descending the brownstone’s steps, Seth took a deep breath, “It smells like snow.”
“You can smell snow?”
“I can. Most people can’t, but to me, there is a distinct smell in the air right before it starts snowing.” They turned left on the sidewalk and began to walk down Seth’s street.
Bumping him with his shoulder, Henry looked like a kid stranded in a candy store. “I hope we get snowed in. I’ve never been in a snow storm.”
“Never?” Seth was s
urprised.
Looking around at the brownstones lining the narrow street, “This looks like the movie, Moonstruck,” Henry noted.
“This is the Moonstruck neighborhood. The external shots were done all over Brooklyn Heights and our two bordering neighborhoods, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.”
“I love that movie.” Henry continued to take in everything, “How old are these brownstones?”
“They date back to the 1850’s or so. Come, we’re going to turn here,” and Seth reached for Henry’s hand as they crossed the street.
“This is Clark Street,” Henry turned to Seth, his face beaming. “There’s a street named for me.”
“There sure is,” Seth smiled.
“I love this neighborhood. I feel like I’m in Jack Finney’s Time and Again,” observed Henry, his eyes darting left to right as he tried to take in the elegant row houses on both sides of the narrow street.
“That’s one of my favorite books,” Seth’s eyes crinkled as he smiled, learning yet another small detail about this man who was making him feel things he never knew he had the capacity to feel.
They walked up Clark Street for another two blocks, “I just want to pop in here for a second.” Seth led Henry into a small neighborhood grocer, grabbing a copy of the hefty Sunday New York Times.
Smiling at him, “I’m going to get the whole New York experience here, aren’t I?”
Coming out of the store, they continued to the next corner. “OK, we turn here.” Seth pointed left.
Looking at the street sign, Henry laughed. “This is Henry Street?”
“Not only is this Henry Street, but you are standing on the corner of Henry and Clark.” Pulling out his cell phone, “Go stand in front of the street sign. You definitely need a picture of this.”
“This is so wild,” He posed under the sign.
“Come on, give me your best hot model look,” Seth implored, before joining him in the picture for a selfie.
Looking back at the sign, Henry laughed as they continued down Henry Street. “Are we going someplace on Henry Street?”
“We are. Just a few more blocks.”
“I think I belong here, Seth.”
“Well, I definitely think you should spend considerably more time here. But that’s just my opinion.”
As they neared the end of the street, Henry pointed straight ahead, “What bridge is that? Is that the Brooklyn Bridge?”
“No, that one is the Manhattan Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is hiding behind these buildings. You can see it from my deck though.”
So entranced by his surroundings, Henry hadn’t realized that Seth had stopped walking until he was a few steps in front of him.
“We’re here.”
Turning back to Seth, he cocked his head to the side as he took in the neon script in the restaurant’s window that read, Henry’s End.
“Henry’s End? We’re eating at a place called Henry’s End?”
Smiling as if he’d been holding onto the biggest secret, he nodded. “We are,” and opened the door for Henry.
Entering the cozy brick-walled restaurant with its heady aroma of grilled meats and exotic spices, Henry turned back to Seth with a smile, “I love this.”
“I thought you might.” Seth was pleased seeing Henry’s delight at the experience.
“I love the ambience and how warm and cozy it is in here and the way the windows are fogged up from the cold, and we’re like in our own little cocoon. I didn’t even realize how cold it was out there until we came in here.”
Perusing the menu, “Want to share some small plates to start?” Seth asked.
“Sounds good.” Henry’s smile had not left his face since they’d walked out of Seth’s apartment
When the waitress arrived, Seth ordered some house specialties. “And we’ll take a bottle of the Silver Oak, Alexander Valley.”
“That’s becoming our thing, huh?”
“I like that we have things.” Seth reached out for Henry’s hand.
“Seth, we have more than things. We have something really special.” Henry watched Seth’s dark eyes widen, as if he were quickly searching for a place to hide. “Don’t look so scared.”
“I’m not scared.” He gulped down a glass of water too quickly.
“Hey, pass me the business section.” Henry pointed to the Times. Sitting back, he opened the paper, folding it properly to read the columns.
As they picked at plates of charcuterie and cheese, crab cakes and wild mushroom salad, Seth googled information on how to care for his new baby, his bonsai lilac tree. It was the second link he hit that caused him to sit up straight in his chair.
Sliding his phone across the table to Henry, “Were you aware of this?”
Picking up the phone to read what had caught Seth’s attention, he looked up, locked eyes with him and nodded. “Yes,” was all he said.
“Was that a part of it? A part of why you gave it to me as a gift?”
Sliding the phone back to Seth, Henry picked up his wine glass.
“It’s why I thought it was perfect for you and wanted it to be yours, Seth,” he paused. “I want to be your first love.”
Seth began to speak and stopped, clearing his throat with a sip of wine to compose himself first. “I think you’ve already accomplished that.”
“Yeah?” Henry’s eyes were imploring.
“Yeah,” Seth confirmed.
It was three hours and a second bottle of Silver Oak before they got up to leave the warmth of the restaurant and brave the cold.
“Look out the window.” Henry was beaming. “You called it. It’s snowing.”
Wrapping his scarf around his neck perfectly, Henry was out of the restaurant and on the sidewalk, looking up and letting snowflakes fall on his face.
“This is just perfect,” he said, as Seth stepped out of Henry’s End. “C’mere,” he pulled Seth to him by his scarf, which was hanging open around Seth’s neck. With a swoop of his arm, Henry wrapped it around him perfectly.
“You just zuzhed me,” Seth looked at him incredulously.
“Damn right I did. I can’t be seen on the streets of Brooklyn with someone that’s not zuzhed properly.” Henry smiled, pulling Seth in closer by his scarf, “You do realize what just happened this afternoon?”
Seth looked at him, quizzically.
Henry went on, “You spent hours over brunch with your lover, hanging out and reading the New York Times.”
“Ah, but you and I are not lovers,” Seth protested.
“We’re not lovers?” Henry shook his head, “You’ve got that all wrong.” Reaching out, he let his fore and middle fingers slide slowly down Seth’s cheek, as Seth melted into his touch. “We’re not lovers, yet.” And he allowed his hand to slide behind Seth’s neck as he pulled him in for a long, soul-binding kiss, acquainting himself intimately with his new lover, and fully capturing the elusive dream he had thought would never be his again.
Pulling his lips away with a final soft kiss, Henry searched Seth’s face, enjoying the myriad of wanting and emotion his dark eyes could no longer hide. Slowly, he slid his hand from Seth’s neck down his arm, until they were hand-in-hand, fingers intertwined and smiled at him, “Now, let’s go home.”
Tokyo Tea at The Hole. The bartender thought someone was a hottie!
Sometimes you just need a sign.
Thank you for taking the time to read Henry’s story.
For those of you new to my work, although HENRY’S END was written as a stand-alone novel, the characters of Henry Clark, Seth Shapiro, Schooner Moore, Mia Silver, CJ MacAllister, Holly Moore, Zac Moore, and Kami Townes first appear in SEARCHING FOR MOORE, the first book in the NEEDING MOORE SERIES trilogy. To learn more about the journeys of these other characters, please check out the series.
To those of you who have read the NEEDING MOORE SERIES and BAD SON RISING, I hope you enjoyed seeing old friends again and learning about different portions of their lives not previously visited.
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br /> Special thanks to the Lambda Archives of San Diego and their detailed recaps of significant events by year. It was truly fascinating to read the history of San Diego’s LGBT community and its growth and growing pains, triumphs and losses. The information I was able to source, that became part of the fabric of this book, was truly a godsend.
A special shout-out to Auntie Helen’s Fluff and Fold. The organization mentioned in this book that began in Gary Cheatham’s garage is a real non-profit and is still in existence today.
Heartfelt thanks and love to …
Kristen and Cleida, thank you for your ongoing love and support, for sharing my work with so many people, for making me snort and laugh and cry, for joining me on the road and teasers and casting and sanity and insanity and helping me fling open the cage to unleash the flying monkeys and Fireball guzzling and for everything you do to make my life more wonderful every single day. Love you, BBCs!
Vi and Penelope, you are my rocks, my sounding boards, my reality check, my blurb queens. You’ll tell me when the baby’s ugly and I learn so much from the two of you daily. We’ve chosen a crazy path that makes an E ticket roller coaster ride seem like an emotional walk in the park, and I don’t even want to imagine being on that roller coaster without the two of you. My sleep patterns might be slightly better though without joining in on the daybreak chats before I shop and roll back over. But so much good stuff is going on at that hour. Who knew?
Mindy, for always being there … always … and for being my first reader when the panic sets in (always) … and I need you to read it NOW … Someday I’ll write our story (What are the statutes of limitations again… just kidding). Love you, Rosie!
OJG3, you’re my Henry and that’s why this book is for you. I learned very early on that love is love. Thank you for that. (And thank goodness we didn’t have $19).
Mom… I don’t have the words. But I don’t need them. Because you know.
Mark and Max, thank you for learning to live with this and making it the new norm. I know it’s not easy to live with someone who has other people living in their head. I hope it makes life more interesting.
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