Gibb River Road
Page 15
William looked at Jacob. “This house is so lovely, so small, so cozy.”
“What shall we name it?” Jacob asked. “Villa Castle?” William teased.
“Villa Castle it is!” Jacob said, smiling.
*
The next summer quite a diverse group of people gathered around William and Jacob in Villa Castle. They spent the first two weeks of June on Formentera alone, but then Roberta joined them with her daughters, Olivia, Vivian, and Evelyn. As they had never swum in the sea, they spent whole days playing in the beach tent or plunging into the warm, clear water. By bringing cold drinks and ice cream, and by allowing them to use him as a model for a Beyoncé makeover, William became their favorite fairy god uncle.
Soon after that, Miss Andersen arrived. Jacob was not really surprised that she came with Livia. They were followed by Tara, Jacob’s sister, and her two boys, who predictably formed a camp at the opposite end of the beach and fought with the girls.
As Villa Castle was pretty small—it only had two bedrooms—they had to be very inventive in finding places to sleep, some ending up in the living room and even outside in hammocks or on air mattresses .
During the day they scattered on many white sand lagoons and beaches, but every evening they gathered for dinner. A relaxed atmosphere of fun, enhanced by wine and the fine scents of the pines, brought them close.
“Dinner was delicious, Roberta,” Jacob said after they finished a meal that she had cooked. The whole table applauded.
“It’s my turn to cook tomorrow. Wonder about the applause, though,” Agnetha said, grinning uneasily.
“So you two are together?” Jacob asked, looking at Livia and Agnetha.
They both nodded.
“How did this happen?” Jacob asked.
“Indeed, we have our own love story to tell! I was secretly in love with Livia for years. But, as I was her boss, I did everything not to show it to her,” Agnetha said.
“I thought there was something . . .” Jacob said.
“I know! One day I wasn’t aware of you coming into the room as I was looking at Livia, adoring her. Then I noticed you observing me. It was as if lightning had struck me. Pure horror. It took me days to recover from it,” Agnetha said.
“But then, one day—the tension was obviously unpleasant for both of us—the truth came out,” Livia said. “Being a businesswoman like she is, Agnetha simply told me, ‘Livia, there is something we have to discuss.’ Of course, I figured out immediately what it was. ‘There’s something I feel for you!’ she said finally, blushing like a schoolgirl. ‘I love you.’ I’d waited for something like this to happen for so long. ‘That’s good, Miss Andersen, because I feel the same,’ I said. ‘But I’m twelve years older,’ Agnetha said. ‘I twelve times don’t care,’ I said.”
“We have been inseparable since,” Agnetha said, taking Livia’s hand, smiling, happy as a child. “I’ve stopped working, but I guess she’ll run the company for another ten or fifteen years. She needs that. I don’t.”
“Here’s to your love!” Jacob said.
“Did you notice me wearing the lovely earrings you got me? They’re so subtle. I really like them. But the next time you go to Australia I’m expecting a jewelry box to have an appropriate place to keep them!” Agnetha said with a wink.
The table turned quiet for a moment, and it seemed that they were all listening to the crickets.
“A friend from Australia, Alex, called yesterday,” William said. “He lived with his ill mother in a small Australian Outback town. He wanted to move from Katherine to Sydney, where he’d have more chances of finding someone, but he couldn’t leave his mother. Now he told me that his mother died and that he moved to Sydney. He found the love of his life. I’m so happy for him.”
“I guess he is a good guy. He deserves that,” Jacob said.
“ I know you mean it. Still, you looked especially hot when you were jealous of him,” William said, and they all laughed.
“When I first met you, I insisted that you had a feminine side. Remember?” Roberta turned to Jacob. “I surprised even myself by how good I was at guessing it!” She clapped her hands. “A week later you started getting it from behind!”
“Oh, Jesus! Stop! Are you trying to kill me? I’m blushing,” Jacob smiled. “Plus, it only really happened once!”
They all laughed uproariously.
“The best protection anyone can have in life is courage. And you both have it!” Roberta said, taking William’s andJacob’s hands. “But do you all have enough courage to jump into the dark sea?”
They all ran toward the beach, taking their clothes off and wading into the warm water one after the other.
After the others had gone to sleep, William and Jacob sat in front of the sea and watched the sky full of stars, shining like a divine film screen.
“We’ve come a long way from where we began,” Jacob said. He put his hand on William’s shoulder and kissed his neck.
Then they nestled into each other, closed their eyes, and listened to the waves.
*
“ What are we doing?” Jacob asked, watching the clouds from a plane.
“That’s what we’ve decided!” William said calmly, watching the same clouds.
“We left a full house of friends on Formentera!” Jacob said.
“It is for our first anniversary!” William said.
“Does it have to be Australia?” Jacob asked.
“It was your idea to make love in the Bell Gorge one year after we did it the first time!” William said with a grin. “I only agreed because it seemed so appropriate.”
“I was hoping you’d stop me!” Jacob said. “I must have forgotten how horribly long this flight was.”
“Aren’t we a little crazy?” William asked.
“Yeah!” Jacob said, smiling. “Let’s celebrate that!”
They looked at each other, their eyes wet, each holding the other’s hand tightly .
Dear Reader,
Thank you for sharing your life with me through this very special writer–reader relationship. If you liked my book, please recommend it to your friends! I would be grateful for your feedback at the Internet site where you purchased your copy.
I invite you to write to me at: this.onething@yahoo.com.
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Thank you!
Daniel is a young man who wants more than anything to find a man he can love and be with for the rest of his life. Growing up with an unstable mother and an unloving father and taken under the wing of a doting grandmother, he is largely left to his own devices as he tries to understand how to grow up and find love as a gay man. He comes of age in 1980s and 1990s Yugoslavia, where acceptance of homosexuality is only emerging, and he must manage the spectre of social ostracism as well as familial tensions.
While juggling family concerns, advancing his career and maintaining friendships, Daniel is caught up in the teeming world of casual gay sex and ephemeral beauty. He wrestles with the trials of being gay in a country that isn't fully accepting, the hardships of developing lasting love in a subculture that values cheap physical pleasures over deep soul connections, and the struggle to overcome the scars left by a dysfunctional upbringing.
Though fictional, This One Thing is a memoir of an experience shared by gay men the world over - the search for steadfast, passionate connection in a world that seems to thwart at every turn. Through the course of his story, Daniel simultaneously grows stronger and more vulnerable, coming to understand what it takes to be truly open and committed to love.