AT SIX o’clock, my phone rang. I was home from work, but only just. I answered on the first ring and immediately said, “Kyle?”
“I’m here,” I heard his now familiar voice say.
“I missed you today,” I confessed.
“You weren’t tired of me?”
“Do I need to tickle you?” I threatened.
“You don’t know where I live,” Kyle taunted playfully.
“I can find it,” I threatened. “I can stalk you and wait for you to go to work and pounce when you least expect it.”
“You don’t know the name of the hospital where I work.”
“I’ll go to them all, one by one, until I find the hottest man around—the man who needs to be tickled until he pees himself.”
“You wouldn’t!”
“Wanna bet, sweet cheeks?”
“Can you bet when you know with 100 percent certainty that something will happen?”
“In this case, I don’t see why not, because I’m 100 percent certain as well.”
“Well, good, then we’re all happy.”
“No, actually, we’re not happy—you’re not here. If you were here, then I’d be happy.”
“I miss you,” Kyle said.
“Even though I’m pushy?”
“Yes.”
“Even though I’m mouthy?”
“Yes.”
“Even though I make you say ‘I am an awesome guy’?”
“Especially because you make me say ‘I am an awesome guy.’ You’ve almost got me believing it.”
We were quiet for a few seconds before I said, “Okay. There’s one thing you need to know about me.”
“Only one?” Kyle teased.
“No. Probably lots, but I’m not proud of some of them.”
“Okay. So tell me the one thing you want me to know tonight.”
“I’m pushy, mouthy, a bit arrogant at times—” I told him.
“A bit?”
“Hush! I’m talking,” I warned.
“What else is new?” Kyle was getting entirely too good at this teasing thing.
“Excuse me!”
“Yes, go on.”
“Thank you,” I said as I fought down a chuckle.
“I’m listening,” Kyle said in his most serious tone of voice.
“No you’re not! You’re talking! I know because I’m listening to you.”
“Seems to me that you’re talking a lot too.”
I growled.
“Oh, now you’re just getting me hot,” Kyle said.
“Are you finished?”
“No, actually. I hope I’m just getting started.” Kyle was having entirely too much fun. “You were saying.”
“Yes, before I was so rudely interrupted, I was about to tell you a deep, dark secret. I’ve done a lot of living in my life.” I lowered my voice a bit and spoke more softly. “But I have always kept people at arm’s length. I haven’t let many people into my life… for fear of having my heart broken. For all my pushiness and mouthiness, I’m really not very brave.”
“No one wants to have their heart broken.” Kyle seemed to think of how to say the next thing very carefully. “Are you telling me that you’re letting me in?”
“Yes.”
“Am I boldly going where no man has gone before?”
“Very funny! I’m having a romance novel-like confession here, and you’re doing Star Trek? Jeesssh!”
“Only the best for you, babe!”
Another moment of silence as we both thought of what to say. No, not what to say. How to say it.
I found the words first. They weren’t that complicated, but the meaning behind them was very heavy. “I miss you.”
“Me too.”
“When I got home tonight, I knew you wouldn’t be here, but I kept hoping that I’d walk into the living room and find you lying on the couch reading. Or find you in the bedroom sleeping.”
“Whatcha doing tonight?” Kyle asked.
“Talking to you.”
“Really?” he teased.
“Yeah! And I don’t have one of those fancy advanced degrees and no super awesome abilities.”
“No, I think you do have some pretty awesome abilities. Can I come over?”
“Don’t you have to work tomorrow morning?”
“Yes. But I want to be with you. It just feels wrong to be so close and yet apart. If I promise to be good and not molest you, can I come over?”
“You can come over even if you want to jump my naked body and do unspeakable things to me. But I’ll be good and let you sleep all night so you’re fresh and ready to go save the world again tomorrow at 7:00 a.m.”
“I’ll be there in half an hour. Want me to pick up anything?”
“No, it would just slow you down from getting here. Are you here yet?”
“I’m on my way,” Kyle told me.
WHEN I heard a knock at my door, I was surprised to find Kyle panting as if he’d just run a race.
“Did you run? Damn! You did!” I said as I grappled the big man in a hug. If I could have done so, I would have lifted Kyle off the floor, but I didn’t think even I could do that. I settled for a hug that conveyed the same emotion. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“Ditto.”
“Ditto? Real romantic, dude.”
“I’m new at this romance stuff. I thought you were gonna teach me!”
“Clearly someone needs to, so I guess I better. ‘Ditto’ is a perfectly fine word.”
“I can’t believe this. You’re telling me this in the hallway outside your apartment? You’re not even going to be polite and invite me inside? Mama was right—you Northeasterners are all heathens!”
“Get in here!” I ordered as I pulled the man inside and closed the door. “Now, as I was saying—hint: this is where you shut up and listen to me speak!”
“How is this any different from—”
“Hush!”
“Okay. Maybe.”
“Don’t make me tickle you!” I threatened.
Kyle tried to imitate the growl I had used earlier, but it just didn’t come across as threatening—cute, maybe, but definitely not threatening.
“That’s so cute! So, as I was saying, ‘ditto’ is a perfectly fine word. Patrick Swayze used it very effectively with Demi Moore in Ghost.”
“In what?”
“Ghost! The movie Ghost? Oh shit! You’ve never seen Ghost? Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Ghost is one of the best movies! We’ve got to
