“Already done.”
“What do you mean?” I asked in disbelief.
“It’s all taken care of. I’ve moved everything.”
“How? Where? When?” Had the man accidentally bumped his head and injured himself? There was no way he’d moved all of his stuff. There was hardly any sign of anything different.
“I didn’t have that much stuff. The furniture was all, um, recycled. The only kitchen stuff I had was rummage sale-type stuff that I just left. All I really had were my clothes—not that many—and my laptop, which has everything. Otherwise, I’ve traveled fairly light so far.”
I stared at the man with utter disbelief that transformed into unbelievable respect. “You are absolutely amazing.”
“Actually, I think the word is ‘awesome’. Remember, I am an awesome man.”
“Wise words. You should listen to whoever told you that. Sounds like a smart guy.”
We snuggled together for a moment, enjoying a quick kiss before returning to whatever task we were each doing that evening—one of the many benefits of living together was that we could snuggle whenever we felt the mood strike us. A moment later Kyle looked up at me and said softly, “I love you, Jo-Jo, my little squirrel.”
“Love you too, big guy. Can we maybe drop the ‘little’ part?”
“From my perspective, everyone is little.”
“How about ‘big, ferocious, man-eating squirrel’?” I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try.
“Man-eating? Hmmmm. I think I’d need to gather some data first to verify your claims.”
“I can oblige.”
“I know you can. But I need to finish this first. I only need a few more minutes.”
I didn’t know what he was doing, but I could see that whatever it was, it involved his calendar. I moved over behind the man as he sat at the table, put my arms around Kyle’s shoulders, and asked, “What are you working on, or is it private?”
“I have no secrets from you. I’m checking out my schedule for the next few months. I got notice today that I have some annual leave that I have to use or lose by the end of the calendar year. I’ve never had ‘annual leave’ before, so I hadn’t thought anything about taking time off. I’ve been just focused on work.”
“How much flexibility are they giving you about when you can take it off?”
“Not much, as it turns out. I’m apparently junior in the leave-taking priority schedule, so I have to work around everyone else’s schedule. Here’s what I’ve got,” he said as he held up his calendar. “There’s a two-week block available in early November and then another two-week block in early December.”
“No Thanksgiving or Christmas?”
“Sure. Just not for me until I’ve got more seniority in the pecking order. And besides, if the schedule they’ve got me on holds true, I’m going to be off on Christmas Day. I have to work Thanksgiving Day, which sucks. But then at least I’m off the next day and all that weekend.”
“Hmmm. We can work with that.”
Kyle looked up at me with a suspicious look on his face. “What are you thinking about, Jo-Jo? I can always tell when you’re plotting something.”
“Who? Me? Never! I am a pure, innocent, demure little creature!”
“Talk!” he ordered, not buying a word I was saying. Neither was I, for that matter.
“Okay. I’ve had all of thirty seconds to plan this out, but I have two ideas. One, I need to drive up to Vermont to see my family for a couple of days, and it would be fantastic to have you come along with me on that drive and have a chance to meet everybody.”
“You want me to meet your family?” he said as if it were akin to sacrificing baby seals or something equally hideous.
“Yes. I want you to meet my family. They’re all dying to meet you.”
“How do they know about me?” he asked with a look of utter appalled disbelief on his face.
“Because I’ve told them, doofus! I’ve told everybody about you. I practically shouted it from the rooftops. My mom can’t wait to meet you. My dad said he wants to show you all of his maple syrup facilities—in Dad-speak that’s really a high honor—and my sister said it was about time I stopped being a fucking whore and settled down with a nice guy. She loves your smile as much as I do.”
“Wait wait wait! How has she ever seen my smile? Or my anything? Has she been stalking us or something?”
“I sent them a picture. Remember the night we were out for Italian and I asked the guy in the booth next to us to take our picture? It came out great, so I sent a copy to them by e-mail. My sister thinks you’re sexy as hell!”
Kyle simply stared at me for a moment or two. “You’ve really told your family that you’re gay?”
“Oh, they’ve known I sucked dick for twenty years. I think my mother knew before I had figured it out. They’re good people.” I thought quickly, deciding it was time to pull out the big guns. “And remember—my folks make maple syrup… and other maple products. Maple candy among them. Have you ever had maple candy? Oh my God, it is fucking fantastic!”
“Maple syrup?” Kyle asked, hesitantly considering the idea. “The real stuff?”
“The real, honest-to-God stuff. Straight out of the trees each spring and into the sap arch for cooking and
