“I will, babe. I’ll be fine. Make sure you take care of yourself too.”
“Listen, give me a minute to park, and I’ll come in and wait with you.”
“Thanks, babe. You don’t have to go to all that trouble.” He smiled, but we’d been living together long enough for me to be able to tell that it was forced.
“No trouble, Wills.”
“There’s not enough time. But thank you.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Be careful driving home, okay, babe? Bye.” He walked to the sliding doors. Once there, he turned for a final look, his mouth once again a grim line. He didn’t smile this time or blow me a kiss, and he didn’t wave, just dipped his head. Then he was through the doors and gone.
I’d never seen him like this before, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I decided to park the car and go after him anyway, to at least be with him until his flight took off, but by the time I found a parking spot and got to the terminal, his flight was already taxiing down the runway. I stood there watching until I could no longer see it.
My eyes burned, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. Okay, you’re being a dope, I told myself. He’s only going to be gone a short time. Get yourself together and go home before you’re arrested for loitering.
I returned to the hourly parking lot, paid the rate for the thirty minutes I’d been there, and drove to 267 and home.
* * * *
I unlocked the door and let myself in. Miss Su came into the foyer, her claws retracted and silent on the hardwood floor. I picked her up, and she made herself comfortable in my arms.
“Daddy’s gonna be gone for a while, Miss Su.” I rubbed my cheek against the soft fur covering her head. “At least a week, puss.” But I really had no idea how long.
It suddenly hit me. Except for the little bundle I held, I was alone in the apartment. Tim and Cris were in Savannah. Paul and Spike were in L. A. Other boys were scattered throughout the country. No one would come knocking on the door wanting a fuck. No one would come in from a long night of being fucked.
There had been other times when Wills had been away. Why did this time feel as if for the first time in twelve—no, it was thirteen years, now—I was all alone?
Well, I’d never needed anyone to help me fill up my spare time. I’d be fine.
“Mrrow.”
“Are you hungry, puss?” I put Miss Su down, hung my jacket in the closet, and went into the kitchen to open a can of Fancy Feast for her.
Wills and I had originally planned to go out to TGI Friday’s and then catch a movie, but I didn’t feel like doing that by myself. I picked up the phone to call Vince, to see if he wanted to join me for dinner. The phone rang a couple of times, and then, “Vincent. Go.”
It was his answering machine. I sighed and hung up, remembering that Wills had said something about him being out of town.
Okay. There was Connor. He was staying at the Harrison Hotel. He’d wanted to talk to me about something, but we’d been playing phone tag the past few days, and the last couple of times it went directly to voicemail. We could talk over dinner.
I called the front desk. “I’d like to speak to…” Shit. What name did I give? Connor? Bailey? “I’d like Suite 1276, please?”
“One moment please.” There was a brief pause, and it occurred to me that Connor’s “Daddy” might pick up the phone, in which case I was hanging up. I wasn’t that desperate for company. “That suite is unoccupied.”
“Excuse me?”
“The party in that suite has checked out.”
“But my friend told me he would be there until the end of the month.”
“I’m very sorry, sir. As I said, Suite 1276 is unoccupied at this time.”
“Okay, then. Thank you.” I hung up. Oh, well. Connor had probably gotten tired of his “Daddy” and split, and whatever he’d wanted to talk to me about probably wasn’t that important.
I thought about calling Charlemagne, but dismissed that idea almost immediately. It would be opening a can of worms best left sealed.
It looked like I’d have to pull on my big boy pants and face the fact that I was going to be alone in the apartment for…for however long it was until Wills came back.
And he would be back. He’d told me so.
I went into the kitchen, put together a salad, made myself an omelet, and toasted some whole wheat bread. I poured a glass of wine, considered taking everything into the dining room, but decided against that too. I turned on the radio so there wouldn’t be utter silence in the apartment, and sat down. And rose quickly.
“Damn!” I’d forgotten about Miss Su’s inadvertent assault earlier. I’d have to be careful about sitting for a while. Grumbling under my breath, I stalked into the living room to look for a pillow, and went back to eat my lonely meal.
I offered Miss Su a piece of the omelet. She sniffed daintily, then sneezed, shook her head, and turned away.
“Don’t you like the provolone cheese I added?”
“Mrrow.”