“New York is filled with people who are pretending to be something they aren’t,” Luis said. “It’s all show. From the way I hear it, Derrick kept paying huge sums of money to advertise his real estate listings. He paid thousands for an ad in Architectural Digest he couldn’t afford, hoping it would generate business. He was paying two full-time assistants more than fifty thousand a year each even though business was so slow he didn’t even need them. He only kept them for the sake of appearances. And he was taking out loans all over town to do this. He figured that when the real estate market turned around he’d be able to pay everything back. Only he didn’t count on the economy being this bad and lasting this long. It’s all been a façade.” Then he sighed and lifted his cup of coffee. “They say he owes more than two million dollars. Can you imagine that much money? Owing more than two million dollars?”
Jase leaned into the door and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve never owed anyone anything in my life.”
Luis filled a bowl with dry dog food and put it on the floor. Then he looked up at Jase and smiled. “I’d marry you today for your money, Jase. Would you marry me for mine?”
Jase stared into his eyes, without flinching at all. “I’d do it right now.”
Luis’s mouth dropped open. Jase’s voice was low and even and it felt like Jase was staring into his soul. Luis had never been this comfortable with another man. He was usually trying to figure out what they wanted from him. So he walked over to Jase and kissed him on the cheek. “Too bad neither one of us has any money. But I’m so glad you knocked on the door this morning. If you hadn’t, I would have knocked on your door eventually.”
“You would have?” Jase asked.
“Of course I would have. I’ve missed you and I didn’t want to stay mad. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. To be honest, I can’t stay mad at you. You’re a very likeable guy, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Luis picked up the coffee and walked into the living room. He sat down on the loveseat and Jase sat on a large wooden crate that was serving as a makeshift coffee table across from him.
“You told me you had news,” Luis said. “I hope it’s good news. I hate hearing bad news even when it isn’t my bad news.”
“It’s good,” Jase said. He closed his legs so the dog could jump up on his lap. “I just heard this morning that my new idea for the cheese smoker is getting good feedback. It looks like someone is interested in producing it. These people think there’s a market for this sort of thing, especially now that so many people are into cooking and preparing their own unique foods.”
“That’s wonderful,” Luis said. “I’m thrilled for you.” He sat up and kissed Jase on the cheek. As he did so, his robe opened slightly and exposed his naked torso. He adjusted it and pulled the string, hoping Jase wouldn’t get the wrong idea. Though Jase was probably the best looking man he’d met in a long time, he wasn’t interested in having casual sex at that moment.
Unlike most of the gay men he knew, Luis had to be in the mood. If he wasn’t, nothing happened.
Jase continued to stare at his face, not even bothering to notice the robe had opened. “The funny thing is,” he said, “I couldn’t wait to tell you when I heard the news. I know that sounds silly. But when I heard the news, I wanted you to be the first one to know.”
“That’s not silly at all,” Luis said. “I think it’s very nice, in fact.” Then he took a sip of coffee and lifted his right eyebrow. “Have you told your friend Charmin about this? He might not be as happy as I am. He seems very possessive. When he looks at you, I always have this feeling he’s trying to figure out a way to hook an invisible leash to that invisible collar he has around your neck.” Luis knew the guy’s name was Sherman. But he didn’t like him and he refused to pronounce his name correctly.
Jase laughed. “His name is Sherman, not Charmin, and you know it. Charmin is toilet paper.”
Luis shrugged his shoulders and grinned.
“And no, I haven’t told him,” Jase said. “It’s really none of his business. This is something I’ve been working on for a long time…in spite of the fact that everyone else thinks it’s a complete waste of time.”
“I’m sure you’re going to make millions with this invention,” Luis said. “And you’re much too smart to waste your time on anything.”
“No, you don’t,” Jase said. “You’re just being polite.”
“Not true,” Luis said. “Though I’m a realistic, hardcore cynic at heart, I still believe in miracles. It’s like this: I don’t actually believe that rainbows bring good luck, but I do believe there’s a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow. Does that make sense?”
Jase laughed and rubbed his jaw. “Yes, it does. I’ve never actually thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense. At least it does to me, anyway.” He hesitated for a second. “Why don’t we go out today and celebrate my good news? We can spend the entire day together.”
Luis stood. “Sounds like fun. I have a bottle of Asti Spumonte in the refrigerator I’ve been saving for a special occasion. You go into the kitchen and open it while I get dressed.”
“Asti Spumonte?”
“Yes,” Luis said, while he walked to the bedroom. “I don’t like champagne. When I drink it, it makes me much too honest. I tell everyone everything.”
“Honest?”
“Ah well,” Luis said. He was in the bedroom now, shouting over his shoulder. “I never know what I’m going to say after a glass of champagne. I can’t be trusted.”
Luis heard Jase open the bottle. He put on a white shirt and ran back into the kitchen. “I have an idea. We can spend the day doing things we both love. We’ll do something I love first, then we’ll do something you love. They have to be things that make us both feel wonderful when we’re really feeling as far down as we can get.”
Jase reached up, opened one of the cabinets, and pulled out a couple of coffee mugs.
“Sounds good to me. And I know exactly what I’m going to do.”
* * * *
After they shared a toast to Jase’s cheese smoker, they went downstairs and walked up to the avenue. Luis hailed a cab and told the driver to take him downtown to one of his favorite places in the city. Jase offered to drive. Luis thanked him and patted his sleeve. Luis said he’d rather take a cab because it would be too hard to park downtown, and if they wanted to do something else afterwards, the big truck would only get in the way. This time Luis was being polite so he wouldn’t hurt Jase’s feelings. The thought of getting into the truck with Jase made his knees wobble. It’s a good thing he’d had Spumonte that morning instead of champagne. If he’d had champagne he probably would have told Jase the truth about his driving and hurt his feelings.