Chapter Two
Terry spent a week on the beach in Puerto Vallarta at his favorite resort, Blue Chairs, and while trying to drink away his memories of the night he had spent fucking with Alex, Terry fucked everyone he could get his hands on in PV: men, women, waiters, busboys, tour guides, waitresses, room service, cab drivers, cooks, and bar tenders.
Apparently there was not enough tequila or Maker's Mark in Puerto Vallarta to erase his memories of Alex and That Night. By the time he returned to LA, he could not remember where he lived; a quick phone call to his PA Melody Anne solved that.
On Friday morning, he showed up at the law office, and Melody Anne was the first one to greet him, thank God; "You look worse than the last time I saw you" she scolded.
"I feel worse too" Terry confessed, wondering what possibly could look worse than hammered owl shit.
"Is this some girl trouble?" she asked. "'Cause I will gladly scratch her eyes out for you."
"No, not exactly."
Melody Anne sat down in the client chair in front of Terry's desk. She was still holding the carafe of coffee and using it to wave her intentions to do serious damage to whomever had harmed her boss.
"Well I can see you are not in any condition to talk right now, so I will let you re-acclimate to the real world of Baylor, McLean and Garza, and I will bring you some breakfast when you are ready for it."
Terry let the seriousness of his condition- mental, emotional, psychological, as well as physical- settle on him, before turning in his chair to view the long stretch of Santa Monica he could see from the fifth story windows in his office.
His first thought was of his father: Ted Baylor and his twin brother Tommy had started this law firm, and both had died in the past few years, leaving their sole surviving partner, Mario Garza. The "McLean" in the firm name was Beverly, who died of a massive brain aneurism immediately after being elected to the Santa Monica city council.
Terry felt a tear gather in the corner of his eye; he missed Ted deeply and had many questions for him on what he would have expected of Terry, who was now the managing partner.
After a long moment of self-doubt, Terry finally gathered his thoughts and plunged into the agenda for the day: the quarterly partner's meeting was to begin at 11:00 AM. He had already dictated a roster of items for Melody Anne to print for the partners, but he did not have any serious duties at the meeting until the afternoon session.
After the lunch intermission, Terry was approached by Mario Garza, one of the founding partners. He dreaded this moment.
"I don't want to be rude, but you are not looking like your normal self. Is there anything wrong with the firm? Is there anything we need to discuss?"
"I appreciate your concern; no there is nothing wrong with the firm, I have a great staff and the firm is in better shape than ever. I, however, am not so well off, and perhaps I can come and talk with you about it this weekend if you have time for me?"
"Sure, anytime, how about brunch on Sunday, I will call Peter right now and make the arrangements."
Terry breathed a sigh of relief, and they went into the afternoon session together. Terry conducted the remainder of the meeting, and by 4PM, was ready for a stiff drink. All of the partners had left the office for the day when Terry noticed that only he and Melody Anne were still in the suite.
"You can tell me to go to Hell, or that whatever is going on is none of my business, but listen Buster, you are my most important business, so I want you to at least be trying to look human on Monday morning. I am going to waste some serious beauty sleep worrying about you this weekend."
With that, the Southern Belle sauntered out and softly closed the door.
At 5:45 AM on Saturday morning, Terry was buzzed awake by his cell phone; he was finally deeply sleeping after most of a fitful night tossing and turning. The cell phone showed it was Alex calling.
"Hello? Alex? Where are you?"
"Terry, I know it is early, I am waiting for a plane, I am in Lisbon, I am leaving Europe early, I am returning to LA right now, I cannot sleep, I cannot concentrate on my business, I cannot eat, all I can think about is you. I have to see you as soon as I get back to LA." Alex sounded out of breath; Terry was suddenly awake.
"I will meet your flight; what time do you land?"
"Midnight."
"I will see you then."
Terry hung up the phone and tried to roll over and catch a little more sleep; that soon turned into a waste of time, so he dressed and went for a run. By the time he returned, he was starving, and ordered eggs Benedict and coffee from the Beverly Wilshire room service. Since he had a whole day to kill, he took the Aston-Martin for a drive northward along PCH.
California Highway 1 is a thrilling ride and holds some of the most photogenic country in America; driving a high-horse-powered beast like the Vantage on PCH was a dual thrill. He passed Mario's and Peter's house in Malibu right at noon and recalled the invitation to spend the day with them tomorrow discussing his concerns. That was sure to be a bombshell for Mario, Terry thought.
Terry turned eastward up Topanga Canyon, cruising past the former gallery of Joaquin and Ross, friends of Mario. He continued to the crest of the mountain, where he could see the entire ridge line of the Santa Monica mountains to the south and the Santa Ynez mountains to the north. He had a queer feeling of nostalgia; he wondered what his father would tell him in his current situation.
Midnight was not coming anytime soon; Terry parked in a VIP lot and walked inside the international terminal and found a seat at the lobby bar, waiting for Alex's plane to arrive. He had just over an hour to kill but thought better about being drunk when Alex did arrive; they both had some serious things to say and being drunk would not facilitate anything for either of them.
Modern travel regulations prevented Terry from greeting Alex's plane at the ramp, so he waited in the luggage terminal. Soon enough, Alex showed up at the top of the escalator, smiling shyly and waving briefly. Terry was nervous; he had not registered any nervous thoughts until just that moment when Alex smiled at him. He was shaking while Alex traveled down the escalator. It also struck Terry for the first time, how incredibly handsome Alex was.
They hugged briefly; Terry took Alex's briefcase and tugged him toward the baggage carousel. Within a half hour, they had retrieved the large suitcase, had made their way to the VIP parking, and were immersed into Saturday midnight LA traffic. Terry did not ask Alex where he wanted to go; he purposely headed for his newly-leased penthouse at the Beverly Wilshire.
It was an unfair advantage, an attorney's trick: using familiar surroundings for a serious discussion. Terry was not devious nor dishonest, but he wanted to be as comfortable as possible for this discussion with Alex.
There was not much conversation all the way from LAX to the penthouse; Alex appeared to be sleepy. When they were finally settled into the comfortable living room, each with a frosty glass of iced tea, Terry began: "You said all you could think about was me; I hope it was not in anger."
"Not at all, but to tell you the truth, it was a lot of confusion. I have never had a moment like that before; believe me, it was wonderful, I do not regret it at all, I want to see if we can have that kind of magic again, but first I think there are some things we need to say."
Terry responded "Like, first of all, am I gay?"
"Yes. I am not gay, or at least, I don't think I am, or anyway, I have never thought of myself as gay, but with you, I was as gay as Tuesday morning." Alex laughed.
Terry smiled; it was a wry smile, not really in humor, but more because this was exactly the mental track he had been following for the past two weeks himself. "Well, you see, I am exactly like you: I am not gay, or at least, I don't think I am, or anyway, I have never thought of myself as gay, but with you, I was as gay as Tuesday morning." They both laughed as Terry repeated word-for-word what Alex had just said.
Their conversation extended far into the night: they finally collapsed into bed at 4AM, with arms wrapped around each other in the big firm queen bed. Alex awoke first and slithered out of bed to call room service and order coffee and juice; when he returned to the bed he noticed Terry with just one eye squinting open in his direction.
They kissed and as Alex clawed back under the duvet Terry pulled him in close. "I do not know exactly what it is I am feeling, but I have never felt like this before" he said to Alex.
Alex sighed deeply and said, "Me too."
It was another half hour of holding each other wrapped up in the warmth of the moment, when the coffee service arrived. The young Arabic waiter shyly glanced away from them when he noted that Terry was wearing only a pajama top and Alex was wearing the bottom. A $20 tip allowed him to smile, as he tip-toed out the door.
"So," Alex began, "You work in the law firm started by your father and his brother. You were born and raised in California, and your Baylor grandparents are living in Illinois on a farm. Where is your mother?"
"She has returned to Massachusetts to be with her parents, who are seriously in need of a care-giver. I plan on going to see her for the Christmas holidays." Terry was suddenly nostalgic again; that same feeling he had had the day before when driving up the canyon.
Alex continued "And you have never had a gay relationship? You have never had gay sex?"
"True story. You are my first." Alex responded to Terry's comment with a loud laugh.
Terry continued "So, how was I?"
"Oh my god, I have nothing to compare it to, except all of the dates I have had with women, of course, but babe you were amazing, you made me feel things I have never felt before, and I don't just mean a hard cock in my mouth or my hand or my ass." They both laughed.
Alex was smiling; Terry had a feeling come over him that he had never felt, not even with a woman, not even with the one woman to whom he had been briefly engaged.
"Listen, I know we both have a lot of questions, and I know someone who might be able to help us both, if you are willing, I have been invited to brunch tomorrow at the home of the senior partner of the law firm, Mario Garza. Would you like to go with me?"
Alex was pensive at first; he spoke slowly when replying to Terry. "Yes, I think that might be a good idea. I certainly cannot imagine having this conversation with my father." Terry laughed; Alex's father, the city council-member-elect, was a well-known name in the region, not always for good.