Chapter 5 Devon #2
“Because I ran into her the last time I was in Baltimore, and she took great satisfaction in telling me how fantastic her life is now. I think she took my failure to turn bi as a personal insult, and that was her way of… getting back at me, I guess?”
“People can be so weird.”
“I know. Anyway, back to your bucket list. Tell me more about what you’d include.”
“Number one on my list would be making enough money to help out my dad,” he told me. “Then, like I said, I’d love to travel.”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Anywhere and everywhere. I’ve never been outside California, so it’d be a really long list.”
“For real?”
“Well, yeah. I’ve always been broke, so travelling wasn’t really an option.”
“If you could go anywhere without having to worry about the expense, where would you choose?”
I thought he might name a dream destination like Paris, or Tokyo, or Fiji, places that had seemed impossible to me while I was growing up. Instead, he said quietly, “I always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, but I never managed to make it happen.”
From San Diego, that was maybe an eight- or nine-hour drive. It broke my heart that something which should have been easily accessible had felt out of reach to him.
“I’d also love to take a road trip and visit my friend Hal in Texas,” he continued. “I told you about him. This used to be his room, and he left me his sewing machine and all of these wonderful things when he moved away.”
“I remember. You said he fell in love with a cowboy.”
“Right. That cowboy runs a horse rescue. They also have a bunch of goats, and chickens, and a donkey, and a whole pack of dogs. It would be great to see all of that in person, and to spend some time with my friend and his fiancé.”
He said that so wistfully, as if it all seemed impossible.
I was about to tell him we could rent a car and leave on a road trip right now if he wanted to, but then his phone dinged.
He read the message and told me, “It’s a group text from my supervisor.
He’s asking the entire staff to come in for an important meeting at five, which is an hour before the club opens. I wonder what that’s about.”
“Can I go with you? Not to the meeting, obviously. I want to grab a coffee, do some exploring in the Castro, and then come back to the club for tonight’s drag show.”
“Absolutely.” He closed the journal and handed it to me before climbing off the bed. “I need to get ready, but I’d like to finish looking through your book later, if that’s okay.”
“Of course.”
I changed out of my sweats and into a clean T-shirt and jeans while he took a shower.
Kit usually walked to and from work, and I worried about him out there at night, since he got off work at two a.m. That was why I’d been making a point of ending up at the club every night and hanging out until closing, then walking him home.
I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to take care of him like that.
He was a full-grown adult, and it wasn’t like he needed or wanted my help.
But there was something about him that called out to me, something that made me want to protect him and keep him safe.
I kept that to myself, though. Kit wanted everyone to know he was strong and self-reliant, so he’d probably yell at me if I ever said that stuff out loud.
Kit worked at a club called Miss Lady Jane’s, named for the drag persona of its seventy-two-year-old owner. It had been in business over thirty years, and Miss Lady Jane herself still showed up every night in full drag and acted as emcee. I thought that was pretty amazing.
We paused outside the employee entrance at the back of the building, and Kit turned to me and asked, “Do I look alright? I feel like I threw myself together.” He was dressed in his work “uniform,” a black T-shirt and black jeans, and his thick hair was pinned back from his face with a sparkly barrette.
I meant it when I told him, “You look absolutely beautiful, Kit. For the record, you always do.”
“That’s definitely not true.”
I smiled at him and gave his shoulder a friendly squeeze. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Kit opened the door, but then he turned back to me and asked, “Do you walk me to and from work because you’re worried something will happen to me if you don’t?”
The answer was yes, but I countered with another question. “Why would I worry about that?”
“Because you think I’m ‘snatchable.’ You called me that the day we met. Do you actually believe someone will toss me into an unmarked van if you’re not around to defend me?”
“Maybe I want you to defend me. Did you ever think of that?”
He tried to frown as he pointed out, “You never actually answer me. You just ask more questions.”
“Do I?”
He rolled his eyes. “Now you’re doing it on purpose.”
I chuckled and said, “Go to work, Kit. I’ll see you soon.” He took one last look at me and grinned before stepping through the door.
At about five-thirty, I was sitting in a café with a huge vat of iced coffee when Kit texted, asking where I was. I sent a reply, and two minutes later, he slid into the seat across from me and blurted, “The club is closing, effective immediately.”
“Oh, no! What happened?”
“The owner’s husband had a mild heart attack. He’ll be fine, but they decided it was time for both of them to retire and do all the things they’ve been talking about for years, like traveling.”
“I’m glad he’s okay.”
“Me, too. I’m in shock, though. That place was a San Francisco institution, and I guess I thought it’d be there forever. But the owner doesn’t want to leave his husband’s side, and really, there’s no Miss Lady Jane’s without the grande dame herself.”
“True, but it’s a bummer that you’re out of work with no notice,” I said. “If you need some money, just let me know. I’m happy to help out.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m totally fine. They gave all of us severance pay. Mine was almost two thousand dollars, can you believe it? I went straight to the ATM when the meeting ended and deposited my check, because I was nervous about carrying that much around with me.”
“That’s good news.”
“It really is. Instead of trying to find another job right away, I think I want to take the rest of the month off and concentrate on my designs. I’ve been feeling pretty uninspired, so hopefully I can find my groove again.”
“You know what you need? A change of scenery.”
“You’re right,” he said. “Maybe I’ll try sketching at the park, or in a coffee shop, or—”
“Or at the Grand Canyon, and at your friend’s house in Texas.”
“What?”
“We need to do a road trip, Kit. I was going to suggest it earlier while we were talking about your bucket list, but we got interrupted when you were called in to work. Now it feels like it was meant to be.”
He processed that for a few moments before asking, “Could we really do that?” He seemed reluctant to get his hopes up.
“Absolutely. I’ll rent us a car, or maybe an RV. We can drive to San Diego first and visit your dad, and then we’ll go to the Grand Canyon. Do you want to camp, or stay at the lodge?”
“I don’t know.”
He was clearly feeling overwhelmed, so I said, “It’s okay, we can decide later. It’s the off-season, so nothing’s going to get booked up. Anyway, after that, we can drive to Texas. What part of the state is your friend in?”
“He lives near Austin, out in the country.” He searched my eyes as he asked me, “Why do you want to do this?”
“Because I love road trips, and I also love the idea of getting to experience all of this with you.”
“What would we do after Texas?”
“Whatever we want.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Just say yes, and we can leave tonight. All we have to do is hop online and rent something, pack our bags, and hit the road.”
Kit still seemed uncertain. “I know I just got that check, but I’m not sure how much of it I should spend. What if it takes a while to find another job? I might have to make that money last.”
“I’ll pay for all of it. You won’t have to spend a dime.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“But I want to, and this trip isn’t just for you, Kit. I need it as much as you do, maybe more. With my birthday inching closer, this would be the best distraction I could imagine.”
I knew that would convince him. He had a hard time accepting good things for himself, but if it was going to benefit someone else, he was all for it. The worry line between his brows eased, and he murmured, “It feels like I’m dreaming.”
“But you can make it a reality,” I said. “All you have to do is say yes.”
“Okay. Let’s do it. We’ll visit my dad first, and go from there.
He’ll be so excited. Should we surprise him, or tell him we’re coming?
” He thought about it for a beat and answered his own question.
“Let’s surprise him. And I like your suggestion about leaving tonight.
If we’re going to do this, I don’t want to wait. ”
“Great. Let’s get going, then.”
As we left the coffee shop, he took my hand. I assumed he did that because this whole thing made him nervous, and he needed reassurance. I held it securely as we headed down the sidewalk.
Pretty soon, we reached Miss Lady Jane’s and paused to read the large notice on its closed front door.
It was a thank you from the club owner to the patrons, staff, performers, and the community as a whole for three great decades.
He also explained that even though it was hard to say goodbye, he had to put the love of his life first.
At the bottom of the notice were two photos.
The first looked like it had probably been taken in the 1980s, judging by the clothes and hairstyles.
It was of two men in their late twenties, who looked happy and totally in love.
The other photo was of the same two men in their seventies, obviously still every bit as happy and more in love than ever.
Kit said softly, “Can you imagine? They’ve had all those wonderful years together, and their next chapter is just beginning.”
He’d said that mostly to himself, but no, I couldn’t imagine it. That would never be my reality.
As I held Kit’s hand in mine, I was struck with a profound sense of loss.
But now wasn’t the time to feel sorry for myself. I’d made a promise to Kit to take him places and show him things he’d only dreamed of. And I was going to deliver on that promise, even if it was the last thing I ever did.