3 - Sam #2
“I kissed you because I like kissing you, husband.” Sam pushed his hands into Nico’s chest, just above his heart. “Because I love you.”
Nico kissed him again, quick this time. “Listen, something’s come up with work, and I actually have to go.”
“What?” Sam didn’t expect that. “But this is for you. This is for all of you,” he amended. “Your Freedom Party…”
“I know, I know,” Nico said. “I’m sorry, but it’s a new job, and I can’t say no.”
Sam knew he was pouting, but he couldn’t reset his expression to something happy when Nico was leaving again . “How long are you going to be gone this time?”
“Not sure. Hopefully just a day.”
“You’ll be back for Thursday, right?” Sam asked.
“Thursday?” Nico asked, like he didn’t know why that was so important.
“Valentine’s Day?” Sam prompted.
“Oh, yeah. Sure,” Nico said. “Absolutely. I’ll be back for Valentine’s Day.”
“All right then,” Sam said, putting his we’ll-make-the-best-of-it face on. “If the sooner you go, the sooner you come back—go.”
Nico kissed him again, and this time Sam leaned in, his body pressed full against Nico’s. He could tell they both wanted more, their bodies straining against the clothes in their way.
But Nico pulled back, and Sam wouldn’t let himself hold on. He wasn’t going to be some clingy Bond Girl. Strike that. Bond Boy.
Sam followed Nico outside to the owner’s parking spot. Nico straddled the black motorcycle and pulled on his helmet.
“See you, husband,” Nico said with a wink, before the Scrambler 1200 XC purred out like some big mechanical jungle cat and tore down the street.
“Your pizza!” Sam remembered, too late. Anyway, where was Nico going to put a pizza box on the back of his motorcycle?
It was then Sam realized: he didn’t even know where Nico was going.
One Good Thing
It happened again, and it’s not a good thing.
I said “I love you” at the party,
And Nico didn’t say it back.
It’s not like he said “I don’t love you, Sam.”
He kissed me.
I said “I love you” and he kissed me.
But it’s not the same as him saying it back.
Why isn’t he saying it back?
Is he having second thoughts?
When he turns 18 in September and he no longer needs the protection of our marriage, is he going to want a divorce?
Stop catastrophizing, Solomon!
Craig-Bond was so quick to ditch Madeleine in No Time To Die when he was sure she betrayed him to Spectre, and it cost Bond five years with her and his kiddo.
He catastrophized.
He didn’t listen.
Nico thinks I don’t listen.
Shit.
And Nico’s done nothing!
Except get a job.
Where they clearly like him, or they wouldn’t keep asking him to go do these trainings.
I guess it’s another training?
He didn’t say.
He didn’t say he loves me either.
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t.
Aaaaaaargh!
Just watched Die Another Day .
That was the plan, and just because Nico had to leave, well, I thought it would make me feel better.
Not really.
The point was to share it with him.
And I don’t know why, but whole thing felt kind of smarmy—
Like all the jokes were innuendo—
And they made everything about sex.
Like everyone watching is supposed to have a 7th grade sense of humor.
And we’re supposed to be rooting for Pierce Brosnan as Bond getting lucky with both Halle Berry’s kick-ass Jinx Johnson and Rosamund Pike’s Miranda Frost—who true to her name is icy cold to Bond’s advances.
Oh, and if we’re talking about names, how about the Chinese operative, Peaceful Fountains of Desire , the “masseuse.”
Maybe I’m just bitter because tonight, Bond got lucky a lot more than I did.
Some of the effects in the movie were ridiculous, like the moment Gustav Graves’s satellite opens up in space like a Jiffy Pop.
And the terrible green screen of Bond kitesurfing that tidal wave using a curved panel and the parachute from the ice dragster—so cheesy on the close-ups, like some beach party movie from the 1960s, the kind Mom watches on those rare days when she’s sick.
And there were plot-hole moments I should probably vlog.
Like if Brosnan-Bond’s stupid-expensive Omega Seamaster 300M Chronometer—like I used to have—had a laser that let him cut a hole in the lake ice big enough for him to drop through to sneak his way into Graves’s domed greenhouse and free Jinx, why, 27 minutes later, are he and Jinx using old-fashioned wire cutters to get through the fence on the North Korean air base so they can board Graves’s plane?
You can see Bond is still wearing the watch while he and Jinx use what look like some gardener’s old pruning shears!
But the movie had its high points.
Love the conceit of a hovercraft being able to go over a minefield without blowing up.
And Halle Berry coming out of the Caribbean ocean in that orange bikini, a callback to Ursula Andress 40 years earlier in Dr. No —and a call-forward to Daniel Craig just 4 years later in Casino Royale . That was the best sexy-Bond moment ever!
And the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish with adaptive camouflage was hella cool.
I wouldn’t mind an invisible car.
And a sort of happy ending with Bond and Jinx
Covered in diamonds
Getting lucky
Even with the cringe-worthy dialog.
I want my happy ending.
I don’t need the diamonds.
Just Nico.
He promised he’ll be back in two days.
I’m going to make sure our Valentine’s Day celebration is incredible.
Something so special, that he’s never had before, so he’ll know how much I love him. And nothing stupid-expensive. Maybe I can make him something?
Everything’s going to work out.
Because I love Nico.
And he loves me.
Oh please please God.
He does, doesn’t he?