Part 3 (1/2)
I was tripping all over my words like a fool. I certainly felt like one. Truth was, the idea of Jez and another guy going at it like rabbits in the next room freaked the h.e.l.l out of me, but there was no way in h.e.l.l I was going to admit that. Especially since I wasn't entirely clear about the reason why it freaked me out. It wasn't like I was grossed out or something over the idea of two sweaty men going at it-and that was the point where I stopped myself.
”Same here,” Jez said.
”What?” I jumped a little. Had Jez read my thoughts?
”If you want to bring someone back to the house...”
”Oh, yeah. Okay.”
Our food arrived, and we dug in. My burger was really good, but I kept eyeing Jez's octopus. Those tentacles with their suckers looked downright spooky. Finally Jez cut off a piece and placed it on my plate. I cautiously put it in my mouth, ready to spit. I expected it to be rubbery, but it was surprisingly tender and smoky. It was not bad at all, but I still preferred my burger. Eventually the conversation got back around to me somehow.
”My father is career military,” I explained. ”When I was growing up, we never stayed more than three years in a place. I used to wish he'd get stationed overseas, but instead we were shuffled from one backwoods post to the other, all over the country.”
”That had to be tough.”
”After a while, I didn't even try to make friends. Of all the places, I probably liked Indiana the least. It was just bad luck we happened to live there when my parents divorced. My father got stationed elsewhere soon after, but Mom and I stayed. Then she met Dave.”
”Your stepfather?”
”Yeah.”
”Did you get along?”
While we talked, Jez made eye contact with our waiter and signaled for another drink.
”He's an okay guy, and he was good for Mom-the last years of her marriage to my father were really hard on her-but to me, he was just a guy. He tried, but I was a sullen teenager, and once my sister was born, she became the center of the universe. We got along but weren't close.”
My burger was gone, blue cheese and all, and I was working on the remainders of my fries. They came with great homemade ketchup.
”What made you move to LA?” Jez asked.
I took a moment to think about that.
”I just wanted to get the h.e.l.l out of there, and LA sounded good. Mom and Dave never understood it. When I told them, they were stunned. My mother's first reaction was, 'But there are earthquakes there!' Like the lack of earthquakes was a good reason to live in Indiana.” I gestured my incredulity with a piece of fried potato.
”Was it that bad?” he asked, smiling.
”Depressing, mostly. The land is flat as a pancake. The winters last forever. For months and months, there's no sun. Just gray clouds, snow, slush, and freezing rain.”
”Sounds awful.”
”The summers are all right, if you like rain. Actually, big summer thunderstorms are the only thing I miss.”
”The first time I experienced one of those was when I was visiting my mother in Ohio. Freaked the h.e.l.l out of me.”
I had to laugh at that. Jez's new drink arrived. The waiter was good. Before we knew it, we'd ordered dessert, despite being stuffed.
”What about your parents?” I asked when we were left alone.
”Rob-my dad-lives in Hawaii. The waves are better there.”
”They are divorced too?”
”Never got married. He and my mother were just kids when she got pregnant. The way it was told to me, it was a summer romance that fizzled out before school started up in the fall. Mom finished high school and went off to college. You can figure out the rest.”
”You were raised by wild dolphins?” I suppressed a chuckle at the image-cherubic baby Jez and the dolphins. Like that Greek thing with the wolf, but soggier.
”Hah! Much crazier than that-Adelle. She was my mom's mother. Rob was around, but he was more like an older brother than a father. He taught me surfing, loving the waves. He still calls, and we have long conversations about nothing. We're friends. His one true love is the waves.”
”And your mom?”
”Married to a dentist, living in Duluth. They have three kids, a minivan, and a big house in the suburbs.”
”Ouch.”
”Yeah, I think she rebelled against Adelle by going conventional.”
Jez leaned back in his chair, his whole body a picture of relaxation.
”You didn't.”
”It skips a generation.” He grinned.
”So how are you getting along?” I probed, not knowing if he wanted to talk about it. For some reason, I wanted to know. He didn't seem to be bothered. His voice was as calm and even as ever.
”Me and my mother? We're cool now. There was a time, back when I was a kid, when I was angry with her for abandoning me. She went off to college right out of high school and never moved back.”
”That must have been hard for you.”
Jez drew up a shoulder and let it drop. ”A little. Maybe more. Eventually I understood how hard it must have been for her too. She was way too young to have a kid, and she was scared by all this stuff that just got dropped on her. Running away was the only way she could deal with it. She had a lot of guilt about it later. But we worked it all out in the end. I've been up there to visit them. They are good people, really. Just sorta boring. She likes it that way, though. She and Adelle had always been like oil and water.”
”So did you learn all the baking from Adelle?” I switched the subject.
Jez snorted like I said something funny. ”Adelle? I don't think I ever saw her turn on the oven. Nah, it was a guy in San Francisco. I learned the art of mixing drinks from Adelle, though.”
”Really?” My eyebrows must have hit my hairline.
”Yeah, she used to have all these parties with the other old-timers, back when they were still around, and I was always in charge of the c.o.c.ktails. By the time I was fifteen, I knew as much as your average bartender, and more. It came in very handy later.”
”Jeez. Good thing Child Protective Services didn't know about it,” I said half seriously.
A shadow pa.s.sed over his face.
”Maybe it was the wrong thing for her to do. I don't think it harmed me, though. There are much worse things people do to their kids.”
I quietly nodded, but I could tell something bothered him. After staring at the ice cubes in his gla.s.s for a moment, he started to talk again. For the first time since I'd known him, there was a tightness in his voice.