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16: A Man with a Truck
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-02-20 23:29:07
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Mi Amor 17: The Fashionable Homeless
I didn’t wake up until nearly noon Sunday morning, only to discover that I was alone in bed. Sometime during the night Javier had cleaned me up and bundled away the beach towel. When I wandered into the kitchen, I found a note on my table that read, “Hope you slept well. I am going to church with my mother and then to Sunday dinner with my family.”No indication of whether he would call me, though. What was up with that? “He slunk out of my bedroom like a cockroach,” I complained to Jean-Jacques later that day, when we met at Jerry’s Famous Deli for Sunday brunch, an almost religious ritual for us. Javier might have his church, but we have lox and bagels and chocolate babka.“Honey, you should get down on the ground and worship that man,” Jean-Jacques said. “He saved your ass on Saturday afternoon and then fucked it on Saturday night. What more do you want from a man?”I grumbled and took a swig of my black cherry soda. I hate it when flaws in my logic are pointed out. Jean-Jacques wa
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 18: Working the Room
Javier called me later that night, apologizing for sneaking out. “You were sleeping so peacefully, mi amor,” he said. “I couldn’t wake you.”“I did need the rest.” We flirted, and then I asked, “Hey, you know Vlad Solonenko, don’t you?”“Of course. Why?”I told him about the cryptic e-mail I’d gotten from Vlad and the aborted product launch. “Something just doesn’t sound right,” I said.“Nothing ever sounds right when Vlad is involved. I’d stay away from him, if I were you. I’ve heard some rumors.”Immediately I wondered if any of those had been sexual rumors, or if they’d involved me. “What kind of rumors?”“I don’t like to gossip.”“If I hadn’t just had amazing sex with you, I wouldn’t believe you were gay. What do you mean, you don’t like gossip? It’s like saying you don’t like semen.”Javier yawned. “I have to get to sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”I tried to protest, but he disconnected the call.It was nearly ten o’clock, but in South Beach time that’s barely the shank of the
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 19: Rude Awakening
Once in bed, I tossed and turned for a long time, going back and forth between my business problems and my Javier dilemma, but I must have fallen asleep at some point because I woke Monday morning to banging on my door. I hadn’t quite recovered from Jason’s bar mitzvah; the shots of Vladi Vodka the night before, coupled with an awful lot of dancing, hadn’t helped. My head was pounding as I pulled on a pair of boxers and stumbled to the door.There was a cute redheaded guy in a business suit standing there. “Adam Beller?” he asked.“That’s me.”“FBI Special Agent Angus Green. We have a warrant to search the premises and confiscate any materials relating to your business with Vladislav Solonenko.”At first, I thought it was a hoax. That Jean-Jacques had hired a stripper to come to my door in the guise of an FBI agent. At any moment I expected the guy to peel his clothes off and start dancing.But sadly, he didn’t. A homely older guy followed him inside, and the two of them pulled on rub
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 20: Big Brother is Watching You
Jean-Jacques and I spent the afternoon figuring out that our business was fucked. We had less than a thousand dollars in our business account, almost no new work on the horizon, and now we were under investigation by the FBI. Talk about a lousy way to start the week. He left for a meeting about a pro bono job he was doing for his mother’s church in Little Haiti, and I donned ear plugs and a sleep mask, and went back to bed.My dreams were restless. Richard and I were in elementary school again; then Javier and I were dancing the hora with Vlad and Agent Green. Javier suggested I apply for asylum in Cuba to avoid the FBI. He said he would build me a house and then take pictures of it.Jean-Jacques announced he was moving to Cape Canaveral to be an astronaut. He promised to take a bottle of Vladi Vodka to the moon with him, along with a DVD of Vlad fucking me.Richard called and woke me at six with his flight arrival time. I walked around my apartment like a zombie, lost without my comp
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 21: Not an Airhead
In the morning, Richard just wouldn’t let up. “I need to understand this,” he said, while toasting himself a bagel. “Why did you let him use you? Are you stupid? Didn’t you realize this was a money laundering scheme?”“No, I didn’t. Before yesterday I didn’t even know what money laundering was. In case you forgot, I didn’t go to law school. I’m just an airhead party planner.”“You’re not an airhead. Which is why I don’t see how you got into this mess.”I couldn’t keep the secret any longer. “It was sex, Richard. I had sex with him, all right? That’s how I got my first job with him, and that’s how I kept him as a client. I gave him blowjobs and let him fuck my ass.”Richard put his bagel down, a sour look on his face. For a minute I was reminded of that scene with Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men when he says, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth.”“So?” I asked. “Now you know. I like to get my ass fucked, and Vlad Solonenko has a big dick. Bigger than mine, bigger than your
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 22: Let's Put on a Show
Jean-Jacques came over, and we sat down to take stock. It was March, and we were just finishing up our busy winter season. Business was always slow for us during the summer, when snowbirds flew home and tourist traffic diminished. All we had were our regular parties, like the Big Boys Blowout.We’d been so focused on our work for Vlad, including the specialty martini product launch, that we hadn’t gone out looking for new business. “We need to start networking again,” Jean-Jacques said. “There’s a Miami Beach chamber of commerce meeting next week. You could go to that.”“Boring.”“We need to line up some business, so you need to get your ass in gear or this business is going down the toilet.” He looked at me. “What about your new boyfriend? He’s probably got some connections.”“He’s not taking my calls,” I said.“What?”I told him the story. “You called him once,” Jean-Jacques said. “What? An hour ago? Give the man a chance to get back to you before you give up on him.”“What would he
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 23: Lost Phone
My favorite Cuban restaurant is Versailles, on Calle Ocho, Southwest Eighth Street in Little Havana. Imagine a diner with crystal chandeliers, where the guy at the next table could be a grizzled veteran of Brigade 2506 from the Bay of Pigs, or a pharmaceutical sales rep with a six-figure income. The language is Spanglish and the food to die for.After we ordered, I called Javier again, and once more the call went directly to voice mail.“He’s ditching me,” I said, tossing the phone to the table. “That’s not the way it works. I’m supposed to be the one to avoid his calls, to send him a text that says I just want to be friends. It’s not him, it’s me.”“Maybe he skipped town with Vlad,” Jean-Jacques said.“Not helping.”“When you fall off a horse, you have to get right up again,” he said. “We’ll go on a manhunt after dinner.”“I don’t know that I’ve fallen off the horse yet. Maybe my foot is still hanging from the stirrup.”“You can’t have it both ways, Adam. Either he’s dumping you, and
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 24: Burlesque Acts
From the moment we met, Javier had seemed so confident, so sure of himself. Could it be that I did frighten him? “How am I scary?” I asked.“You have to understand the world I come from. My parents are very old school, very Latin, very Catholic. My world is very macho. Everything you are, everything I am, goes against all that.”“Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself?” I put my hands on my hips. “I haven’t said I want to meet your parents yet. And I don’t have to ever come to your office, if you don’t want me to.”He shook his head. “You make me want those things. To take you home to my parents, to walk down Lincoln Road holding your hand, to kiss you on the beach in the moonlight. And that scares the shit out of me.”“Well, at least you understand how I feel. I’m crazy about you, you know that?” I straddled him, and started kissing him. “You don’t have to spend the night. But if you think I’m letting you get out of here before I have my way with you, you’re very mistaken.”I opened hi
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-02-22
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Mi Amor 84: A Little Situation
The morning of our wedding, Javier and I were up at first light. We went for a run together along the beach, then out to brunch, where we toasted each other with mimosas. “This is probably the last time today we’ll have time to ourselves, mi amor,” Javier said. “So I have some things I want to say to you.”I sipped my mimosa. “Yes?”“I love you, but you know that. You encourage me, you frustrate me, you make me see things differently, you force me to open up my heart and confront my emotions. I am so glad that you have come into my life.”I felt myself tearing up. “I love you too, Javier. When I was cruising along without much direction to my life, you came along with a strong hand and a warm heart. You looked beneath my surface the way few people have been able to do. Every day I want to be a better man so that I can deserve you.”We lifted our glasses again and clinked them together. “Then let’s get married,” Javier said.We drove up to the Ancient Spanish Monastery, a beautiful sma
Mi Amor 83: Medicare Fraud
A few weeks later, I was in the living room when Liana called Javier. He put the phone on speaker so I could hear. “That doctor Papi was going to in Hialeah,” she said. “He’s been arrested for Medicare fraud! The clinic closed down. Mami is so frightened the police are going to come for them.”“As long as she doesn’t expect anything from me,” Javier said. “They’ve both made it clear that they don’t want Adam and me in their lives.”“They’ll come around eventually, Javier,” she said. “Unless they die first,” he said.“Javier!”I was as surprised as Liana was. I knew that Javier was upset that his parents had shut him out, but I hadn’t realized how deep his feelings ran. They talked for a few more minutes, but he wasn’t willing to budge on his parents.If they didn’t approve of our marriage, I didn’t want their names on the invitation. So I found an invitation template that didn’t mention parents, brides or grooms. Just Adam Beller and Javier Marisco invite you to join in the celebrati
Mi Amor 82: Ancient Spanish Monastery
I woke up early on Sunday morning to find the house empty. Where was Angus? Why was everyone in my life abandoning me?Whoa. I needed to stop pitying myself and figure out what to do. A few minutes later, Angus came in, sweaty from an early morning run. I thanked him for his hospitality and said I needed to get back to Javier’s.“Take things easy,” Angus said. “Give Javier some time, and I’m sure he’ll come around.”There was little traffic on I-95 so early on Sunday morning, and I made good time back to the beach. I parked in one of the guest spaces at the Madrigal, and noted that Javier’s BMW was in its regular spot. That didn’t mean much, of course. He could have gone off on his scooter, or on foot.Or he could be upstairs.I took a couple of deep breaths. I couldn’t go on in limbo like that, not knowing how Javier felt.I rode up in the elevator and used my key to unlock the apartment door. Javier was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a mug of coffee. I could smell the fragran
Mi Amor 81: Best Man
My mouth dropped open. He was kicking me to the curb? Where would I go, at nine o’clock on a Saturday night? To a hotel?I hadn’t wanted to tell Javier because I knew he had his own money problems, but I’d been running through my savings at an alarming rate as I sustained both of us until money began to flow in from Wynwood Columns. I had credit on my plastic, but very little in the way of ready cash.I called Jean-Jacques, but went right to voice mail. He was probably out on the town somewhere, or maybe cuddled up with that new boyfriend of his. I ran through my list of old friends. Most of them had moved on, or were likely to be out partying on a Saturday night. Then I remembered Angus Green.He picked up the phone after one ring. “Hey, Adam, long time no see. How’s everything?”The kindness in his voice broke something open inside me, and I began to cry, telling him how stressful the last months had been, about my botched attempt to talk to Javier’s parents, his anger with me.“Com
Mi Amor 80: Mi Hijito
“I have something I would like to show you about Javier, if you would allow me,” I said, when she and I were in the living room with Javier’s father. They didn’t seem to know how to say no, so I hooked everything up, chatting nervously in a mix of English and Spanish, until I had a picture of Javier as a little boy up on the screen.“Ay, mi hijito,” his mother said.I launched into my story. Javier as a boy, cleaning up at construction sites, playing baseball, graduating from high school with honors. His parents were smiling and happy, adding in their own comments to each other.The last pictures were of Javier and me together—dancing at a party on South Beach, walking barefoot on the beach during one of Javier’s summer visits to New Jersey, us posed together in front of the Wynwood Columns sign.I left that last picture up on the screen. “Javier loves you very much, and I know he misses having you in his life right now. Wynwood Columns is his biggest success so far, and it would be s
Mi Amor 79: Presentation
I pulled up in front of a thrift store run by an Episcopal church, only open two days a week for a few hours at a time. Jean-Jacques made a beeline for the jewelry counter, where the sweet old lady who looked like a gerbil, with white hair and pink skin, seemed to know him well.I browsed the rest of the store, coming up with a couple of items for Jean-Jacques to consider: a pair of commemorative coins issued by Masonic chapters; a belt buckle with an airline slogan from the 1960s; a wooden box covered with colorful labels that had once held Cuban cigars. Jean-Jacques nodded approvingly and bought all of it.We worked together all afternoon, driving from store to store, and by the end of the day he had a decent haul. I researched and wrote descriptions of the items as he photographed them. Around six, I texted Javier that I was with Jean-Jacques, and we slumped in his living room over a bottle of wine, a box of crackers, and a log of goat cheese.“I’ve been thinking about how you appr
Mi Amor 78: Just Because It's Legal
We fell into bed together and slept until mid-morning Sunday, when I got up, fixed us omelets and bacon, and we hashed over the details of the night before. Javier had a half-dozen solid prospects for the condos, and he’d impressed a number of local real estate agents. The buzz at the party had been superb, and it looked like we were going to be a great addition to the Wynwood scene.I waited until a few days had passed, and Javier had contracts on two more of the condos, before I brought up the question of setting the wedding date again.“I don’t know, mi amor,” he said. “Maybe it’s not such a good idea right now. Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s right for us.”I opened my mouth to argue. What had happened to “I’d marry you today if I could?” But I already knew what the problem was. His parents. Until they came around to the idea of their precious boy married to another man, my wedding plans were on hold.Over the next few days, I thought about the issue. It wasn’t about the
Mi Amor 77: Party Boy
The next morning I met Leslie at Wynwood Columns. That day’s T-shirt read Be kind to animals or I’ll kill you, and her pinky fingernails were painted in tiger stripes.“The walls look amazing,” I said, after we’d kissed hello. Then I held the ladder for her as she began to hang a couple of her complicated mobiles.Javier came through while we were working, showing off the retail space to a rep from a national drugstore chain. “This is Adam Beller, who’s handling all my marketing and public relations,” Javier said when he introduced me.I noticed that he didn’t say “partner.” But we hadn’t formalized any business arrangement between us so I wasn’t a partner in Marisco Enterprises. I didn’t even have a salary or a job title.There was no time to stress over it, though. Before I could blink it was the Saturday night of the grand opening. We rented one of those big searchlights and set it up across the street. We hired a valet company to handle the parking, a jazz trio for background musi
Mi Amor 76: Sour Taste
I woke with a sour taste in my mouth. What if Wynwood Columns was a big flop, and its failure destroyed Javier’s business, because he’d bet everything he had on it? That could leave us both out of work. And because Javier had mortgaged the condo at the Madrigal, we could be homeless as well. And of course the wedding would be off. We couldn’t afford a party if we couldn’t put a roof over our heads or food on the table.We had only a week to go before the grand opening of Wynwood Columns, and Javier spent all his time on the mainland, leaving behind the beach, while I was at the office most of the time, handling dozens of small details from chasing down attorneys and leases to sourcing party favors. It was doubly hard because everything had to be done on the cheap, and I called in every favor I was owed, relying on every emotion from guilt to greed to get what I needed.Late one afternoon I was all alone in the office, and I started to worry. What if this physical distance was just a m
