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31: Flying and Flirting
Last Updated:
2025-02-22 01:40:55
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Mi Amor 32: Home Again
The drive out to Summit was quick, mostly on route 78, and soon I was motoring through the tree-lined streets of my childhood. They were just coming into leaf, and daffodils and crocuses sprouted in the manicured yards on our street. It was sunny and crisp, and I remembered how much I loved the springtime, which we get for about a week or two in Florida.I kept the key to my parents’ house on a stuffed-monkey key chain from a Kipling bag, and as I drew it from my pocket, my mother opened the front door. We gushed and hugged, and she led me inside.My mother is a brunette, though her hair is starting to streak with silver, and she refuses to dye it. Richard takes after her, while I look more like my father. I was okay with that; he was a damn handsome man, and I wouldn’t mind looking that good when I get to fifty. “Your father’s at the club,” my mother said. “He’ll be back soon. In the meantime, you and I can have a chat.”Here it comes, I thought. Good cop, bad cop. The standard paren
Last Updated : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 33: Time to Grow Up
“Your mother and I aren’t comfortable with the track your career is taking,” he continued. I knew it wouldn’t do any good to protest, so I kept my mouth shut. “It’s time you stopped fooling around in Miami and made some sense out of your life. By the time I was your age, I was clerking for the chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. At your age, your grandfather had started his own law practice. And your great-grandfather, well, he came to this country with nothing, started shoveling horseshit, and ended up selling hay and feed to the top racetracks in the country.”Horseshit was one of my father’s favorite words, though usually it was used to denote how little he thought of something Richard or I said. “Your mother and I can’t sit back any longer and watch you waste your time. You need to train that intelligence of yours in the best way you can. It’s time you grew up and got yourself to law school.”My first reaction was horseshit. I am my father’s son, after all. But I did
Last Updated : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 34: Making Plans
At dinner, we didn’t talk about my plans. Instead, I told G-rated stories about my life in Miami and heard about my father’s latest case and the fundraiser my mother was organizing for the local library. I waited until I was up in my room, surrounded by swim team trophies and posters of 1990s bands, to call Javier’s cell.I worried that he’d shift me directly to voice mail, that his confrontation with his parents had been too explosive. But he picked up on the first ring, though his voice was missing some of its purr. “Adam,” he said, and I noticed he hadn’t called me mi amor.“How are you?” I asked.“I’ve been better.”“I’m sorry about what happened last night. But you had to know you couldn’t have a life and keep it secret at the same time.”“Adam, I’m not like you. I don’t come from your world.”I wasn’t going to get into that. Instead I talked about being home, that my parents weren’t happy about the Vlad situation.“You should have known better,” Javier said.“Look, I’m getting en
Last Updated : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 35: I'm Your Father
I made arrangements to take the GMAT at a center back in Florida, then started considering business schools. The ones my father had suggested -- Columbia and Harvard -- were givens, though I didn’t have the kind of stellar grades you probably needed. A lot would depend on my scores. I pulled down the application for the University of Miami too as well as a couple of other schools in South Florida.By the time my parents came back from their event, I was prepared. After dinner, my father and I sat down in his study and I showed him the list of schools I was considering.He didn’t say anything about my use of his computer, though I did mention that I had done most of the research online. Score one for Adam.He added and subtracted schools until we had a group we were both happy with. “You’re going to have to do very well on your GMAT if you want to get into Harvard,” he said. “And you’re going to have to make your business sound like a lot more than just a way to spend your time in nigh
Last Updated : 2025-02-22Mi Amor 36: Parental Ideas
I called Javier around ten o’clock, and my call went to voice mail. I tried to keep it light. “I’m at my parents in New Jersey. Coming back to Florida tomorrow afternoon. I hope everything went okay at church today.” I didn’t know what else to say, but I couldn’t just hang up, either. After some dead air, I said, “I miss you.”The next morning, my father had already left for work by the time I woke up. My mother and I had breakfast together, then she left for a committee meeting. I stopped at a bookstore on my way to the airport and picked up a GMAT review book, and went through the first part on the flight home. It felt strange to be stretching my brain like that, and though the material wasn’t difficult, I worried that I might not be able to master it quickly enough.After ransoming my car from the airport garage, I drove over the Macarthur Causeway. A dozen hawks surfed the thermals over Biscayne Bay, and the towers of Miami Beach glittered in the bright spring sunshine. I wondered
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Mi Amor 37: A Life in Flux
I decided to let Javier make the next move. I didn’t want him to think I was crowding him. So I worked on my applications. Each school gave you a different essay prompt, though some were close enough that I could recycle some material. Describe an experience where I had failed, and what I’d learned from that failure. Examine how I prepared to meet a particular challenge. Compare and contrast my educational experiences with what I had learned in the workplace.It was tedious work, but I’d always been able to put words together, and I e-mailed drafts to my father and my brother; both made some good suggestions. I ordered my transcripts and began filling out all the applications.I picked up Mexican takeout and ate by myself while watching a DVD of one of the X-Men movies. I might have been weary and confused, but I could still appreciate Hugh Jackman with his shirt off.Jean-Jacques called, just to check in. He was busy organizing a fundraiser at Notre Dame d’Haiti -- the church his fam
Last Updated : 2025-02-28Mi Amor 38: Careful
Javier smiled again. “Oh, mi amor, I’ve missed you.” He grabbed me in his arms and hugged me so tight I worried he might break something. Then we started kissing again, both of us overcome with passion. I pulled down his pants and started sucking him through the slit in his boxers, riding my hands up his butt under the fabric to squeeze his globes like melons.He grasped my head and pushed me down on his dick, all the way to the root, then let me up. Down and up again, at an ever-increasing pace. “Ay, Dios mío!” he cried as he shot down my throat.I swallowed everything he had, then stood up to kiss him again. I wrapped a leg around him, pressed my hard dick against his thigh, and rubbed against him as we kissed. He held me tight as our tongues dueled together, and then with a gasp I came against his leg.“We never even made it to the bed,” I said.He laughed. “Who says we are finished?” He flopped down on his back on the bed, and I lay down next to him, on my side. He scooted up behi
Last Updated : 2025-03-03Mi Amor 39: Starting Over Again
Javier wouldn’t stay the night; he had to get home to be ready for church the next morning. I didn’t ask about his parents, or whether he would see that plumber at church again. I just told him that I loved him.“I love you too,” he said, leaning down to kiss me. I was so spent I couldn’t even get up out of bed to let him out. The door would lock behind him anyway.After he left, I realized I still hadn’t told him I was applying to business school. What did that mean? Was I trying to keep it a secret from him? Or had I just not found the right time? Maybe I should wait and see where I got in, and make a decision then. After all, it was only March. Who knew how things would stand between us by August?I met Jean-Jacques the next morning for brunch. “You look great,” I said, when he came to the table, where I’d already ordered cappuccinos for both of us. His coffee-colored skin glowed, and his dark hair was impeccably groomed. “Whatever you’re doing, you should do more often.”I eyed hi
Last Updated : 2025-03-03
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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
