Kept Man: Firsts and Forever Stories

“You’re afraid of lizards.”

“I know. Chameleons are pretty bad-ass, though.”

I glanced in a bookstore window, then said, “Let’s go in here and see if they have any cookbooks.”

“That’s kind of boring.”

“Yeah, but he really likes them. He’s teaching himself to cook and has been experimenting with different Asian cuisines.”

“Okay, fine. If it means he’ll cook you some good dinners, I’m all for it.”

We went inside, and I picked up a large book on Thai cooking. As I flipped through it and wistfully studied the full-page color photos of Thailand, I murmured, “This is perfect. Micah will love it.”

“Excellent,” Ash said, “shopping mission accomplished. Now can we go get some coffee?”

“Sure. I mean, we both had four cups with breakfast, but who’s counting?”

“Exactly.”

At twelve-thirty, Ash and I walked up to the adorable house he’d shown me on his phone, and he instantly burst into tears. “This is it,” he murmured, as we stood on the sidewalk looking up at it. “This is my dream home. I don’t even care what it looks like inside. It’s absolutely perfect.”

I understood why he felt so strongly about it. The two-story Victorian was loaded with charm and period details, including lots of gingerbread trim and a pretty little porch filled with pots of flowering plants. He loved vintage houses as much as I did, and this one was a gem.

His real estate agent arrived a few moments later. Ash introduced me, then said, “Wes should be here any minute. Can we please wait for him inside?”

“Sure thing.” We followed her up the stairs, and she unlocked the front door and told us, “Go on in. I’ll wait for your partner out here.”

Ash shrieked as we stepped into the pretty living room. It had lavender walls, and he grabbed my hand and blurted, “Oh my god, Jas, look! It was meant to be.” It really was perfect for him, and if someone else snapped it up before he and Wesley did, I was going to be bitterly disappointed for them.

His boyfriend arrived a minute later. Ash ran to him and grabbed him in an embrace as he said, “Please tell me you love it.”

“I do. I absolutely adore it.” Wesley held him securely as he turned to their real estate agent and said, “Please put in a bid. Do whatever it takes to get us this house.”

She nodded. “I can definitely do that, but don’t you want to see the rest of it?”

“Sure, but we already know this is what we’ve been looking for,” he told her. She pulled a phone from her designer handbag, then stepped out onto the porch as she placed a call.

“This is meant to be our home, Wes,” Ash whispered. “What if someone else buys it? What’ll we do?”

“We just have to believe it’ll work out,” Wesley said, as he gently dried his boyfriend’s tears. He glanced at me and smiled. “Hi, Jasper. How much have you guys seen?”

“Just the living room. We’d been inside less than a minute when you arrived.”

“Let’s go see some more,” he said, and I followed the couple down the hallway.

The house really was perfect. It had been lovingly restored with gleaming hardwood floors and incredible attention to detail. When we reached the tidy, white kitchen, Wesley murmured, “Oh wow,” and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. It had been totally remodeled, but it still fit in with the rest of the house.

There was a cozy TV room off the kitchen, and I cut through it to get to the backyard. It was small, but every inch of it had been beautifully landscaped. There was even a small, raised koi pond. Just wait until Ash saw that. He’d definitely start crying all over again.

I snapped a photo of the colorful fish and sent it to Micah, and he video-called me a moment later and said, “That’s so pretty. Are you in Golden Gate Park?”

“No, I’m in the backyard of a house my friend and his boyfriend want to buy. It’s in Noe Valley, actually just a few blocks from our apartment, which is in the Castro. It was love at first sight, and if someone buys it out from under them, Ash will be beyond disappointed. Here, let me show you.” I flipped the camera around and panned around the yard, then the back of the house. I could see Ash and Wesley through the kitchen window. Wesley was still holding his boyfriend, and the two of them were deep in conversation.

“That’s a beautiful place,” Micah said. “I hope they get it.”

“Me, too. So, what are you up to now? I’m glad to see you got out of bed.”

“I just got done rollerblading.”

“How’d you manage that?”

“I rolled back all the area rugs, then made a track that ran down the hall, through the foyer, living room and dining room, then to the back of the house. I was sick to death of the treadmill for my cardio,” he said.