Free Sleepless in San Francisco by Ryan Field Page A

main house at three for an early dinner. He took a
     
deep breath and parked behind Jonathan’s rented car. It wasn’t anything special; just a
     
gray SUV with a bent California tag. But there was something about it that looked better
     
than any other car on the road. And when he went into the house and saw Jonathan sitting
     
in the middle of the living room floor playing a board game with Noah, he smiled for the
     
first time that day.
     
Tucker barked and ran to greet him; Noah stopped playing the game and followed
     
Tucker. While Noah hugged Ed and Tucker dancer around their legs, Jonathan stood up
     
and smiled. He was wearing tight black pants and a white dress shirt. He crossed the
     
living room, extended his right hand, and said, “Happy Thanksgiving, Ed.”
     
Ed grabbed his hand and swallowed back hard. “You, too,” he said. Noah went back to his game, but Jonathan stood there staring at Ed’s chest. He
     
reached out and touched the left side of his shirt and asked, “Is this the same shirt with
     
the wine stain?”
     
Ed’s eyebrows went up and he looked down. “I think it is,” he said. He hadn’t
     
thought about it when he’d pulled it from his closet.
     
Jonathan leaned forward and stared at the fabric. He pressed his face to Ed’s body
     
and took a deep breath. His hand was still on Ed’s chest. “It is the same shirt. I can still
     
smell the fabric softener I used when I pre-soaked it.”
     
A bedroom door at the back of the guest house slammed shut and Lisa called out,
     
“I’m almost ready. I’ll be there in a minute.” She was never on time for anything.
     
Ed stepped back fast so she wouldn’t see him standing there with Jonathan’s hand
     
on his chest. But more than that, his penis was growing. He had to step back or else his
     
semi-erection would have become a full erection. If he’d been alone with Jonathan, he
     
would have pulled down his pants and nailed him right on the living room floor.
     
When Lisa was finally ready, Noah filled Tucker’s water bowl and they all went
     
next door to the main house for dinner. It turned out to be a traditional Thanksgiving
     
dinner and the hosts, Frank and Greg, were very gracious. They were attractive guys in
     
their late thirties. Frank owned a prestigious design firm in San Francisco, and Greg was
     
a producer at a local TV station. Their home was magnificent. From the marble entrance
     
hall to the gilded faucets in the powder room, everything had been chosen with extreme
     
care. Frank told Ed they’d traveled the world in search of merchandise for his high-end
     
clients, then offered to help him with his renovation. Ed thanked him and politely
     
declined. Ed wanted his place to look like a home, not a showplace. Frank and Greg shrugged their shoulders and didn’t seem offended. But Ed thought he saw Jonathan stare
     
down at his lap and smile when he told them he wasn’t interested.
     
During dessert, when Frank asked Ed what he did for a living, Noah jumped in
     
and said, “My dad’s a veterinarian.” He smiled and squared his shoulders, then said, “He
     
had his own clinic back in New York and I used to help out after school.”
     
Ed lowered his eyes and smiled. “Yes,” he said. “I’m a vet.” Whenever he talked
     
about himself to strangers, he felt a pull in his stomach. How did he wind up here, in this
     
strange city with these strange people? He looked up at the ceiling and thought, Jake,
what did you do to me?
     
But then Jonathan asked, “Are you going to practice out here? Do you think
     
you’ll open another office?” He was holding a fork topped with a chunk of pumpkin pie,
     
staring at Ed with furrowed eyebrows.
     
For a moment, Ed had a feeling Jonathan was about to smile. It sounded as if he
     
knew an inside joke that no one else at the table knew. This was the first time Jonathan
     
had ever asked about his future plans. “I’m not