Chapter 19

I took him to my dad’s gravesite in the middle of December since Simms was available, surprisingly, at least for a few hours, fingers crossed. It had been a long time since I had visited, and there were leaves and other detritus everywhere. Simms helped me clean it all up and we stood there in our winter jackets and skullcaps as I stared at my dad’s gravestone and reminisced. When it was too cold to stay out any longer, Simms and I went over to his place, a two-bedroom apartment that was always pristine now, according to him, because he spent most of his time with me.

He made lasagna that evening and we had red wine, garlic bread and a salad with our meal. Halfway through the meal and most of the bottle of wine, I blurted out, “Want to move in together?” causing him to drop his fork on the floor.

He bent over to pick it up. “What brought this on?” he asked as he wiped the utensil on his napkin and continued eating. Uh-oh.