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Dreamspinner Press
Category:
Gay/Lesbian/Bi
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Type: Fiction
Pages: 117
Copyright: 04/21/2020
ISBN-13: 9781644058206
Price: $4.99 (eBook)
When young accountant Theo Stratis visits Nolan Downes, an elderly gay man in a local nursing home, he is surprised by Nolan’s request: find the lost love of his youth, Giorgio Roberto. Theo is also surprised to meet handsome and successful Jamison Radames, who is visiting the same nursing home. As Theo and Jamison embark on an investigative adventure to find Giorgio, they discover a great deal about themselves and each other. Solving the mystery of what happened to Giorgio might mean happily ever after for more than just Nolan.
When young accountant Theo Stratis visits Nolan Downes, an elderly gay man in a local nursing home, he is surprised by Nolan’s request: find the lost love of his youth, Giorgio Roberto. Theo is also surprised to meet handsome and successful Jamison Radames, who is visiting the same nursing home. As Theo and Jamison embark on an investigative adventure to find Giorgio, they discover a great deal about themselves and each other. Solving the mystery of what happened to Giorgio might mean happily ever after for more than just Nolan.
Excerpt
I slowly walked Nolan out of the room, down the hallway, and into the lounge with large windows overlooking the Mid-Hudson Bridge surrounded by the clear azure sky. After we were settled on a sofa next to a marble fireplace, he tented his fingers. “I want to tell you about a man I once loved.”
Assuming he had forgotten, I replied, “You told me about Frank.”
“Not that man.”
That caught my attention.
“His name was Giorgio Roberto.” Nolan’s face lit up. “I knew him when we were eighteen years old.”
“And you still remember him?”
“I remember everything about Giorgio.” He grinned like a schoolboy.
“How did you two meet?”
Nolan gazed straight ahead as if turning back the pages of time. “My father was a high school history teacher. My mother was a writer. Every summer we vacationed at a resort in the Pocono Mountains: my father, my mother, my sister, and me. We had a wonderful time back then—swimming in the lake, mountain climbing, playing volleyball and checkers, and eating the family-style meals in the dining room.” His eyes brightened and cheeks grew rosy.. “Every summer there was a dance contest. My sister and I won each year.” He winked at me. “I still have a few moves.” He extended his leg, then rested back, recovering on the sofa. “We didn’t have air-conditioning back then. So the summer of my eighteenth year, after Clancy and I took the silver cup, I headed out of the community room to the veranda while all the other boys inside asked my sister for a dance—except for one boy.”
“Giorgio?”
Nolan nodded. “I was standing outside, staring at the gray mountains and the inky lake. Then I saw him, bathed only in starlight as he sat on the balcony railing.”
“What did he look like?”
Nolan reached into his pocket and displayed an old black-and-white photograph of two attractive young men sitting on a large rock. Giorgio was average height. But that was the only average thing about him. He had wavy jet-black hair and a strong Roman nose. A white T-shirt barely contained his rippling muscles, and tight black jeans with a button-up fly housed his bulge. Black boots and a black leather jacket finished the look.
I pointed to the young man next to Giorgio in the photo. “You were quite the looker yourself, Nolan, with your handsome face and cut body.”
“I was what you now call a ginger.” He smiled. “And being with Giorgio made me feel so special. Giorgio gazed at me as if he could look straight into my heart. Though I had never seen him before, he seemed so… familiar, as if we had known each other in a parallel universe. I stared into his dark eyes, and for the first time in my life, I was safe. It was as if I had come home after a long, exhausting journey.” Nolan sat up straight with a grin on his face as if reliving it. “We stayed like that for some time, watching each other, smiling, but not saying a word. Finally, Giorgio said in a velvety voice, ‘Where’d you learn to dance like that?’ I tried to answer, but my voice broke like a choirboy’s. When I found my voice, I said, ‘My sister and I have been dancing together since we were little kids.’ Giorgio unleashed the most radiant smile I’d ever seen. ‘So, she’s your sister. That’s good,’ he said. ‘Why is that good?’ I asked. He came closer and I breathed in the scent of his mint gum. ‘That means she’s not your girlfriend,’ he said. ‘I don’t have a girlfriend,’ I replied. Then I breathed a sigh of relief when he said, ‘Looks like we have that in common.’ He asked me to dance with him, and I did. Giorgio and I stood out there for most of the night, talking about our families, friends, schools, vacations, hobbies, likes, dislikes, fears, and dreams.”
“Did you live far apart?”
Nolan shook his head. “My family was in Poughkeepsie and Giorgio’s in Hyde Park.” He recited as if it had all happened yesterday, “Giorgio’s father was a butcher. His mother a seamstress. He had two older brothers. They worked for his father. Though Giorgio had never been on a plane, he was fascinated with them, stopping dead in his tracks to watch every time one flew overhead. Giorgio told me he wanted to be a pilot. I told him I found that exciting. He replied, ‘I like that I excite you.’ When I told him I wanted to be a pharmacist, he asked me, ‘Does a pharmacist work on a farm?’” Nolan smiled nostalgically.
“Did you guys spend a lot of time together?”
He cooed. “Every waking minute of that summer. We played shuffleboard, ping pong, went fishing, and we enjoyed food marathons and walks through the woods. Our favorite activities were swimming and boating. When I saw Giorgio in his tight lemon swim trunks, I nearly fainted. He told me I looked ‘adorable’ in my navy trunks.”
Feeling like a gossip columnist, I asked, “Did anything romantic happen?”
“Not for most of the summer.” Nolan grinned. “But the last week we were there, Giorgio and I were in a sailboat far from the shore. It was a calm summer day, so the boat was barely moving. We were out on the lake for about an hour when he suddenly turned to me and said, ‘I want to see you after we leave here.’ I told him I wanted the same thing. Then to my surprise, he leaned in and kissed me, and I kissed him back. It was as if the lion’s gate had been opened. Once we started, we couldn’t stop. We held on to each other for dear life, hugging and kissing until our mouths ached. After tearing off our swimsuits, we made love, experimenting and learning as the sun’s golden rays surrounded our rocking boat. When we were through, I rested my head on his chest. As we kissed and held hands, we pledged our love to each other. When we got back to shore, we planned to meet the next morning after breakfast. Giorgio went to his family’s cabin as usual, and I did the same. That night, as every night, I hugged my pillow, pretending it was Giorgio, my first love.”
“What happened when you met at breakfast the next morning?”
“We didn’t.” Nolan’s eyes filled with moisture. “That night, our sailboat must have been closer to the shore than we had thought.”
“Somebody saw you?”
He nodded. “Giorgio’s father. He pounded on my family’s cabin door early the next morning, ranting and raving at my father that ‘my son can never see your son again.’ Back then, many Irish and Italian people feuded. Adding homosexuality to the mix, which was illegal and thought of as a mental illness, sent our two fathers over the edge.”
My heart broke for Nolan. “What did your dad do?”
A crease appeared on his forehead. “My father damned me to Hell and sent me away to a Catholic college, where I ironically had to dodge frisky priests.”
“And Giorgio?”
“On the day we left the resort, I saw him from inside our car.” A tear slid down his face. “He had a welt on his cheek and a blackened eye.”
“After that, didn’t you try to contact him?”
“I wrote to him every day from college. My letters were all returned to me unopened, I assumed by Giorgio’s father. After my first year at college, I came home for the summer. When I drove to Giorgio’s house, the woman who answered the door was Dutch. She had bought the house from a realtor, and she hadn’t heard of the Roberto family. When I went back to college for my second year, I met Frank. We kept our relationship a secret… at the college and to our families.”
“Your parents never knew about Frank?”
“They knew all right, but they called Frank my ‘roommate’ or ‘friend.’” He sighed. “My parents and I could have been such close friends; instead we were distant relations.”
“And you never saw Giorgio again?”
“Only in the midst of a crowd of people, each time realizing it was just my imagination.” He placed the picture back inside his pocket.
I heard a silky, masculine voice. “Nolan, they let you out of your room? Are the other residents safe?”
I glanced up at the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. He seemed about my age, tall with a peaches-and-cream complexion and jet-black hair. There was a quiet dignity about the man, whose periwinkle sweater and dark slacks housed his muscular physique.
At the sight of him, Nolan giggled merrily. “Darn, you found me! Next time I’ll try hiding under the sofa.”
“You’re so thin, you could fit.”
The two men shared a laugh.
Nolan noticed the confused look on my face. “Theo Stratis, this is Jamison Radames.”
I rose and extended a hand.
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