Coda 01 - Promises

one and only Mexican restaurant.

    “Are you sure you’re okay with this?” I asked him before we went inside.

    “Okay with what?”

    “This is a small town. People will see you with me, and they’ll make assumptions.”

    He frowned a little at that, and I realized it hadn’t occurred to him. But then he shrugged. “It’s just dinner.”

    “Okay. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
    Once we were seated, our waitress, Cherie, came over. “Jared, who’s your friend?” she asked. Cherie and I went to school together from kindergarten all the way through high school graduation. Back then, she was gorgeous—blonde hair, brown eyes, curves in all the right places. She still is, I guess, but life has taken its toll. Some of the shine is gone, but she hasn’t totally lost it. She’s been married and divorced twice, both times to Dan, one of our local lowlifes. The rumors are that Dan liked to beat her up when he had been drinking, which was most of the time. She had even ended up in the hospital once. She at least had been smart enough to divorce him. Twice. And they didn’t have any kids, which I thought was a blessing.
    “Cherie, this is Matt. He’s Coda’s newest police officer.” I was thinking about how Matt would undoubtedly be familiar with her ex-husband before too long. He was always getting in trouble for something. “Matt, this is Cherie. She’s…” Trouble? Desperate? Lonely? “An old friend,” I finished lamely.
    “So glad to meet you!” She was practically batting her eyelashes at him. Somehow, I knew we were going to get great service while we were there.
    He was definitely checking her out as she walked away. “So,” he said, once she was gone, “did you and she date?”

    I laughed. “No.”

    “Did you ever date any girls at all?”

    Oh no. Not this conversation. Why did it always come down to this?

    “No. I never seriously dated any girls.”

    “So, you’ve never…?” He let the question trail off, but it was obvious what he meant.
    “No. Never with a girl.”
“Well, how do you know—?”
    I couldn’t stop from rolling my eyes. “I just know. The fact that I’ve never even wanted to is a pretty big clue.”
    Cherie showed up with our drinks, beaming at him. He didn’t seem to notice. When she was gone again, he said, “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”
    “No worries. People often think that if we just try it, maybe we’ll like it. But for me at least, it’s not like that.”

    “For some, though?”
    “I don’t know. Obviously there are guys who like men but who still manage to get married and have kids. It must be different for them. I can’t really say. I only know that I’ve never wanted to try. Women just don’t appeal to me.”
    “Interesting.” He was blushing a little. “What about, you know, the religious implications?”
    “Are you asking me if I think it’s a sin?”
“I guess so, yeah.”
    “I don’t believe in God, so no. Once you take him out of the equation, it becomes a simple matter of consenting adults.” I could tell right away that made him uncomfortable. “So you don’t believe in God at all?” He didn’t sound offended by the idea, just surprised.
    “Not really. I just wasn’t raised that way. My dad was an atheist. My mom, well, I guess you could call her a spiritual agnostic with Buddhist inclinations, if you know what I mean.” The look on his face told me that he didn’t. “I guess I figure there may be something out there that’s godlike. Something we can’t even begin to comprehend. But I can’t imagine that he, or it, cares much who’s in my bed.” He didn’t seem to disagree so much as to just be completely baffled. “I take it you’re Christian?”
    “I guess so. I don’t know. I’m not a Bible thumper or anything, but I guess I’ve always believed that it must be true. My family’s Baptist. Didn’t go to church that often but always said grace before dinner. That kind of thing. I just never really thought about it much. How can so many people believe it if it’s wrong?”
    “The number of people who believe a thing has no bearing upon its truth.”
    He was still thinking about that when Cherie brought our food. “Need anything else, honey?” She didn’t even look at me. He ordered two more beers.
    I figured turnabout was fair play. “So how about you? You never felt attracted to another guy?”
    His cheeks turned bright red, and the result was beautiful. “No,