Tales of the City 05 - Significant Others

test?”
    “Yeah.”
    “When do you get your results?”
    “Five days,” he said.
    She cut a piece of turkey with her fork and chewed it vigorously. “You’re gonna be all right.”
    He didn’t know what to say. It seemed selfish somehow to wish for something she had already been denied.
    “How ‘bout a beer?” she asked.
    “No, thanks.”
    “You’re a blast,” she said, deadpanning.
    He smiled back at her, then sat there tongue-tied, hands dangling between his legs. “How’s your friend?” he asked at last.
    “Not good,” she replied. “Tubes … all that. He doesn’t recognize me.”
    “I’m sorry.” He looked down again, composing his thoughts. “Look … I could shop. I’m a good shopper.”
    “For who?” She drew back a little.
    “For you … whenever.”
    “Hey,” she said. “So they found a lesion. I can still get around, Brian.”
    “You should eat better,” he said. “Greens. Healthy stuff. Shiitake mushrooms.”
    “I loathe mushrooms,” she said.
    “Yeah, but these are great for the immune system. It comes in a powder. You put it in V-8 and it tastes just like pizza.” He remembered Jon, sitting up in bed with a glass of the stuff, smacking his lips and saying: “What? No pepperoni?”
    “That is disgusting,” said Geordie.
    He laughed. “Liquid pizza. Works for me.”
    “Thanks, but no thanks.”
    “You’re gonna need somebody,” he said.
    She turned and stared at him.
    “I have all sorts of free time,” he added.
    “You have a wife and a child.”
    “And a maid,” he said. “Who does most of the work.”
    She studied his face a moment longer, then said: “My sister said she’d help.”
    “Good,” he answered. “Then that makes two of us.”
    She cut off another piece of turkey, then asked: “Will your wife know where you’re going?”
    Tonight of all nights, he found a parking space at the very foot of the Barbary steps. When he reached the courtyard, he looked up at Michael’s window, a bar of burnished gold embedded in the dark ivy of the second floor. Seeing a shadow pass, he almost called out, but changed his mind and pushed the buzzer instead.
    Michael looked angry when he opened his door on the landing.
    “I’m late,” Brian said quietly. “And you needed the car.”
    Michael’s face remained stony. “Thack wanted a ride to the airport,” he said.
    So that was it. He had robbed them of a decent send-off, a prolonged farewell. “Sorry,” he said, as contritely as possible. “I didn’t know he was leaving tonight.”
    “No big deal.”
    “I figured everybody would just … kick back.” Michael gave him a twisted little smile. “He’s kicking back on a 747.”
    “Can I come in?”
    “Sure,” said Michael. He stood aside, then closed the door. “It’s not your fault. I didn’t know he was leaving, either.”
    Brian headed for the armchair and collapsed into it.
    “I think he just freaked out,” said Michael, sitting down on the sofa.
    “About what?”
    Michael plumped the pillow next to him. “My being positive.
    “You told him that?”
    “Yeah.”
    “When?”
    “A couple of days ago,” said Michael. “Before we went to bed.”
    Something didn’t compute. “Wouldn’t he have said something earlier, then?”
    “Oh, he was cool about it,” said Michael, “and we were safe and all. Unless you count French kissing, which I don’t.”
    “Then why would he all of a sudden …?”
    “I think it just ruled out any … long-term considerations.”
    “But that wouldn’t make him leave early.”
    Michael ran his palm along the arm of the sofa. “I dunno. I may have been looking long-term.” He gave Brian a wistful smile. “You know me.”
    Now it made sense.
    “I don’t blame him,” said Michael. “Who wants to start something with somebody who … you know.” He chewed on his lower lip. “He was a nice guy. Some guys won’t even date outside their own antibody type.”
    Before Brian could react, Michael added: “You got some sun.”
    “Did I?”
    “Where did you go?”
    Brian shrugged. “Down the coast. Point Reyes. Then I went to visit Geordie.”
    “Who?”
    “My … friend.”
    “Oh. How is she?”
    “O.K., I guess. Better than I was, actually.”
    Michael nodded. “I know what you mean.”
    “How can she do it?” Brian asked.
    “What?”
    “Act so normal. I’d be throwing things, tearing the house apart.”
    “She may have done that,” said Michael.
    “I’d keep doing it,” said