Way to Go by Tom Ryan Read Free Book Online

and giving me spontaneous hugs, or reaching out to mess up my hair. She spent so much time talking or laughing or dancing that it was hard to tell what she was thinking most of the time. Every once in a while, she’d get kind of moody and stop talking altogether, but it never lasted long. With Lisa, you learned to just go with the flow.
    The main thing was that she seemed to like me, which was a good start. Now I had to figure out how to get her to like me like me. As in, want to jump my bones and make a man out of me. If I could make that happen, it would prove to everyone—and to me—that I wasn’t gay.
    If only it was that simple. I couldn’t really figure out how I felt about her. I thought she was totally beautiful, not to mention the most interesting person I’d ever met. But even though I thought about her all the time, I didn’t care about what she looked like naked. I never thought about having sex with her. I just wanted to be around her all the time.
    On the night before the opening, we ended up working till well after dark putting the finishing touches on the place. It was almost midnight when Denise told Lisa and me to stand back and look at the dining room.
    â€œWhat do you guys think?” Denise asked.
    â€œI think it looks great,” I said, and Lisa agreed. The walls were painted a soft bluish gray, the color of the ocean in the morning, and the tables were set with crisp white linens. On top of each one was a small vase of wildflowers, and on the walls were photos Denise had taken of the local area. Fishing boats heading in from the catch, kids playing on the beach, wild rose bushes beside a dusty dirt road. It looked like a real restaurant. Denise couldn’t stop smiling.
    We joined JP in the kitchen, where he was putting the finishing touches on his workspace. The stainless steel gleamed, the shelves were neatly stocked and the big glass-fronted refrigerators were full of food.
    â€œHey, JP, if you’re not too busy admiring your reflection in the counter, why don’t you whip us up something to eat?” Denise said.
    â€œDenise, Denise, when the clock strikes ten, I turn into a little pumpkin. You know that.”
    â€œWhat if I grab us a bottle of wine from out front?”
    â€œNow you’re talking. How about you kids? Are you hungry?”
    We nodded, and he motioned to us to pull up some stools around the counter.
    â€œIf you wanna eat my food, you gotta watch me make it. Look and learn, friends. You’ll be happy you did. But first, some music, don’t you think?”
    He dug around in a stack of tapes on the shelf next to le boom box and snapped one on. The kitchen was filled with music that made me feel like dancing, and that’s exactly what JP did, shimmying around the kitchen, grabbing veggies and a knife, and chopping with lightning speed.
    Then that time I went and said goodbye,
Now I’m back and not ashamed to cry,
Ooooooh baby, here I am, signed, sealed, delivered,
    I’m yours.
    â€œThis sounds familiar,” I said. “What is it?”
    JP stopped his knife in midslice as he spun to look at me. “Sounds familiar ? What the hell planet have you been living on?! You really don’t know who this is?” I hesitated, then shook my head. JP made the sign of the cross and turned to Lisa.
    â€œIt’s Stevie Wonder,” she said.
    â€œThank you! Yai yai yai.” JP shook his knife at me. “You be grateful. If she hadn’t known, you’d both be eating hot dogs in the parking lot. You’ve got a lot to learn, that’s for sure.”
    He switched on the gas stovetop, tossed some oil into a pan and in a matter of what seemed like seconds, he’d chopped up some garlic and thrown it onto the heat. I was hypnotized by the unfamiliar aromas. Working smoothly, almost in time to the music, and occasionally reaching over to take a healthy swig from his wineglass, JP added vegetables