I Said Yes

The Trade Show Weekend Begins

The next thing I knew it was Wednesday…the day before the show…set up day…AND the day I would see Michael. I got out of bed…quickly showered and packed all the necessary items I would be taking to the convention center as I wasn’t going back into the restaurant for a few days. I made sure the house was in order and the pups were set up with food and water. I had arranged for the next-door neighbor to come over and walk them and keep their food stocked as these were going to be very long days away from the house. I took off and headed towards the waterfront where the convention center garage was. It took a while, but I finally found a spot, unloaded and started to head inside towards the registration desk. Out of nowhere I got the smack of a lifetime on my ass…a real stinger where I almost dropped the stuff I was carrying. It took me a second but when I turned around there he was…with the shit-eating grin on his face…and then he couldn’t contain his laughter…

“Oh shit…you should have seen your face”

“What the fuck”

“I’m telling you…that face”

“Such an ass…where the hell did you come from”

“Butthead…you walked right past me and didn’t even notice”

“I don’t think so…you were creeping or stalking in the shadows ya freak”

“I’m a freak for you”

“Bullshit…I think you are just a freak”

“I got your freak for ya…right here”

“Putz”

Yes, I was absolutely embarrassed by him…again…but holy shit was I happy to see him. I put the boxes down and turned back to a huge hug and a long, long kiss. It was so freaking good to see him and be held by him…

“God it is good to see you…and to have you hold me”

“I have missed you…you don’t even know how much”

“Oh, I can tell…I can feel how much you have missed me”

“You are such a horn dog”

“Am I wrong”

He snickered and grabbed ahold of my crotch and I had to admit…no…he wasn’t wrong. When he smiles his eyes have a sparkle…and when he sports that evil grin…well…that has a whole different meaning…but enough of that here in the parking garage. Don’t think I didn’t consider a quickie between the cars…and I think he thought the same thing…too public…even for him…we both laughed at the idea and decided neither of us needed to go to jail this weekend.

We carried our stuff into the center and registered. We arrived at our booth location and were greeted by almost everyone on the team…Chef Rob and Corey, Chris and Diane. Nolan was, apparently in the building, but his winery had its own booth so he would be in different part of the building. Diane was in the building, but the guys said she was making the rounds saying hello to folks. We weren’t counting on her to actually man the booth and Michael was involved in a couple of seminars he was leading so, for the most part, it would be Chris, Chef Rob and me. Diane and Michael felt I was schooled enough on their wines that I could make an intelligent sales pitch to those wanting to purchase or talk about them…and Jenny would be here in the morning also.

The 3 of us worked on unpacking all the set-up materials and the schwag items we were giving away while Chef Rob put the hot plate together and got it ready for cooking. It took us about 3 hours to set up the booth and get it ready for tomorrow’s opening day. Michael and Diane were still wandering and chatting with folks they knew. Chris, Corey and I decided that we would head over to Elliott’s for some food and then go see Murray at Zig Zag. It was likely to be a busy evening at the local hangouts with all the state’s industry pro’s in town for the event. I tracked Michael and Diane down and invited them to join us. Michael followed me and Diane said she was going to meet us there…and that she likely would bring a friend of hers to dinner. She didn’t plan on going out after with us…she planned on heading back to her hotel after dinner.

Prior to where I worked at the time, I had spent two years as the assistant general manager at Elliott’s and, because it was a place that most employees stayed for long periods of time, I knew everyone there when we arrived. We were greeted by a good friend, Corrine, who was in my previous position. I would run into here periodically at Zig Zag on industry nights but didn’t see her that often anymore. She got us a great table in the lounge area near their award-winning oyster bar. The place was packed…meaning ordinarily there would be a 1-2 hour wait for a table, but she scooted us right in. Chris and Corey and Chef all knew people who worked there, and Michael and I saw and chatted with a lot of industry folks we knew. It was like a reunion weekend as the restaurant and winery worlds, and hospitality in general, are very transitory in nature…but you make life-long friends and don’t really seem to lose touch even when people move on to other spots.

Elliott’s was a world-class operation, often, making the National listing of top 5 restaurants in the country. The food and service are second to none for seafood and the company, which includes the sister restaurant, The Metropolitan Grill, is top notch. The restaurant is located on an actual pier (56) and has an amazing view of Elliott Bay which looks out to the west towards my little village. There is an actual water taxi you can take from this pier over to the dock in West Seattle…about a half a mile from my house.

Dinner was amazing. Drinks and dessert were incredible…as I knew it would all be…and everyone was content and in good spirits. There was a lot of chat about the event that weekend and a lot of chat about who was in town for it. Diane’s friend, Heidi (who she knew from the Washington Wine Commission) was a hoot…cracking jokes and making shameless fun of people we saw in the restaurant. All in all, a really nice evening and a great meal. The ladies decided they were going to head out…Michael picked up the tab (with a very generous discount from Corrine) and we took off deciding to walk up the two blocks of stairs to Zig Zag.

We made our way up the stairs, Michael & I, Corey, Chris and Chef Rob, and, as fate would have it…there happened to be 5 barstools at the bar where Murray was tending. At some point Nolan would join us but we would probably end up on the patio, so seating wasn’t an issue. Murray came around and gave me a hug…and one for Michael and Corey too…he had not met Chef Rob, so introductions were made. It was classic Murray wherein he asked what liquor we wanted, and he made drinks to match our preference…no plain Rum and Coke for me or Beer for Michael…so on it went, as always, watching Murray the magician perform. Because it takes several minutes for Murray to build and personalize your cocktail, we told him we would have a second round and that we were going to sit out on the patio and do the cigar thing. He said that was a good idea and he would keep an eye out for the “glass half-full” thing.

We moved to the patio…Michael had several different types and styles of cigars in his bag and he shared with everyone. I was liking the camaraderie of this group…I was concerned about Chef Rob and how he would react with Michael, knowing Michael and I were “together”, but Rob was just fine. They got along well and talked at length about Rob’s food presentations for the next few days (He was planning some really cool stuff that I thought would go over big). Just then Nolan hopped over the fence and grabbed a cigar from in front of Michael. I told him that he certainly knew how to make an entrance and he chuckled and told me I hadn’t seen anything yet…we all laughed and about that time our second round of drinks arrived. Murray knew Nolan was coming and had already concocted something that was rum based for him.

We all spent about an hour hanging out…it was a beautiful night on the patio…near the water…but we each agreed an early night was in order…the morning would come quickly, and it would be a very long day. Chef Rob picked up the tab and we all moseyed down the steps back to the parking area across the street from the pier. As we crossed the street, I looked at Michael and said…

“Hey…I have an idea…Neither one of us are gonna want to give up our parking spaces so how about we ride the water taxi over to West Seattle”

“I didn’t even know there was one”

“Come on…it only takes about 25 minutes…the only drawback is it’s about a mile walk to the house…but it’s all along the beach”

“I’m down”

“You’re down? You are just weird”

“What…you don’t think I am that…hip and everything?”

“Right…hip…that’s what you are…you should come out of the woods more often”

We gave out bro-hugs and said good night to the guys and we headed to the pier. We were lucky in that we caught the last run of the water taxi…we boarded and moved up to the front…I wanted him to see where we were going. The sun was starting to set, and the moon was out so Elliott Bay was lit up…just like in the movies…you could see the shadowy outline of the mountain ridge and, in the background, the shadow of Mount Rainier. I guess that view is something I took for granted because I could see it most every day.

I sat there staring at him as the water taxi pulled away from the pier…he had a look of contentment on his face that I hadn’t really seen before, but I liked it. In my head I was thinking this was a “Titanic” moment…you know the one…goofy as it sounds on paper…Michael caught me staring at him and that look of contentment morphed into his signature silly grin…

“What??”

“Oh nothing…was just looking at you looking at stuff”

“You are weird…creeper”

“Whatever…is it so bad that I just like looking at you?”

“No…I like it”

Well that’s a good thing…cuz I like doing it”

“Oh, I know you like doing it horndog”

“you are a goofball”

“Ya but…?”

“But what?”

“But who’s goofball am I??”

“Ahhh…ok…You are MY goofball”

“There ya go…now you are getting it”

The banter went back and forth and continued until we could see the dock/pier on the other side of the bay. It had been about 20 minutes and we were close. The water was calm and, because of Seattle’s proximity in the Pacific Northwest, the sun sets a lot later than most of the rest of the country. It was after 9pm and the sun was just going beneath the mountain range. It was incredible as it snuck below Mt. Rainier. He could tell that is what I was staring at and he came up behind me and lightly blew on my neck and ear giving me chills and goosebumps. I turned around and without even thinking I kissed him…deeply and passionately…I held him tighter than I had before and I didn’t want the kiss to end…he grabbed my butt and pulled me closer…not in a sexual way but to be completely close…and then I stopped the kiss…and just looked into his eyes. I could feel myself tearing up…and choking up…and suddenly, I felt like I was going to lose it…all control…