I Said Yes

I laughed at Michael’s comment and then turned to him and said…

“So…are ya thinking you are gonna get a little something special later mister?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your comment about having and using the room?”

“Oh that…I was talking about taking a nap”

“Ass”

“But you are welcome to join me if you’d like”

“Only if you are lucky”

“Well, these days I consider myself to be incredibly lucky so…”

“Now that was cheese…pure cheese…do ya want some wine to go with that??”

“I have plenty thank you”

By then we were all just being goofy, and we weren’t even sleep deprived yet.

Michael and I tried a little bit of Nolan’s wine offering and then decided to wander around together for a bit. He would be doing his panel discussion in about an hour, so we decided to duck out for a smoke before checking out some of the other vendors and booths.

“It is really good being here with you Matt”

“Why thank you sir…”

“You don’t have to call me sir…well…not anywhere other than in the bedroom”

“You are such a horn dog”

“You bring it out in me”

“Somehow I think the horn dog part just comes naturally to you”

“Well…coming naturally is what you make me do”

“Cheese…more cheese”

“How are you feeling today…better?”

“I am sorry for the little meltdown yesterday”

“Why are you apologizing…god knows I have my share”

“I know…but it is so out of character for me”

“I know…that is why it is so special”

“I don’t like not being in control”

“I like when you are not in control…it makes me feel more normal…haha”

Yeah…well…it doesn’t make me feel normal…ha-ha”

“Well…you are just gonna have to get over that and be weird with me once in a while”

“Ok…ok…I will try and be weird for you”

“Dork”

“Yeah but?”

“My dork…you are my dork”

“There ya go”

“So…I haven’t asked you about the thing tonight…how is that gonna go?”

“That’s not our show…but from what Diane has told me we are just supposed to show up at the Met…The Board members are honoring dad…there will be food…lots of Irish Whiskey and stories”

“So, you guys don’t have to do anything?”
“Nah…just set up some pictures and posters on some Tri-pods and then sit back and go with the flow”

“Are you anxious about it?”

“Not really…I suppose if I had to speak, I would be but sounds like they have it all handled…they are presenting some special award to dad so one of us will proly have to say a few words…”

“Like an Oscar speech?”

“Yeah…ha-ha…I guess like that”

“What time?”

“We are supposed to be there at 6:30 and then I guess the thing starts at 7”

“In the big banquet room at the Met?”

“No, the whole place…I guess it is closed to the public tonight”

“Shit…they never do that…it must be costing them a fortune to shut it down”

“I guess the owners are doing it for nothing…and the wine commission is picking up the booze tab”

“Holy shit…just the booze is gonna cost a fortune…how many people are they expecting?”

“I hear about 200 to 250”

“No wonder they are doing it there and not our spot”

“You know Di would have rather…”

“I know…but the Met is a much better place for a group that big…and it is more centrally located for all the people in hotels and shit”

“Right”

“Should we head back in…I need a couple of glasses of juice before I have to do this talk”

“Careful…you don’t want to be slurring your words and shit”

“I’m better when I am slurring and sloppy”

“Says who? Ha-ha”

“My other boyfriend…”

“Ass…you mean your other fiancé”

Wow…did I just say that? We both laughed…even though I had caught myself off guard by saying that out loud…and I think Michael knew it but he let it go. We wandered back into the center and scoped out some of the other displays. When we would walk away, he would snicker or be sarcastic…he was critiquing all the displays and set ups and swag and it was pretty damn clear he was full of himself and thought our booth was the best. I was enjoying his sarcasm all the while trying to be professional when we would encounter other professionals and restaurant folk. It was an interesting mix as he would chat it up with the wine folks and I chatted up the other restaurant folks. I was kind of shocked at how many people he actually knew. My frame of reference was primarily the Seattle restaurant folks as that is where I had been centered…but he…this guy…knew people from all over the state and country. I was a little shocked that there were even people there from the east coast that he knew.

It was time for Michael’s panel, so he went up to the staging area to get ready. I decided to check in at our booth to make sure all was well and then I would head over to listen to his schtick for a bit. Chris and Chef had everything under control. While a large dent had been put into the prepped food there appeared to be plenty to make it through the rest of the day. Because of the event at the Met that evening the show was closing at 5 pm to give people time to refresh and get over there. I went back over to the area where the panel was taking place. While I was incredibly bored with the nuts and bolts of the lecture…or discussion…I was enthralled with watching Michael (and the others) do his thing…he looked like one of those Preachers, from those huge church’s, walking around with a headset and microphone on and challenging the audience…god he was hot…Mr. Lumberjack had transformed out of his flannel-based personality into an urbany hipster…if I wasn’t so stuck on the guy and this particular look for him I would have laughed at him hysterically…knowing what I knew about his comfort zone. Just about the time I felt myself getting a little chubbed-up at the thought of him having white CK boxer briefs on under those khaki pants…Diane walked up and took a hold of my arm…what a buzz and hard-on killer…

“I am so happy to have you here with us Matt…I just can’t tell you what you have come to mean to us all…”

“It’s my pleasure Di…you know I would do anything for you guys”

“I know you would have been here at the show whether or not it was with us or someone else…but I want you to know how much it means…to ALL of us”

“I know…I know”

“You are coming this evening right”

“Of course…I wouldn’t miss it”

“Michael will probably have to say a few words when the honor Dave”

“Ha-ha…I think he thinks he MIGHT have to…that maybe you will do the honor”

“Then the joke is on him…I will be 3 or 4 “Irish Neat’s” in by then”

“Guess I had better prep him then”

“Whatever works…just don’t let him have more whiskey than me…pace him until the speech part is over”

“You are evil Miss Diane…pure evil”

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet…ha-ha-ha”

Hmmm…not at all sure what that meant but I went with it. Diane had told me, as she was walking away, that she would meet us at the booth just prior to closing and that we could ride with her over to the Met. I had figured we would probably go to Zig Zag in between as there really wasn’t enough time to go home and then be back considering what Seattle’s commute traffic was like. I nodded my acknowledgement to her, and I decided I would go grab Chef and see if he wanted to have a quick smoke…which he did…so off we went.

“Boss…I gotta tell ya…this is a really cool event…thank you for getting us involved”

“Oh no worries…but you gotta promise me one thing”

“What’s that”

“That you are not scoping out other job opportunities here”

“Wait…what…never”He was floored when I said that…as if I had hurt him deep…I was only playing but I guess he didn’t get that…

“Rob…I was just messing with you…”

“When did you get a sense of humor? You are usually pretty much all business…I kind of like this side of you”

“Oh, come on…I am not that bad…am I?”

“Uh Yeah…so this is good…must be that man in your life…he must be good for you and he brings the freeeeeeek out in you (Yes…he said it just like it sounded)”

“Oh whatever…I am not a freak”

“Not full time anyway…but at least he’s working on that”

“Oh geeze…leave me alone”

As he laughed at my embarrassment, I was sort of happy that he pointed that out to me. It kind of felt like, even though we had had a great working relationship…it felt like we had become “friends” at that moment. I knew all there was to know about Rob…his family…his parents…his struggles with his relationship…his previous struggles with alcohol…and yet that was all from the boss-employee vantage point…something about this conversation made me feel like he was, now, a friend and confidant. Just about that time…as we were walking back into the center, I felt a monster sting on my ass…once again, out of nowhere, Michael had come from behind and laid a hard smack on my ass. The look on my face must have said volumes as Rob leaned against the wall of the building cracking up. You would have thought that I would be used to this by now…When Rob came out of his hysterics and he saw me rubbing my butt he turned to Michael and told him…

“You better be careful with that…you don’t want to damage it before you get a chance to play with it tonight”

I couldn’t believe he said that…and from the look on Michael’s face, he couldn’t either…but both were getting great joy at my red-faced embarrassment. I told them both that payback and karma was a bitch…I would be plotting my revenge! Time to move on to the rest of the evening…