444. THE MOMENT OF TRUTH

I text Town and Country when we are two blocks away. The cab stops in front of his house and I reach into my wallet for cash. Before I can open the door, Town and Country has already opened the right side passenger door. “Good morning,” he says in that liquidy, sexy voice of his and one by one all the reasons I cannot resist him, or perhaps do not want to resist him, come back. “Good morning,” I reply and smile. Ugh. I am lame, unable to contain the delight in seeing him.

I slide across the back seat and get out of the cab. Town and Country has taken all the bags and is shifting them around. “These are quite heavy, how did you carry them?” he asks curiously. Hhhmm. I did have some help in the end – but I choose not to share this. “I cannot reveal my secret,” I reply. “I see. I am sure you have many secrets,” he says and heads into the house. I follow him and shut the front door.

I turn back to face his house and my jaw drops. It is like a BOMB went off in the foyer. The weird wallpaper has been pulled off the west wall to reveal the sheetrock below, there are more boxes of supplies stacked to the right than I just saw in Home Depot. And dust thicker than Delhi at midday. You can barely breathe in here.

“Did I mention the house was under renovation?” he asks, amused by the look on my face. “Uhm, sort of - but what are doing? The whole house?” I ask. He sets the fire extinguishers aside and looks over the bags for one last moment. “Did you get the carbon monoxide detectors too?” he asks. “Yes, they are in there,” I reply. He nods, like there is a part of him that does not believe me, but then the other part of him decides to. OMG. Is he a bigger control freak than me? Probably a better control freak in terms of being in control of his emotions. So am I really a control freak if I have NO control over my heart?

“Do you have an architect?” I ask. Because really, while I won’t mind the money, I am wondering if the architect will mind that I am doing part of his/her job. “Had,” he replies and beckons me into the house. We pass the powder room and it is has been gutted out. Between the studs only the stool portion of the toilet and closed off pipes are all that remain of the loo. “I think you should paint this a very pale pink with an espresso brown on the crown molding wood work. “I am not gay,” he replies. “This space is so small, that you need something dramatic,” I reply. “This is precisely why I fired the architect. He would not help me with simple things like the fire extinguishers and the detectors. He also never gave me suggestions like you do….and he did not look as nice in a skirt…”

Oh boy.

“Maybe you should have suggested he shave his legs?” I suggest. Town and Country laughs and we continue down the hallway. “So the kitchen is very small,” he says as we peer into the gallery styled cavern. “Are there still rats?” I ask. “Yep,” he replies. “Do those little girls still live downstairs?” I ask of his renters. “Yep.” “And they continue to have no issue with the rats?” “Yep.” Lordy. To be 20 again, I guess.

“I want some ideas on how to renovate the kitchen, can you help me with that?” he asks. “Sure,” I reply and dig into my bag. “I have my camera and want to take some measurements,” I reply and find my tape measure. “Interesting,” he says. “What?” I ask and look up  to meet his eyes.  “Very organized, impressive,” he says. He reminds me of Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi when he inspects Luke Skywalker’s light saber on that Ewok planet, and realizes for the first time the “real Luke Skywalker” and the difficulty he will have in turning Luke to the dark side.

“Thank you – shall we get started?” I ask.