AFTERWORD
"There she is!"
Randy's call met my ears as I pulled into the driveway of his new home. I had driven hours from my latest job of working on Spielberg's newest film. Though I was happy to be in the company of friends, my heart was still heavy. Gale was still in Maine, filming a movie and he hadn't been able to get away for the reunion. Bobby came skipping down the stairs behind Randy and Hal stood on the balcony, lifting his wine glass my way as I waved. They hugged me, took my luggage and escorted me inside, asking me all kinds of questions about the shoot and about Spielberg himself.
As I sat down, Hal placed a Bushmills and Coke in my hand. It took me a moment to realize that it hadn't been him. He was standing across the room from me. I swiveled around and looked up into Gale's laughing eyes.
"You shit!" I jumped into his arms and didn't let him go for several moments. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted to surprise you." He pressed kisses into my hair, murmuring in my ear. "It seems like it's been more than six weeks."
"It does, doesn't it?" I finally pulled back and offered my lips to him, whimpering softly as his mouth covered mine. "I missed you so much."
Randy came and broke us up, complaining that Gale was hogging my time and we joined the rest of the party, having a wonderful time together. Randy was seeing a model who was shooting a commercial in Los Angeles, Bobby had landed a role in an off-Broadway play and was doing VH1 specials. Everyone said that they missed my cooking so I promised to make dinner the next evening. We drank and ate into the night and it was nearly one in the morning when Hal nodded off. We all said goodnight and Gale took my hand, leading me up to the room that we were sharing for the week.
"Hey, Gale!" Randy called him back downstairs and I shucked off my clothes, running the shower and pinning my hair up before stepping inside. I was pleasantly surprised when Gale slipped in behind me, wrapping his arms around me.