"Hey Al. I'm coming into town in three weeks. I'll be there for maybe five nights, just to handle some business and I'm gone again. Can I crash at your place?"
I was leaving Bahrain for stateside for two and a half weeks, with one of them being in California.
"You're coming for good," he joked as we were on WhatsApp video.
Before I departed I left my car with Al as I didn't want to drive it around the island in the Persian Gulf. I originally told him I'd return in six months to sell it if he couldn't, and he promised to keep it covered with an occasional start up until then.
"LAX? John Wayne? Burbank," he asked. "Baby, send me your itinerary and I'll make sure we pick you up."
"We" was him and his new lover Helio, his Brazilian eye candy which caused the "wandering eye" when Al and I were together. Helio happened to be in the background of the video and he would speak, while I was disclosing details of the trip.
"You're getting a little fuzzy on me," I said to Al to divert away from the handsome Helio.
I noticed he had a little more gray in his beard, a little less hair, and a little more beef in his face as he packed on some pounds.
"Happy weight. Helio keeps me full," he said of his partner's Brazilian cooking.
It was weird for Al to applaud anyone else's cooking but his own, for he was the wizard in the kitchen and yielded only to me (A claim he made). I listened to him brag about this man for an hour, and I made sure I emailed him the itinerary as I was ready to hang up the call.
"You'll always have a special place in my heart, you know that," he said before the call ended.
He sent a message the next day confirming Helio would be okay with me crashing with them. Three weeks later I would touchdown on a rainy Friday night at LAX, incoming from Kuwait City where I had to connect from Bahrajn. I grabbed my carry on once we taxiied to our gate, and it was an expeditious exit prior to me going through customs. Minutes later I would head to baggage claim as Al would greet me there, sporting a completely shaved a head and new specs while grinning from ear to ear.
"Welcome back, baby," he said as I hugged him. "Daddy misses you."
"And I miss you," I told him as we had a tender moment and hugged.
Al was more than the man who sucked the soul from me, but the man I truly fell in love with and saw longevity despite our age difference. Had we kept it tight within our circle we probably would've married, or at least I thought as Al meant that much to me.
"You want Manuel's," he asked as he knew the answer.
I started giggling right as the conveyor rotated, and my bag would be the first one to show. I grabbed it, and we headed for the parking garage with a slow walk as Al now had a cane. We made it to his car, and he would reach over to kiss me, only for me to pull away.
"Just one kiss," he asked.
"Those days are over," I told him.
He looked at me with a hard glance as if he knew I wanted it, and truthfully I did for he was the last man I'd been intimate with. I just knew he was in a relationship with someone else at this time and I didn't condone infidelity.
"I'm gonna get that dick," he told me before we left the lot.
I wanted to give it to Al, but didn't see myself breaking up a happy home. I thought of this as the car ride going east on the 105 was silent until we hit the intersection with the 605.
"You hungry," he asked.
I turned down the food offer as I was jetlagged and needed a nice bed to roost in. We made it to his place and I'd meet Helio, an older gentleman with a thick mustache and brown skin, for the first time in person.