1421 Sitting With Men

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Yesterday I had dinner with The Man, and we went to a karaoke bar.

I went to meet him with some trepidation, to tell the truth. He was supposed to leave on a trip yesterday, but he delayed leaving and asked me on Tuesday to meet him halfway (which would be about Newburgh) on Wednesday evening. We'd have a few hours together, then he'd be going home so he could head out this morning. He said he wanted to see me before leaving on what could be a stressful trip.

I guess I'm not very confident. He won't end our relationship (whatever it is, I'm not sure yet) by phone, email, or ignoring. He'd end it in person. So, since he wasn't planning to stay over, and he'd be driving three hours to spend less than 4 hours with me, I figured well, this must be it.

I guess I was wrong. He was open, affectionate, and attentive. I guess he just wanted a few smiles and strokes before going out to battle. I wished I had a long silk scarf to tie on his helmet.

Today I set out for the museum. I stopped at The Hairless Hunk's to pay for the past several mowings and got into an extended conversation with him, then went to the post office, and the grocery store (more cat food), and the bank, and then noticed that Piper's car was outside his office. He had been to Florida to visit his mother, so I decided to stop in and find out how she is.

His office door was locked, but the lights were on. That means he's at the cafe up the street or in the bar/bistro across the street.

I found him in the bar. Soused. He'd been doing shots. As usual, there were several guys there, his "buddies" (he knows everyone). He was very happy. And soused enough to be a bit overly affectionate toward me. I know he toys with the occasional thought of "us", but he knows I'm not encouraging him. He's already got a lady (which I remind him), and he'd quickly drive me crazy (which I don't tell him).

I decided to stay a while. He has to drive to Rockland for dinner, a retirement party for an old friend, and he needed sobering up, and his buddies weren't going to help with that. When I said "You're drunk!" he said he wasn't going to have any more, but while I was there, the buddies bought him three more shots. I got pretty thoroughly hugged and cheek-kissed, and over the next two hours he sang just about every Sinatra song to me. While holding my hand. His trip to Florida didn't go very well, and I tried to lure him back to his office with me and tell me about it, but he didn't want to leave.

Sigh.

When it was time for him to go to Rockland, he left. I offered to go with him, designated driver, etc., but he kept saying he was fine. Nothing else I could do about it short of calling the cops. Maybe I should have.

He's a terrible driver even sober, the concept of lanes is theoretical to him, he's easily distracted by thoughts and bright objects, but on the other hand he's never had an accident, so it's hard to argue with him.

I never made it to the museum.
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