Page 69 of A Much Younger Man
Jeremy, the perennially smiling waiter whose table I always hoped to be seated at came by wearing a name tag that said “Jeff.” Had I gotten his name wrong? Wow. Usually I did better than that with names and faces. Jeffbrought the check. Dylan’s meatless meal cost more than mine. Not that Inoticedas Rico would say.
It was bittersweet saying goodbye to him. On the one hand, my relief was absolutely palpable. On the other, once again, I was made aware of what an absolute asshole I was sometimes. Anyone would want to date Dylan, wouldn’t they? He was handsome, bright, charming. Willing to cook his own meal, which was an obvious bonus since he wouldn’t be super easy to feed unless I turned vegan too. And okay, there was definitely nothing wrong with being vegan. Vegans were helping a world dying of several preventable diseases and might be mitigating climate change one uneaten methane producer at a time.
Dylan had a good career and managed a great family life, even through divorce.
There was nothing wrong with him.
I simply didn’t want him or anyone like him. I didn’tneedhim or anyone like him cluttering up an already good life, making demands on my time, waiting for me to realize I’d wanted to be vegan all along. He bored me to death.Datingbored me to death.
Plus, he had the great misfortune of not being Beck.Aw, shit.
We said goodbye with a kiss in the parking lot. He went all in, I thought, maybe trying to ignite hidden physical chemistry. There could have been some.Mighthave been, but if so, it barely registered. I felt nothing for Dylan, and I wanted to put it down to being satisfied with my life. I wasn’t twenty anymore after all. But that wasn’t it.
Beck had destroyed the fun of fucking guys I barely liked.
Okay. Well. Work beckoned. I had to find out how Stripes was doing.
Dylan got into his BMW and backed out of the space, waving to me as he left the parking lot. Jeff exited Bistro’s back door with a bag of trash, which he jettisoned into the dumpster near the alley.
He wiped his hands on his jeans as he walked toward me.
“He was hot,” he acknowledged. “But I don’t trust vegans.”
“Why?” I asked. “You know they won’t kill you for food, anyway.”
“But they might kill you over food,” he pointed out. “God forbid you forget gelatin is a no-no or you make the hash browns in the same pan you use for the sausage. Beatrice, my roommate, is a vegan. She’s mean as a feral cat when dinner’s late.”
“That sounds like stereotyping.”
“Nah, the word hangry was invented for Bea. My advice? Keep a ripe avocado on you at all times. Keep two, one in the house, one in the car. And hide your last avocado for when the worst happens.”
“Word.” You had to love Jeremy/Jeff. If I was interested in younger men, I might have hit that like the fist of an angry god. Wait…oh my God. What the fuck was wrong with me? I was only interested in one younger man, and now I had to see him after blowing him off for some guy my mother tried to hook me up with.
How was I ever going to face Beck?
