Donald and I have come to Key West escaping the winter cold on Long island. The Equator Resort that I had booked months in advance is a collection of pitched roof, vinyl-sided, two-story houses each having a balcony. The siding is pale yellow, the window frames white. A boardwalk surrounds the pool. Palm trees and umbrellas help block the Florida sun.
I had met Donald Lawson on the first day of softball just before the team took the field. His eyes held my eyes briefly. I would soon learn that he's 40 and not care about the 18 years difference in our age.
I watch him undress in our room then pull rainbow trunks up to his bare ass. Broad shoulders and thick arms make the beefy, toned former Army Ranger sexy as all outdoors.
Like him, I enjoy working out at the gym near my home. Just days after we met on the softball field, we became workout partners who encourage each other to make every effort.
We came outside to the boardwalk that surrounds the pool and made ourselves comfortable on chaise lounges positioned side by side. Nearby two cute men face on another across a round table under an umbrella. Their flirtatious behavior does not escape my attention.
I turned my head to Donald on my left. "They look like a happy couple."
My boyfriend let my remark go.
After a second he complained to me. "I don't know why you keep eyeballing other men."
"I eyeball you when you're naked."
"Hon, they're skinny."
My boyfriend had a point. The two youthful looking lads were certainly not muscular.
Our relationship was still less than a year old, having begun the previous spring. It never seemed strained despite my wandering eye. In fact, on a deep level I saw marriage to him in the cards, at least for me.
How did Donald feel about marrying me?
Five years ago I was a trumpet player in the high school band falling madly in love with a saxophone player named Philip. That affair had been brief but torrid. The beginning of it had been my coming out.
Donald had been a varsity football player who, like most teenage guys, dated girls. Either he didn't recognise his true sexuality or refused to own it. In either case, those relationships with girls meant nothing to him. He had enlisted right out of high school and had secretly indulged in man on man sex on a couple of occasions miles away from Fort Bragg. His risked discharge with loss of veteran's benefits.
"Do you ever think about getting married?"
He said nothing for a couple of seconds but only grinned at me.
"Steven are you proposing?"
