EPISODE # 415

    There was a light breeze blowing as the three figures sat on the deck overlooking the harbor, finishing their breakfast. Lance Powers...handsome, African-American, 30-ish... crisply attired in tailored business wear. Drew Danvers, his boyfriend... Alabama-born, blue-eyed, medium-brown windblown hair with a neatly trimmed beard, in his mid-twenties... what some would call a "muscle bear" ... also wearing a shirt and tie, although his clothing not nearly as expensive as that of his boyfriend Lance. And finally, Morgan St. Cloud... transgender, of undetermined age, wearing a full-length, flowing bright red ensemble with a matching hat, her face made up with artfully applied cosmetics.
     Drew stood up. "Well, it was real nice meetin' ya' Morgan, " he said, placing his napkin on the table. "But I gotta' get to work."
    "Oh, must you, Drew?" Morgan protested. Like just about everyone else at the B&B, she'd been quickly enchanted by Drew's rugged southern charm.
    "'Fraid so, " he replied. "How long are ya' in town for?"
    "Only for the weekend," she said, regretfully. "I need to be back at the London office by Monday morning." She'd been away in London for months, and was realizing how many things she'd missed at the B&B while she'd been gone. Not the least of which was the fact that Lance Powers, of all people, now had a boyfriend. And an incredibly captivating one, at that.
    "'Kay, then, " Drew said, caressing her shoulder gently with his strong hands. "We gotta' take ya' line dancin' on Saturday night."
    "Ooooh....I'll be there with spangles on!" she purred, enthusiastically. She wasn't sure which astounded her more; the fact she was going to be going country line-dancing with a real cowboy the following night... or the fact that Lance Powers was actually dating a real cowboy who liked to go country line-dancing. And who'd somehow wrangled him into going, too.
    As soon as Drew had kissed Lance goodbye and was off to brush his teeth, Morgan leaned forward to give her assessment. "Lance, he's wonderful. But then... I'd expect no less of any man capable of enticing Lance Powers into an actual relationship."
    Lance smirked. "I suppose it had to happen eventually."
    "I'm happy for you. Truly. Although..." Morgan hesitated, before continuing. "I know you well enough that I need to ask."
    "Ask what?" Lance said, sipping his coffee.
    "How does he tolerate your sleeping around?"
     Lance raised his eyebrows. "Who says I'm sleeping around?"
    "You mean--" Morgan began, incredulously.
    "We're monogamous. For now," Lance said, nonchalantly. "And out agreement is to remain that way... until either one of us feels the need to renegotiate those terms."
    "That all sounds rather formalized," Morgan said, still reeling from that fact that Lance had even uttered the "M" word, let alone was in a relationship that was supposedly characterized as such.
    "It needs to be," Lance continued. "At heart, Drew's a somewhat traditional Alabama Christian boy... who requires assurance of my fidelity. And I need to know I have an out... should circumstances change."
    "Oh, Lance," Morgan said, wistfully. "I just hope you don't go breaking that hairy-chested cowboy's heart."
    Lance frowned. "How do you know he has a hairy chest?"
   "Richard e-mailed me some  photos," Morgan answered, smiling, recalling the unexpectedly explicit set of black & white nude photos that Richard had surprised her with several months ago. Pictures Drew apparently posed for while in college, for some sort of art project, that showed off every detail, every single orifice of the boy's body in graphic detail. Those photos had certainly warmed her up on a cold, wintry London afternoon!
    Lance sighed. "Of course he did," making a mental note to have a talk with Richard about discretion. And realizing that his boyfriend's body was always going to be subject to leering and ogling as long as those pictures were out there.