remember me coming deep in his throat, but both of us also knew that this was a lie. Who were we
kidding?
My dad and I talked a lot on the phone these days. I needed to think about other things besides David
and how good it felt to fuck his mouth. Sometimes my dad and I discussed cases together and I was
starting to feel that I might actually like working with him for a while. My life would be less complicated
at home, or at least that’s what I hoped.
David was upset when I told him I was leaving. In fact we had a big fight. “Why the fuck would you
move back to Fresno and work for dad?” he asked me. “You have been in fucking Paris for two years and
now you’re moving back to Fresno of all places? What’s wrong with staying in New York?”
“I’ve been talking to dad a lot and you know how much he wants me to work for the firm. It just feels
like this is the right time.”
“The right time to work for dad or the right time to get away from me again?” He said angrily. “You
always do this Michael! Just as things are good between us again...”
“You call this good?” I snorted. “There is nothing good about my life at the moment. I can’t be around
you for a while.”
“Don’t say that,” he yelled, almost crying.
“I have to go. This thing…it’s driving me insane. You’re like poison to be around… The way I’m
feeling all the time, I can’t take it anymore… We cannot keep doing this. I can’t stand to be around you
David, do you understand me?”
“I understand you,” he said while his face hardened and he walked out the door, slamming it close
behind him.
I started preparing to leave back home immediately. The bad thing about leaving New York would be
missing Glenn. He was my closest friend and I had missed him a lot when I was in Paris. We saw each
other the weekend before I left and finished half a bottle of vodka together.
“I’ll miss you so much,” I told him.
“Don’t get all to sentimental on me,” he replied. “In a while we’ll both be earning shit loads of money,
I’m sure we’ll be able to afford a plane ticket to see each other.”
So I moved back to the West coast in the hope that I could forget all my problems with David for a
while. Back home in Fresno, my dad helped me to buy an apartment near his firm so that I could get there
within ten minutes in the morning.
For good old times sake I went to a couple of places where my dad had taken me when I was young,
like the Legion of Valor museum and the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. I even took the twins to a Fresno Grizzlies
baseball game. I hated all of it and missed New York and my life there. Even after a couple of days I
already longed for my old apartment and Glenn and David most of all.
At the office, my dad was beaming with joy when he gave me the official welcome tour. I had been to
his firm often when I was younger, but everything was different now. I was one of the guys.
My grandfather had established this law firm in the fifties, now there were sixty-five lawyers working
there. Although my dad was still head of the firm he had several partners. Two of them were equity
partners and had ownership stakes in the firm, and shared in the profits of the firm. The other non-equity
partners were paid a fixed salary and they had certain limited voting rights with respect to firm
operations. In addition there were also associates, who were employees of the firm with the prospect of
becoming partner. And then there was a whole bunch of staff employees and secretaries. I would start
working in the office next to my dad, while my father dreamt that I would someday take over as head of
his firm. I hoped I wouldn’t screw things up.
When my dad showed me my office my first thought was that it was way to luxurious for a lawyer who
had just finished university and has yet to prove himself. I knew my dad wanted to spoil me a little but I
was seriously worried what the other guys would think about me. I didn’t want all the associates to resent
me from the moment I started.
My new office had a gleaming black desk and a comfortable black leather chair. We were high up and
the view from the huge window was amazing. You could see the entire city.
“It’s too much,” I told my dad. “The other guys will hate me for this view.” My dad laughed.
“They all know how happy I am that you decided to work for me.’ He put his hand on my shoulder and
looked serious. “I know it’s a big step for you to start working for your dad, but I promise you, we’ll
make a great team.”
“Okay,” I said and then my dad’s secretary came in to welcome me and to bring us a cup of coffee.
When the first Sunday back in my old city arrived Juliette called me to ask if I wanted to have dinner
back at home. It had been a long time since I’d been to one of their official Sunday dinners so I agreed.
“Christine will be there too,” Juliette said. Christine had only moved out recently and dad and Juliette
still missed her now that she wasn’t living with them anymore. She was such a bright, cheerful person; it
was hard not to miss her. She’d studied econometrics and had recently gotten her first job and bought an
apartment near our home.
When I arrived on Sunday, I felt weird being back at home without David. The twins were lounging on
the lawn when I came up to the house. There were in their early teens now and looked exactly like me at
that age. There were almost identical, only Juliette could really tell them apart, and the first moment I had
trouble seeing who was who.
Christine’s car drove up to the driveway too. When she got out of the car it struck me how beautiful she
was. I didn’t see her very often and this was the first time that she looked completely grown-up and
mature. She had on a brightly colored dress and high-heeled shoes with ribbons around her ankles. Her
hair was very long and caught the light so that it glistened all over. Her skin was looking healthy and
lightly bronzed. When she saw me, she walked up to me and hugged me hard.
“It’s so nice to see you Michael,” she said. “How was your first week back at home?”
“It was all right,” I shrugged. “It takes some time to get used to things,” I said. “Like this heat, I have to
get used to that again.”
“Let’s go inside then,” Christine laughed. Dinner was almost ready when we came in and the table was
set beautifully. Juliette clearly still liked Sunday dinners and tried to make the most of it every week. My
dad was in his office, doing some more work. Christine and I went to the kitchen to see if we could help.
It was just a normal Sunday, with a normal family. It would be like that every Sunday for almost a year.
I have to say, my dad and I turned out to be a great team that year. I learned a lot from him and also from
the other partners. They even let me prepare for a major court case that year, which we won. My dad was
very proud of me and I felt happy for a change.
The next case was a real challenge though and I doubted whether I was up to it. I was still so
inexperienced compared to my dad and this new case was so complicated. My pride prevented me from
asking any help however and I stayed in the office until late each night to get all my work done.
We won the Fresno Bee newspaper "Excellence in Business" award later that year and a newspaper
article showed a picture of dad and me in front of our office. We looked exactly alike in our matching
suits, two tall, blond and trim attorneys.
Christine cut out that picture and put it on our refrigerator at home, where it still is today.
Juliette ordered my dad to bring food for me, that she’d cooked at home, in little plastic containers. I