Seven Is My Lucky Number

Chapter 1Columbia County Jail, Florida Jake was awakened from a light doze by the sound of a key turning in the lock of his cell door. “Don’t tell me my beloved partner of seven years has changed his mind,” he said to the deputy. “Not exactly. He found the diamond necklace that belonged to his mother in your closet. So, technically, you hadn’t stolen it yet as it hadn’t been removed from the premises. For that reason, we really can’t press charges. But he says you hid it there because you were getting ready to take it to the pawn shop. He’s giving you an hour to pack up your stuff and get out before he talks to a lawyer about charging you.” “I can’t possibly imagine how it got in my closet,” Jake protested. “I never touched the thing. And how magnanimous of him to give me an hour to pack up all my things. All I have is my motorcycle. The car is his.” “Well, I doubt he’s in a mood to let you borrow it, so you’d better just do the best you can. Whatever you leave behind is his as far as we’re concerned. He won’t let you back in the house again.” Wow, Jake thought as he walked out the door and down the steps. One whole hour to pack up a backpack, a bag for the luggage rack and another I’ll have to hold between my knees. I don’t even know where the hell I’m going. He fired up his bike and headed out toward the house, the one he and Pete had shared for the last seven years. Pete was a bit older than Jake, and he’d owned the house long before they’d met at a party. Pete was proud of the fact that he’d just finished restoring the old Victorian mansion, and he was more than happy to take a young, good-looking guy with a chest full of hair and a marvelous full beard home to show it off. They’d ended up in the canopy bed—the bedroom just happened to be where the house tour ended—and Jake had stayed the night. They seemed to hit it off, so Jake moved in a few weeks later. But before long things didn’t seem to feel so right. Pete was constantly fishing for compliments on the house, the garden, the new porch, the refinished front door, and when Jake didn’t come up with them, he was clearly annoyed. Jake stuck it out, trying hard to give Pete what he wanted, because he really was in love with the guy. His only other attempted relationship had gone nowhere, and he sometimes thought he had some kind of defect that made him unattractive to anyone who was handsome and successful. He’d practically melted in Pete’s muscular arms that first night, feeling like he’d finally found the strong and masculine man he’d always been looking for. As the relationship neared the five-year mark, Jake was struggling. He was starting to feel like he was constantly trying to be someone he wasn’t and that he was always standing in Pete’s shadow. Pete’s friends and neighbors hardly ever spoke to him, almost acting as if he wasn’t even there. They showered Pete with compliments about the house, the compliments that Pete lived for, the compliments that he accused Jake of not giving. He began to feel as if he was second or third on the list of priorities, after the house and maybe even after the dog. He started looking for a way to leave. He was miserable. But apparently, Pete beat him to it, making up a story about a stolen necklace so that he could have Jake arrested. Pathetic, thought Jake. All he had to do was tell me he wanted to end it. I wouldn’t have given him an argument. When he arrived at the house, he found Pete waiting for him. “I’m setting my watch for 10:20,” he said. “You’ve got one hour.” “One whole hour. Do you really think that’s enough time to pack up seven years of my life?” “That’s your problem. At least that way you won’t have time to think about stealing something from me.” “I never stole anything from you. I don’t know how that necklace got in my closet.” “That’s not the first thing that’s come up missing.” “Can I help it if you can’t remember where you put things? How about that time we were going to Europe, and you hid your two favorite rings? You were never able to find them again when we got back.” “Yeah, I always wondered about that too. I should have been able to find them right where I put them. Unless someone put them somewhere else.” “Oh, for God’s sake. That someone is you.” “Some gratitude, you taking things from me. You’ve lived here seven years and I never charged you a dime for rent or asked you to pay for anything else.” “Because you told me not to. ‘Go back to school,’ you said. ‘Don’t worry about paying me for anything until you get your degree and get a job,’ you said.” “Yeah, and you got your degree last summer and you still haven’t gotten any steady work.” “I’ve had several gigs. Acting isn’t steady work. You were the one who told me not to take that full time job at the amusement park in Orlando.” “Orlando is two hours away. It would have meant you would have to get a place to live down there. You wouldn’t have been able to afford that, not with your college loans and all. And it would have meant that we’d no longer be living together.” “Something you’re apparently just fine with, as it turns out,” said Jake. “So much for getting my master’s degree and getting a teaching job. That would be a steady job.” “Well, you’re not doing that on my dime. You’ve got one hour to pack up your things and get out. You’d better get busy.”