Ramon did just that. Over a month’s time, they had six real dates—dinners, two movies, a Sunday afternoon playing Frisbee at a park, and a trip out to the big cat refuge that Brandon found surprisingly creepy. The power and size of the caged animals unsettled him. One night Ramon dragged him to a south Tampa gay bookstore/coffee shop and they talked until the clerks closed the store at three a.m. There was no mention of Leslie, no reference to that attachment, just good laughs and the hours of talk.
He relented and let Ramon schedule the car and dog wash. Ramon hung dozens of signs in the neighborhood and, that Saturday morning, there were ten cars lined up when Brandon got to the store at 7:30.
He watched Ramon take charge, organizing the volunteer washers, getting the dogs on one sid
