Young and Hungry - For Life - 1. Lachlan Reveals

As the final act in his grieving process, Thomas sought and received permission from Jared’s parents to add a plaque of his own to Jared’s memorial at the cemetery. As he was leaving the cemetery Jared spoke to him for the last time. “Thank you Thomas, now move forward in your life and find someone who will love you as much as I do. I will watch over both of you, in silence.”

Thomas moved into Crystalline and paid his way by working around the property.

He took an interest in gardening and spent many days working and learning about the garden. Some days he was joined by Lachlan while Jonathan was attending to business matters. When they were dirty from gardening they got into the habit of using the flat above the garage, where Desmond used to reside, to have their breaks. These conversations gave them the opportunity to get to know each other better.

“So, I hear you used to live here before” asked Lachlan.

“Yes, for many years when I was Virginia’s PA. We had some really good times and she was great to work for. I actually miss working for her. She really was the best employer and more.”

“What do you mean by, more”

“Well despite being my employer she really was like a mother to me at times. You know she actually told me once that I was like the son she never had.”

“That’s sweet of her. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know her better. But, as the ‘other man’ I felt it wasn’t my place to do so.”

“Oh that would not have bothered her. Virginia knew which side her bread was buttered on. She was in no doubt about how Jonathan lived his life and he about her. It was a mutual arrangement” revealed Thomas.

“I was never really sure during all those years that Jonathan and I were casual partners and I didn’t enquire.”

“Jonathan didn’t tell you the truth about their marriage?”

“No, Jonathan doesn’t talk a lot about personal stuff, even now. But back then I thought I was just a little extra on the side of his marriage.”

“Then you certainly have a lot to learn about your partner.”

“And are you the man to tell me?”

“Could be.”

Over the following weeks Thomas and Lachlan spent a lot of time together, ‘gardening’ as they called it, but in fact most of the time was spent gossiping. Thomas told Lachlan the full history of the family, including how Jonathan used the Potts Pont apartment, about Virginia’s lovers and how he procured them for her.

One day while taking a break in Desmond’s old flat, Lachlan said “You told me that Virginia called you the son she never had. Was there a particular reason why they didn’t have children? I mean, most gay men that are married can get it up at least a few times to get their wife pregnant.”

“There was no medical reason that I know of. But they suffered a very distressing loss early in their marriage that I don’t think Virginia ever fully recovered from.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“Virginia was pregnant once and even carried the child to full term but it was stillborn.”

“Oh that is so sad and I take it they never tried again?”

“It seems not. At least as far as I know.”

“Gay or straight, it does seem odd that a wealthy man from a long established business family didn’t want an heir to pass it all on to.”

“I agree but I’ve never discussed that with either of them. Maybe that’s why he recently floated the company and is now only a shareholder.”

“But he’s still a director on the board.”

“But not involved in the day to day running of the company. It surprises me that he’s able to resist getting involved.”

“Maybe I’m enough distraction for him.”

“Maybe you are Lachlan and you can be very distracting at times.”

“Should I take that as a compliment?”

“Umm....yes I suppose it is.”

“Then I shall take it as such, but I have one more question to ask you....”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you flirting with me?” asked Lachlan.

“What do you think?”

Lachlan didn’t answer, instead he said “We better get back to the house, lunch will be ready.”

On the walk back, Lachlan asked “Do you ever use the gym here?”

“Not since I’ve come back this time. There are a lot of memories up there and I haven’t felt ready to face them so far.”

“Well I was thinking I would like to make a start at getting into better shape, but I find it hard to get motivated on my own. Do you think that when you are ready, we could work out together and encourage each other?”

“I’d like that. I’ll work on psyching myself up for it and let you know.”

“Excellent, I look forward to it.” concluded Lachlan.

***

A few days later, during one of their breaks, Thomas asked Lachlan how he met Jonathan.

“It was a bit over twelve years ago at the Regency Club. I had been working there for five years, doing my apprenticeship, as they called it, before I was able to work in the Platinum members’ bar. It was then I started serving Jonathan.”

“When you say serving, do you mean just as a waiter?”

“You’re very intuitive Thomas, how did you work that out?’

“I’ve worked for this family most of my working life, during that time I have learned much about the family and their secrets. Jonathan may think he has secrets, but in fact he is an open book sometimes. I’ve always suspected there was more to the Regency Club than fine dining and cognac.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have my suspicions, but you of course would actually know what happens on the upper level of the club.”

“Your suspicions are probably correct. The second floor is for the exclusive use of Platinum members and only staff with enough service time to allow them access to Platinum members are permitted to go up there. The bedroom suites are for members to use as they choose.”

“Is that where you and Jonathan used to meet?”

“Yes, we were well paid by the club as waiters, but some of us were permitted to offer additional services to members. Those arrangements were entirely between the waiter and member. The club had no involvement other than providing the facility. At first I used to service Jonathan on a professional basis for payment, but over the years a relationship developed. I knew he was married and because of that neither of us would take the relationship outside of the club.”

“I’m surprised that the club allowed such activities on their premises. It does not strike me as a gay oriented organisation.”

“Oh, it’s not exclusively a gay club. Quite the opposite, although gay activities were permitted they were in the minority. Mostly the rooms were used by straight members having affairs or with professional ladies. Officially, women were permitted only in the general members’ dining room and if a member wanted to take his guest to the upper floor there was a code we used. A member would say he was going to take his niece, they were usually called, up to the rooftop to show them the harbour view.”

“Is there a view from the building?”

“Well spotted Watson. Of course there is no harbour view from a three story building, among high rise office towers two blocks from the harbour. There isn’t even rooftop access other than for maintenance purposes.”

“So were you exclusive with Jonathan over those years?”

“Not for the first few years, but as my feelings for Jonathan developed, it became exclusive, at least on my part, although I knew he had other arrangements outside the club.”

“So why did you wait so long for him?”

“Sometimes I used to wonder that myself, but about two years into our relationship, I realised I loved him and you do strange things when in love. I lived in hope that one day we might have an exclusive relationship, although deep down I don’t think I believed it would happen. Then it became a habit that was hard to break. I knew he would not leave his wife and come out, and every now and then I would consider breaking up. I’d decide to tell him the next time he came to the club, but then he would show up, ask me to show him the view and my resolve would melt in front of him.”

“But it all paid off in the end, you must be happy with that.”

“Yes, I am happy, very happy. I think all those years were like a long engagement, so that when we were both free to be openly together, there was no getting to know each other period, our relationship was well established.”

“I’m so pleased for you Lachlan, you deserve life-long happiness.”

“Thank you, but what about you? Planning to start dating again?”

“I’m not sure I’m ready yet, but if it happens naturally then I will take it slowly. My relationship with Jared was love at first sight. I didn’t really have time to think about it.”

“That must be an exhilarating feeling?”

“Thinking back about it, yes it was. You know this is the first time I have been able to speak about it since Jared’s death.”

“I’m honoured that you trust me so much. It can’t be easy losing a partner so tragically.”

“I feel comfortable talking to you Lachlan. You are a good friend.”

“Thank you, I feel the same about you, Thomas. Now should we get back to work?”

“You go ahead, I’ll join you soon. I just want to go into the gym for a little while. If we are going to workout, then I need to make sure I’ll be comfortable there.”

“Of course, you do what you need to do and I might go and make a start on those blackberry bushes that are creeping through from the neighbouring property.”

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Thomas needed to break through the barrier he had built between him and the gym. He walked slowly in there and the first thing he noticed was the musty smell. It was clean, apart from a bit of dust here and there, but must have been locked up for many months. He opened all the windows and let the breeze blow through. He then went to the bench where his incident had happened. There was no trace of that night and he assumed Carol had called in the cleaners to take care of it. ‘I must thank her’ he thought.

He expected it would be uncomfortable, but was pleasantly surprised that the feeling was more of being home, so he relaxed and let it wash over him. There were no seats, as such in the gym, only weight benches, so he went into the flat and brought in a comfortable chair so he could sit and think.

His thoughts first went to Jared, and they were pleasant memories of Jared working out and supervising his and Jonathan’s routines. He waited for Jared to speak to him, but he was silent and, in a way, that was good. He knew Jared trusted him and would watch over him. His fears had been unfounded. There was enough of Jared’s presence to create a pleasant memory, but it was not overpowering. When he looked again at the bench where he had his accident, it was just that, an accident from which he had fully recovered and resolved not to repeat.

He then said out loud “I still love you Jared and always will, but now I will go forward with my life and always remember that you were part of my life. Thank you for releasing me.”

He then looked across at a blank wall and thought it was a perfect place to hang a picture of Jared.

***

With Poppy’s only able to serve takeaway the income only covered ingredients, wages and utility bills. Craig covered the rent from his nursing wages.

Edward covered the rent for Divas from his savings as did Andy for Dean’s Bar.

Jeremy and Brett did not pay their rent and simply put the reminders from Prentice in the bottom drawer. The state government introduced an emergency no eviction regulation, but payment of rent or deferment was up to landlords and tenants to negotiate.

After two months of this Edward called a meeting of the other tenants and between them agreed to approach Prentice about rent relief. Edward was appointed as spokesperson for the group.

“Good morning Mrs Prentice, this is Edward Williamson, I was hoping to talk to Alfred about a tenancy matter.”

“He’s not here Mr Williamson, he was admitted to hospital two days ago with a breathing difficulty and has been diagnosed with the virus.”

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that. I hope it’s not too serious.”

“He’s stable at present so I have hopes he will recover quickly”

“That’s good. Now I don’t want to bother him while he’s ill but all the tenants at Flinders St. are having difficulty paying the rent while we are closed, so we were hoping to negotiate a temporary reduction.”

“Mr Williamson, as you say, we don’t want to bother him now, so what if you and your friends just pay what you can for now and we’ll talk more when Alfred’s home. I’m sure rent is the least of his worries at present”

“Thank you, that’s very generous of you. I will tell the rest of the tenants and we won’t bother you anymore till Alfred has recovered.”

“Very well, is that all for now?”

“Yes, except to say, please give him our best wishes for a speedy recovery”

“I will. Good bye Mr Williamson.”

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Edward emailed the others and left it to them to make their own arrangements.