For the next three years, Buddy made good on his promise. Lloyd never anticipated the time and effort it would take to become a sophisticated young man. Even Buddy, who was born into a socially prominent family, didn't realize the enormity of the task. Nonetheless, he prepared a self-study plan for Lloyd to follow on his own, and another plan that he could follow either at camp, or on his visits to Buddy's estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. Lloyd never realized how much he lacked in the social graces. For example, how many times is the average teenager exposed to a formal dinner? The answer is not that often, if ever. That was just one of many things he had to learn.
He spent many hours at the library and studying in his spare time. Buddy tutored him in the proper etiquette, diction and speech he had to use. He also mapped out a required reading list, as well as the fine art lectures and exhibits he was to attend in Manhattan. Lloyd visited the museums, and attended the opera and select concerts in New York. Usually Buddy's folks supplied the tickets for the concerts and operas they attended together.
Every month a package would arrive from Buddy that contained the previous month's publications that his family received. He tacked on notes to the front of each magazine of the pages Lloyd was to read. The publications covered a broad range of subjects; from the arts, investments, fashion, and sports. Lloyd was also to read the society columns in the daily newspapers. It was a learning experience that consumed many hours of his spare time. Nevertheless, he was determined to prove to himself, and to Buddy, that he could be accepted as a sophisticated young man, even though he didn't come from a wealthy family.
He never thought much about Buddy's looks until he began to read articles about him in the papers. They described Buddy as being handsome and debonair. It was then that Lloyd realized that Buddy was a handsome young man. His photograph turned up in the society columns in the company of some of the most beautiful debs, yet he never stopped having sex with Lloyd as often as he could. Buddy usually stayed at his father's suite at the Plaza when he attended many of these charity affairs. Sometimes he and Lloyd attended events together, but in almost every case, it was Lloyd that he took to bed after the event. They used to get a big kick out of reading the gossip columns the following morning insinuating a romance in the making, etc.
They both graduated the same year; Buddy from Yale, Lloyd from Columbia. Lloyd's graduation present from Buddy was a two-week Caribbean cruise together. It was the most wonderful vacation he ever had. They played in the sun every day and had the most enjoyable sex together every afternoon and evening. Buddy told him that Chip had accepted his offer to put him through Yale University Law School. Lloyd was happy for Chip; he was a great guy and was madly in love with Buddy.
Buddy had decided to go into the family brokerage business after he returned from his three-month world tour. He also said his family wanted him to attend Harvard for his MBA, before joining the firm. The three-month cruise was a graduation present to get him to mull it over. Buddy had already decided to go ahead with his MBA, but he was going to let his dad sweat it out for three months.
After graduation, Lloyd decided to start looking for a house on Long Island. His plan was to invest in a house and take in a roommate to help pay the expenses. His older sister, Marge, was a real-estate agent and had made a convincing argument against buying a house in a new development. Instead, she suggested that he look for an older fixer-upper home in an established residential neighborhood. She was creative when it came to the real estate business and her advice turned out to be on target. She reasoned, at the time, that his investment would double if he purchased a home in a good neighborhood. It was Lloyd's task to find a structurally sound house that needed renovation. Since he was good with his hands, he could do a lot of the work himself and apply for a home improvement loan for any major repairs.
She contacted a local Bay Shore broker and they began the search. After looking at more than fifty houses, Lloyd finally settled on a house that not only could he afford, but one that he fell in love with. The house was an English Tudor design with clean lines and smooth white stucco, with dark brown stained wood trim. It was a five-bedroom house, with three and a half baths, living room, dining room, library, large eat-in-kitchen, butler's pantry, and had a full basement. It also had a separate three-car garage with a loft.
The house sat on a large wooded parcel of land. It was well constructed and the layout was ideal. There was a small central entrance foyer with stairs leading to the second floor. The doors to the left of the foyer opened into a large combination library and family room. The doors to the right led into a large living room with an archway at the other end accessing the dining room. The butler's pantry separated the dining room from the kitchen. Directly behind the stairs in the foyer, there was a powder room.
On the second floor, were three large bedrooms and two bathrooms. The master suite contained a fireplace and a small bath. The other bathroom was shared by the remaining two bedrooms. The third floor contained two bedrooms and a bath. The basement was large and dry.
The grounds were well maintained with several large hardwood trees. The shrubbery was overgrown and leggy, but otherwise everything looked to be in good shape.
The house would need a lot of work, both inside and outside, to put it into first class condition. It was structurally sound, and was priced well below the market value. The Lees, the present owners, had built their dream home on the water and lost all interest in this house. They did very little remodeling in this house since it was built in the mid thirties. The house had been on the market for over a year with no takers. Lloyd's agent knew this was an ideal place for him, so they cut the broker's fee in order to make the deal.
With Marge's help, and some creative financing, Lloyd was able to swing the deal and close on the Bay Shore property, which he has never regretted. His budget was spread thin, and he had to juggle car payments, commuting, and his living expenses out of the salary he was earning at the time. He talked his sisters and his parents into moving in with him and gave them a good deal on their rent. At least he would have enough income to paint and fix up the place.
Most of his weekends were spent renovating the house, which he enjoyed doing. Within two years, he had replaced all the old plumbing and painted the entire interior and exterior of the house. Naturally, he had to hire professionals to modernize the bathrooms and rewire the entire house. Rewiring an older home is a tricky process and unless he had a licensed electrician do the work, his insurance could have been canceled. His last project was to remodel the kitchen and butler's pantry, and to add a patio off the dining room. That project alone would cost around twenty thousand and Lloyd was not about to spend that amount until his income improved.
Much to his surprise, both his sisters announced their engagements. The family were all happy for them. Anne was the first to marry and wanted to hold her reception at the house. This put Lloyd's remodeling plans on the back burner. The wedding reception was a great success. Everything turned out perfectly. Anne and Bill Baxter, her husband, moved into their new home after their honeymoon. Marge married the following year and held the reception at Michael's, one of the local restaurants that specialized in wedding receptions. However, many of the out of town guests stayed at the house. Marge and her husband moved into their own home. That killed all his ambitious renovation plans for some time.
With Lloyd's new position and hefty salary increase at Chadwick, his future looked much brighter. He could afford to upgrade his wardrobe and shop at the better stores to add to it. This was not to imply that he planned to abandon his monthly trek to the thrift stores for good bargains. Life takes on a completely new meaning when you don't have to watch every penny of your income. In addition, he planned to take advantage of a long term goal, and travel to Europe. Lloyd spent many an evening planning the countries he wanted to visit and mapped out an itinerary. He asked the company travel group to see what kind of a package they could work out for him, provided he could take the time off.
After the cheers and euphoria died down about landing the contract, Lloyd began to realize the enormity of the task that lay ahead of him. This was a huge project worth over two million dollars a year. He'd never managed a project that big before. It was one thing to put a project together on paper, but it was quite another to make it work. His lack of experience had entered his mind and caused him to have second thoughts about his ability to handle the project, yet he kept those feelings to himself.
It took six months to fine-tune solutions to the many little problems before starting on their first project. His own people were geared up and ready. They made it all look easy, of course, as they were all experienced professionals. Once that project was underway, two more followed in quick succession. Lloyd began having production glitches that his production managers should have anticipated. Therefore it fell to him to iron out the wrinkles. Much later, he was to learn that his own boss, Paul Chadwick, created the problem. At the time, he was unaware of any problems, until he discovered that his three top project managers were taken off the Telecom account and reassigned to one of Paul's pet projects.
Lloyd was made aware of this when CJ summoned him into his office. Lloyd had never seen CJ so angry. He lit into him for placing the company in an uncompromising position, and for trying to cut corners on the project. CJ explained the conversation he had with the Telecom VP.
"Telecom wants an explanation as to why the shooting locations were changed without their permission. We had absolutely no authority to use a Telecom site, instead of building a set in a studio. In addition, the VP wants to know who authorized major changes in the shooting scripts without Telecom's authorization. Their manufacturing people are very upset because the shooting is disrupting production schedules."
Naturally, Lloyd became annoyed because he had no idea what CJ was talking about. Furthermore, he resented the implication that he had allowed these things to happen without Telecom's approval.
As Lloyd left his office, he told him, "I will find out exactly what has happened and I'll report back to you as soon as I know who was responsible for this breach of contract."
After he left CJ's office, he called an emergency meeting of all his project leaders to find out what happened. What he learned was much worse than he thought.
"I want you all to drop everything and prepare a report for me to present to CJ this afternoon."
Before submitting his report to CJ, he spoke to the directors and writers that had made the changes to confirm what he suspected. With this information, he returned to CJ's office with the facts. CJ could not understand why Paul would deliberately interfere with Telecom, knowing how demanding they were about everything.
CJ apologized to Lloyd for venting his anger on him and said he would speak to Paul and would be back to Lloyd as soon as possible.
"Lloyd, please call Craig Zucker and use your influence with him to smooth this over with Telecom, and above all be honest with him."
Lloyd was able to smooth everything over with Craig; however, Craig made a few demands. Paul Chadwick was not to interfere with their projects again and he wanted the production staff returned to Telecom's projects. Everything ran along smoothly after that.
Paul apologized for interfering. He figured he was saving the company money and improving the product. Naturally, Lloyd had to be careful how he handled Paul; after all, Paul was his boss. Lloyd could not lose sight of the fact that Paul would be running the company one day. Telecom would only be around two more years. If Lloyd wanted to stay with Chadwick, he had better play it cool with Paul.
Lloyd was spending more time in the field than in the office. He had hardly any time to himself, let alone getting out to the Island. It was a real learning experience for him. It taught him how to be diplomatic with his staff, yet be firm in his dealings with the creative people and the unyielding strict budget they had to follow. There were many occasions where he wanted to fudge, but that was one firm ruling he never broke. It didn't take long for the word to get out that they would not exceed the budget.
A year had passed and they had reached the half waypoint in their contract. Lloyd had grown into his position and everyone was happy. He instituted a new policy with Craig Zucker, the VP of operations at Telecom, to meet every Friday afternoon to brief him on the status of his entire project. In addition, Lloyd sent him a detailed status report every month.
At first, Craig kept the meetings formal and strictly business. But after three months, he suggested they conduct the meetings at his favorite restaurant. His Friday lunch meeting became a ritual that usually lasted three hours. Once the report was out of the way, Craig started sipping his first Martini and began his discussion on his latest disaster at the office. Craig was a hard-working genius. He was in his early fifties, but had the drive and energy of a man half his age. Lloyd admired the man from the moment he met him five years ago at the first bid conference. Craig has forgotten more about the business than most men will ever learn. He knew the details of every project in production and knew its current status without referring to any notes. Lloyd was sure that Craig would become president of Telecom one day, or some other firm; no question about that in his mind.
Craig would always start out by saying, "Tell me Lloyd, how would you have handled this?" Then he would site the problem and listen to Lloyd's response. If Lloyd was on target he would be pleased. It not, he would then discuss the problem and how it should be handled. They both enjoyed their Friday lunches. Lloyd was learning how Craig's sharp mind worked and how he approached and solved difficult problems.
Craig had found a good listener in Lloyd, and he trusted him. The negative side was the number of martinis he could down without showing any negative effects, whereas Lloyd's maximum limit was two if he had a big lunch, but then felt wiped out for the rest of the afternoon. Lloyd's next stop after lunch was to the gym for a quick workout and steam bath to sweat out the alcohol, then back to the office to catch up on his lost time.
The Chadwicks were happy with Lloyd's performance and left him alone. As long as they were making a profit, they didn't interfere. In fact, they started including him in their private meetings and high power lunches if he was in the office. Lloyd would be the first to admit that he was flattered. The bosses and the other senior managers would drop into his office to discuss some of their problems. To his way of thinking, he had arrived, so that added value to his advice. Titles mean nothing, unless and until you have earned the respect of your colleagues.
There was only another year to run on the contract before renewal. Lloyd loved everything about his job, the benefits, the everyday challenges, and the satisfaction from managing a multimillion-dollar project. It became obvious to him, that he could never go back to his old job again after proving his capabilities on this project. He had no illusions about the Chadwicks' promises of promoting him to a VP. They had alluded to that at the onset of the project. Yet it had never happened. If they were serious about his future with the firm, they would have given him the title by now. It was time to put his resume together and drop some discreet feelers in the right places. He knew that he had a lot of planning to do over the next six months.
That strange incident with the Yale students that happened years ago kept haunting Lloyd. He was beginning to be concerned about his mental state, so he decided to discuss it with Buddy before finding a shrink. Buddy was a true friend and arranged to meet him the next day at his home in Greenwich. His family was on the grand tour, as usual, leaving Buddy home alone. Lloyd had spent many happy hours in that lovely old mansion. Buddy's parents were gracious hosts and invited him as a guest many times and always made him feel welcome. After some small talk, Buddy asked if he would like to join him in his bedroom for a quickie before dinner. Nothing had changed between them, they both enjoyed having sex together and the years never changed that. Buddy led him into his bedroom suite and locked the door. They stripped and jumped into bed for their usual enjoyable and satisfying sex.
After an excellent dinner, they retired to the den for after dinner drinks.
Buddy said, "Tell me what's troubling you. It must be important for you to make a trip out here on a school night."
Lloyd explained his experience of seven years ago, about the Yale college kid that he keep fantasizing about over time.
"I must find this guy to put my mind to rest," he said. "I'm to the point where I dream about him on a regular basis. It's become an obsession with me. I remember him as vividly as if I saw him yesterday, yet this happened seven years ago. I want to find him. I don't know what's come over me lately, but I find it very distressing. I'm terrified at what this feeling for him says about me. You're my best friend, Buddy, and I'm asking you as a friend to honestly tell me what you think."
Buddy said, "I think you already know the answer. You're asking me for confirmation. You're right about one thing; I am your best friend, so I'm going give it to you straight. You're a homosexual and have been for as long as I've known you. Your mystery man is the catalyst that brought it to a head. Now you're finally facing that realization, but haven't accepted the truth as yet."
"Your desire for this young man is your way of trying to work out your homosexuality in your own mind. What surprises the hell out of me is how you could justify having sex with men and still think that you're straight. You've indicated no desire to have sex with a woman at all, nor for that matter, do you show any desire to do so in the future."
"Your young dream boat is creating problems for you now, and you want him to reappear in your life once more. His nagging image is driving you crazy because you fell for him years ago and have kept him locked up in your subconscious."
"If you suspected I was a homosexual and continued to have sex with me, what does that make you?" Lloyd asked.
"I'm bisexual and always have been."
"God, I can't believe I'm a homosexual," Lloyd said. "I enjoy having sex with you, but that's something that we enjoyed as kids and continued it until now. I'm not in love with you and we've never kissed or anything of that nature. We just enjoyed having sex with one another that's all. I don't feel that I'm a homosexual because of that, I consider myself straight."
"Have it your way, Lloyd. Just because you didn't want to kiss and make out didn't mean that I didn't. You're a wonderful guy, Lloyd, but emotionally immature when it comes to relationships. You never realized it, but I've been in love with you for all these years. I've always regretted that you never felt the same way, because I feel we would have made beautiful music together. I always held out the hope that you would come around and become my lover one day."
"I'm sorry, Buddy; I never knew you felt that way. I should have been more sensitive to your feelings. If it's any consolation, I love you as a friend. You're a very dear friend. I hope we can always continue to remain best friends. I'm glad you told me, because you've answered a question that's puzzled me for some time. You've always been my closest friend and we've shared moments together that have been truly wonderful."
"I've always felt very close to you and I will never forget you because you are so much a part of my life now. You mean more to me than any brother ever could, yet I never understood why you would pick me to be your close friend. You have so many friends in your own social set from which to choose. It is a little disquieting to learn it was not my keen mind, or outstanding personality you sought after all, it was my body. But no matter, I'm flattered that a handsome, intelligent guy like you saw something in me to love. It appears that we're both chasing the impossible dream."
"You're not a dream to me," Buddy replied, "you're a warm, charming, intelligent man. Don't ever put yourself down. Sure it was your handsome body that attracted me in the first place. I would be lying if I told you otherwise. You are without a doubt, the most sensual person I have ever had sex with. When we embarked on the project years ago, when you asked me to help you to be accepted as a member of my social group, I latched onto it as a way of keeping you around as you began to learn and blossom into something wonderful. You became more than just a casual friend and pupil. You became a confidant and an intimate friend. I treasure every moment I spent with you and I fell in love with the charming and sophisticated man that I created. Unlike Professor Higgins, I did not capture the heart of my pupil."
"Look, Lloyd, it's not going to be easy for you to accept your orientation. My friend, it's going to take time to adjust, but you'll come through it just fine. Go on as you always have and stop worrying about what it means. You'll find the right person one day. One thing's for sure, whoever the guy is, he'll be getting a handsome man and super person. Remember, you will always be in my heart and you will always be my dear friend. If you ever need anything, I want you to come to me."
"Now, tell me everything you can remember about this villain that has stolen your heart."
Lloyd smiled, "You will always be my best friend. His name is Randy. At the time he said he was living in Connecticut and attending Yale. He was cultured and well-dressed, I could tell he came from a well-to-do family, you taught me all about that."
"You said he was your age, so that would make him twenty-six now. Let's head down to my club and talk to some of my old cronies, perhaps they may know the guy. How many handsome guys, other than me, can there be at Yale named Randy?"
They arrived at Buddy's club twenty minutes later and the bar was packed. Buddy spotted a group of his friends at one of the large tables and joined the group. Not one guy could remember someone named Randy. Lloyd knew it was a long shot and as the evening wore on he realized that finding him was a lost cause. Buddy's friends were bright and were interesting. The crowd thinned out as time passed. Just as they were ready to leave, a man walked up to Buddy and introduced himself as Chuck Lodge, IV.
Chuck said, "I understand you were inquiring about my friend, Randy Cavanaugh?"
Buddy said, "My friend, Lloyd, is the one who wants to find Randy, if indeed Randy is the right guy. Lloyd ran into Randy several years ago in Manhattan and lost his contact information. We had a little bet going on this evening that I just won, if your Randy is the guy. I bet Lloyd that it would be easy to find this guy, because he had to be the only handsome guy, other than me, who has attended Yale in the last ten years. God, it's like taking candy from a baby."
Chuck laughed, "I graduated with Randy and both my wife and my girlfriend think I'm better looking than Randy."
Buddy said, "I made a mistake, now it's three guys in ten years. How can Lloyd get in touch with Randy?"
Chuck said, "Hold on, let me write the information down for you. Old Randy could use a friend about now. He is recovering from a nervous breakdown and has been out of the loop for a while. I haven't seen him in over a month, but if you're serious, I'll call him and see if he's going to be free tomorrow. How's that for service?"
Lloyd said, "Tomorrow morning would be great for me. I must be back in Manhattan by early afternoon."
"Let me call him right now," Chuck said.
Buddy said, "You realize this is a long shot, Lloyd. Randy may not be the guy."
"It's not a long shot," I said. "Chuck was the other guy that was with Randy that afternoon."
Chuck returned a few minutes later. "It's all set. Randy has invited you for breakfast at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
He gave Lloyd the directions to Randy's house and his telephone number in case he got lost. Chuck stayed for a drink and reminisced about the good old days at Yale. Unfortunately he didn't volunteer any more information on Randy.
The next day Lloyd had no trouble finding the house from the detailed directions Chuck had given him. He saw the quaint road sign that hung from the thick white post that read Waterview Cottage, and turned into the circular drive and parked at the front entrance.
It was a charming two story framed structure that looked to be over a hundred years old, with a widow's walk atop the house. The gray shingles and white trim reminded him of some of the homes in northern New England. The house sat in the middle of a large, beautifully landscaped tract of land with an unobstructed view of Long Island Sound. On either side of the property were huge evergreens that blocked out the view of the neighboring homes. Lloyd rang the doorbell, and was greeted by an oriental house servant.
"My name is Lloyd King. I have an appointment with Randy Cavanaugh."
"Please, come in, sir. Mr. Cavanaugh is waiting for you in the morning room." He led the way to the back of the house and into the bright sunny room.
Randy was stunned when he saw Lloyd. He extended his hand, "My God, we finally meet again," Randy said, "my handsome stranger from Manhattan. I never thought I'd ever see you again."
Lloyd was speechless and held onto Randy's hand and gazed deeply into his eyes for several seconds without saying a word.
"What a delightful surprise, please be seated," Randy said.
"I never thought I would meet you again," said Lloyd. "I hardly slept a wink last night in anticipation of our meeting. God, you haven't changed at all. You still look the same as I remember you from seven years ago. I must confess, I had no idea how I was going to explain this visit if you hadn't remembered me. I would like to think that destiny has brought us together once again."
"Are you ready for breakfast?" Randy asked.
"I'm sorry," Lloyd replied, "I'm too excited to eat. My stomach has been churning since early this morning with excitement over this meeting. I hope you have not gone to any trouble. I'll join you for a cup of tea if you want to eat."
Randy led them into the breakfast room. Kim came in, took their order and left.
"I know it's rude to stare," Lloyd told Randy, "but I can't help it. I've thought of you so many times and it's hard to believe you're actually sitting across from me. It's unbelievable."
"Please, don't apologize. I've had the same thoughts about you," Randy said. "Let's enjoy this time together. Chuck said something about your rushing off to New York this afternoon. Is that still the case, or can you say longer?"
"I wish I could stay longer; I have a million questions to ask you, but unfortunately, I'm booked on a flight for Chicago this afternoon, and will be away for two weeks, back in town for two days, then out to the West Coast. Now that I've found you, I don't want another month to pass before getting together again. I don't wish to sound brash, but may I call you while I'm on the road?"
Randy smiled, "Did Chuck happen to mention that I've been in a sanatorium for the last two years recovering from a nervous breakdown? I'm free to do anything I want as long as I continue to take my medication and get plenty of rest."
"Chuck mentioned that you had a rough time and could use some company, that's all he said."
Randy laughed, "Don't worry I'm safe around people. I won't attack you unless provoked. You sound like a busy man. Exactly what do you do?"
Lloyd explained his job and responsibilities, and the reasons for his many trips. "It will be almost impossible for me to talk to you during the day," he said. "Would it be okay if I called you in the evening?"
"That will be fine." He handed Lloyd his card. "My cell phone number is the one written on the back, the number on the front is my house phone that will also ring through to my answering service if I'm not home. Please try not to call me after 10:00 p.m. and before 5:00 A.M."
"Are you working now?" Lloyd asked.
"I keep my hand in by taking on special cases for my law firm, but I'm not back to a full schedule. I'm also occupying my time with my painting. It fills in my days when I'm not working on any special project. My art teacher tells me I have a natural talent for painting. Maybe some day I will become a commercial illustrator, or try my hand at interior design. For now it fills my day and is excellent therapy."
"How did you make your living before your breakdown?" Lloyd asked.
"I'm a tax attorney with my father's law firm. At present I'm on disability leave. Some days I feel fine and want to tackle the world. That may last for several hours, or even a whole day. Other times, I feel exhausted and have no desire to do anything. My doctor tells me that I will continue to have these mood swings until I'm fully recovered. It makes it impossible to take on any projects where my colleagues can't take over if I'm unable to continue."
"Well, Randy, I would really like to stay, but I must leave you and drive back to the big bad city to catch my plane. You'll never know how delighted I am to find you again." Lloyd handed Randy his card and said, "My private number at the office, and my cell phone number. Please call me any time, day or night if you want to talk. My secretary, Janis, will know where to find me all the time, or you can leave a message on my private voice mail."
Randy walked him to his car and said, "I still can't believe you're here, this is really great. Let's plan on getting together again when you return; we'll work something out."