Bittersweet

I flew up highway 280 into San Francisco. Traffic was light. Finding parking around Union square is always a bit dicey near the holidays, but I found a garage quickly. It was expensive, but what the heck, I was getting a free dinner at Postrio – so no problem.

The city was cold and there was a slight drizzle, but it was not foggy. I walked over to the main Brooks Brothers store and found Maurizio being fitted for a very conservative classic blue blazer. It actually looked good on him. But, then, even a burlap sack would look good on Maurizio. He's just one of those guys.

“Hey, Rich!” he called when he saw me in the mirror.

“So how was Tahoe?” I asked. “Give me details.” I didn’t really want details – but Maurizio liked being asked, and he’ll probably give them anyway.

He signed, “You know, when you plan for something and work hard for it, and get all excited in the process, and get yourself all worked up?”

“Yeah…”

He sighed and shook his head. “Well, it just wasn’t there. I don’t know, the magic, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.” He turned his head to look at me. The tailor, fiddling with some pins, got annoyed and waited for Maurizio to straighten up. “We skied.”

“Ouch, I though you were planning to forget your bindings?”

“I did. We rented.”

“Ooooh, that hurts. So I’m confused here. You’re in love, we’re dining at ‘money is no object’ Postrio, so I can meet the guy. And there’s no magic.” The tailor realized that we are talking about a guy, and smiles slightly.

“No, it’s not like that. I am in love. I just don’t think he is.”

“That’s why were here isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. He checked the sleeves in the mirror.

“Why not just get the next one that comes along, they always find you.” The tailor’s eyes widened as he paused in his pinning. Maurizio shook his head.

“This guy must be really special.” I said.

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Dinner at Postrio was wonderful. The house smoked salmon is awesome. I had a seared ahi with coconut curry sauce. I need to make more money. I could live like this everyday. We drank 2 bottles of a really good Napa Cab. Sorry, but I didn’t recognize the label, I don’t remember the winery.

As for Stuart, I didn’t see it. Not that I always can with Maurizio. But most of his boyfriends are just genuinely attractive people. You can just look at them and say, “Yeah, I get it.” Not this time. He was quite personable and charming. He just didn’t strike me as something really special.

This may be a first. I think Maurizio’s suffering from unrequited love. Poor guy.