My father met a lovely woman named Sandy, and they got married about a year and a half after my mom died. My dad settled back down. The same was not true of me. I moved back to the old house in Dawg-patch. Funny, as much shame and hatred I had of that house, when it became mine I was quite content to live there. I had never lived alone before, and now at age 24, I was finally on my own. But I still didn't have a job.
A month before my 25th birthday, I met Daren Marklin. I had seen him at Odds, the local gay bar in Wichita Falls. One guy I knew described him as being"like one of those big rubber balls, bouncing around everywhere."Apt description. One night he went home with one of my friends to my house, and passed out on my bed.My friend Mike had gotten him over to my house because I was too scared to ask him out.He woke up the next day, and we started talking.I was so in love with him. Three days later he moved in. Things seem to happen really really fast around me.
I really loved Daren That first year. But it freaked me out that he drank a case and a half of beer a day, having six or seven before he went to work. What also freaked me out was his close relationship with Lewis Jernigan, a 50 year old man who happened to be his ex-lover. I found out later they were still fucking the whole time we were together.
Daren got a job at the Olive Garden, and got me one there as well. It was my first job, and I was damn good at it, getting employee of the month twice.Over the next seven years we were together, Daren cheated on me continuosly. I began to think...well, this is what gay relationships are all about, and started cheating as well, but carefully. I quit having sex with Daren because I was afraid of who he might have been with.I eventually left Olive Garden, and finally got a job working for a nursery. I had always loved plants and gardening, and finally found my calling.
During our relationship, we had several fights. Daren would hit me when he got drunk, and if I was drunk, I would beat the hell out of him. He called the police one night after a particularly bad fight and I went to jail. I couldn't believe what I had become. I am a lot of things, but violent is not one of them.Daren brought out the worst in me.
One night, Daren said he was leaving to go live with Lewis. I was hurt, but really only afraid of being alone.My house was beginning to fall apart(it was over 70 years old) and so was my life. The only good thing I got out of those seven years was my friend (and hairdresser!)Linda Silva. She is one of my favorite people on this earth, and so ab-fab that it hurts.
So what was next? I was so alone, and felt as if I was destined to stay that way.
