When I moved to L. After 21 years as an English professor in Ithaca, N. I went on a lot of dates. Those are stories for another time. I met a really handsome guy. Turns out he was looking for a sugar daddy. After dating a stuntman, a film director, the brother of a famous actress, an executive at Capitol Records and a guy who made ice sculptures for the major award shows, I became somewhat well-versed in Hollywood lingo as well as with the kind of men you meet in L.
I came to the unfortunate realization that my previous life as an academic made no sense to my dates nor was it even slightly interesting. Having a PhD was about as impressive as training worms to slither in a straight line. To the men I met, talking to young people about ideas and art seemed like a 19th century activity akin to embroidering in the drawing room. We spoke different languages. Just recently I glanced at Bumble and saw a handsome man who was visiting from New York. He had graduated from my alma mater with a degree in English!
We met at the Malibu Farm bar overlooking the ocean. He looked like Peter Lawford back in the day and had that Cape Cod-ish style, relaxed but cleanly clipped. We were only meeting for a drink, but it turned into a three-hour meal with laughter and chemistry and then some delicious kissing in his car. Our texting the next day involved several literary references.
My Peter Lawford was a little brusque â no touching and not much warmth. I took a sip of water. I desired this person, madly. Within minutes he was getting up, leaving a table full of food. We said goodbye. You made me feel dirty.
I made him feel dirty? I wrote back again apologizing for reacting to him based on past experience. Wanna Fâ? I thought love was about how I felt in the moment. Then I embarked on a roller coaster of a health journey with Carl. Despite our original connection, we did not speak the same language, I guess. No one feels dirty until we do â at the same time, and El Matador beckons. And then the credits come up. The author is a college counselor and a freelance writer. Affairs chronicles the search for romantic love in all its glorious expressions in the L.
