Bill, a young gay man living in California, returns to Boston in the summer of 1987 to visit his old college roommate and briefly lover, David. He, David, and their buddy Lou drive to Provincetown for a week's gay vacation, where the old ties of friendship among them deepen. But their good time is threatened by increasingly volatile personalities and a growin AIDS epidemic encircling them in an ever tighter grasp.<br><br>Their emotions explode one evening with the unexpected arrival of George, whose added presence brings to a head the simmering anxieties, fears, and resentments these friends have long harbored but have not openly shared. Will their friendships fall apart? Or will they discover a deeper love that binds them together?

Maid Service

David’s extended arm met George’s halfway.


“How’s everything going?” David asked after exhaling.


“Aw, you know. Didn’t get into that trial.”


“There’s always another,” George replied after exhaling himself. “Someone wants to win a Nobel Prize.”


Lou emerged from the steamy bathroom with one towel around his waist and another wrapped about his head as a turban. As he walked across the room, his gold pinkie ring dripped a few drops of water and he left wet footprints on the floor.


“You degenerates. Drugs! Contraband! Bill, be a doll and make your auntie a tall, cool, legal one.”


Bill was playing at bartender when Lou come out of his bedroom fully dressed but with the turban still on. He grabbed the drink out of Bill’s hand before he could offer it.


“Make room for mother, boys,” Lou said, but then he sat in a chair several feet away.


Chapter 18