My boss John Daniel and I, or "JD" as I called him, were at dinner.

He called it a bonus-- and we'd driven up the coast to Santa Barbara for dinner at a famous four star restaurant he'd read about in the New York Times.

It deserved four stars because the food was fabulously bizarre.

Seafood I'd never even dreamed of, sauces that tasted as if they'd been flown in fresh from Paris, and an impeccable wine list. Everything from the flowers to the service was award winning. God knows how much this was going to cost.

And in my heart, I had a bad feeling. My instincts were telling me there was more than a bonus here, and more than just an employer/employee relationship. But then another course would come and JD and I would flip out, going over every single nuance of the meal -- the flavors, the herbs, and the design.

It felt so good to be spending dinner, especially a dinner like this, with someone who appreciated it. Someone I could relate to, who knew what I was going to say even before I said it. It seemed we agreed on everything, to the point where it became embarrassing.

The Chef came to our table and ordered us to stop eating for a while. He brought over a special bottle of wine, poured it himself and said we should take a break, then in his French accent he said, "I have somzeeng verry special for you two genteelman."

And he went away, leaving us excited and scared...

We took some time to savor the wine, a Cabernet I'd never heard of... the wine reminded me of Eric.

"So, JD.... how did you first meet Eric?" I asked boldly.

He went on and on about how they'd met in college back east, how JD had been so nervous and confused about having sex with a man. They'd only had sex once but the time leading up to it was about six months. He had finally realized, at the time he said pointedly, that he simply preferred sex with women. When he told Eric, he was crushed.

That was why Eric refused to even discuss JD... I had figured as much.

"But Eric is a gorgeous man, Andrew. I'll say that. He was amazing that one time we had sex-- so courageous, so confident. I figured if I didn't go wild over sex with Eric Lewis, that was a pretty good sign I was straight... or so I thought at the time."

I gulped. "What do you mean?"

"Just that I was only 21 or 22... I didn't know the first thing about anything, let alone libido and sexual preferences. Then about five years later I met Marie. She was the most incredible woman on earth. She still is. She's beautiful, smart, funny, sexy, and best of all-- French."

I asked him if he had a thing for the French and he said, "Only that they understand food better than any other culture and since that was my passion and my career, it was right.

"What are your kids' names?" I asked.

"Dominique and Sandra," he said, smiling at the thought of his two daughters. "And I want more," he continued. "But Marie is done with having kids -- she's sure of that. I don't blame her, but I gotta admit, I'm a sucker for little boys."

"Me, too," I said and he laughed. I joined him laughing and we toasted, "TouchÚ," he laughed...

TouchÚ.