One More Time by Caitlin Ricci

Author:Caitlin Ricci [Ricci, Caitlin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63476-299-1
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2015-09-20T16:00:00+00:00

I DIDN’T hear from Caleb again until the next afternoon. “Hello?” I answered my phone when I saw it was him calling. I’d been avoiding all other calls but my dad’s.

“Do you still love him?” he asked without saying hi.

I was in my apartment even though it was only two in the afternoon. My dad had sent me home early since I was snapping at people over e-mail, even the nice older ladies who wanted to have a handsome police officer at their book club meeting while they talked about some murder mystery. I was off work until the following Monday, which would have been nice except I didn’t want to spend my time off with anyone other than the one person who had kicked me out of his house.

“No,” I answered honestly. I sat down on my bed and looked out the window at the grocery store. “I did, when he was my Simon. But the man I loved, the one I wanted to be with forever, he’s been gone a long time.”

“Is he the reason you don’t have relationships?” Caleb continued.

“He’s the reason I don’t want to fall in love again and get hurt,” I clarified. I’d loved Simon with everything I had. There was no going back from that kind of love, and I knew sex with strangers wasn’t something that was necessarily healthy or good for me. But I was an adult, and I had needs they helped fulfill. There was nothing wrong with what I did, though I was pretty sure Caleb didn’t agree with me.

After a few moments of silence during which I let him think, and I stared at a woman trying to juggle a shopping basket and three kids, not a single one of which was behaving as the shopping cart started to roll away from her, he asked, “Do you want a friend to go with you tomorrow?”

“I’d like that. Know of anyone who’s available?” I tried to joke with him.

I heard him chuckle, and it made me smile. “What time should I be ready to go?”

“Four probably. It’ll take a little while to get down there and find parking. And, Caleb, I got a hotel room for the night since I didn’t know if I could handle driving back. I’ll reserve one for you too.”

I didn’t expect him to stay with me in the same room, and I hadn’t even considered that as a possibility.

“Reserve it and I’ll pay for it myself.”

It wasn’t right of him for pay for a hotel room because I wouldn’t be able to come back up to Thornwood immediately after saying good-bye to Simon, and I was ready to argue with him, but he was apparently done talking to me before I could even begin to say what I wanted to.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He hung up on me and I sighed as I let the phone fall back onto the bed. I was bored in my townhouse that evening, but I didn’t want to go out and see people either.

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