Something Like Stories - Volume One by Jay Bell

Author:Jay Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: anthology, lgbt, homosexual, short stories, gay sex, gay romance, mm romance, gay love, queer fiction, something like summer

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Something Like Tonight

by Jay Bell

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Austin, 2015

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I’ve got nothing left to give. I’ve dug deep, just as I once did while tilling the soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface so new life could grow and thrive. The farm is long gone, as is my soul, pulled and stretched from so many directions that it was torn to pieces. I’d give anything to have those tattered remnants back, or to feel the dirt beneath my fingernails again, but some things can’t be bought. Not once they’ve been sold.

Allison Cross looked up from the script, the breath catching in her throat. She almost expected, when gazing across the table, to see tears pouring down the face of the man seated there. Instead her husband seemed anxious as he rubbed his brown hair, a bad idea since he didn’t have much left. Not on top, anyway. The sides were trimmed short to match the length of his beard. He was nothing like the men Allison had fawned over in her youth—ripping their images from magazines and taping them to her bedroom wall—but Brian Milton had different qualities that made her swoon, such as now, when he appeared so adorably vulnerable.

“What do you think?” Brian asked, his eyes darting to the script.

“You changed the ending,” Allison said.

Brian nodded. “It’s good to leave the audience crying. Isn’t it? Or do you think it’s too sad? I can change it back!”

“I like it,” Allison said quickly. “I really do. It’s just…” She scanned the final paragraph. “This is heavy stuff! Where are you drawing it from? Is this how you feel?”

Brian laughed. “No! Of course not. Are you saying that people won’t be able to relate?”

“Not at all.” Just the opposite, in fact. The plot might have been a little maudlin, but at times Allison felt equally drained, pulled in too many directions at once. She had never wondered if Brian felt the same. They were parents now, which ate up a lot of their time. In addition to raising a three-year-old child, they had their marriage to maintain, as well as their separate careers. Her work as a therapist presented its own challenges, and Brian’s job was equally demanding. Not only was he partial owner of a dinner theater, but also the director of each production and occasionally the writer of the season’s featured play. Those were some daunting responsibilities. Aside from his hair jumping ship, he seemed to handle them well. Or so she had thought. “You would tell me if this is how you felt.”

“Yes!” Brian insisted. “You know me. I’m an open book. Or an open script. Ha ha.”

“Okay,” Allison said, questioning her taste momentarily. Brian was a nice guy, but he wasn’t exactly cool. In high school and college she had dated guys with their own bands, or pretty boys who preened themselves constantly, or athletes from just about every sports team on campus. Brian didn’t have the body or the looks or the moves, but he was kind. Honest and trustworthy too, traits which were considerably rarer and worth more to her these days.

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