Something Like Winter by Jay Bell

Author:Jay Bell
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: romance, love, coming of age, gay, relationships, gay romance, gay fiction, mm romance, gay love, gay relationships, queer fiction, gay adult romance, something like summer

Chapter Nineteen

Some ghosts haunt you for life. The best you can do is make room on the couch and get used to living with them.

That’s what Eric had said before Tim made the drive back to The Woodlands. Here it was, Spring Break, when most of his fraternity brothers were flocking to the beaches for booze and babes. And Tim? He was on a familiar street in a sleepy suburban neighborhood, standing across from a house that once felt like home. Not the whole house. Just one room on the second floor. Tim wanted nothing more than to knock on the door, pat Wilford on the head when Ben answered, and trot up the stairs to their special place.

In his mind, Ben was still seventeen years old, skinny legs exposed from the knee down, because of course it was summer. Whenever Tim pictured Ben, it was always summer. He wondered, if by some twist of fate he knocked on the door and Ben answered, if he would even be recognizable. Maybe Ben had changed since high school, finally hitting a growth spurt and taking on the features of a man. Would he still be impressed by something as trivial as Tim’s muscles or marvel that he could paint?

Remembering why he had returned to The Woodlands, Tim sighed and walked down the street to his car. Then he drove a few blocks to his parents’ house. He had memories here too, so many secret nights in his bedroom, but Tim had already muddied them in his senior year, tearing them apart and fighting them to exhaustion. The memories at Ben’s house—they were untouched, still pure in his mind.

“¡Gordito!”

Tim’s hand slipped off the knob as his mother opened the door. Smiling, she pulled him into a hug. “Mom! I didn’t know you would be here.”

“Of course,” she said as she ushered him in. “You called to say you were coming.”

Just to let them know. He didn’t expect them to wait for him. “Is Dad here?”

“No, he had to work, but I took the day off. Let me look at you!”

Tim basked in her attention. She took him to the kitchen, where she began heating up some leftover rice pilaf as a snack, promising to take him out to eat for a real meal.

“Then I thought we could go shopping,” she said. “You could use some new clothes. Look how big you are!”

She made this statement like he was still growing inches taller every day. Tim smiled anyway. He wasn’t expecting a welcome like this. Not by far.

“You eat. I’ll finish getting ready.”

His mother already looked fabulous, but Tim liked that she was getting dressed up for him. If only every day could be like this. He finished the leftovers, then put the plate in the sink and went upstairs to his old room. Little had changed, aside from the clutter. He hadn’t packed much when he left for Austin. Before leaving for college, Tim moved everything from his studio to here, knowing his father would want the space back.

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