New Orleans Second Lines by Lynn Lorenz

Author:Lynn Lorenz [Lorenz, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63533-432-6
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2017-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

SEBASTIAN GOT out of the chair and went to the bookcase. He didn’t have to search. Even blindfolded he could reach right for the old photo album, the one he always sought for comfort. Once in his hands, he caressed it, held it to his chest, and went back to the chair.

He sat and laid it on his lap.

“So much time has passed, Frank.” Sebastian sighed. With a shaking hand, he opened it and gazed lovingly at the pictures. He and Frank at a club. Frank and he dressed as nuns on Mardi Gras. With friends in a sailboat on Lake Pontchartrain. Frank in a bathing suit on the beach in Biloxi. He and Frank celebrating one of their birthdays here in the cottage.

“Our time together was too short, beloved.” He turned the pages, watching as both of them aged, growing from their thirties to their forties and at the final pictures, the year before Frank died, their fifties. Two decades spent together, and it hadn’t been enough.

He closed the album and rested his hands, palms down on top of it, soaking in the love he felt just holding this part of Frank, images of their times together. Mostly happy times.

Mostly.

Every couple had their fights, and they had been no exception. But they’d always made up, always said I’m sorry and Forgive me and I love you.

“It should have been me, beloved. I’d been the promiscuous one, the one with all the lovers. The history of unsafe sex. You were always so careful, weren’t you? Even after you swore to me you’d never been with anyone once you and I found each other.”

Sebastian sighed. “We both know that was a lie.”

He’d known it from the moment Frank had told him about the test results. That the cough wasn’t pneumonia or bronchitis, but worse, much worse.

All their vows had been for nothing. Frank had cheated, and his betrayal came with a death sentence.

“We would have been safe, Frank. We would have still been together.” Sebastian wiped tears from his cheeks with his hankie, knowing that might not be the truth. Things happened, couples grew apart, split up, argued and didn’t forgive.

He’d forgiven Frank. Forgiven him for cheating. Forgiven him for getting sick. Even forgiven him for dying and leaving him alone.

Now he tried to only remember the good times, their love, and their friendship. The laughter, the dancing, the dinners, and the quiet nights. All the love they’d made.

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