Well-known artist Ellis Williams is in a slump and feeling all his fifty-three years. He's lost the joy which used to permeate his painting and despairs of ever regaining it. It doesn't help when he runs into a young man who comes on to him to win a bet, thus destroying more of Ellis's confidence.<br><br>Then, at a party, Ellis meets Martin Lovell, a man his age whose partner died soon after they adopted their son. Will these two middle-aged men learn they should never let go of hope? Or is it too late for men their age to open themselves to the possibility of love and being loved?

Never Let Go of Hope

They sat silently for a few moments, enjoying the wine and the ambiance. The sunlight disappeared, the lights strung along the balcony above them replacing it. Between them and the candles on the table, the atmosphere was as romantic as Ellis could have hoped. Now I only have to get up the nerve to take advantage of it. Despite what Randall had said only a few hours earlier, as far as Ellis was concerned, knowing he had fallen in love with Martin and telling him were two very different things.


“You’re very pensive,” Martin said, breaking the silence.


“Only the fact, at my age, I should be able to open up to someone I…care about. I’m not a tongue-tied teenager anymore. Although you wouldn’t think it from the way I act at times.”


“We all have those moments, not matter our age,” Martin replied, taking Ellis’s hand. “Haven’t you ever told someone how you feel about them?”


Chapter 35