Mark is a man on the horns of a dilemma. He's in the midst of a five-year affair with a married man and he wants out ... but isn’t sure he can give up his lover.<br><br>Austin, who lives in the apartment building across the street from Mark, has his own problems. Two years earlier, the man he loved died in a horrible auto accident. Austin is still trying to come to terms with seeing it happen, and dealing with the aftermath.<br><br>After watching Mark from his balcony, making up stories about what he sees, Austin decides to meet him. Will the meeting help the two come to grips with their problems? And if it does, can they move on to something more than possible friendship?

The Man on the Balcony

Mark laughed. “There are limits to what a customer will accept. She’ll put on buttons, or fake the proper closure, then hide the zipper under the flap. That way everyone’s happy.”


“Menswear, sure. No way I’d expect her to make tuxes and tailcoats, or slacks and shirts to go with them. The same with gangster suits, or relatively modern women’s clothing. There are retro shops online specializing in them and we’ll pick up what we need from ones we trust.”


“What about…hmm…Santa costumes?”


Mark grinned. “Do not mention the word Santa in front of Sara. She’ll shoot you. Thankfully, at this point, we have all we need of them, and elves.”


“There’s more to running a costume shop than I’d ever imagined.”


“It keeps us busy, depending on the season.”


Now what do we talk about? Austin wondered when neither one of them seemed to have anything more to say about their respective jobs. “Are you hungry, yet?”


Chapter 16