Ben Haggerty is devastated when he returns home from work to discover his lover of eight years has gone off to complete his master's degree at another college -- and left no forwarding address. Not only has Ben chosen Rick over his beloved family, but he's supported his boyfriend both financially and emotionally the entire time. Unable to remain in their shared apartment, Ben moves and spends a miserable holiday season alone. With the New Year, however, he's determined to make a fresh start, so he manages to obtain Rick's address and sends him a card asking if Rick ever plans to return. Somehow, the card winds up in the wrong mailbox.<br><br>Jason Prescott is a genius, having obtained his first master's degree at twenty-one and now working on his second. When he receives a card in error, he returns both the card and a card of his own to be courteous, expressing his hopes Ben can get in touch with his boyfriend. This begins a correspondence that leads to friendship, and ... the start of something more? Jason introduces Ben to his family and reunites him with his own.<br><br>But will Jason, who's even smarter than Rick, be satisfied with someone as ordinary as blue-collar Ben feels himself to be? Or will Rick, realizing what he's let slip through his fingers, manage to persuade Ben to take him back?

Always, Ben

Hugs? Hugs? Who did he think Ben was, someone he’d met online? What had happened to “love?” What had happened to seven years together?


There was a PS, but Ben didn’t have the heart to read it just then. More depressed than he’d been since he’d left his family in DeKalb, he muttered, “I need a drink.”


Although that might not be a good idea, since he was almost staggering with weariness by the time he reached the kitchen and opened the fridge. He stared into it stupidly for a moment. Where had the six-pack of Budweiser gone? He was positive he hadn’t drunk it. He’d been so tired when he’d come home from work this past week and a half that he’d barely been able to stay awake long enough to shower, eat dinner, and hit the sheets.


Chapter 7