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

Putnam started. “I’m nothing of the kind!” He must have realized from the look Jason gave him that he’d said the wrong thing. “That is to say…physiological chemistry could be your calling,” he assured Jason “I’d be more than happy to be your advisor.”


“I’m not changing my advisor, and I won’t have an affair with you.” Jason spoke loudly enough that the couple at the next table overheard him, and they glanced his way with interest. He lowered his voice, but not by much. “If you don’t stop harassing me, Dr. Putnam, I’ll have no recourse but to lodge a complaint against you.”


Dr. Putnam glanced around and turned bright red when he saw the attention they were attracting. “But—”


“I have to go. Thank you for the Frappuccino and the lemon pound cake.”


Chapter 26