A bittersweet short story about a lifetime love affair. Henry and Jim have spent a life in love, from the very first date arranged by Henry's sister, through the rocky times they worked to make ends meet, and into their twilight years.<br><br>Old men now, Henry reminisces about the love they've shared as he learns to cope with Jim's fading memory and his own fear of being forgotten by the only man he's ever loved.

Henry and Jim

“It’s almost ready,” I promise, extracting myself from his


friend, right up until the day she got married to someone else.


By then the two of us had an apartment together, and at the


reception my mother introduced us as simply, “Henry and Jim.” Not


friendor roommate, just Jim—in those days, no one


felt compelled to define us further. My mother treated him like one


of the family when we visited, and that was all I wanted. Let her


believe we slept in separate bedrooms, if that’s what she needed to


We bought this house in ’64; the market was


good and the realtor didn’t question both our names on the


mortgage. Jim was in college at the time, working nights at the


packing plant just to pay his half of the bills. We had plans for


the house—I wanted a large garden and Jim loved to swim, but we


didn’t have the extra money to sink into landscaping yet; we


Chapter 3