Coming Back Home

"But no one ever made me feel as cared for as you did. There was never anyone who made me feel as safe and ... cherished ... curled up against them. Not even close."

She paused, then continued. "When I say I care for you ... I mean I've loved you since I was eighteen, and I plan to keep on loving you until forever." Her expression turned tender.

"I just needed to finish growing up before I came back home."

She leaned in and kissed me softly. I didn't resist. I was in shock as feelings long buried and presumed dead burst out of deep recesses in which they'd lurked.

She took my chin in her hand and made me look at her as she quietly said, "This is what I want, the man I've loved almost a third of my life. And unless you can lie with a straight face one more time and tell me that you don't want me, I'm here to stay. There are no more visits because I'm not leaving. Are you going to lie again?"

I didn't. I couldn't. I took her upstairs ... and let her have the right side of the bed.

I hope you enjoyed a bit of age-gap romance. Thanks to norafares and MsCherylTerra for reading it while it was being worked on and making it much better. —C