Drew Payne

This story, like so much of my writing, is taken from reality. Nearly 20 years ago I nursed a woman with severe dementia. She was being cared for by her second husband but, because of her dementia, she had forgotten who he was but she remembered her first husband (who had been a bastard to her) and she would chatter on about him. The pain I saw in her second husband's eye when this happened was heart-breaking. I changed it to a gay couple because dementia, in gay relationships, is even less talked about than in straight couples.

Thanks, I love a little twist in the tale.

Jonathan was sat upright in his chair, staring hard at the television in front of him. On it was some daytime program about buying houses, the usual cheap and mindless rubbish they filled the morning schedule with. I sat next to him, in a matching chair, and watched it with him. We were sat together in the Care Home’s TV Lounge, a smaller lounge with a large flat-screen television fixed to one wall, with the chairs grouped in front of it. We were the only people in it, occasionally another r

Re-reading this story, before I posted it, I realised how screwed up almost everyone in it is. Certainly one of my darker stories.

This house was his pride and enjoy. Every day Karl came from work to his house, closed the front door behind himself and caught his breath, he’d congratulate himself on finally having a home all to himself, and a home he so enjoyed living in. The moment the estate agent had showed him the house Karl knew he wanted to live there, because, most of all, he could afford it; though he decided to play it cool and casual under the beady eye of that estate agent. He’d never thought he could afford a

Thank you. At the moment I am finishing off a different long read I want to post here first. I have several longer reads I started writing, previously, but didn't get them finished because I didn't know what to do with them. Since I found GA, I now know were to post them. But I will write more about Shaun and Harley, they have become a sort of fascinating of mine.

Thank you.

I want to explore their relationship in the next story in this series (trilogy). At the moment Harley seems too good to true, almost, so I want to explore more of him, his character, his motives, etc...

And you aren't wrong.

Thanks. I want to explore Harley's character in the next chapter.

I will, this story took two and a half months to write, and that's quick for me.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm so happy you enjoyed the story. That means a lot to. It may take me awhile to write the next chapter of this story, as I said to Timothy M, I've got two other stories I want to finish first, plus my non-fiction writing too, but I will write it.

I feel there's an interesting dynamic here between these two, and also this will be Shaun's first gay relationship and he's aged 37. Interesting time of life to learn how to be in a relationship. I'm looking forward to writing it but I have promised myself to finish off two other long stories first, which I feel maybe an interesting fit here too. So glad you liked the breakfast scene, it was one of the easiest scenes to write.

Thank you, that feedback makes my blush (And does me a power of good).

My plan for the second part of this story was been changed by the questions people asked in their comments. Shaun comes from a seriously f*cked-up family but why are they like that? Also, Shaun and Harley are a fascinating couple, why is Harley interested in Shaun? Can Shaun cope with a relationship with another man? He has such a poor relationship history. Lots and lots of questions. As for the seagulls, they were taken straight from real life. My husband and I had a holiday in Scarborough a few years ago (I don't recommend it, there is so little to do) and everywhere we went we were stalked they those damn seagulls, they were as creepy as hell and bloody bold. They will appear in another story of mine, they were too creepy and too good not to use again. Thank you for feedback and support. I always worry about my writing and will people like it. I was swept away by the response I got here.

Thank you for the feedback. I am so amazed at how people have taken to this story. It is full of themes that I love writing about and people have seemed to enjoyed reading them. It may take me a little while to write the rest of this story but I'll be posting more different stories here soon. The feedback I get on GA is amazing and has done me so much good as a writer.

The hotel’s dining room was at the back of the building, perched on the edge of the cliff, with a wide view of the Scarborough beach. Shaun had wondered, the first time that he’d seen that room, whether it had once been a Palm Court or Sun Room, it certainly wasn’t like any other dining room he’d ever been in before. The room was a huge, a conservatory-like construction, white wooden framed windows that made up three of the walls and half of the roof. In the summer, like that morning, the mornin

Thank you, I'm so glad you're enjoying it. I broke my ankle three years ago, I managed to break all the main bones in it at once, and I still need to use a walking stick to walk any distance. Though that's all Shaun and I do have in common.

Yes he is but can Shaun do that? That's what I want to write about in the second and third novella in this series. I want to write about what I really enjoy writing about, people's relationships.

Shaun sat on his bed, his left leg stretched out as far he could manage in front of him, as he slowly swallowed his morning’s pain killers, dressed only in a fresh pair of underpants and a white tee-shirt. Three different pain killers and one tablet to lower his stomach’s acid, to help ease the pain killers’ side effects. He was slowly swallowing them with the aid of another can of diet coke from his tiny fridge, the drink was refreshingly cold as it washed down each tablet, one at a time. This

I just want to say keep reading, life twists and turns.

Wow what a wonderful summary of the story, and the Thoreau quote runs through so much of my writing, not just this story. I hope you have kept reading because this story is typical of my writing, and were you think its going is not always were the story ends up. Thank you for the feedback, you have identified so many of the themes I wrote about.

Thank you for your feedback, I really value it. Shaun really doesn't know Harley yet either, but when I write the second instalment, I plan to delve much more into Harley's character and his actions. I just have to write it.

It’s not much of a spoiler to say that I find Shaun and Harley a fascinating couple and I want to tell more of their story. That's why I am planning to do. My plan is that this will be the first part of the story, with parts two and three to come. The problem is that I've planned parts two and three, I just haven't written them yet. I will.

Shaun slowly turned his head and looked at his travel clock, which he’d perched on the bedside table. Its glowing green digits told him it was three-forty in the morning. Something had woken him from his sleep. His mind tried to search for what was wrong, what had woken him. Then, a moment later, he realised what was different, he was lying next to Harley, who was deeply asleep, he was sharing this bed with Harley. He’d been woken by Harley turning over in his sleep. Harley now lay on his le