Page 127 of All Roads Lead to You

Sudan was in desperate need of humanitarian aid, medicine, and a focus on human rights while working on economic rehabilitation in stable areas, among other things. It was a never-ending struggle.

At least the government let me come home several times a year, so I hadn’t been without Nick the entire time. And last year, we got to meet up in Madrid, Spain, for a couple of weeks on one of my leaves. The government also paid me the big bucks to live in such a dangerous territory, so Nick and I didn’t struggle for money.

This job also gave me much-needed experience, and I hoped to be promoted to director soon.

But my time in Sudan finally came to an end. The job had been rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Some days, I felt accomplished and successful, but sometimes there were days that just fucking fell apart.

It wasn’t only me but an entire team who had become my second family, and now I was leaving them behind and headed toward my future.

I hadn’t seen Nick in nearly six months, and I fucking missed him. I’d see him soon, but not soon enough. My flight from Khartoum to Dublin would be almost eight hours—eight hours before I saw the love of my life. My first love. My last love. My forever love.

Nick had been so patient while I lived in Africa. He never complained, but I knew it must’ve been hard on him, just like it’d been for me.

And we were still waiting for the day we could get legally married. We were in the twenty-first century now, and it was still fucking illegal. I understood a marriage license was only a legal document. Nick and I were married in every other sense of the word, but we wanted it recognized by our state and country, and to get the same benefits heterosexual couples received.

When the plane descended, my stomach lurched from the anticipation of seeing Nick. He’d been in Dublin for two days already, waiting for me. We’d explore Ireland and Scotland to find ourselves again before we headed back to Virginia.

I grabbed my carry-on from the overhead bin and walked off the plane. My heart started to hammer, and my emotions surged. Fuck, I missed him.

Before I reached the baggage claim, I stopped dead in my tracks, seeing the familiar dark brown hair, now neatly cropped, his soulful eyes scanning around, looking for me near the baggage claim. I swear, my heart fucking stopped.

His head slowly turned as if we were a magnetic force until his eyes landed on me, which soon watered, and his lip trembled, pulling the tears out of me. I brusquely wiped them away when I stood in front of him.

“Hi,” I said stupidly.

“Hi.”

I dropped my bag and pulled him into a fierce hug, and he held me back just as tightly as his body shuddered with sobs he struggled to hold in.

Ireland wasn’t exactly the most tolerant, and though men could hug sometimes, they shouldn’t linger. So, I took a deep breath of him, smelling the same, like home, before I quickly let him go and coughed away my emotions. He did the same, quickly wiping his face.

“I missed you so much,” I said.

“God, I missed you, too. I want to fucking kiss the hell out of you. The hotel isn’t too far, so we can do it there.”

Thirty minutes later, Nick and I were all over each other, stripping off our clothes and making out like we were still teenagers.

“I hate to break this up, but I need a shower or a bath or something.”

Nick grabbed my hand and smiled back at me as he led me to the bathroom. “Wait until you see this.”

The bathroom was rather large, and an old claw-foot tub was just sitting there, begging to be used. It suddenly reminded me of the day Nick took care of me when Mrs. McKnight died.

“I bet it can hold the both of us. These old tubs are bigger than what they make nowadays.”

We ran the water until it was hot and added some of the scented bath salts the hotel provided. The air filled with steam and the scent of lavender.

Nick got in first, then I followed, but I turned around so I could lean my back against his chest. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed my head.

“I’m so happy you’re back with me. God, never let them take you away from me again,” he said.

“The government does what the government wants, and there will still be traveling, but another two-year jaunt won’t be for a while. Although, I’d be more likely to be sent overseas than others who have families.”

To the U.S. government, I was a single young man who had less to lose.

“Another reason they need to legalize same-sex marriage.”

I took his hand resting on my chest and kissed it. He pulled away, grabbed the washcloth, lathered it with soap, and dragged it across my skin.

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