Read Siempre for Free Online Page B

already annoyed she’s clearly recruited you to this argument with one conversation.” Jaime turned back to the computer and started saving the files he had open. For a minute, Sean wondered if he was waiting for Sean to actually come out and ask, but when Sean opted to stay silent, Jaime seemed to take that as enough of a prompt.
    “I’m out here. Even with Lupe here, I only see her a few times a week. If she signs with the company and moves to the city, it’s still a big enough city, or if it seems not to be, there are a lot of web design and development jobs in California. I can get something with it, I’m sure. I do graphics at school, but I’ve done programming at work and on my own. If I go home, out isn’t an option. It’s just not. As long as I’m a thousand miles away, it’s easy to separate.”
    “You’re never planning to tell them?” Sean forced himself not to choke on the words as he tried to ignore the weight on his chest that shouldn’t be there if Jaime was throwing out the option to move to California without even thinking about him.
    “There’s not really a point. I know how it would go, so why bother? We’re Catholic. Eventually, I might have to say I broke up with Lexi or something, but they’ll get over that.” Jaime hit the button to turn off his monitor and turned around to face him. “As long as I have a job and I’m doing what I’m supposed to, they don’t ask about anything else. I only see them once or twice a year.”
    “Don’t you want to tell them the truth?”
    “It’s not just about what I want, Sean. My mom worked hard so I can be here, so I could even go to college, because she never could. The church helped her do that. It would kill her if I just left it.”
    “You don’t have to pick. There are out Catholics. People change.”
    “Your people change. Not my people,” Jaime said. “Drop it, okay? It doesn’t matter if they know.”
    Sean swallowed his instinct to ask how it could not matter forever, and moved up the bed as Jaime lay back down next to him.
     
     
    S UN WAS already streaming through the window when Sean stretched and rolled over to reach the other side of the bed to find it empty. As he woke up, he could hear voices in the kitchen but couldn’t make out any words. His clothes were still on the floor were they had fallen as Jaime stripped him on the way to the bed, but his phone had been left for him on the nightstand. He had one message from Alana from late the night before.
    I talked Travis into making steaks tomorrow night. Will you be home by 7 or should I pretend I need to eat later so he doesn’t say it’s Jaime’s job to feed you if he keeps you all day?
    He sent off a text that he’d be home by five before sitting up in the bed. He should probably go out there. Maybe Jaime had gotten up because he was hungry or bored, and if he’d tried to wake Sean up, that probably hadn’t worked well. He knew halfhearted attempts to wake him up were usually so unsuccessful that he didn’t even remember them, and the last time he’d stayed over, Jaime had needed to get up early for a meeting, so Sean had known in advance he’d wake up alone. This time, he’d hoped for a lazy morning in bed without even realizing it. Maybe Jaime was just a morning person. He’d never actually known a morning person before. Even Travis slept until nine on Sunday mornings unless he had a reason not to. It was only ten now. He would have rolled over and gone back to sleep if Jaime had still been asleep next to him. Once, Travis had dated a girl who got up every morning at eight and ran a mile. What if Jaime was like that?
    Or maybe he’d decided to get up because lying in bed with Sean in the morning without sex wasn’t something he was interested in. Maybe a few weeks into dating was too early for Sean to sleep over a second time. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d thought a guy wanted him around more than he really did, but Jaime couldn’t have