Taking Stock

It's 1972. Fifteen years earlier, teenage Laurie Henshaw came to live at Webber's Farm with his elderly uncle and settled in to the farming life. Now thirty-two, Laurie has a stroke in the middle of working on the farm. As he recovers, he has to come to terms with the fact that some of his new limitations are permanent and he's never going to be as active as he used to be. Will he be able to accept the helping hands his friends extend to him?<br><br>With twenty successful years in the city behind him, Phil McManus is hiding in the country after his boyfriend set him up to take the fall for an insider trading deal at his London stockbroking firm. There's not enough evidence to prosecute anyone, but not enough to clear him, either. He can't bear the idea of continuing his old stagnating life in the city or going back to his job now everyone knows he's gay.<br><br>Thrown together in a small country village, can Phil and Laurie forge a new life that suits the two of them and the makeshift family who gathers round them? Or are they too tied up in their own shortcomings to recognise what they have?

A.L. Lester · LGBT+

Not enough ratings

44 Chs

Chapter 16

“Phil,” the other man interrupted. “Please. Call me Phil.”

“Laurie, then,” Laurie said. They stared at one another for a moment. McManus…Phil…had something guarded and careful about his gaze, but probably no more than Laurie had about his own.

“Pleased to meet you, Laurie,” McManus said.

Laurie nodded at him, acquiescing. “The kettle’s probably full,” he said, sitting carefully in the chair Phil had pulled out. “The tea’s in the caddy there, on the edge of the Rayburn. And the milk’s in the pantry.” He gestured to the door. “The fridge is tucked under the cold slab.”

He watched as McManus lifted the lid of the Rayburn and slid the kettle on to the boiling plate. The range was nice and hot. Sally made it up when she arrived in the morning and she usually kept the heat up so she could stick something in the oven for dinner.

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