As usual, Colin woke early Christmas morning. He tried to lie still to give his lover some more rest; he’d seemed stressed and distracted the past couple of days.
It had been great seeing his family and friends again. But there was also an element of sadness and finality about saying goodbye. Hopefully there’d be occasional visits home, but he knew it wasn’t as easy to hop on a plane as it was to drive down the M1.
Colin had been amazed and moved at the number of gifts he and Martin had been given—way too many to fit in their suitcases. Harry had promised to post them to Australia in the New Year.
Colin had noticed that close to the bottom of Martin’s suitcase had been a poorly wrapped box bearing a tag with Colin’s name on it. As the paper hadn’t been secured, Colin thought he should h
