Someone to Love

But the man snatched his hand away as if he had been touched with a lit match. And, stricken, Tomas lowered his face and apologized profusely. This Web site idea had been a complete failure, he told himself in the silence that followed. Nothing had gone right. This wasn’t the way to find what he wanted.

Hearing the sob, however, he looked up. The man was looking intently at Tomas. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Once again, Tomas tried to apologize, but the man reached over and placed a finger on Tomas’s lips.

“Please, no, Tomas. You have done nothing wrong,” the man whispered. “It’s just that you are so, so much like my Peter. Not in looks, of course, but inside—in your heart and in your kindness. You are so kind to be spending time with a tired old man like me. So kind. So much . . . like . . . Peter.”