Returning the Runner

Twenty-five years ago, Hanson Swaim broke my heart and left Forestville without looking back.
I stayed. I built a life, a brewery, a reputation as the town's most reliably single bachelor.
I told myself I was over him. I told myself I deserved more than a man who would always stay in the closet. I told myself a lot of things.
Now I'm forty-six, boarding a gay cruise with a rolling suitcase and what's left of my optimism-and there he is, looking exactly like the boy who walked away from me, except older and more tired.
He's out now. He's single. And when our eyes meet, twenty-five years collapse.
I have one week at sea to decide if I can trust him with my heart again.
I'm forty-six years old. I should know better.
I don't think I do
Returning the Runner is a standalone short story in the Forestville Silver Foxes series.