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An age-gap M/M romance novella about making beautiful music during lockdown.
When all three of his roommates moved out, Davy Sun’s living situation was a mess. Then friends of a friend offered their pool house for the duration, and it was an offer too good to refuse.
The last thing Davy expected while he was living in some random rich person’s backyard was to meet the man of his dreams. But it turned out the rich guy was friendly with guitarist Barry Teller, who came over to give an open-air lesson.
The lesson turned into a picnic dinner, and then some playing and singing on the patio. Turned out Barry really liked Davy’s voice … and he wanted to hear it from up close.
Content alert: this story is set in the real world of 2020.
Adult situations, themes, and language, with a happy ending.
- 2 To Be Read lists
Publisher: Independently Published
Genres:
Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 3
Romantic Content: 5
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 26-35
Protagonist 2 Age: 36-45
Tropes: Age Difference, True Love
Word Count: 30,500
Setting: Los Angeles
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Same Universe / Various Characters
Barry parked his car on the curve of the driveway, since the spaces near the house were occupied. The housekeeper must be there today. Sacha was approaching from the back. “Barry, hi. Come on in.” Holding the gate open, doing one of those subtle head movements that told a person to look somewhere. Barry obediently looked past him to the pool, where someone was hauling out. Made some kind of sound and nearly dropped his guitar case. “That’s our new tenant Davy Sun.”
The guy noticed that Sacha had someone with him. He lunged for a towel, wrapping it around himself as if he were embarrassed. Why anybody with an ass like that would be embarrassed was a mystery. Barry stopped in his tracks, turned maybe forty-five degrees away. Hand on hip, head down, one knee bent. “You all right there?” Sacha sounded amused.
READ MOREBarry bit his lip and took a slow breath through his nose. Cleared his throat and spoke very low. “Popped a boner so fast I think I sprained my dick. Jesus.”
Sacha was definitely laughing now, the bastard. He didn’t respond to Barry. Instead he called out, “Come and join us in an hour or so, Davy. I want you to meet Barry.”
“Yeah, okay! Thanks!” The sound of a door closing.
Barry turned around to face Sacha again. “Who in the hell.” He wasn’t even sure why this particular person set off this particular reaction.
“Works for APLA. Occasional drag queen. Musician.”
“Musician?”
“Plays keyboards. We were talking one night and he said he used to play snare in the high school drum line. And he’s a singer.”
“Have you heard him?”
“Mm-hmm. He’s shy but by the end of dinner we might be able to talk him into jamming a little.”
They were moving again now, toward the poolside patio and its row of loungers. A couple normal chairs were out there too, more upright. Better for playing guitar. Barry decided to drop the subject of Davy Sun. A lot of his questions would probably get answered if the guy joined them for dinner. For now, he was going to see if Sacha had been practicing since the last time they worked together.
Unsurprisingly, he had. They reviewed a couple things from the maybe-an-album list, then settled in to work on a new idea of Sacha’s. Barry made him sing it the third time through. “This too-shy-to-sing business is bullshit, by the way.” Sacha laughed under his breath. Barry sat back, stretched out his legs, stared at his student-slash-host. “Why this song?”
“Oh, it’s about Charlie. ‘Your love is better than ice cream.’ And I was looking for another pop waltz to put with all these others. My voice just isn’t right for the INXS song.”
Barry frowned. “If you say so.”
“Well, you should hear Davy do it.” Sacha looked over toward the house, where the back door was opening. “Here comes dinner.”
“Should I get my car out of the way? Is Cecilia hanging out for a while?” He had no idea what the housekeeper’s schedule might be now.
“I’ll go see.” Sacha set down his guitar, stretched his back, and walked over to the house. Barry half-listened to the conversation, which seemed to indicate Cecilia would join them, which meant he didn’t have to do anything right away. After a minute, while she and Charlie were bringing food out, he moved the guitars and went through the carport door to the powder room. Wondering if Davy was going to join them for real, hoping he was. Why this one. Maybe it was just because it’d been so damn long since he got any action. Two hours later he still didn’t know what it was.
The socially-distanced picnic dinner included wine. Barry paced himself, but between the five of them they’d be polishing off two bottles. Davy was clearly uneasy at first – Sacha wasn’t kidding when he said the guy was shy – but loosened up with the second glass. After a while Barry offered a refill; they made eye contact. Davy started to say something, then simply nodded. Keeping his eyes on Barry through the whole walking over with bottle, refilling glass operation. “I’ve been following you since ‘Songs Unheard,’” he said quietly, the first sentence he’d addressed directly to Barry.
“Oh yeah? Sacha said you’re a keyboard guy.”
“Mmm. But I like your hair.” He said it in a rush, glancing away, voice low and a little rough.
Oh. Bam, there was the boner again. Because that sentence had nothing to do with music and everything to do with sex. “I like yours too.”
Davy blushed. “Oh, but it’s such a mess. Since the lockdown I just went to hell. Stopped shaving, let the hair grow out, gained fifteen pounds.” One arm wrapped around his waist as if to disguise it.
This was a conversation now. Barry was half-aware that his hosts were talking amongst themselves. Well, Sacha knew he was attracted to this guy. If he wanted to get Barry’s attention, he knew how. He sat cross-legged on the patio, six feet from Davy, and said, “You look great. Do you like the pool?”
“Oh my God I love it. I’ve never lived in a place with a pool.”
“Me neither. Sacha tried to teach me to swim a few years back.” Barry made a face. “Had to settle for dog-paddle.”
“He didn’t tell me how you guys met.”
Barry silently blessed the man for giving him an opening to talk about himself, so he wouldn’t ask a bunch of questions he had no business asking yet. “Four years ago when Sacha and Charlie started working on their movie, the one about Sacha and Jerry – did you see it?” Davy nodded. Barry went on. “They were looking for a song to use. Found ‘Iris’ and got a license to do a cover. Sacha wanted to play it. Had to learn guitar. Somehow found me.” Davy was smiling. Barry watched him take another sip of wine, thought about how his mouth would taste, firmly redirected his thoughts. “We got kind of friendly. Sacha tends to do that, he’s a people person, you might have noticed.” A soft laugh from Davy, something between a huff and a purr, which didn’t help Barry’s hard-on situation at all.
COLLAPSELike Alexandra Caluen’s other books, Come to Me is gentle, a bit lyrical, and sweetly tender. It is not filled with angst or trauma, although one of the central characters, Barry Teller, has something of an unhappy past. It is not a past so different from many gay men of his (or even my) age.
What made this book a particular pleasure for me is the fact that it is written, with intent and care for detail, as a document of the 2020 pandemic year. It was almost as if I’d been waiting for someone to do this, as it gave me an odd sense of relief. In its own way, it’s a perfect jewel of a romance.
Barry is a semi-successful musician, making his career in the entertainment world in Los Angeles. And then COVID hits, the world shuts down, and performers of all kinds are pushed to the edge. They scrabble to adapt and survive.
Davy Sun, on the other hand, has a steady job and quite readily shifts to working from home after lockdown. His problem is that, working for a non-profit means he has to share an apartment with other young professionals. As his roommates peel off to return home or otherwise seek shelter during the pandemic, Davy finds he can’t afford the rent and casts about desperately for a new place to live.
In Los Angeles, it’s all about who you know, and Davy knows Ro, with whom he used to do a little light drag for fun. Ro’s boyfriend in England knows people in Los Angeles; and they know people. This leads Davy to Charlie and Sacha.
Charlie and Sacha lead Davy to Barry. This is no spoiler, because it all happens very early in the book. The point of the short book is these two men—one 35 and one 46—meeting each other because of a global crisis; but more than that, it’s about how this pandemic (in which we’re still living, although less fearfully now) changed the world. It’s also about how we all adjusted to it, in spite of death and economic upheaval. Good things happened during the plague year of 2020, and this book is about one of those things.
Come to Me is not a big book. It is a little love story set in a dark time. It is like a bright little blossom blooming in a desert. This is not the first plague gay men have faced, and both Davy and Barry offer us insight into the legacy of resilience that has always been part of our shared history.
Four stars.
