Dear Author, He was the boy I spent my summers with; every long, hot summer holiday by the beach. For six weeks every year, he was my best friend, my partner-in-crime, and eventually my first kiss, my first everything. And then one year, what should have been our last summer before university, he wasn’t there. He didn’t come back. I waited all summer. Now, ten years later, on a different beach, in a different town, another country, we run into each other and all those old feelings come rushing back. Photo Description: The black-and-white photo shows two handsome, well-built, bare-chested young men, kissing passionately as they lie in the shallow waves on a beach. Still wearing their jeans, they look like they have tumbled into the water, so caught up in the moment and their love for each other they are oblivious to the world around them. This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love is an Open Road" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.