Review: Witness by L.A. Gilbert

Ben Jenkins is a down-to-earth cop leading a quiet life in a big, empty house. Visits to the gay bars scratch an itch, but they don't really satisfy, and though he's used to the quiet, he recognizes that the empty feeling plaguing him of late is loneliness. It takes a police cruiser and a ten-speed to bring him together with Reece Withers, a bike messenger and photographer who's still waiting for his big break to arrive. Ben's pretty sure what he's feeling is love, but they both have old hurts that need to heal before they can live and live well... together.

 I AM A WITNESS

I have been given a gift.  I was given the opportunity to witness what happens when two lonely souls find the other half to their heart.  I got to witness them meet.  To become friends.  To share their lives with each other.  To fall in love.

These men don’t have superpowers.  They don’t shift into animals or have super human strength or speed.  They don’t kick ass.  They aren’t rich or powerful.  They are just simple, every day normal folk doing simple, every day normal things.

And I was witness to it.

Reece had told him once that taking pictures was a small window into another person’s life, his way of witnessing just a small part of it.  A completely bare and honest glimpse into that someone’s heart.

This is what I was given.

There is no major buildup to a grand climax here.  There’s no message.  There’s no angst.  There’s not even a moral to this story.  This is simply a snapshot of their life together.  A window into their world.  It’s just a story.  But it is a beautiful tale that I feel fortunate to have been made privy to.

I cried while reading this story.  A lot.  But they were joyful tears.  I don’t know if I have ever witnessed such intense love as I have seen between these two.  It’s breathtaking.  It’s real.

I WAS A WITNESS