Nice short story, good characterizations for such a short tale. It got a bit soppy towards the end but otherwise, it was a sweet read. ( )

Nice short story, good characterizations for such a short tale. It got a bit soppy towards the end but otherwise, it was a sweet read. ( )

I have already noticed in previous short stories, that Jack Greene loves the pretty men; if wearing makeup and with long hair even better. And these elf-like beauties are there to lighten up the day of some working class man who almost lost hope to find happiness; average men who usually are handsome and nice, but not exceptional; those men you are lucky to find, but if you are not careful enough, you don’t recognize.

Ashton is one of those men: probably thirty or something like that, he has a good job and a nice wife, but he doesn’t really like neither. He has always played buy the rules, when he was in college he tried to follow his dream to be a photographer, but he ended up marrying his boss daughter and being a salesman. When he meets by chance Hayden, the pretty bartender of a pub on the way from work to home, at first Ashton doesn’t understand why he is so attracted by him. Ashton is not gay, he is not in the closet and he is married, all good reasons to not being attracted by Hayden.

I have the feeling that Ashton doesn’t consider himself straight, gay or bisexual; Ashton simply loves beauty, with an artist eyes, and Hayden is a perfect example of beauty. What draws Ashton is not Hayden sassiness of flirting, but his perfect bone structure; and then yes, Hayden makes Ashton feel wanted, something his wife stopped doing many years before. Ashton’s wife conquered him in the same way, pursuing him, courting and wooing him; now that she stopped, Ashton feels lost, like he has no reason to be. Ashton is not selfish, but for sure he is a man who needs his ego stroked; he is well aware that he is nothing special, on the average, but it takes very little to make him happy, just few words and a welcoming embrace. And in Hayden he finds all of that.

Picture Perfect is not referred only to Ashton’s passion for photography, but also to his idea of happiness, a perfect picture of a relationship. Doesn’t matter if, digging in, problem are still out there, Ashton and Hayden can find a little piece of paradise in each other.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003N3VHW6/?tag=elimyrevandra-20