Let me start by saying that I think JL Merrow is becoming one of my favorite authors. He finds a way to get back to Jem as he was when Ted first met him, but he’s not sure he’ll be able to get Jem to understand the urgency of the situation, and Ted can’t see life without Jem. When he does he finds out some distressing news about Jem and is determined to change history. He freaks and doesn’t manage to get back to Victorian London for 3 months. One night Ted heads out to see Jem but when he opens the front door he still in his time. The two end up exploring the city in 1886 and have a wonderful time together, getting closer emotionally as well as physically. Ted actually is going back to 1886 and spending time with Jem makes him happier than he can remember being since the accident. Ted also thinks that it all might be in his mind and that he’s personally manipulating it. Ted thinks he might be losing his mind, especially when his boss says there’s no movie set. Though Jem “takes care of” Ted, Ted has no money to pay Jem but promises to bring money to him the next day. He ends up talking to a rent boy named Jem who Ted thinks might be an actor. One night after he gets things settled for the production he heads out for a smoke and finds what he thinks is a movie set. Ted isn’t physically 100% but he’s enjoying his job at the Criterion theatre very much. It’s been 18 months since Ted’s parents and partner died in a car crash.

Now Ted has one last shot to get back to Jem and save their relationship, before it’s too late… What starts as a sordid transaction with a beautiful rent boy quickly turns into something much deeper, drawing him back again and again as he gets to know Jem and craves meaningful encounters with him.īut Ted doesn’t understand the exact conditions necessary for his trips through time-and for Jem, time may actually be running out.

At first he thinks it’s all a film set, and is sure that the strikingly handsome young man leaning against a lamppost must be the leading man… When Ted Ennis steps out the doors of the Criterion Theatre for a cigarette and finds himself in Victorian London, he begins to doubt his sanity.

Played! by J.L. Merrow