Can two broken men build one life? Ten years. That’s what Makai lost for a crime he didn’t commit. He’s been exonerated, but the abuse he suffered in prison isn’t so easy to leave behind. He heads to the one place he remembers being happy: Acker, Wisconsin, where he spent summers with his grandpa. Unfortunately, not everyone wants Makai there. Ten days. That’s how long Emil, now twenty-one, was held prisoner as a teenager. The mental and physical injuries he suffered at the hands of a drug trafficking ring still haunt him. Nightmares, anxiety, and PTSD challenge the connection forming between Makai and Emil, though together, they might find a way to move beyond their pain and into a future -- and a relationship -- that both had thought impossible. Now they just have to convince Emil’s father, the town sheriff. It won’t be easy with danger closer than they know ...

Lotte hugged him briefly in passing. “Hi,” she whispered, and Makai nodded at her, unable to speak a word.


Joy didn’t have that problem. She kept on a chatter all the way down to the shore and then to the edge of the forest patch. There, she stopped talking—and walking.


“Joy, what’s wrong?” Lotte asked from behind them.


Makai got it. He crouched down on her level. “Hey, Joy.” When her concentration was back on him, he smiled at her. “It’s okay. I haven’t been there, either. Can we go together?”


“Y-yeah, okay,” she said in a quiet voice.


When he stood up, she looked at him and held up her arms. Makai picked her up and propped her on his hip, hiding a wince when the stitches pulled in his back. “Okay, here goes,” he murmured, and together they went along the path until the hustling and bustling sounds were obvious. “Ready?” he asked, and she nodded bravely.


Makai stepped out of the shade of the trees and into the space where the others were working.


Chapter 49