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 ...

“Okay, well when you’re driving past us, can you drop it off? Or should I come get it? Is it heavy?”


“Jason can put it in the back of the SUV, and I’ll drop it off on my way to town tomorrow morning, if that’s okay?”


“Sure, works fine. We’ll be here. Thanks so much!”


“No problem, see you then. Tell Makai I said hi.”


Emil chuckled as he put the phone away.


“She has Joie’s old playpen she wants to donate to the kittens so we can take them outside!”


“Yeah, and it’s a big one, apparently. So I hope we can sit inside with them, or at least one of us can.”


It warmed Emil’s heart to see Makai so grateful and moved and even a little bit amazed at the kindness people were showing him.


Makai’s expression when he’d opened all the gift cards and started to read the little notes attached was priceless, especially when he found that most of them were to Amazon and worth a few hundred dollars total.


Chapter 77