In June 1966, ACLU attorney Eron Lassiter attends his uncle’s wedding and makes an unsettling discovery. Though Eron had bowed to family pressure and planned a potential marriage, his long-ignored attraction to other men roars to life when Garrett Emerson, the bride’s nephew, captures his attention.<br><br>After serving in the Korean War and going to college later than his peers, upwardly mobile Garrett now works as a loan officer at a local bank. For his girlfriend -- fiancée in her mind -- Garrett can’t climb fast enough. But none of that matters to Eron, and maybe that’s why Garrett’s so drawn to him.<br><br>Together, can Eron and Garrett find happiness amidst the pervasive culture of propriety, honor, and expectation of the 1960s?

Need Your Love

“No, I’m sorry, we don’t,” he said into the open cabinet.


When he turned around, Mary Ellen’s lips were twisted into a pout. “Oh, phooey. There’s nothing better than peach jam on toast.”


Eron’s toast jumped out of the toaster. He grabbed it and sat down on the other side of the counter. Helen’s stool was well worn and comfortable.


Toast crunched, knives and forks scraped on the dishes, but neither one of them said a word. The silence was uncomfortable compared to his time with Garrett. While they’d share many meals without saying word except, “Please pass this,” or “Please pass that, the silence was relaxed and pleasant.


Eating breakfast with Mary Ellen was like eating with his parents. Each silently irritated with the other, neither saying what they thought. A small mercy that he and Mary Ellen didn’t have a child caught in the middle.


Chapter 51