Schoolteacher Julian Reynolds is disillusioned with the seedier side of gay life in New York City with its self-absorption, vanity, and preoccupation with sex. When his long-time relationship with his high school sweetheart ends, he returns to his hometown and vows to live a simple life free of the extremes of the gay lifestyle and romantic entanglements. With that end in mind, he rents the carriage house next door to a large Tudor-style home.<br><br>Tate Butler, a former student of Julian’s, lives in the big house with his mother. Tate is bitter and withdrawn after losing a leg while serving in the Marine Corps during the war in Afghanistan. Fearing rejection from his mother and blaming himself for his father’s death, Tate stays firmly in the closet and punishes himself by refusing to learn how to walk again.<br><br>Can Tate and Julian help heal each other’s pasts and forge a real and lasting future together? Or will the driveway that separates their houses prove too wide a gulf to cross?

The Marine Next Door

“Don’t you see? If I wasn’t gay, if I hadn’t been having sex, then I wouldn’t have lost my leg and Dad would still be here. The shock of that was too much for him.” Tears were running down Tate’s face. “That’s why whenever I feel attraction to a man I remember that was what killed my father. That’s why I don’t want to have a new leg, and be what Mary calls normal. I don’t want to go out and be tempted. It’d be like I was doing it to him all over again.”


Julian took the young man into his arms. Tate’s emotions were clouding his logic, leading him to conclusions that weren’t based on reality.


“Tate,” Julian began, not sure how to make the young man see his faulty reasoning. “Your dad died of a stroke. Not brought on by his discovering you were gay, but more likely a combination of his poor health and the shock of your being gravely injured. Your being gay had nothing to do with it.”


Chapter 20