Woodrow “Woody” Anker is an 28 legend -- the boy who lived. Orphaned at the age of three due to a car accident that killed his parents, Woody is taken in by the Zumpano family. He becomes best friends with Serge, the youngest boy, and looks up to Rafe, the oldest. As the years go by, Woody’s feelings for Rafe change into something else entirely. Except, Rafe is straight. And in denial about his alcohol abuse.<br><br>Rafe Zumpano, now the town Sherriff and Lothario-extraordinaire has been a heavy drinker since his teens, and it’s getting worse. He’s got a secret that he drinks away every night, but when the truth finally comes out, it ruins everything.<br><br>It will take a lot for both men to move beyond alcohol-fueled vitriol, self-doubt, and internalized homophobia to get to the part where they stop throwing punches and have their happy ending.

Norwegian Woody

We didn’t say anything, and I was left to contemplate what he’d admitted to me earlier. That was indeed a revelation. Who would have thought that Rafe Zumpano, chick-magnet extraordinaire and town lush, had been crushing on me for years? I didn’t know if I’d ever recover from that admission.


And now, here we were, walking side by side on a frickin’ date, something I’d written off as never happening when I was in my teens. It was a lot to take in.


We neared an outcrop of rocks and Rafe sat on a huge boulder. I took the one next to him. “So is this weird?” he asked, playing with his sandals as he dug his bare feet into the still-warm sand.


“Yes, but it’s okay. I’ll get used to it. It’s just a bit of a shock, is all.”


“I kept watching you for years, hoping you wouldn’t hook up with anyone, though I didn’t have the right to think that, since I wasn’t even brave enough to approach you.”


Chapter 14