Austin Inverness loves dogs and his wife, Erika. Erika was the only girlfriend Austin ever had who didn’t judge him for being bisexual, and dogs never judge, period. Unfortunately, Erika isn’t much of a dog person. Airman Neil Stafford has been deployed to Turkey for a six-month tour and he enrolls his schipper-poo, Bunny, in the Fosters for Fighters program that arranges fostering for soldiers' pets. There he meets Austin, who will foster Bunny while Neil is overseas. The two men keep in touch via Skype and Austin is delighted by how well they get along. Erika, on the other hand, is delighted by how little she has to do to take care of Bunny. That is, until Bunny needs an emergency trip to the vet. By the time Neil returns home, Austin has noticed key differences between his wife and the new friend he can’t stop thinking about. As for Neil, he knows for sure he wants Austin in his life, but not at the cost of his friend's marriage. When Austin realizes Erika questions his bisexuality, the cracks in their relationship quickly spread and Austin questions everything, including if he can make the right choice. Will Austin and Neil be able to overcome the bumps on the road to happiness?

Fostered Affections

In this case, “tolerance” was the right word for Erika’s demeanor. “I guess we can put her out in the backyard first,” she said.


“See? Compromise.” Austin kissed her on the side of the head. “Told you we’d work it out.” He kissed her again below the ear and whispered, “How about we let her into the backyard right now?”


His ploy hadn’t worked that day, but it became their system for when they wanted quality time. There was a six-foot fence all around their backyard, and it was only accessible through a locked gate on one side of the house. Austin sometimes felt guilty when he went to get her afterwards and she was sitting up against the door waiting. Even though he spent most of his waking moments within sight of her, he had promised to take care of her, and he didn’t know what he would do if something happened to her when he wasn’t there to watch her.


Chapter 8