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

The film was some feel-good comedy that had received decent reviews, plus it starred several actors that both Austin and Erika liked. Amid the zany antics and life lessons, there was a side story about two of the supporting characters who kept getting stuck in awkward situations until at the end of the movie they pounced on each other and fell to the ground making out. It was humorous, but Austin saw how that could relate to him and Neil and it bothered him.


“Are you okay?” Erika asked halfway home. “You’ve been kinda quiet since we left.”


“Hm? Oh, just thinking about the movie.”


Erika laughed. “There wasn’t much to think about. It was all pretty straightforward. Had your classic physical comedy, wordplay, a doofy side romance, solid for its genre, buuut I don’t think it’ll take home any awards.”


Chapter 25