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

On the second day of Austin’s exile, Erika responded to one of his texts.


You have a right to be mad at me,he had written. I don’t think this is the end though.


Then why did you kiss another man? Do you have feelings for him?


Austin didn’t have an answer to that. Being in love with Neil wasn’t an absurd idea, but it was too early to say. We need to talk


It took several more hours of waiting and watching his phone. Austin was back in the bookstore, writing his latest article, when he heard his phone vibrate in his backpack. Every little buzz had sounded like his phone going off, but he checked anyway.


There it was. In those six words Austin found his hope. She wasn’t going to drag this out for a week or more. He had a chance to make things right. There were two more hours of waiting, but it didn’t matter. He forced himself to focus on his work in the meantime. For all he knew, soon this would be his only income.


Chapter 36