Andy Howard dropped out of college to get away from his abusive father. When his longtime boyfriend reveals similar tendencies, Andy refuses to endure another moment of it, running away with nothing more than the cash in his pockets. He makes it to Virginia, where he's taken in by Scooter Stahl, a restaurant owner looking for an extra hand who's willing to be paid cash under the table.<br><br>Scooter's been struggling for years: to keep the beachside restaurant he inherited from his parents above water (both financially and literally); to live down the fact that he's gay in a small southern town; to get over the man who's owned his heart since he was fourteen. But he's never had to struggle as hard as he is now, to keep his hands off Andy.

Nights in Sandbridge

He was standing in front of a tiny little mom-and-pop hardware store; mulch and sawdust scented the air. Worth a try, he thought. He was familiar with tools, enough to use them, certainly enough to sell them. He waited until his head had stopped swimming, then walked into the little store.


There was an honest-to-God set of physical chimes hanging on the inside of the door. Andy would have smirked at it, but the burst of air conditioning and sudden shift in temperature made him feel dizzy again. He paused to blink away the spots in front of his eyes, leaning casually on a display of gardening tools.


There was only one register at the front, manned by a middle-aged man with a round, red face and thin, graying hair. “Afternoon,” the man said. “Help you find anything?”


“Uh,” Andy said. He’d come in here for something, and he was going to remember it as soon as—Oh, right. “You got anything to drink? Soda or juice or something?”


Chapter 4