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

“Oh, that’s right,” she said, “you don’t know. Jason’s birthday is the fifth. Jason loves roller coasters and fireworks. And we love Jason, so we indulge him in this. You will come with us, yes?”


Andy nodded and pulled her into a quick hug. “Thanks,” he said, trusting that she’d understand without asking that he didn’t mean just the invitation.


“My birthday is not until the fall. October nineteenth,” she said thoughtfully. “I’ll be twenty-one. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to claim now? Forever 21?”


“Too late,” Andy said. “I already know your terrible secret. Don’t worry, I’ll get you a walker and a Life Alert bracelet for your birthday, so you’re all set for your waning years as an ancient crone.”


“And I shall get for you a pacifier and a bib for yours,” Kat shot back. “When is that? I seem to have forgotten, in my senile old age.”


Chapter 27