Rafael Patino has a great life in Rain Valley. He’s a teacher at the high school, has a great group of friends, and enjoys the occasional baseball game. Other than the sporadic call from his drunken mother, he’s pretty content. He’s also been in love with his best friend Dustin for nearly a decade. Years of keeping those feelings under control are put to the test when they begin a summer project together. Dustin Vance builds furniture for a living, has just earned his pilot’s license, and has an amazing best friend. When he buys a 1976 Cessna Skyhawk, he asks Rafael to help restore it, then travel with him to Wisconsin for the largest aviation convention in the world. As they spend their days working on the plane, they begin to spend their nights together. Will they find love in the clouds, or will they stall out before they even take off?

Love in the Clouds

“How did you get my number, Ms. Oliver? I nevergive it to students, so there’s no way Daisy would have known it.”


“She didn’t. But she was so insistent on you being here, I…called in a favor. My son works at KRVH Heartland Radio with Lucas Landry. I met his partner, Caleb, when they came to a barbecue and I remembered he worked for the high school. So I called my son, he called Lucas, and long story short, I got your number.”


“Pretty smart—and I’m glad he gave it out. I would have told him to do just that.”


Elaine gestured to the curtain on their right. “I have to warn you…she looks bad. And once I can get her to tell me what happened, she needs to be looked at and the police want to talk with her. I told them it could be a while before she was ready. They said they’d come back in about an hour. I have never crossed this line before and I may get a write-up in my file, but when she refused to talk unless you were here…well, I just knew she needed someone here she trusts.”


Chapter 20