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

“Hey, there’s a Skyhawk taking off.” Dustin pointed. He couldn’t wait until he would be the one taking them into the air. Only a few more weeks until the plane would be ready for inspection. And then they’d head to Oshkosh. He pulled out his phone and flipped to the AirVenture app he’d downloaded. “Okay, we haveto do this when we get to Oshkosh. They’ve got a MASH helicopter—a Bell 47—that will fly people to get a birds-eye view of the whole convention.”


“Never been on a helicopter. That sounds fun.” Raf parked the truck and they climbed out, taking their trash to the metal bin at the edge of the parking lot. “What else are we doing in Wisconsin?”


Chapter 25