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

They worked together in the kitchen, making scrambled eggs with mushrooms, red peppers, and onions. Dustin liked having V8 in the morning, but Raf didn’t care for it, so he poured Raf orange juice before they sat down to a great breakfast.


It all felt so wonderfully normal and domestic. He’d never had breakfast with another man in his kitchen before Raf, but it didn’t seem weird. Indeed, it felt right, which waved a big red warning flag in his mind. If everything seemed so perfect, was it reality? Would things always stay like this? God, maybe he was overthinking things. He wasn’t a “relationship” kind of guy, so this felt all new to him.


Soon, they headed down the highway in Raf’s truck. Only a few fluffy clouds dotted the pale blue sky. The sun hadn’t risen too high yet, but its rays would beat down on Rain Valley in no time.


“You’re quiet. Did I do or say something?”


Chapter 45