Laurie Parkinson, who’s lived in Laurel Hills all his life, is a gay sheet metal worker who’d rather be a gay hairdresser. Wheat Dupuis, who’s also gay, is the scion of one of Laurel Hill’s wealthiest families. He’d rather grow grapes than become CFO of Dupuis International. Laurie wakes one morning to discover his family gone and his town decimated by a bacteria that has lain dormant for millennia, incased in ice. With the melting of the ice caps, the bacteria is released, and mankind faces a pandemic that could surpass the Black Plague. Wheat and his family are on their way to safety when the unthinkable happens and he’s left behind. Laurie knows of a bunker in the woods outside Laurel Hill, where he intends to take refuge. On the way there, Laurie finds and rescues Wheat. Can two such dissimilar men work together through a pandemic to find their families ... and possibly find love, as well?

Pandemic

“Morrison was my mother’s father’s name. Father thought it would be a good way of sucking up to the old coot.”


“No, that was Father’s word for him.” Wheat sat back on his heels, but he didn’t turn to face Laurie. “I loved my grandfather.” He seemed fascinated by the material he held, and Laurie wondered what was going through his mind. “He was actually a pretty nice man. He set up a trust fund for me for college.”


“That was very generous of him.” Laurie put the mattress pump back on the shelf and went to the chest for another sheet set and a couple of pillows


“You’d think. He agreed with my father that I should go to Brown.” Wheat sighed. “I don’t know who was more surprised by that, since they didn’t usually get along.”


“But Brown!” Laurie was impressed. He’d never known anyone who went to an Ivy League school. “My sister Jo wanted to go there, but even though she had the grades, we just couldn’t afford it.”


Chapter 29