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

“I suppose, but frankly, I don’t think they’ll be too comfortable for sleeping in. Nothing Mother packed will be.”


“I’m sorry. I thought you should know. I didn’t want to be nosy and poke around your parents’ bedroom, but did they leave any clothes here that would come in handy?”


“Yes. Mother insisted all the bedroom dressers be made of cedar, so the seasonal clothing wouldn’t become musty-smelling. There should be nightclothes and summer clothes that are more suitable for the cottage than home.”


Laurie could see how relieved that notion made his boyfriend. “Maybe that’s why she packed all the wrong things,” he offered. “Maybe she knew it wouldn’t matter too much.”


“Do you want me to hang up these clothes?” Jo asked.


Wheat checked his watch. “We have another ten minutes or so before the charcoal will be ready and we have to get dinner started. What we can’t finish now, we’ll get to later.”


Chapter 60