Suhaib isn't a big believer in barriers. Whether he's skinny-dipping on the clock at his hotel job or spilling uncensored details of his life story just to make conversation, he is who he is and he doesn't care who knows it.<br><br>Elijah plays his hand a little closer to the vest, and Suhaib can't get his head around Elijah's reckless plan to drive through the worst blizzard to hit Oklahoma since statehood just to meet his sister's new baby.<br><br>When the storm that brought them together picks up and keeps them together, key elements of Elijah's life story are forced to the fore, and Suhaib learns a good man is more than the sum of his parts ... and there are more roads to uncle-hood than he ever considered.

Snowed In: Suhaib and Elijah

He laughed. And started crying. “I don’t think so,” he whimpered. “It’s not supposed to be like this.”


“What do you mean? You have all the parts.” I reached and patted the swell of his stomach. “You’ve obviously grown a very healthy baby. It’s all perfectly natural, dude; give yourself a break.” A sentence that I’m not sure I could have constructed an hour prior just fell out of my mouth. “Having a baby doesn’t make you any less of a man.”


“It’s not that,” he moaned. “I mean, that’s had its moments, but no; I’ve come to grips with the whole biology thing. It’s just, my sister, her boyfriend, their doctor—we had this whole plan. Which involved a bunch of medical professionals and an epidural, I might add. And did not involve me squirting my insides all over some cute guy and ruining a hotel bed.”


“That’s his takeaway,” he muttered, as if to an imaginary audience.


“But I think you’re super-hot, too…”


Chapter 13