Two years ago, Chris and his boyfriend left the city to settle in a small town at the US-Canada border. Eager to start a new life, Chris bought the Frontier Café, but a year later, his boyfriend dumped him, leaving Chris the only openly gay man in town. Nowadays he's resigned to a life of romantic solitude.<br><br>Hank spent the last years traveling through the country for his job as a water plant engineer. Deeply closeted, he's careful about the men he meets. Like the rivers he studies, he runs fast through the land.<br><br>In town only for a few weeks, Hank is intent on getting the job done and returning home out west to take care of his father. But Chris’s warm manner and decadent desserts are no match for Hank’s defense mechanisms. For the first time in his life, he finds himself wanting to go with the flow.

No River Wide Enough

“So Roy’s brother sent me a check that’s supposedlyfrom Roy.” Shirley sat in the white wicker chair, facing mine, her legs folded under her. She was a short and curvy woman with a vibrant and fun personality.


As a clerk at the border, Shirley struggled with her budget and I tried to help out whenever I could. “How’d Roy manage to send you money?” I asked, glad for her company and the distraction she brought.


“God knows. He’s such a crook. But hey, he’s a generous crook.” She laughed a little, but quickly turned serious again. I knew she missed Roy, though she was still torn about taking him back.


Roy, her husband, was in jail. He’d been caught at the border with a backseat stuffed with marijuana. He’d wanted to give Shirley a better life, but because of his stupid decision, Shirley had almost lost her job. Even after it had been proven that she hadn’t known about his activities, she’d been demoted to a clerk position and her chances of being promoted again were slim to none.


Chapter 3