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

“Are you still in a lot of pain? Should I get the nurse?” I was already half out of my seat.


“Don’t bother. I just need to rest.” She pointed at the window sill. “Why don’t you take a few of those flower arrangements home? I bet you can keep them beautiful a few more days. They’re all dying to get out of here.”


I stood and went to the window, gazing down at the flowers. “I’ll take these, if you don’t mind.” They were an arrangement of white orchids and blue forget-me-nots. I looked back at her. “When are you getting out?”


“Friday, if all goes well.” She signaled for me to come closer. “Gimme a kiss and get out of here.”


I grabbed the flowers and stepped up to her bed, leaning down to kiss her white hair. There was a hint of lavender on her skin. “I’ll come back soon,” I said, patting her shoulder. “And I’ll bring the Scramble board.”


“Well,” I said, hesitating in the doorway, “get some sleep and call me if you need anything.”


Chapter 32