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

“Uh, do you want something to eat?” I asked, remembering my good manners and trying to remain unaffected by the lustful glances he kept throwing my way. “We had a big dinner and there’s plenty of leftovers.”


“No, thanks…I’m okay. Have to go home, anyway. My parents need me to babysit.”


“And you didn’t have any plans on a Saturday night?” Drika said, frowning. “They shouldn’t count on you all the time.”


“It’s all right. Got some good horror movies to watch.” He stepped down to the driveway. “Good night, Aunt Drika.” Then he gave me a quick look. “See you Monday morning.”


When he’d straddled his bike and rode off, Drika sighed. “Poor kid. I really hate the way my brother and Liliana keep asking so much of him.”


I wanted to bring my concerns up, but again I chickened out. Drika seemed tired and we could have this conversation another time. It wasn’t that urgent, anyway. “I should let you get some rest, right?”


Chapter 45