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

“Now, will you give that damn retirement home a chance? You’d be right near us and Hank would visit you more than once a week. You’ve run out of options, Herman.” I sighed, leaning on the doorway. “Please…don’t force Hank to narrow down his.”


“I don’t wanna talk ‘bout this no more.” With a pained expression, he stared at the muted TV in the corner of the room.


I left him with his thoughts, hoping he’d make the right decision.


I pulled up next to Hank’s rental car and turned the engine off. The black Mazda was empty. Anxious, I sat in the car for a minute, taking a few deep breaths. I’d had a feeling Hank would be at the spot we’d spent that beautiful afternoon together months ago, but now I was here, what state of mind would I find him in?


It didn’t matter. I’d welcome whatever emotions or thoughts he was battling. This wasn’t about me.


Chapter 71