Personal chef Beau St. Clair, recently divorced from his cheating husband, returns to the small Ohio River town where he grew up to lick his wounds. Jack Rogers lives with his mother, Maisie, in that same small town, angry at and frightened by the world. Jack has a gap in his memory that hides something he dares not face, and he’s probably suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Maisie, seeking relief from her housebound and often surly son, hires Beau to cook for Jack, hoping the change might help bring Jack, once a handsome and vibrant attorney, back to his former self. But can a new face and comfort food compensate for the terror lurking in Jack’s past? Slowly the two men begin a dance of revelation and healing. Food and compassion build a bridge between Beau and Jack, a bridge that might lead to love. But will Jack’s demons allow it? His history could just as easily tear them apart as bring them together.

Dinner at Jack's

Hey, I was almost forty years old, and that was exactly the kind of thing that had worked for me so far.


But I got a shock. He wasn’t prepared to do the same thing. Funny how that works. No, he was all set to give me the farewell speech, the one that goes along the clichéd lines of “It’s not you, it’s me” but which really boils down to “I don’t love you anymore.”


Sorry to disappoint you, leaving out that big scene full of tears, pleading, accusations, and drama. As I said, maybe one day I’ll be in a better place to tell you all about it. But that day hasn’t come yet.


So let’s talk about now. We now find ourselves here, in Fawcettville, Ohio, the little Ohio River town in which I grew up, some two months later.


Oh Lord, how did I get back here? A place I promised I’d never return to, save for the occasional visit to my homophobic father and my sweet-as-pie younger sister.


Chapter 5