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

“Besides, the service door at the back of my building was only a few steps away. I could just hurry by them and be inside. Ten seconds? Fifteen?


“That was my plan. And my folly. Nobody believes something horrible can happen to them, not really, until it does.


“As I hurried by them, trying not to make eye contact, trying to pretend, really, that they weren’t even there, one of them grabbed my arm.”


Jack stopped again, and I wondered if the memory was too horrible. I opened my mouth to tell him he didn’t need to go on. We could save the rest of the story for later or even for someone else, like a therapist, if he wanted.


I didn’t want him to feel the hurt I knew was coming.


But he went on before I could speak. “You know what the eeriest thing was about the whole attack?”


Even though Jack couldn’t see me, I shook my head. A tear escaped from the corner of my eye and rolled down my face.


Chapter 79