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

You might be thinking he’s a different person, but he’s not. He’s simply restored—the Jackson I fell in love with on that snowy night so many years ago. Sometimes I think about fate and believe he and I were meant to be. That makes sense to me, because I know now, and get it verified every time he kisses me, every time he absentmindedly lays a hand on my knee when we’re driving somewhere, every time he throws a leg over mine as we slumber, too close, on my—now our—bed, that Jackson and I were meant for each other, right from the beginning. The road was tortuous, the path twisted, but it could only lead us in one direction—back to each other.


“Happy? Oh yes. More than I can put into words.”


He kisses me lightly. And I can’t help it, I cast a quick, guilty glance out at the river, toward Dad, to see if he noticed. I chastise myself and believe it’s that kind of thinking, that kind of self-loathing, that has no place here.


Chapter 85