Abe Cooper is starting over. For fifteen years he's lived the life that was expected of him, but not anymore. He's packed up his things, bought himself a cabin in Northfield, and managed to secure a job at the local high school teaching gym and coaching the football team. But his new beginning didn't include running into Crazy Joe on his first trip to the grocery store.<br><br>Jonas Raghnall has everything he needs -- good friends and a job he loves. He's worked hard to get over what happened sixteen years ago, but one run-in with his past and all the memories come flooding back. Seeing Abe Cooper, The Abe Cooper, sets everything out of balance.<br><br>Abe had pictured a fresh start with no ties to his past, but now that Jonas is there, he wants nothing more than to be close to the man who had butterflies filling his belly when he was in high school. Jonas doesn't want to come face to face with his past, but if he sees Abe every day, it's not really meeting up with your past, is it? It's more like a date with your future.

Crazy Joe

The room smelled of coffee and paper. Jonas took a deep breath and allowed his shoulders to drop. This was what he did, this was where he belonged.


“Did you hear?” Sara Nelson, a fellow language teacher and his best friend, stormed into the room, dumped her bag on her desk, and sat on her chair.


“The hot guy.” She wiggled her eyebrows and laughed.


Jonas rolled his eyes but smiled at her. “Who did whom and did you guys go out without me? Since when am I not invited?” There wasn’t anywhere to go in Northfield, but the cafe served alcohol, so pizza and a beer was a possibility. They usually met up once every other week or so—Sara, Gabriel Gonzalez, and him—to share a glass and talk some shit. Sometimes other teachers tagged along, but mostly it was just the three of them.


“Oh, no.” She leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “Apparently some guy called Wright, practically begging for a job—”


Chapter 4