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

They’d had an away game that night so Abe hadn’t gone—probably wouldn’t have if he’d been home either. He wasn’t ‘a boy like that’…except, in a way, he was. Not artsy, not openly passionate about stuff, not fighting to right some injustice. But, no matter how hard he’d tried to hide it, he’d been a boy like that…even back then. “O-okay.”


“It was nice seeing you, Abe.” Jonas didn’t look like it was nice seeing him. Abe curled his fingers into fists so he wouldn’t reach for him. He tried to speak, tried to halt Jonas’ escape, but he was already halfway to the checkout.


It was just as well. He’d moved here to start over, and Jonas couldn’t be part of his life if he wanted a fresh start. His heart ached, the words he wanted to speak turned into ashes on his tongue, but it was for the best.


Now that he’d seen Jonas and knew he was well, he could put the memory to rest.2


Chapter 3