Renowned interior designer Fredi Zimmer is surprised when outdoorsman Max Greene, owner of Greene’s Outdoors, hires him to revamp Max’s rustic cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Fredi is an out-and-proud Metro male whose contact with the outdoors is from his car to the doorway of the million-dollar homes he remodels, and to Fredi, Max is a typical straight man’s man. When Max blatantly and clumsily flirts with Fredi, Fredi’s stereotypical view of Max is shattered. Is this a build-up to a gay bashing? Cautiously believing Max is closeted and is trying to come out, Fredi decides he’s game to put a little spice into Max’s life, whether it’s in the colors and fixtures he’ll use to turn Max's dilapidated cabin into a showplace or over one of the many lunches and dinners they share talking about the remodel. Who can blame a guy for adding a little sensual pleasure as he retools Max’s life visually? Besides, Fredi has a backup plan if he’s wrong about Max’s intentions. Life would be all wine and roses if it weren’t for Max’s former friends and their conservative families. Alarmed with Max’s obvious infatuation, they make it their business to save him from sliding into hell. With the battle on, will Fredi and Max win the fight for a life of happiness together?

Redesigning Max

After a short silence, Abe looked at Max, then back at me. “Well, good luck, then.”


As his crew waited on the porch, Abe filled us in on the day’s plans.


“Carlos is coming by later with the grader so we can get the drive fixed and make a parking area over here,” he said, pointing to the ground in front of the cabin. “We’ll get the interior stripped today. Larry’s coming by to upgrade the electrical sometime this afternoon or tomorrow morning. His brother-in-law, the inspector one, will be along afterward. We got the posthole digger on tap for tomorrow. Everything should be on schedule.”


“Good. You’ve got our cell phone numbers if anything comes up. We’ll be at Granite Guys and then Sierra Tile, maybe the appliance place if we get time, doing all the fun stuff,” I said


“Yeah, okay.” Abe turned to Max and said under his breath, “Good luck with the fun stuff. Ain’t my idea of fun.” Then he laughed and walked away.


Chapter 23