Big, burly CEO Abe Behr is furious to discover someone -- probably a relative -- is embezzling from Behr Construction, a family-run business in the Sierra Nevada foothills outside Lake Tahoe. To confirm his suspicions, Abe takes the unprecedented step of hiring a non-family accountant, handsome Jeff Mason, to go over the books and help find the culprit. As they talk to Behr relatives and visit construction sites, Abe and Jeff are drawn to each other, bringing out new, softer emotions in workaholic Abe. Since he has sacrificed romance all his life to build the construction business, Abe’s surprised by his feelings for the handsome Jeff. He’s even more shocked when they come face to face with homophobia in the small foothills community where generations of Behrs have called home. Abe had always thought Stone Acres was a live-and-let-live kind of town. As he and Jeff get closer, he finds out how wrong he is when he comes out to both family and a community who think he’s making a big mistake. Will being the head of a large, powerful family and a pillar of the community be enough to win Abe his happily ever after with Jeff?

Behr Facts

The meeting was held in the high school auditorium, the largest public gathering place in the county. Sheriff Lloyd Campbell had dispersed his deputies around the seating area, and Lloyd himself stood at the front of the stage facing out toward the audience.


Behrs and Behr relatives made up about a quarter of those in the seats, the young kids notably absent. Lorraine, Bud, and Larry had stopped by where my brothers and I sat with Jeff, Pat, and Gary, and had said hello. In front of us were Jimmy, Guy, Fredi, Max, and Felicity. Everyone was tensely waiting for Bernard Phillips, head of the town council, to call the meeting to order.


Chapter 35