Cody Whitley teaches creative writing at Brockton State College in upstate New York. As he struggles to keep a few unruly students from failing, a larger dilemma hits close to home. His father Henry is in the last stages of his life, dying of liver cancer. Cody visits him everyday in the hospital, bringing him tea from the cafeteria and sitting by his hospital bed, sketching him in his notebook and watching the man he admired as a child slowly deteriorating. Having watched his mother die a few years ago, Cody is in a state of worry and flux, wondering how he will go on after he loses his father. When he receives a text message from a handsome man named Liam he met on a dating app, Cody realizes there is still hope for happiness and a promising future. Amidst the turmoil, Cody accepts Liam's offer to meet him for lunch the next day. Not everything goes as planned, but Cody learns that he is not the only one going through hard times. Will Cody allow the death of his father to alter his chances of finding lasting friendship with a complete stranger? Or will both men find comfort and romance in each other's painful pasts?

The Two of Us

“Me neither. Goodbye.” I  ed the call and unlocked the door to an elderly man, apologized to him, and headed back to my father’s room.


Dad was still sleeping, but I sat with him for another hour. I was about to check my cell phone for a message from Liam, when a loud scream pierced the air. I heard somebody crying hysterically: a middle-aged woman covered her face with her hands and leaned up against the glass of the nurse’s station. I watched as a man in his early thirties ambled over to the woman and held her as she buried her face in his stubby neck, sobbing and shuddering.


Chapter 12