Thirty-three-year-old gay farmer Vladimir Wozniak IV lives for his crops and the hard work that makes them profitable every year. Five miles up the road, former rodeo bull rider and rancher Thomas Sullivan is just as committed to his corn-fed beef. Once best friends until VJ kissed Tommy during freshman year in college, they stopped speaking when Tommy rejected VJ. Ten years later, after the country doctor who helped bring them into the world dies and his will names them as co-owners of property, they decide to check out their inheritance together to see which one wants to buy out the other. As they travel down memory lane through the Doc’s correspondence and visit familiar sites on the land, can they work their way back to friendship ... and possibly beyond?

The Thaw

Unlike other hunting and vacation cabins in this part of the state, the Doc’s cabin didn’t start life as a single or double wide mobile home. Instead, it had been built as a permanent two-story structure. Downstairs was an open-concept living room and kitchen area, including a separate mud room off the kitchen with the washer and dryer and the back door. Down a short hallway were a bathroom and a bedroom that looked like Doc had used as an office. Upstairs were two bedrooms and a full bath.


The décor had stopped in the 1980s as far as the appliances, furniture, carpeting, and blinds were concerned. As I remembered, Mrs. Doc had been into handicrafts as were her friends, so there were lacy things on the backs of the chairs and the couch, a handmade-looking afghan on the couch and placemats on the kitchen table. The artwork on the walls and the things my dad called geegaws on the end tables and scattered around the room looked handmade, too.


Chapter 5