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

“Yeah. I wrote a few of them actually. Still do.”


Now I turned some more to straddle the log, and I stared at my former friend.


“Oh, yeah? Did you sell any of them?”


“A few. Mostly in Lincoln, Denver, Des Moines, Kansas City, big cities in the Midwest.”


I was clutching my travel thermos, my eyes intent on VJ’s face.


Shit, I was in awe. VJ had talked about writing books all the time we were growing up. The subjects ranged from pirate stories to biographies of his grandparents. I’d always had trouble reading, being unable to focus on the words and too itchy to sit still long enough to read a sentence, much less a paragraph or chapter. I couldn’t imagine how long a guy would take to write an entire book. It was enough that I got through the ranch’s necessary paperwork most days. I was better at reaching verbal agreements and then letting Luke Hansen, the ranch attorney, handle the paperwork.


Chapter 9