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

“The crap-ass comment sure sounds like old man Robinson. Always felt he was entitled to everything for free. What an idiot,” Tommy muttered with a frown.


“You ever hear what happened to the Robinson family?” I was shaken seeing the comment and Doc’s question. At the time when Steven had come to school wearing a cast, I hadn’t thought about how he’d broken his arm. Now, looking down at the scrawled words, I wondered why someone would write this across a bill for medical care and mail it back to a doctor.


Had Steven’s father been abusive and refused to pay for the damage he’d caused? Had Doc accused him? Maybe threatened him? My writer’s curiosity wanted to know.


“I think the Robinsons moved to Wyoming, maybe?” Tommy answered, reaching into the closet and pulling the top box from the huge pile. “Why?”


“I don’t know. Just seems strange how they disappeared after the mother’s death.”


Chapter 14