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

He was looking down at the bill while I was trying to come up with a damned snappy comeback


“You know,” VJ muttered, “I’m shocked that Sharon was pregnant in the beginning of our senior year. She had been the leading candidate for valedictorian. Then, there was a rumor she’d caught some sort of pneumonia during the summer and had gone away to recover. I can’t remember. Didn’t she come back to school still sick? Nobody ever said anything about her having a baby or an abortion.”


I was still coming down from him accusing me of getting girls pregnant, so I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t believe he’d think I’d do that—especially to someone like Sharon, who was way outta my league. It only took one date with her to prove that to me. She was smart; I was a jock. She was too brainy for us to have anything in common.


Chapter 17