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

“Of course, my folks cared. They loved me. They were afraid I’d get hurt.”


I didn’t understand. “Weren’t they mad?”


“About what?” VJ looked confused. “Why get angry about something none of us had any control over?”


We sat in silence, the quietest beings around, as I digested what he’d said. VJ and Glen had known they were gay in grade school. Why’d it taken me so long to figure out what I was?


Until lately, I’d never really wanted to think about what I was sexually. Instead, I tried to be a good son, one my folks could be proud of—well, at least as good as a reckless kid who wanted to prove he was a man his folks could love more than his sister. Way back then, I never cared about doing stuff with girls because I had all the friends I needed in VJ. Or at least, that’s what I would have said if anybody, like maybe VJ, had asked.


“Why’d you want to know about Glen?” VJ asked.


Chapter 25