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

Everyone called it a tragedy. How true it was, I thought as I lost it. 11


Oh, my Lord. What was I supposed to do now? What was I supposed to say?


If I was with a boyfriend or even a close friend, I’d hug him and comfort him. But the last time I’d held Tommy, he’d backed up like he was going to slug me, and I didn’t want to be threatened or rejected this time.


But he was hurting, and once he’d been my best friend.


I took a step into his space. He looked up at me, tears streaming down his cheeks.


“Ah, shit. I’m sorry,” he whispered and stood up, stock still. Then he leaned in and grabbed me, holding me in the tightest hug I’d ever felt. “I just want the kid to leave me alone. I can still hear him sometimes.”


“It’s okay,” I crooned, taking my hands from between us and hugging him. I started rubbing circles on his back as the startled tree sparrows around us rose, twittering into the air. “It’s okay. Glendon said it wasn’t your fault. You’ve got to believe him.”


Chapter 26