second chance – Pat Henshaw

Editors:

Lourenza Adlem

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Tags:

college graduate, community college, contemporary, earthquake, future, gay romance, LGBTQ+, MM, non-series title, Olympics, renewing old friendships, runner, second chance, second chance at love, second chance love, small town romance, track and field

Excerpt:

“I have no idea.”

12 Blind Dates

Part of the Non-series series:

Following a horrific break up with his fiancé, Luke Bennet spends two years as a social hermit, only going to work and talking with Tina, Gina, and Rita, three friends from high school.

Refusing to let him wallow any longer, they intervene and talk him into going on twelve blind dates to get him back in social circulation.

The Trio have not only planned the dating venues but also chosen the perfect guys to lure Luke from his isolation.

Will he find love through these dates? Or will he run for cover again?

Published: July 16, 2022

Editors:

Drew

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Excerpt:

About the most positive part of date four was the date showed up. Equally, that could have been the worst part of the date.

Since dates four and five had already been lined up without Mike and Bert being invited to go on them, we decided to start the foolproof date backup plan on date six. I mean, what could go wrong on Friday and Saturday?

Rita who organized catering for gala events had scored a pair of tickets to the premier of the newest Marvel film at the refurbished mall Cineplex. During the pandemic, the Cineplex had gutted its theaters, transforming its rows of hard-backed chairs into home entertainment seating.

I’d read a couple of online articles about how incredible the new wave of movie theater comfort was becoming, so even if I wasn’t gung-ho about another blind date, I was excited to be one of a pampered audience.

Bernard showed up in a three-piece suit looking like he’d stepped out of a GQ ad. Audience members around us ranged from those costumed to those in theme T-shirts. I wore jeans and a neutral sweater.

After exchanging names and a hearty handshake, we were greeted by people with clipboards who logged us in and told us where our seats were located. As we waited our turn to enter the theater itself, Bernard glanced around and sighed.

“I should have known.” He looked like he was in pain. “Who are these people?”

Thinking it was a genuine question and he’d never seen cosplayers before, I started to answer as he shook his head, disgust written all over his face.

“They have no appreciation of the time, trouble, and creative genius that went into this production,” he said.

“What? No! You’ve got it wrong. They’re the ones who truly appreciate what we’re going to see.”

I realized my mistake almost immediately. Obviously, nobody ever told Bernard he was wrong.

The date immediately plunged toward disaster status.

With him ignoring me, we were checked off the guest list, given brochures about the operation of the lounge seats, and ushered into the theater.

I was reading how the seats reclined, featured built-in speakers, sported cup holders with cold and hot settings, and even gave massages. To break our silence, I was about to comment how a massage might put me to sleep instead of enhance the movie experience when I realized Bernard wasn’t anywhere near me.

He was down the row facing a handsome twenty-something in the center chair.

“I don’t give a fuck who you think you are! I’m sure this is supposed to be my seat,” Bernard yelled.

After we were escorted from the theater -- without seeing the movie -- Bernard stalked off to the parking lot and it was the last I saw of him.

Mike thought the story of the date was really funny.

“Okay, wise guy. What would you or Bert have done to help me out?”

“Um, I would have stepped in and explained how we weren’t responsible for your blind date’s actions and let Bernard leave and be his own unhappy self. Then we all would have sat back and enjoyed the movie. You were being too nice to have walked out with him.”

“Well, he was my date.”

“Not right then he wasn’t.” Mike looked at me with a huge grin. “Did you even get to try out the new lounge chairs?”

At my head shake, he added, “Well, I’m putting them down on our to-do list.”

Our to-do list?

How come his words made me feel hopeful? I didn’t tell him, though.

In the end, he and I thought the next date couldn’t possibly be worse.

We were wrong. So wrong.

Reviews:Natalie on Goodreads wrote:

This was a cute and fun read that just made me giggle as Luke went through his dates, most of them just a disaster. Mike is Luke's first date and as Luke goes through his other dates, these two start to get closer than just friends. I loved that Luke's friends wanted to help him get out of his rut but man did they did not pick some winners, except for Mike of course. This is short and entertaining so if you need something to make you smile or a palate cleanser between emotionally heavy reads, then pull this up.

Maureen on Goodreads wrote:

A delightful and entertaining tale of how sometimes friends, although they mean well, are not the best Cupid assistants. Actually it's more than that, it's freaking hilarious! Who knew so many blind dates could be so disasterous. Poor Luke, having three female BFF's is bound to bring about emotional upsets as they try to re-involve him into the dating world. Great fun to read and a sweet sweet finale.

Holiday Quartet box set

Part of the Holiday Stories series:

Bells ring and choirs sing. People bustle with happiness and joy. Calories pile up while everyone gathers to chat with friends and relatives. What’s more exciting than all the holidays in December?

But sometimes we need a break from the expectations and the wonderment. A great way to revive our spirits is by reading a story to ground us in the true meaning of the season.

This collection features four stories infused with happiness, love, and joy. From a small business owner discovering his first fruitcake and a homeless man finding a permanent home to a blacksmith’s wish to propose to his childhood friend and a gay man relocating to a small town, each story is a journey of self-discovery leading to happily ever after.

Contains the stories:

Blame It on the Fruitcake: Motorcycle shop owner Sam McGuire falls for the fruitcake his loft neighbor’s grandma makes as well as the man himself. But will handsome, educated, personable Jay Merriweather be attracted to a grease jockey like Sam?

The Orpheum Miracle: The son of crack addicts who abandoned him as a child, Mick has found refuge in the historic Orpheum Theater. But when the new owner takes over, will Mick be pushed out on the street or taken into the owner’s heart?

Making the Holidays Happy Again: Butch has been manning the forge in Old Town and fantasizing over his best friend Jimmy since they were in high school. Does Jimmy feel the same way about Butch? Does Butch want to push their friendship and find out?

Heart of the Holidays: When Silicon Valley programmer Dan Lassiter moves to a small California town, he doesn’t expect to find love. After Rick Reardon opens his bakery across the street, Dan may change his mind.

Published: December 11, 2021

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

contemporary, holiday, MM, romance

Excerpt:

EXCERPT FROM "Blame It on the Fruitcake"

He gave me a tiny smile and shook his head, his eyes twinkling as if laughing at some cosmic joke.

Foothills Pride Box Set

Part of the Foothills Pride series:

The tiny Sierra Nevada community of Stone Acres looks benign on the outside, but it’s been a hive of activity since gay men from Silicon Valley began moving in. The Old Town establishment is up in arms as newcomers challenge the conservative community to move into the new millennium. Along the way, gay couples find true love and a new home.

Contains the stories:

What’s in a Name?: When barista Jimmy is dumped and gets drunk on his 30th birthday, a handsome, hunky bartender takes care of him, but is mum about his real name. When Jimmy presses him, the bartender makes the quest a game, giving him seven guesses and promising romance each night. For every wrong guess, Jimmy has to forfeit a hot, sexy kiss. Sounds good, but what’s the catch?

Redesigning Max: Out and proud award-winning designer Fredi Zimmer takes on straight outdoorsman Max Greene’s cabin renovation. When he finds out Max is closeted and wants to come out, Fredi helps Max remodel not only his cabin but his life. Angered that Fredi has turned him, Max’s former friends intervene. Will Fredi and Max win the fight for their happiness?

Behr Facts: After CEO Abe Behr discovers discrepancies in his construction company accounts, he hires CPA Jeff Mason to help him find the embezzler. Searching for the culprit, they become closer, and Abe realizes he’s gay. However, coming out to a hostile family and community may break up the couple before they cement their happiness. With so much strife, will love prevail?

When Adam Fell: Jason’s drug addiction ripped them apart. Does Adam want to get back together now that his former lover says he’s clean?

Relative Best: When hotel owner Zeke Bandy meets Vic Longbow, he sees stars. But Vic is in town to attend a wedding and to open an office, not to fall in love. Are they doomed as lovers because they’re both too busy for happily ever after?

Frank at Heart: What will it take to make hardware store owner Frank update himself and his store? Could the new man in town be the key to unlock Frank’s life and future happiness?

Waking the Behr: Ladies’ man and small town contractor Ben Behr is blindsided by his lustful feelings for San Francisco entrepreneur Mitch O’Shea. Can a country mouse and a city mouse bridge the gap in their upbringing and expectations to find love?

Short Order: Amid the happiness of the Christmas season, horticulturist Fen Miller and his landlord sous chef John Barton have some serious decisions to make. Fen must decide on a career and John on eluding his grim past. Together can they support each other enough to discover their happily ever after?

Published: July 31, 2021

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Excerpt:

EXCERPT FROM "What's in a Name?"

Slowly I sat up and then stood. My knees protested, so I sat back down and then tried again. This time my knees cooperated.

When Heart Becomes Home

Part of the Non-series series:

Is there a time limit on love and forgiveness?

Fifteen years ago, Manny didn’t show up to take Wes to the Shelby High School prom as he promised. Instead, Wes found Manny’s letter jacket at their meeting spot without a note or any explanation.

From college to his current job in Monterey, California, Wes has carted the jacket around as a memento of his teenage love and rejection. This year he decides enough is enough. He’s attending the high school class reunion, returning Manny’s jacket, and going home free to find the real love of his life.

When Manny sees Wes at the reunion tour of the new high school facilities, he’s determined not to let his teenage lover leave without them clearing the air and possibly getting back together.

Through reunion activities such as a quiz bowl, meet-and-greet meals, and a formal banquet with a prom-like ball as well as outside activities like the quinceañera of Manny’s niece, Wes and Manny work through the lies and misunderstandings of the past.

With so much to reconcile and forgive on both sides, will they end up together? Or go their separate ways with only memories of the past?

Published: March 20, 2021

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Excerpt:

Manny stopped where we usually parked way back when. He cut the engine after rolling down the windows. A cool breeze ambled in, looked around, and exited on my side.

“So here we are.” Manny was whispering like he always did when we got here.

His arm rested on top of the backrest. But he didn’t play with my hair like he had then.

I clicked off my seat belt and turned to him.

“You promised me a look at the night sky.”

“So I did.” His seat belt made a decisive click just as mine had. “I’m not sure we can still see the sky from here though. I haven’t been out here in a while.”

“In a while?”

“In fifteen years. Not since the last time we came out here together.”

He spoke softly as if he was embarrassed to admit it. My dick heard his words as did my heart. My dick stiffened, even more than it already was. My heart pounded loud enough Manny should have been able to march to its beat.

I opened my door and got out. The ground was uneven, lumpy with rocks and roots and branches. I held onto the side of the truck while I tried to make it back to the tailgate.

We nearly collided when we got there.

Manny cleared his throat. I stepped back, unsure what to do.

“Um, yeah, let me get a few things out first.” He lowered the tailgate, hopped up onto the bed, opened the tool box, and got out a couple of exercise mats. He unrolled them one on top of the other. “Here, give me your hand.”

Lying on the mats wasn’t quite like it had been when we were eighteen. Our thirty-three-year-old bodies were less fluid and unforgiving in the confines of the truck bed.

We also didn’t seem to be as slender and compact as we’d been back then. There seemed to be a lot more of him and me as we lay side by side. Or were we pulled away, trying not to touch? Maybe I was just turning into the princess of princess-and-the-pea fame and was being overly picky.

As I gazed up, even the view of the sky was different. Either the trees had grown and filled in above us or we really couldn’t have seen the sky while we were pawing each other underneath their branches.

I slapped at a mosquito or fly or gnat or something. Then Manny slapped at something on his side. Suddenly, all I could hear was soft buzzing around me, and it was game on. The word was out that fresh meat had arrived.

“You got any DEET in your tool box?” I sat up waving my hands around my face, warding off the attack.

“Condoms, lube. Nope, no bug spray. The yoga mats took up too much space with my emergency road kit. I couldn’t even get a six-pack inside it.” He’d jumped out of the truck bed and was doing some sort of primitive bug repellent dance.

After I joined him on the ground, he closed the tailgate, and we ran to get into the cab. It wasn’t much better inside since we’d left the windows down. The bugs just followed us.

“Okay, we’re outta here.” He started the engine. “You want to come to my place? We can talk there.”

Reviews:Fay on MM Bookworm Reviews wrote:

4.5 stars.

A great start and yah once I started reading I forgot about taking notes for my review as I do. Wes was on a mission to return a jacket. I loved the first meeting for Wes and Manny again setting eyes on each other again. What happens things kinda go wrong and Manny needed to make his apologies. They both find out their past prom had interference that stopped them from enjoying the night. I felt for them both when they finally get to talk about what happened.
A second chance romance with past hurts and feelings to work through. Different living locations for each to work out in the communications. A few scenes of forgiveness as life deals, poor John I was conflicted with this part.. Yah things ain't easy especially with Flippy and Manny's mother but they get through with a few dramas. Includes homophobia and bigotry.
Written with Wes POV and includes much more into the story and finishes with a HEA.

Wes 33 yrs was attending his high school reunion to return a jacket. Manny was once a high school boyfriend but it ended badly at prom night.

Jay on Kimmer's Erotic Book Banter wrote:

The past is not always as it appears. Rash decisions, the innocence of youth, and bigotry create a fifteen-year separation that subconsciously holds on to those years. When Heart Becomes Home, by Pat Henshaw, addresses aged hurt and reveals truths, providing a second chance that transcends time.

The love Gordon Westerhouse (Wes) and Manuel Garcia (Manny) held for one another was shattered the night of their senior prom. Homophobia and bigotry prevented them from experiencing their rite of passage, resulting in years of heartbreak and stagnant living.

The class reunion reaffirms that the years after high school change the dynamics of a group and the lives of inexperienced youth.

The Fifteenth Shelby High School Reunion, for Wes, is a time to break the cycle and move on. He will return Manny’s letterman jacket that he took that fateful night and let go of Manny once and for all. However, Manny has a different plan. He needs to explain that night, make his apologies, and get his man back.

The weeklong get together provides an opportunity for Wes and Manny to talk out their past and reconnect with old friends and foes. The class reunion reaffirms that the years after high school change the dynamics of a group and the lives of inexperienced youth. The clicks that existed during those days have gained real life experience and closely guarded secrets are now out in the open. Albeit there is a small contingent who hang on to the “glory days” of their youth, for the most part there is a sense remorse and regret for past actions.

There is hurt, comfort, drama, and a slew of realities bestowed on the Shelby High School Reunion attendees that mimic life in general, with its good and not so good realities. A situation with Manny’s mother is tough to swallow, but then again bigotry always is. And “Flip” needs to just stop… you will find out what this is all about.

There is hurt, comfort, drama, and a slew of realities bestowed on the Shelby High School Reunion attendees that mimic life in general, with its good and not so good realities.

When Heart Becomes Home is Wes and Manny’s journey to happiness told from Wes’ perspective. Fifteen years of torment come full circle for Wes and Manny as they finally get the prom they should have had so many years ago. With trepidation they work through the events of their past to bring themselves to their happily-ever-after.

Jen on Dog-Eared Daydreams wrote:

Henshaw did a notable job with this story about first loves and second chances, and how love truly does win in the end. When Heart Becomes Homes receives four stars.

(See Dog-Eared Daydreams for the rest of the review!)

Kat on Love Bytes wrote:

Do you ever wonder about the one that got away?

Manny has been on Wes’s mind for the last fifteen years. Every since Gordo, now called Wes, found Manny’s mud soaked letterman’s jacket when he got stood up for their date to the prom. Wes left the very next morning for college and never looked back. But here he is is at his High School reunion to finally give the boy his jacket back so he can finally get on with his life! But what happens when your high school love is standing right in front of you and trying to tell you what you thought was reality of that night isn’t the truth?

I loved this misfit group. I love how varied they all were but how fiercely protective of their band of nerds they each were. Wes had all his friends on his side as he moves forward with his plans to get rid of the old baggage of his life and move forward.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to meet up, discover the last 15 years had been a lie and then realize there was something still there that never died in either men. I did appreciate that the author didn’t have Wes immediately fall at Manny’s feet in mad love but that they had to learn to trust each other again. But, when the truths start emerging my heart hurt for all the wrongs that had happened to both boys at the hands of those that were suppose to love them completely.

I did have one part that bugged me. When Cee-Cee kept thanking her uncle it didn’t make sense. Manny was an only child. It would make more sense that she was a cousin or possibly second cousin but not her uncle.

Also, it was obvious that Teddy, Zack’s husband, didn’t go to high school with the rest of the team so how come he got to be a member of the team when actual alumni were set as alternates by the reunion trivia board? And what school anywhere in this country wouldn’t have ADA accommodations mandatory, especially in California?

All in all, even with these blunders, I liked this sweet story of second chance romance.

The Orpheum Miracle

Part of the Holiday Stories series:

Christmas joy is a matter of perspective. For some, it’s the happiest time of the year. For others, not so much.

Twenty-nine-year-old Mick, the son of crack addicts, isn’t exactly a dyed-in-the-wool Scrooge. Mick’s been on his own from childhood. As a teen, he lived in a shelter, where for a short time he had a boyfriend. After the boyfriend left, Mick moved to the Orpheum Theater. While squatting there and taking care of the grand old building, Mick watched others celebrate the holidays from a distance, never able to share in their merriment. Only his

Technicolor dreams liven his dull, mechanical life until one day the world around him begins to change. Mick is surprised when a man named Jim buys the vintage Orpheum and plans to restore it. Something about Jim makes Mick think they’ve met before. In fact, Jim rekindles Mick’s longing for a better life and a little holiday magic for himself.

Published: December 23, 2020

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

contemporary, holiday, MM, romance

Tags:

construction worker, contemporary, daydream, entrepreneur, gay romance, homeless, LGBTQ+, MM, movie theater, nightmare, non-series title, second chance, second chance at love, second chance love

Excerpt:

In early November, a new banner across the Orpheum Theater went up saying: Welcome to Christmas, the happiest time of the year. Coming soon.

Far as I could tell, Christmas was when children danced around like clowns on crack. Besotted parents cavorted around them like ninnies in the stupid race. And the rest of us stood back waiting for the inevitable explosion.

Despite how it started, Christmas had been morphed by the rich into a season of greed. It had nothing to do with whether a kid was good or bad, but how much money his folks had. Take the kids I knew down at the shelter. Shit, they could be as good as little angels, and the best they’d ever get was someone’s cast-off pity, which wasn’t going to do them a damned bit of good when the holiday parade of who-got-what started at school.

All Christmas did, as far as I was concerned, was make poor kids feel worse and rich kids feel more powerful and more ready to rub everyone else’s nose in their misfortune. And we all knew, where you started was pretty much where you ended up in life. The Christmas miracle was a lie that should have been shot in the head and buried eons ago.

Fortunately, here in the bowels of the old Orpheum Theater, the only Christmas merry-makers left were ghosts of vaudevillians, chorus girls, corrupt managers, and the live help. Those of us who weren’t going from office party to cocktail land were left here to sweep the floors, squeegee jizz off bathroom walls, pry gum from under seats, and oust anything that moves after the doors were closed and locked.

I’ve been called cynical, a Scrooge, a vulture perched and ready to rip the eyes out of the season. It wasn’t true. I was as big a sap as the next guy.

I was still working here at the Orpheum, wasn’t I?

Even after the new guy, a hotshot investor type, bought the building and threatened to give the Orpheum the Wonderful Life makeover, I was still here. The stately Orpheum might be closed to the public for renovation, but as the longest paid employee, I was one of the lucky bastards kept on during the project.

(After the new manager comes in, and our narrator Mick gets a promotion….)

That night, after we piloted the last cleaner on his way out the door and I lagged behind the rest of the regular staff as they got out of there, I sat in the dark, the theater locked, the alarm on, and the heat turned down to its slumber setting.

For the past few years now, I’d sit like this, middle of the center row, shoes off, three pairs of socks, blanket bundled around me, feet and legs over the seat back in front of me. Sometimes I ate the leftover popcorn, sometimes not. I didn’t ever steal, so no candy, hot dogs, chips, or anything I wasn’t entitled to.

I’d sit, relax, and run my own movie, my mind movie. Sometimes it was a romance, with me meeting the perfect guy. Usually, he was walking by the Orpheum and a heavy rainstorm or windstorm blew in and he had to get out of the elements. Sometimes he’d run into me as I was cleaning up the lobby, maybe spilling some popcorn he’d just bought.

“Damn. Sorry,” he’d say.

Our eyes would meet, and that’s all she wrote.

(After Mick reminisces about his one, true love….)

So back in the Orpheum at bedtime, romances were my all-time favorite dream fare. My second favorites were homemade domestic comedies. Me, the dad of a brood of spritely boys, and husband to a goofy, well-meaning guy, whose day job working in an office was driving him nuts. We’d take the boys on camping trips and tell stories around the fire. We’d teach them all the stuff we’d learned as we grew up.

My husband, who grew up in a white-picket-fence-type family, would give them tips about being good, upright citizens. I’d pass along all my street lore. Where to find food that isn’t too tainted, where to find shelter, who to trust—no one—who to stay away from—everyone. My husband would tell them about fairy-tale hopes and dreams, about Christmas. I’d ground them with a reality where hopes and dreams only happened on film. Our lives would be paradise.

I liked watching my homemade DIY romances and domestic comedies. I could fall sound asleep, only getting up a couple of times to stretch my legs and take a piss. On those nights, I’d wake up rested, ready to meet the day, hardly missing breakfast or a real meal. Over the years, Randy, like some of my wilder hopes and dreams, faded. I wished I could remember what his face looked like, but after all this time, it was just a hazy blur, never coming into focus. No matter. My hero wasn’t so much a face as the feeling of being protected and happy.

Reviews:Dan on LoveBytes wrote:

I really liked this one. It tugged at the heartstrings in places. Especially one section.

“You forgot that not everyone was a child of kindness and wealth?

You forgot that Christmas is just a season of too much buying and too little love?

You forgot that some of us aren’t worthy of love?

You forgot that a child’s wonder doesn’t get to happen to every child, just select ones?”

Don’t those lines just make you put it in perspective? The M/C of this story is a young man who grew up hard. His mother was a crack addict and his father was gone. He grew up in a crack house, where I think bad things happened. It kind of referenced them in an aside, so I’m not sure, but regardless, he ended up in a shelter as a teen living on the street. He had a boyfriend for a short time, but the boy disappeared and no one ever knew where he went. He was rumored to be dead.

Since then his life hasn’t improved much. He is still homeless, but now lives in the theater he works in. It is a secret, but there is a new owner, who might not be as understanding.

This is nice little story. I really liked it and I would highly recommend it!

A. M. Liebowitz on A. M. Liebowitz wrote:

If you’re looking for a little sweet, gentle holiday read, this is a good choice. It’s warm-hearted and has the overall feel of taking a big bite out of a delicious holiday sugar cookie.

Mick, the homeless jack-of-all-trades employee (and resident) of the Orpheum Theater doesn’t believe in Christmas cheer. He hasn’t had a lot of reason to. But he’s still a dreamer, and somehow he manages to keep his hope alive even with all he’s been through. I liked Mick very much as a narrator. Right away, he had me hoping right a long with him. I loved his “mental movies” where he gets to be the star.

This is very short, easy to read in just about the length of time it takes to enjoy a good cup of mulled cider. There isn’t much I can say without spoiling the story and the delightful surprises along the way. Is it a little bit tidy and improbable? Sure. Some readers might find the coincidences a little too handy or the middle a bit too short to feel fully satisfying. But isn’t that exactly what makes holiday magic fun? We don’t need the same level of having things drawn-out as in a full novel.

It’s everything I’ve come to expect (and appreciate) about Pat Henshaw’s writing: heartwarming, funny, and doesn’t rely on sensuality to carry the plot. This is a great cozy fireside read. It’s also a terrific introduction to the author’s style for new readers.

For a lot of sweetness, a delightful main character, and a cup of holiday cheer, this gets 9/10 fountain pens.

Prime on MM Good Book Reviews wrote:

I really have become a true fan of Pat Henshaw’s work since getting into the Foothills Pride series. The Orpheum Miracle is Pat’s offering this year to Dreamspinner Press’s Christmas themed stories.

This is a really sweet and uplifting story, which reminded me a bit Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol when it comes to basing the entire thing around Christmas and orphans. Mick is the character narrating our story. He lived in a kid’s home most of his life, never adopted and all he really has is his job managing the Orpheum Theatre. He really has only connected with one person in his life, but that was back in his teens and that kid had disappeared from his life when the kid got adopted.

Things change one Christmas, a time of year he has never got to love, when he meets the new owner of the theatre, Jim. Jim is a bit mysterious, but you’ll figure out the ending before you get there probably. Nonetheless, the romance that begins to develop between the MCs is sweet and I totally loved it!

Molly on MollyLolly wrote:

This was a sweet holiday short. I liked Mick and his boss together. It was obvious at first who he was. But the reveal was still sweet and nice to read. I liked getting to see Mick transforming from someone that dislikes the season to someone that loves it. That slow melting of his opinion is wonderful. There was just enough story here you could get a sense of Mick and get invested in his happy ending. Mick and his guy are wonderful together and you can tell they’re going to make a go of a relationship. I do have faith they’ll go the distance based on how they met. I would adore a sequel. Maybe next holiday we can see them a few years from now with the theater a huge success and they share holiday joy with everyone? I’d read the heck out of it if no matter what it was about.

The Thaw

Part of the Non-series series:

A winter chill might stifle estranged friends, but spring seems to be peeking around the corner for them as former buddies weather a late season blizzard in a rural Nebraska cabin.

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 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, they work their way back to friendship—and beyond.

Published: November 25, 2020

Editors:

Cover Artists:

Genres:

Tags:

cabin, college graduate, contemporary, farmer, gay romance, Nebraska, non-series title, rancher, second chance, second chance at love

Excerpt:

I don’t know why I was so nervous sitting across from VJ. We’d been close friends growing up. Hell, until he decided to kiss me, we’d been really tight. I’d told him my hopes and dreams. I shared every thought and idea I had. I’d even let him tutor me in literature class, and I‘d written a poem to him when it was assigned. I’d only kept a couple things back.

Now we were a few years past our thirtieth birthdays and shared a border between our spreads, but we hadn’t really talked to each other for a little over a decade.

“Heard you were thinking about going all organic last year,” I said, breaking the silence that had settled over us. Greta’s Café on a Wednesday morning before noon was nearly empty. The farmers and ranchers who’d come into town earlier in the day were either back home or on their way there.

“Yeah. You looking for organic corn and grain for your cattle?” VJ gave me a quick over-the-top-of-the-menu glance.

I sighed. “Look, I’m sorry about freshman year. I coulda been smoother, you know….” I wasn’t about to say the word “kiss” out loud. Not here. Not never.

“Yes, you could have been.” VJ kept reading the menu as if it were a particularly difficult Russian novel. “You don’t need to apologize. It was both of us.”

“You don’t seem to be over it, though.”

“I’m over it. Are you? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Nope.” I picked up my menu and hid behind it. So we were just going to let the whole thing drop? Guess it was what we shoulda done in the first place.

The waitress, an older woman who was the aunt of a kid we’d gone to school with, waddled up, took our order and the menus, and then waddled back to the kitchen, returning with two full mugs of coffee.

Without the menus to shelter us, we looked like a snapshot of what we were: two rural Plains guys with nothing much to say for themselves. The silence grew louder between us.

“Okay, we agreed to check out the property. When’s good for you?” I blurted out the question. I was hoping I looked at ease, but I could feel tightness in my jaw. Damn, VJ still looked good. Too damned good.

He sat up straight and tall, making my slouch seem maybe a little too forced. His dark eyes sparkled as if he was reading me and could see that the façade was just window dressing. I still felt the connection between us like a lasso pulling us together. It had bound us as kids and seemed to have kicked in again now we were adults. Why was I always so drawn to him?

“I can take off a few days next week.” VJ’s pause lasted little under a lifetime. “The week after if I needed to.”

“Sounds doable to me,” I answered a little too quick. His eyes widened. He’d caught me, and his answering smile made me feel like I was coming home, which was stupid since my lifestyle was so completely different from his. “We could stay at the cabin. Go out and look at the land during the day. Maybe sleep out under the stars, if it’s not too cold.”

Reviews:Lena on Rainbow Book Reviews wrote:

“Thawing the frozen heart doesn’t happen in a single instant. It happens by degrees and with intention. Let spring into your heart, bit by bit, so that beauty and love can begin to grow once again.” ~ Ashley Davis Bush, LICSW

This is an endearing love story between two friends who, after many trials and tribulations, become what they were meant to be – lifetime partners, as well as friends. Thanks, Pat, for finding a way to bring VJ and Thomas back together where they belonged.

Sammy on Joyfully Jay wrote:

The story is told in alternating points of view with a bit more soul-searching from Tommy. In fact, I felt as though I got to know him quite well in this novella as opposed to VJ who remained more of an obscure character for me. Tommy’s emotions and his worries definitely pull at the heart strings making this an emotional coming out story, plus a friends to lovers tome. We get a real clear picture of how Tommy sought his dad’s approval over being honest with himself or VJ—to the danger of never seeing his best friend again, even though they lived so close to one another.

The Thaw relates one man’s struggle to be all things to all people and losing himself in the process. He falls victim to relying on other’s opinions to shape his life and ends up finds it empty and lacking in anything that can remotely make him happy. When he finally realizes that, he begins really living and that is a beautiful thing to see.

Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention

When Adam Fell

Part of the Foothills Pride series:

TV celebrity chef and cookbook author Adam de Leon walked away from his lover when Jason’s drug addiction spiraled out of control. Adam also abandoned his renowned restaurant in San Francisco to start a small bistro in the Sierra Foothills.

Five years later Adam is battling the conservative leaders of Stone Acres, California, to open a new restaurant in the historic Old Town area when Jason turns up on his doorstep—a recovered Jason, now going by the name David and claiming he's overcome his addictions. What’s more, he begs Adam to take him back and says he’s ready for their happily ever after.

Adam has enough on his plate with problems plaguing the opening of his restaurant. Now he’s having a hard time deciding which to follow—his head or his heart.

Published: August 22, 2020

Genres:

Tags:

chef, contemporary, Foothills Pride series, gay romance, maitre d', MM, novella, second chance, Sierra Nevada foothills

Excerpt:

Jimmy picked up the envelope.

“You didn’t open it?” His question broke the tension between me and Stone. “Don’t you want to know what’s in it?”

“It’s a check,” I whispered. “I know what’s in it. It’s his payback for everything he thinks he stole from me.” I didn’t add that there wasn’t a check large enough to cover the cost of a broken heart.

“For how much?” Jimmy asked.

“Does it matter?” I countered.

Jimmy shrugged and Stone glared at him.

“That’s it? A check?” Jimmy was holding the fat envelope and waving it in front of me. “Feels like a lot of paper for only a check.”

Stone’s glare turned deadly, but Jimmy ignored him.

“No. He said something about a decision I had to make.” I tried to bat the envelope away, but he moved it so it evaded my hand.

“You should open it, huh?” he asked mildly.

Stone grabbed the envelope and slammed it on the table. “The man isn’t interested, babe!” he yelled at Jimmy.

Jimmy smiled and picked at the cinnamon roll.

“Sure he is,” he countered. “He wants to know what’s inside the envelope.” He took a breath and leaned back. “I’m getting him more coffee, and you’re persuading him to open it and find out what decision he needs to make.”

Jimmy got up and touched Stone’s back. Jimmy leaned over and planted a kiss on Stone’s bald head. “We gotta get this guy moved by tonight, remember.”

While I was puzzling over what he’d meant about me moving, Stone shook his head, a tiny smile puckering his lips. He picked up the envelope.

“He’s fucking right, you know. You need to open this and find out what else Jason wants.”

I nodded and took it from him.

I tore the end off the envelope and slid out a check and some sheets of paper. The cashier’s check was made out to me for five hundred thousand dollars. Too much and too little. I handed Stone the check and slowly opened the three pages.

Thanks for giving me a chance to explain what happened. You left. It was the smartest thing you’ve ever done for me. I needed it. I was hanging on by a thread and expecting you to knit me back together while I teetered between getting clean and getting high.

When you left, I felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. I spent a couple of days feeling sorry for myself and cursing you. Then one day I saw myself in a store window while I was panhandling tourists.

Who the hell was the bum? I had a complete and thorough breakdown right there on the sidewalk. The cops picked me up and brought me in when I started taking off my clothes and apologizing to people for being so filthy and wasted.

The cops asked if I wanted to go into rehab. It was a no-brainer. Probably because I didn’t have a brain by then. I didn’t have you to bail me out. Anyway, I cleaned up in a state facility. I buried the old Jason and walked away from the loser. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him.

Well, it doesn’t work like that exactly. I craved drugs so bad sometimes I all but gnawed my arms off pushing the cravings away. I was working as a janitor for a software company, a placement I got because of you, actually. One of the execs recognized me as the “best friend” of the greatest chef to cook in the Bay Area. His words, but my belief too.

Anyway, there’s a diversionary technique they teach you in the rehab center that was working for me—when I remembered to do it. You wear a rubber band around your wrist and when the cravings start, you snap the rubber band. Easy, right? Only I kept forgetting.

The company made apps for smartphones, so I asked the exec, who kept bugging me about you and your recipes, to make me an app for the phone I’d been given. I wanted him to make me an alarm to randomly ring and buzz. Something that would go off when I least expected it and make me worry about when it would go off instead of thinking about the cravings, which also came at crazy times.

We started there and his app seemed to be working. But I figured if there was some kind of gyroscope or something in it to recognize when I started shaking and then sound the alarm, it would be better.

Okay, long story short—the app worked and the guy’s selling it to places like high-end rehab facilities and state agencies. It’s being used for all kinds of behavior modification.

So how’d I make money off it, you’re asking. Well, the exec, who’s now worth in the billion-dollar range, figures he’d never have come up with it if it hadn’t been for me. He gave me rights to a quarter of the sales for life. Bet you never thought I’d live through rehab and help create a phone app and become a millionaire, did you? Me neither.

Anyway, there’s a lot more to the story after I started making money, but I’ll save it for later if you maybe decide you want to be friends with the new David Jason Fairbanks.

Okay, I know you don’t want the money and have a lot of your own. But I have to give this to you. I have to. So I’ve figured out what I think you should do with it. I’ve enclosed a list of LGBTQ support groups that I got off the web.

I want you to pick one or all of them and distribute the money in your name. Or if you’re suddenly feeling nostalgic about the late, unlamented Jason Fuck Up, you can do it in both our names. Since we took so much grief in school, I figure it’d be best if we try to help someone else—a lot of someone elses.

Anyway, it’s a suggestion. Do whatever you want. Just think, though. It’s a lot of money and it could do a lot of good.

You’re my first and only love. I’ll love you until I stop breathing, and even then I’ll love you to the end of time.

Formerly Your Pretty Boy

FUCK.

Dammit, Pretty Boy. I was right back where I’d been when Stone and Jimmy arrived. Tears were coursing down my cheeks, and Stone had me in a death hug. Jimmy was rubbing my back and making “Shhh” sounds.

Shit.

I didn’t want to love him. I didn’t want to like him. He was dead. I had to get over this. I had to. I’d go crazy otherwise.