Snowed Inn
Will confessing his deepest secret to his best friend ruin their friendship?
Sutter Thompson has spent a goodly part of his life living a lie.
That lie led him to marry a woman he didn’t love as he should while he struggled to be all that his family wanted him to be. Finally, after the birth of his son Zachary, Sutter came to see that he needed to live a life of truth. Not just for himself, but for Zach as well. The truth included coming out at forty, getting divorced while his son was an infant, and trying to readjust to being who he was born to be.
Throughout all the turmoil, Sutter’s best friend, Watley McCutcheon, stood by his side. Watley understood how difficult breaking free could be. He had done it many years ago when they were still on the same college hockey team. Sutter always admired Wat’s bravery. He also admired his best friend for many other things…his smile, his laugh, his adoration of his son, Adam, and his caring heart. Now that Watley is single again, Sutter is hoping he can unlock the final secret he’s been carrying in his heart…he has and always will love Watley.
He’d not planned to do so at the youth hockey awards, but then again, he hadn’t expected an avalanche to strand him, Watley, their sons, and several of the boys’ teammates in a cozy Colorado inn either. Maybe it’s the romantic atmosphere or the sudden realization that life is too short to harbor such strong feelings forever, but he’s ready to declare his feelings to Watley. Can they step out of the friend zone and into a romance, or will Sutter’s heartfelt admission destroy years of brotherly affection?
Checking it Twice (A Snowed Inn Novella) is a friends-to-lovers gay romance with plenty of snow, a heaping helping of romance, snowball fights, terrible dad jokes, pop culture references out the wazoo, and a joyous happy ending.
I know forced proximity tropes aren't for everyone, especially since Covid but I've always enjoyed a well written one or what I like to call "tale of necessity" or "fate at work". There is always a cloud of "will it last once the necessity is gone" hanging over the heads of those involved but lets face it, there are "what ifs" hovering over everyone's head at some point or another. I enjoy this trope because it can make some who might never get a chance to say two words to each other really get to know the other. Be honest, communication and seeing one deal with the unexpected, can be key to lasting love.
Now that I've said that, Checking it Twice, though forced proximity gives Sutter and Watley the opportunity to face what is in the room, is actually more of a friends to lovers trope as they've been best buds since college. Just because they probably know all the nitty gritty of each other's psyche doesn't mean they've been completely open about everything and the avalanche near The Retreat forces them to face a few truths. Kids and fellow-trapped hockey parents play a hand in it as well.
I don't want to spoil anything but we know VL Locey and the whole holiday tale genre is all about the HEA so it's no secret where the men will end up but the how they get there is where all the fun lies. I refuse to spoil your fun. I will say that one thing I loved the most is how the kids act and react. I have found too many kids in entertainment(book, tv shows, movies) fall into one of two categories: super sickly sweet or spoiled obnoxious brats so when I come across kids in my readings(or viewings) that are simply "normal"(I hate that word because what is "normal" but I can't think of a better one right now) with some sweetness and a hint of bratty potential but mostly "I just want to see you happy, dad. When can we eat?", I not only remember them but need to shine a spotlight on them. So kudos to VL Locey for the "normal" little boy behavior😉.
So to reiterate in much more brevity: Checking it Twice is brilliant holiday fun that will make you smile and leave said smile on your face for hours afterwards. Oh and, men caring for kids? Yummy to the Nth degree!
One last series note: Snowed Inn is a multi-author series of standalones with the only real follow thru being the avalanche that traps the main characters at The Retreat. The entries can be read in any order although if I'm completely honest I'm glad I read RJ Scott's Stop the Wedding first simply because there are the occasional wedding(or non-wedding) comments, none of which really effect or play a role in any of the other entries but I was glad I knew what they meant having read Wedding first. But that's more a personal preference of mine than an actually need to know scenario. I still have a couple of entries to read but so far they are all topnotch.
Chapter One
“Are we there yet?”
I felt my left eye twitch. My co-pilot and best friend sniggered softly from the passenger seat. I gave Watley a look that could wither a forest. He snickered even harder while fiddling with the Bluetooth hookup in our rented van.
“No, Zachary, we are not there yet. We just left home an hour ago.”
My son huffed. Zach was not the most patient of children. He obviously got that trait from his mother since I was someone who could sit on something for so long it would petrify under my ass. Like one of those fossilized dinosaur eggs we’d seen at the American Museum of Natural History two summers ago when Zach and I had visited New York City. Yep, no chicken or dino could sit on something longer than Sutter Thompson.
“How long does it take to get to Colorado?” Adam, Watley’s son, asked.
I waved a hand at my buddy and associate coach of the Red Pines Pumas, a squirt summer league ice hockey team from scenic Red Pines, New Mexico, a mere thirty minutes from Albuquerque. The same small town that housed Red Pines University, where Watley and I worked. Me as the athletic director and Wat as the conditioning coach for all the teams plus cheerleaders on our tiny campus. The five players nominated for awards were with us. Zach a winger, Adam a D-man, Tigh Williams a forward with startingly red hair, Seth Mankowski who played right wing, and Matt Vigliano a center. We would have had six with us, but Millicent Davies, our goalie, had to fly south to spend the holidays with her grandparents in Florida. It crushed her she was going to miss the trip with her friends, but knowing she was going to Universal Theme Park kind of weighed things out. We have her short acceptance speech should she win Outstanding Goalie.
“About six hours give or take,” Wat replied just as The Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” blared to life, effectively silencing the top 40 pop station that we’d been forced to endure for the past sixty minutes. My head instantly started bopping. “Sweet dreams are made of cheese, who am I to dis a brie,” Wat began crooning. All five boys in the back groaned. Whether at Wat’s silly pun or the song itself, who knew? Probably the song. I snorted at the moans from all the ten year olds.
“Finally, some good music,” I shouted, then tapped the volume button on the steering wheel.
“Ear buds stat!” Zach bellowed to his teammates. Within seconds, the bored whining disappeared as the boys jammed to their own tunes or queued up a movie to watch on their tablets and/or phones.
“Works every time,” Watley whispered with a wink. That wink always did something to me. As did his smile, his laugh, his walk, his way of standing, his curly brown hair that was now shot through with silver, his ass, his eyes, and about a million other things. I’d loved this man for over thirty years and had never uttered a word about the attraction. Yep. There sat Sutter on the lone fossilized egg from his sad, closeted past. I doubted it would ever hatch. “Remember when we were young?”
“Vaguely,” I remarked, lifting my takeout cup of coffee from the console as the song slid from Annie Lennox to A-Ha. God I loved this song. It brought back such memories.
Wat chortled. “I recall that time we were making the trip to Southern California to play in the Western semifinals. We were so bored we played punch buggy to pass the time.”
“Oh yeah, I used to play that with Donna all the time when we’d go to Boston to visit our grandparents. She still hits like Muhammad Ali.” My older sister had the boniest knuckles. “We’d also play ‘I Spy’ and ‘I’m going on a picnic’ a lot. That was before kids had their faces in phones twenty-four-seven.” I glanced in the back at my son, who had his face in his phone. No shocker there.
“Yeah, they don’t have to use their imaginations like we did back in the day.” Watley sighed then straightened out his left leg. His trick knee popped like a starter’s gun. “Ouch. Mother fudger.”
“Only five more hours to go, Gramps,” I teased and got a secretive middle finger.
That made me smile. Not that I had much to tease my friend about. My back would be a knotted mess by the time we arrived in Chester Lake, Colorado later today. Thankfully, we’d miss a lot of the holiday traffic by leaving on the twentieth, so we should make good time. We’d get to spend a few days at the lovely Retreat Inn, hopefully win some awards, play with the boys in the snow, then head home for Christmas. Fifty-two and road trips didn’t play well most of the time. My sciatica liked to flare up at the worst times and being in a vehicle for hours was killer. I did the cheek-to-cheek wobble every few miles. A rest stop would be needed at the next hour marker for back kink alleviation and old man bladder relief. And to let the boys run off some of that glorious energy I wished someone would bottle up for the old guys like me and Watley.
Although, to be honest, I felt Wat had aged much better than I had. Perhaps that was just me being a nitpick. I tended to niggle at my faults endlessly, nipping at my imperfections like one does a hangnail. But Watley really had moved into his fifties with incredible grace and good looks. His divorce from Paul, his long-time husband, five years ago, hit him hard. I could relate to the devastation of a marriage falling apart at the seams brought. I’d gone through it myself when Zach was a baby, only I’d added coming out to the maelstrom of chaos. Talk about a one-two punch to the testes. If I would have had the guts, I would have come out in college as Wat had and lived my life proudly as a gay man. But my Catholic upbringing kept me in the closet for years, afraid to be who I was born to be, fearful of losing the love of my family and colleagues.
It was only after I gazed into the deep blue eyes of my baby son that I knew I had to stop living the lie. This long sought after child would rely on me to be honest with him. About everything. How could I lead a boy through life if I was being dishonest with the child as well as the whole world? I couldn’t. And so I’d told Kimberly I was gay two months after Zach was born. Looking back in retrospect, it probably was not the best time to do so, but if not then when? When Zach graduated from high school? College? At his wedding? At the birth of his children? When I was on my deathbed?
“You need me to take over?” Wat’s warm, deep voice broke through the fog of days long gone. I stared at him blankly for a second, then got my sight back on the road. “Toto’s “Africa” is playing and you’re not singing aloud.”
“Didn’t realize you missed my golden vocals.”
“No one can sing about wild dogs and Kilimanjaro like you, Sutter.”
“Wiseass.”
I broke loose, singing at the top of my lungs, my gaze flicking to Watley as I belted out the lines. We’d been close for more than half our lives. He’d moved after his divorce to take the job that I’d begged the dean to interview him for. Now his son and mine were close friends and teammates, and I had my best friend in my life on the daily. Wat laughed aloud as the boys begged us to quiet down. I sang even louder just to get another smile from the man on my right. I’d do just about anything to make Watley and my son happy. Shame I couldn’t say that about myself.
V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee.
(Not necessarily in that order.)
She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a flock of assorted domestic fowl, and two Jersey steers.
When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.
Checking it Twice
Series
