From Christmas to Easter and from childhood through the end of life, here are ten interconnected stories revolving around one couple and the people who love them. These are tales of friendship, family, sensuality, and all the intimate moments that make them who they are, together and apart. The stories fill in the gaps before and around the events in the other novels in the Passing on Faith series. Included: A youth embraces his identity; two women build a life together; a former ...

Adam Lansing has always relied on his charm to get by. Sure, he's starting over—new school, new graduate assistant position—but he knows he won't have any trouble working his magic on anyone he chooses.Antonio "AJ" Mancuso is deep inside his own head. He's cool, calm, and confident. But despite all the friends around him, he often feels like he straddles two worlds. Is there anyone who could love him for everything that defines him—past and present?From the first time they ...

Jamie Cosgrove is doing his best to recover from a break-up after years with an abusive boyfriend. All his usual coping strategies have failed, and he's fallen back on things that make him feel safe: drumming, food, and his friend Trevor. The trouble is, two of those are still secrets, even from those closest to him.Cian Toomey has it all. He has loving relationships with his partners and a fulfilling, creative career. The one thing he's missing is someone to go home to at night. W...

Luke works a job he hates and shares a dirty, small apartment with his roommate, barely making ends meet and envying the successes of his friends. When they all return for a wedding, Luke comes face to face with one of the people he left behind when he took off. Instead of the bitterness Luke expects, Connor invites him on a forty-day, cross-country trip.They travel the length of route I-90, following the last journey Connor's father made from Boston to Seattle, recorded in a nearl...

A set of holiday-themed short fiction. Phin’s home sick, but Alex will take good care of him; Jeanine is about to deliver something more than red shoes to the boy who keeps asking for them; Santa’s son is in love with his sexy best friend, Elf Robin, and is trying to find a way to tell him; best friends, lovers, and co-teachers at a dance studio, Elinor and Giovanna enjoy their ballet with a side of spanking; eleven-year-old Cat wants to be Mary in his church’s Christmas play, but not ever...

The year is 1991, and Antonia "Toni" Moskowitz is caught in the middle, always having to pick a side. Whether it's between her family's two religions or in her relationships, she has choices to make. Does her heart belong to the outgoing boy with the lime-green nails or the girl in the black velvet skirt? Where does she fit in when both gender and gender roles feel confining?But learning who she is and who she wants to be with has a price. Every decision has consequences, especiall...

Phin Patterson is an educational consultant dissatisfied with his job and his life. On a mission to complete one last assignment before escaping his unfulfilling career and figure out what he wants, he accepts a commission from Donald Murdock at the New York State Education Department. Suddenly, he finds himself on his way to evaluate a tiny school in New York's Southern Tier, not far from the town where he grew up. Now his only goal is to get in, do his job, and get out before anyone from...

In her teens, Jo spent a summer as a missionary in Chicago. After forty years, two divorces, and a daughter who won't speak to her, a postcard arrives in the mail. Now Jo must decide if she wants to attend a reunion. Going means seeing the woman she once loved and finding out if all they had was one summer or if there's a chance to start over. It also means facing the other women on her team. Maybe it's time for Jo to reconcile all her broken relationships.

Heidi's life may be a complicated balancing act between work, her kids, and a messy relationship with her ex. But all that is about to change when she proposes to her long-time girlfriend at the top of the hill during the annual Lilac Festival. What could be more romantic?When nothing about her day goes according to plan, and her proposal is rejected, Heidi is devastated. She confesses her one wish to a stranger on a park bench: to have the whole day over again. Little does she kno...

Nate Kingsley is a master at messing up. Out of jealousy, he outed his best friend in a public and embarrassing way. Now he's doing his best to make up for his crimes, but it's left him empty and frustrated, unfulfilled even by his career as an opera singer and creative director. He enters an unsatisfying relationship he keeps hidden from his closest friends. When that ends on a disappointing note, he seeks solace in his crush on one of the drag queens performing at his favorite club....

Trevor Davidson has everything going for him. He's just moved out on his own with three friends, and he's landed a job as music director at a large Boston church. He has high hopes for marrying his long-term girlfriend and settling into a comfortable, devout lifestyle.Andre Cole has spent the past few years throwing himself into a dead-end job at a Cape Cod-based call center. When an opportunity to move back to Boston arises, Andre believes it will be the do-over he needs to put hi...

A.M. Leibowitz's conclusion to the intricate Notes from Boston series is here!When it comes to love, Mack Whitman prefers to limit it to writing songs and poetry. Aromantic, he's content to have quality friendships and people who sometimes also share his bed. He's never considered himself the jealous type. But when he sees everyone in his life, from his best friends to his occasional partners, moving toward more settled lives, it leaves him frustrated, disappointed, and worried he'...