Mulligan's Mill

Wings. That was the nickname they gave me in the lead-up to the Winter Olympics. I was ready to take home the gold for figure skating, ready to make all my dreams come true . . . all but one . . . the dream of finding love. That dream ended the night I lost the only man I ever wanted. It was a moment that led to my downfall on the ice rink. And so I fled my hometown of Mulligan's Mill, determined never to return. That is until I get the call from Doc Morgan, letting me know that my sister's hoarding habit is getting out of control.

I'm ready to open my flower shop Bud's Blooms and turn over a whole new petal. But when a new arrival in Mulligan's Mill—fancy French pastry chef Pascal Dupont—decides to open a new patisserie right next door, I find myself more than just a little distracted by the grumpy, gorgeous Parisian chef. Maybe, with a little help from my friends, I'll get all the love advice I need to become the smooth, suave, sophisticated gentleman that Pascal might notice.

It's been way too long since I set foot on the streets of Mulligan's Mill. But after serving six years in the Marines I just wasn't ready to return home, so I got myself a motorcycle and spent another two years avoiding the idea of going back—hoping that reuniting with my best friend Clarry would wash away all the hurt and help me start over again. I'm a war hero and built like a tank, while he's still the sweet, sensitive, chubby kid he was at school, only now he runs the town's ice cream parlor.

Bastian Cole. He's the ex who broke my heart, the man who up and left without an explanation or so much as a goodbye, just a note saying he was sorry. Yep, in one fell swoop he crushed any joy I had in my soul, ruined my faith in true love, and destroyed the dream we shared of running our very own BnB in Mulligan's Mill. That was three years ago, but those shattered dreams are about to turn into my worst nightmare. For not only have my parents stayed in contact with Bastian all this time.

Me, I'm just a simple guy living the simple life in Mulligan's Mill. I run the hardware store. No one here suspects I'm gay—least of all that I've been quietly in love with Dean Reeves for years. He's my best friend's son. I watched him grow up gentle and gifted, always strumming something on his guitar, lost in his music. But when he turned eighteen—when he stepped out of his backyard music studio, taller, broader, with something magnetic about him— I haven't been able to unsee it since. Now he's a real-life rock star, and he's coming back to town for a break. Just for a while, he says.