Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
Find Me in July by Christie Gordon
Troy lives to be a teacher. Jessie knows teachers can’t be gay. These facts could rip them apart.
It’s the summer of 1978. Troy Larson is only one university-year away from living his dream as an elementary school teacher. In the meantime, he’s heading to his family’s annual, month-long vacation at a Northern Minnesota lake resort. He’s looking forward to time with his best friend, Jessie, and finding out what happened to him. This year was odd. They hardly spoke on the phone and Jessie didn’t come home for the usual breaks. When they meet, it’s clear something’s off with Jessie. One day in, Troy secretly stumbles upon Jessie in an illicit act with another man. The incident triggers questions about Jessie’s sexuality and confusion about his own.
Jessie Smith is set to take over his father’s Minneapolis foundry when he graduates from a New York university next year. But the time in New York has taught him how to accept his sexuality and his newfound freedom is not something he’s willing to give up. As the families meet for their vacation, it’s clear that Jessie is different. After the first day, Jessie sees an abrupt change in Troy, and it’s baffling. The changes in Troy cause a lifetime of repressed feelings to surface in him.
Troy’s pursuit of the truth brings him closer to Jessie than he ever thought he would want to be. He struggles to understand what’s going on between them and how his best friend is turning into more, way more. With the gay rights movement facing legal challenges from Save our Children, can Troy convince Jessie he’s willing to fight along side him and face whatever consequences may come together?
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Troy sat on an iron patio chair sided up to a table on the porch of the cabin, overlooking the lake and the roof of a long, brown building housing condominiums sitting right before the lake and beach. The leaves of the trees flittered overhead in the breeze. He glanced at Jessie, sitting in the chair next to him, his beer on the table, his arms resting across it, his gaze far away.
Troy laid his arm across the table, putting his fingers close to Jessie’s. He felt like touching him. He didn’t know why, didn’t even care why. The edge of his index finger caught on Jessie’s knuckle.
Jessie’s attention drew to him, and a grin broke out over his mouth. “You thinking again?”
Troy moved his hand closer to Jessie’s and hooked the ends of their fingers. There, now he was happy.
Jessie glanced at their fathers on the porch next door, chatting and barbequing steaks. His grin faded and he yanked his hand away, straightening in his seat. He scratched at his temple. “We uh, should be careful.”
Troy furrowed his brows. “Of what?” They weren’t doing anything wrong.
Jessie tilted toward him. In a low voice, he said, “We can’t let anyone know what’s going on. They can’t even suspect it.”
Troy freed a quick chuckle. “What’s going on?” It’s not like they were totally gay. He was only touching his best friend’s fingers. Was that a crime?
Jessie lifted his brows. “Troy, you said you figured it out and you said that right after…”
Donna stepped onto the porch. “Oh, I see the lovebirds have made up.” She grinned at them both. “Mind if I have a beer with you?”
“Stop with the lovebirds thing, Donna.” Troy huffed and sipped his beer. If anyone was going to notice what was going on, apparently it was her.
Jessie stiffened and shifted his chair closer to Troy’s.
Troy grinned at him. Did Donna scare him after yesterday? Though, he wasn’t sure he was ready to watch her flirt with him today. There was no good reason for it.
Donna took the seat next to Jessie’s, set a beer on the table and looked them both over. “So, anyone going to tell me what the big fight was about yesterday?” She focused on Jessie. “Nate said Troy made you cry.”
“What?” Jessie dropped his mouth open. His gaze darted to Troy’s. “Th-that’s not true.”
Troy flinched, his heart squeezing. If he did, he’d never forgive himself. Was that why his eyes looked so bad this morning? He wanted to take his hand, hug him, anything. But not with everyone here. He mumbled, “Sorry…”
Donna fingered her beer. “So, Nate said you were crying into your pillow last night. He heard you. You probably thought he was asleep. But he was worried about you. I told him you got into a fight with my dork of a brother.”
Troy pinched his lips. “I’m not a dork.”
Jessie hung his head. “He must have been hearing things.”
She flashed her eyes at Jessie. “Nate says you’ve been arguing with your dad a lot, too. He says you’re different now. He thinks something happened to you in New York and you might not go back.” She knit her brows together. “I hope Troy is being a good friend. It sounds like you need one right now.” She sipped her beer.
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About the Author:
Christie Gordon started writing gay and M/M romance fiction after becoming preoccupied with anime and in particular, the boys love and yaoi genres. She’s always had stories in her head and always enjoyed writing, so she took up fiction writing classes at a local community college and published her first book with eXtasy Books back in 2009. Christie likes to write complicated characters with painful pasts that refuse to be ignored until the characters are forced to face them head on. Angst? Yes. Happily ever after? Always. It’s the struggle to get there that counts.
Christie’s day job is in the high-tech industry with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Business Administration. She currently lives in the Phoenix, Arizona metro area and enjoyed eight years in the Bay Area of California but grew up in Minnesota. She shares a home with her partner of twelve years, a musician by night and a coder by day, who is currently in three bands, giving her plenty of time to keep writing. She is also a mother of two sons, one currently in college for engineering and the other preparing for nursing college. Her one-eyed, rescue pug is always by her side, snoring the day away.
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