Title: A City of Abundant Opportunity
Series: Seattle City Limits, Book Two
Author: Howard Leonard
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 12/12/2023
Heat Level: 2 – Fade to Black Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 67400
Genre: Contemporary, Diverse relationship structures, age disparity, interracial, over 40, therapist, gay, cisgender, gender queer
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Description
Becoming single in middle age was difficult for Alan, until a seemingly ordinary day turns extraordinary, when it presents him two very different but promising paths forward. On that day, Alan unexpectedly runs into a prior lover, moments after a new acquaintance offers him an unusual proposition.
One man provides youthful comfort and enthusiasm, and the other, the task of forming intimacy with a person who was raised from a lineage quite removed from his own. Either man might lead to a fortunate future, yet each inevitably requires tender navigation. Knowing he must make a decision, Alan eventually chooses and is then faced with new challenges, insights, and a struggle to obtain and hold onto what he hopes his future will become.
In this follow-up novel to A City of Hopes Unrealized, familiar characters re-emerge with the maturity of time, and new characters add a depth of diversity, creating a need to explore potential challenges and rewards, often accompanied by intergenerational, cultural, and racially diverse relationships.
A City of Abundant Opportunity
Howard Leonard © 2023
All Rights Reserved
The steep walk up to Beacon on the Hill replenished our energy. I’d forgotten how small the bar was, only six tables and a few stools around an L-shaped bar. We walked in to standing room only. Making our way through the bar and passing by the kitchen, which separated the bar from the restaurant, we could see that the restaurant on the other side was mostly empty. A brief check-in with each other clarified that we both felt the energy of the bar would hydrate our desire for a more engaging evening, so we returned to the small room we’d first entered. Two stools were about to open up, so we hovered to claim them. They were perfect. The whole atmosphere was exactly what we needed. The bartender wiped off the counter, greeted us as if we were old friends she’d not seen in a while, and then took our drink order. When she delivered our margaritas, we asked for menus. The informality of the Beacon, crowded with perhaps all of twenty patrons, was a perfect transition away from both the work week and the important and intense conversation we’d just completed.
At the Beacon, patrons actually talk to one another. As much as we were having fun being together, we also enjoyed the slightly alcoholic banter of the Friday night crowd around us. Side conversations helped DeVon and I practice being an established couple, as people assumed we were local neighborhood husbands who decided to get out of the house for a Friday night. The feelings rooted in the perceptions of others solidified us as a couple, even if only in that moment.
I think it helped DeVon trust me even more as he witnessed me comfortably interacting with the rainbow of Beacon Hill. Compared to the white and off-white shades of Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill is somewhat darker in tone, and my natural engagement with those around us, evidenced the ethic I now know DeVon needed to find when he approached me in the first place.
As gay guys often do, we were asked the inevitable question, “So, how long have you two been together?” A quick glance between us suggested that it was okay to pop the bubble of their first assumptions and say that we were newly dating, while being vague about the details. Generally men pumped with alcohol want to talk about themselves anyway, so it was easy to deflect further questions by simply seeming enchanted by their own stories. And it was fun. This segment of the evening was providing the boost of energy I needed, and I could see DeVon was also caught up in a sense of belonging with me in his community as well as the ones we share.
One too many margaritas and a bit too much food were the only clues we needed to tell us it was time to walk back to DeVon’s. As we made our way down the slope toward his house and then turned onto his block, seeing my car was a reminder that I had packed a bag. I risked disclosing that to DeVon, in case he wanted to invite me in. He did.
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Howard Leonard earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1981. Dr. Leonard and his partner moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1983, where he began a private practice which he maintained for thirty-five years. He chose Seattle in part due to his belief the region would allow two men to legally create a family through the use of surrogacy, something largely unchallenged by gay men in the eighties. He has two daughters, now adults, and one grandchild. Howard and his husband, Robert, live in Palm Springs, California. Writing has become an important part of his life since retiring from clinical practice. A City of Hopes Unrealized is the first novel in the “Seattle City Limits” series. You can find Howard on Facebook.
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