Page 1 of The Boyfriend Gamble

Prologue

Tanner

Sometimes,lovecomesonslowly. Gradually. Like a summer rain.

Other times, it slams you like a baseball to your nuts.

Yeah, that was how it happened to me.

With Kade Nelson, my best friend Nita’s older brother.

Nita and I were twelve years old, and we sat in the stands at the field behind Mission City Collegiate. Our football team was playing the team from Abbotsford—and beating them badly.

Cameron, Kade’s best friend, was the quarterback. Kade was the kicker. There might be a different name for it, but all I knew was he came out and kicked the ball. He was lining up a shot when some guy from the opposing team yelledfag.

Kade missed the kick.

Nita stood and started yelling at the ref.

Cameron launched himself from the sidelines at the other player.

Kade’s coach ran onto the field.

The two teams started fighting.

I cowered. I knew. I knew what that word meant. I knewIwas afag. That I liked boys and wasn’t interested in girls. What I hadn’t known until that moment was that Kade was gay. And, apparently, not just gay, but that he’d told other people.

Nita didn’t appear surprised. She was just plain angry. Now she yelled at the top of her lungs.

One kid near us jeered, and she turned on him.

Wisely, he decided now was the perfect time to beat a hasty retreat.

Within a few minutes, the mayhem on the field ceased.

The boy, the one who’d yelled the slur, was sent packing.

After a few minutes, the play was reset.

Kade kicked the most amazing field goal.

My heart constricted, and I saw my best friend’s brother in a whole new light. My life was never the same.

Chapter One

Tanner

Onelastswim.

As I dove into the Nelsons’ pool, the cool water refreshed.

I didn’t remember the summers of my childhood being so damn hot. After hitting over one hundred degrees in the late afternoon, the temperature had only just begun cooling off, despite the late hour.

With Nita in bed, nursing a migraine, I felt I could come down and use the water to find respite. The Nelsons’ house had air conditioning, but I was never a fan of that. I preferred fresh air.

As I swam lap after lap, I tried not to think about today. Canada Day was a big celebration in the Nelson household. Not so much in my own. The Nelsons had been in Canada before it’d become a country. Although they held their British heritage in high regard, they were fiercely loyal Canadians.

The day was also a big one for our friend Cameron. His father had come to Canada as a draft dodger of the Vietnam War. He might’ve stood out as one of the few Black men in Mission City, but he’d been welcomed. Well, maybe not by all the World War II veterans, but by most people. He’d married a local woman a bit later in life, and Cameron was their only child. Although Jeremiah Johns appreciated his American roots, he was quite proud to call Canada home.

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