samekraemer

weighting for love (2)

What happens when love shows up in an unexpected package? What’s more important…the love or the form it takes?

Wyatt Smothers, a retired rodeo bronc rider, ran the family ranch with his brother, Rick, and sister, Donna Jo. Ranching was hard work, and successful ranching was even harder. Over the years since they lost their parents, the siblings had tried various schemes to infuse more capital into the operation, but things never ended with more money in the bank. That was until Donna Jo came up with her next great idea…a weight loss camp. Wyatt wasn’t keen in the beginning, but he was outvoted, so they began making preparations.

When he read an essay written by one of the applicants, Wyatt had a change of heart regarding the idea. U-4-NY had poured her heart into answering the question regarding her motivations for losing weight, and Wyatt couldn’t help but violate one of the adviser’s rules…no personal communications with the campers. The two began emailing each other, and by the third week of March when the first two-week camp would begin, Wyatt had fallen in love, he was sure. He’d ignored his niece’s reminders that the ‘U’ in the identifier stood for ‘Unknown Gender.’ He was attracted to the applicant, and nothing could change his mind.

Would he still feel that way when he set eyes on U-4-NY?

o-0-o

Talbot Andrews wasn’t living his best life. He was twenty-seven, living in his parents’ basement because it was safe, and he was growing out of his wardrobe. He was a Gold Star gay man in the sense that he was still a virgin in every sense of the word. He wrote a weight loss blog, which was his best work of fiction to date because Tal didn’t lose weight and keep it off as he bragged to his readers. The blog had acquired various sponsors, becoming his sole means of income, so he couldn’t come clean with his subscribers and tell them he was a liar. Thus, the charade continued.

While scanning a recipe website, he found an advertisement for a weight loss camp in the Hill Country of Texas. As he read the ad, something inside him seemed to click, and the next thing he knew, he was applying for admittance. He decided to be totally honest on his application, and when he had to write an essay regarding why he wanted to lose the weight, he poured his heart out, embarrassment be damned.

One day when he opened his inbox, there was an email from W. Smothers of Smothers Ranch where the camp would take place. The man’s kind words sparked something in Tal, and he began his weight loss journey, refusing to allow his mother to deter him from his mission to go to Texas, meet the cowboy, and hopefully, live his happily ever after.

Was it too much for a man to ask?

I hope you’ll check it out! Cheers!