Home Then

Home Then Copyright © 2023 by A. E. Jensen All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are only used for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Cover Design by Allusion Publishing www.allusionpublishing.com Editing by Heather Caryn www.heathercaryn.com Formatting by Allusion Publishing www.allusionpublishing.com Beta Readers: Michael Robert & Marie-Pierre D’Auteuil Quotes are from Voodoo by Oh Land (Oh Land, 2011) & Dishes by Pulp (This is Hardcore, 1998) TABLE OF CONTENTS Warnings & Reader Advisory Author’s Note Dedication Author’s Note Chapter One - Colton Chapter Two - Henry Chapter Three - Colton Chapter Four - Henry Chapter Five - Colton Chapter Six - Henry Chapter Seven - Colton Chapter Eight - Henry Chapter Nine - Colton Chapter Ten - Henry Chapter Eleven - Colton Chapter Twelve - Henry Chapter Thirteen - Colton Chapter Fourteen - Henry Chapter Fifteen - Colton Chapter Sixteen - Henry Chapter Seventeen - Colton Chapter Eighteen - Henry Chapter Nineteen - Colton Chapter Twenty - Henry Chapter Twenty-One - Colton Chapter Twenty-Two - Henry Chapter Twenty-Three - Colton Chapter Twenty-Four - Henry Chapter Twenty-Five - Colton Chapter Twenty-Six - Henry Chapter Twenty-Seven - Colton Chapter Twenty-Eight - Henry Chapter Twenty-Nine - Colton Chapter Thirty - Henry Chapter Thirty-One - Colton Chapter Thirty-Two - Henry Chapter Thirty-Three - Colton Chapter Thirty-Four - Colton Chapter Thirty-Five - Henry Chapter Thirty-Six - Colton Chapter Thirty-Seven - Henry Chapter Thirty-Eight - Colton Chapter Thirty-Nine - Henry Chapter Forty - Colton Chapter Forty-One - Henry Chapter Forty-Two - Colton Chapter Forty-Three - Henry Chapter Forty-Four - Colton Chapter Forty-Five - Hank Chapter Forty-Six Colton Epilogue - Henry Epilogue - Colton Afterthoughts & Acknowledgements Spotify Playlist WARNINGS & READER ADVISORY Home Then is an MM romance with mature content and adult themes. Possible triggering content includes: One main character suffers from anxiety and PTSD. One main character experiences homophobic behavior from his parents. There is mention of the loss of a parent to cancer during early childhood. War and death are depicted in nightmares. Death and suicide of side-character outside main plot. AUTHOR’S NOTE The story of Colton and Henry started as a small project when I lost my job in the fall of 2022. It was never my intention that it would become a full-length novel. Nor had I expected that I would reach a point, where I would want to share it with the world. But six months later, here we are. Home Then is a book where one of the main characters suffers from an anxiety disorder (PTSD). It has been my intention throughout the book to treat this subject with respect and sensitivity. I can only hope that I have succeeded. I set out to write a love story, however, it also ended up being a story of hope. Of human connections. How it only takes the love and belief of one person to change someone’s life. No one is ever truly lost ̶ they are just waiting to be found. This is something which is close to my heart, because it happened to me. The story of Colton and Henry takes place during a few fall and winter months. I hope you will appreciate the choices I’ve made as an author. I didn’t want misunderstandings or miscommunication to overshadow the characters’ journey in Home Then. I was going for a subtle love story and not a whole lotta drama and back and forth. To Henry, loving Colton is a choice he makes just as Colton makes a choice to explore his sexuality. The story takes place in a fictional town in Nebraska called Hayley’s Peak. Home Then is dedicated to everyone who lives with mental illness and to the people who love us. And I’m, I’m not worried that I will never touch the stars‘ Cause stars belong up in heaven And the earth is where we are And aren’t you happy just to be alive? Anything’s possible You’ve got no cross to bear tonight No, not tonight No, not tonight - Dishes, Pulp CHAPTER ONE Colton HIS CONNECTING FLIGHT from Washington to Denver ended up being delayed for more than five hours, and it was long past midnight when Colton arrived at an almost deserted Chadron Municipal Airport. In the e-mail from the car rental service, he’d been advised that he could obtain keys and a map for the drive into Hayley’s Peak from the airport’s after-hours desk. After filling out the necessary paperwork and briefly chatting with a very sleepy receptionist about current road conditions into Whitney and then eventually to Hayley’s Peak, he picked up the Honda SUV from the nearly empty parking lot and began the drive towards the small Nebraskan town. With a population of 4500, Hayley’s Peak was the hometown of his deceased father and his estranged uncle, who Colton hadn’t seen since the age of five or six. It lay some thirty miles outside Whitney, close to the Nebraska National Forest. There had only been a two-year age gap between Colton’s father, Walter, and his younger brother Hank. For reasons unknown to Colton, they’d rarely seen eye to eye, and their relationship eventually ended with a fight when Walter was in his mid-twenties. Walter Dietrich, who grew up in small town Nebraska as a third-generation German immigrant, was known for his stunningly good looks