Screenwriter Nick Conte left sleepy Sweetwater Springs for the glitz and glamor of Hollywood only to be crushed by the reality of tourist traps, fast-food joints, and disappointed dreamers. Serving coffee by day and toiling away on scripts at night, Nick is busy but comfortable until his neighbor, wannabe actor Dean Winship, stumbles into his apartment and his life.

As their friendship and their careers take off, Nick decides he wants more, but Dean puts him off, saying only that his life is too complicated already. When faded actor Stone Carter makes an offer for Nick’s screenplay, “complicated” doesn’t begin to cover it. Carter’s offer comes with some bizarre conditions, but if Nick wants to achieve his dreams, he can’t turn it down—a fact he may not live to regret.

45 page short story

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and tightly wound museum curator Paxton Thorvaldsen is working up the courage to give a box of chocolates to the hot new guy in the office when an urgent message arrives in his email. A lost earring belonging to the daughter of the last Czar of Russia has been recovered, and Paxton must raise three million dollars to reunite the piece with the matching earring already in the museum’s collection. Flying across the country to convince a potential donor to fund the acquisition, Paxton catches the fancy of charming millionaire slacker Ozzie van Outen, who’s determined to help Paxton achieve his goal. Unfortunately, Ozzie’s efforts to help turns into a comedy of errors that seems destined to leave both Paxton’s fundraising venture and his love life a wreck. 

Sparks fly when actor Alec Bannerman meets art historian Peter Leavesley at a London museum gala, but a series of clueless questions and vague answers leaves both men confused. Alec isn’t sure if Peter is gay, and Peter is wary of another relationship after a messy break-up.

The stalemate has Alec in emotional turmoil as he is pulled between wanting Peter and fearing the humiliation of rejection, while Peter is fighting specters from the past. If between fear and family they can finally find each other, can they also find forever after?