Dawn in the Orchard - 2nd Ed.

By KimBoo York writing as Cooper West

Gary Winston’s jazz career is in ruins, his stage fright is career-ending, and his estranged Great-Aunt Harriet has just left him a pecan farm in rural North Carolina he never asked for.

His plan is simple: sell the farm, cut his losses, and start over somewhere that isn’t Chicago. He doesn’t plan on Chuck Everett. The farm’s pecan orchard leaseholder is steady, soft-spoken, and plays fiddle like he’s telling secrets—and the bluegrass riff he answers Gary’s jazz melody with one warm Southern evening is the beginning of something Gary doesn’t have a name for yet.

Late nights on the porch become jam sessions that last until dawn, and somewhere between the music and the moonlight, Gary falls hard. But Chuck is deeply closeted in a small town where everyone knows his name, his family, and his business. And Gary has promised himself he will never again love someone who won’t claim him in the light of day.

Two musicians. One crumbling farmhouse. A harvest season that won’t last forever.

Sometimes the song you didn’t mean to write turns out to be the truest one you’ve ever played.