Black Sheep by Kay Simone

“How the hell did I manage to sleep with my best friend’s long-lost brother?”

In the heart of the Sierra Nevadas lies the picturesque town of Cheshire, California—a blip on the map, on the way to somewhere nicer. The once-thriving Cheshire is home to a tight-knit group of locals who now struggle to survive on tourism from season to season.

Andy Blair left Cheshire 19 years ago, addicted to opiates and in search of a new beginning. After relapses, detoxes, and even jail time, Andy found the stability and sobriety he was looking for halfway across the country with a new identity: Otto.

But when Otto gets word that his father back in Cheshire is terminally ill and his mother and brother are struggling to keep the family inn afloat, he knows that it’s time to swallow his pride and go home.

Even if he hasn’t talked to his family in almost two decades.

***

When Cheshire-native Mikey left his foster family to find his passion in New York City, he changed his childish first name and imagined he was saying goodbye to Cheshire forever. But Mikey—Reese—was never cut out for New York. The city chewed him up and spat him out, and Reese was forced to return home where his best friend still resented Reese for leaving.

“You left me just like Andy. Everyone leaves…”

Now it’s been two years since he’s been back, and Reese runs Cheshire’s only general store, gas station, post office, bar, and grill—all in one little building. He’s painstakingly mended his friendship with his best friend, and even after the recent death of his foster father, Reese feels like part of a family again.

Reese figures that life has nothing exciting left in store for him. Then his best friend’s brother walks into Reese’s bar.

Nineteen years ago, Mikey and Andy were as good as brothers. But now, Reese and Otto have more catching up to do than either of them realized. After a chance encounter in which neither man recognizes the other, the two must navigate the wreckage of a struggling family, a brother who can’t forgive, and the reality of life in an isolated town in the mountains.