All the Way Happy

Jack Gardner and Theodore Beaumont first meet as freshmen entering Gwynns Academy. Jack is on scholarship while Theo has always had access to wealth and makes his disdain for Jack known from the start, although their lives and social circles continue to intersect. Then at the end of high school they experience a reversal of fortune and have a shared summer together that neither of them planned. After that summer, however, they spend almost 20 years apart until they meet while dropping their sons off at Gwynns. Theo is recently divorced, and Jack is starting the process. There’s still something between them, but they have to decide if they’re willing to try again after all the hurt between them. The story is told from the point of view of both main characters and alternates between their past and present, including grappling with the abuse and ensuing trauma they experienced as children.