Chicago · O'Hare · February 2008
// The Story
A snow
blizzard.
Two Men.
Delayed flights. A crowded airport. A chance encounter that changes two lives forever.
I
The Encounter
A liaison of
convenience.
Nathan grew up in a small town in Indiana, a place of shut-down manufacturing plants and mega churches. Drawn to the glittery world of celebrities, Nathan had to forgo his dreams when his girlfriend got pregnant. To support his new family, he took a job at a regional airline for a meager salary. He uses his layover days to hook up with men, seeking the excitement and connection that his working-class life denies him.
Luca was a shy and introverted boy who moved to the USA to escape stigma. In Chicago, he found work at GSquare, a finance organization where over 50% of employees are gay, allowing him to finally belong. After his former partner died, Luca withdrew further into work and career, embracing hypocrisy and cynicism as shields against a highly judgmental society.
III
Corporate Arena
A New
Arena.
Susan Leroy is a fading Hollywood star. She is steely, ruthless, and with a long-held score to settle — take control of GSquare and dismantle it.
Susan uses Nathan and Luca as pawns in her high-stakes corporate battle. Luca dreads her; Nathan is bedazzled by her beauty and celebrity, hoping she might offer him access to a world he’s always envied.
V
The Unraveling
A bewildering
crime.
A crime unravels the lives of both men — forcing a fundamental reset of perspectives. Nothing is what it seemed. No version of events stands on its own.
Relatives, friends, and work colleagues step forward to expose the puzzle's missing pieces. Each new account shifts the meaning of what came before. The story Nathan and Luca thought they knew dissolves into something far more complex.
In The Face of Reason
The novel
is waiting.
Intimate and expansive, personal and political. A story of love, class, and the selves we construct when no one is watching.