For Better or Worse

For Better or Worse (2017) R. Cooper

Everyone in town things Javier has a secret lover–because a guy that handsome and fit couldn’t possibly be single.

His mother and his aunts called him “choosy.” His sister and cousins thought he was full of himself for not wanting to go out with their friends. The people in town seemed to think he was a player. He still didn’t understand why.

But Javier spends his evenings with his friend and co-worker Jimmy, Bacio (Jimmy’s dog), and sometimes Javier’s Uncle Peyo. But Javier’s secret is a different one.

To this day he could remember the exact feeling of relief at discovering terms like demisexual and gray ace, and his immediate need to know more, and then still, always, that faint shame of not being what he was supposed to be.

After one of the men in their unit starts dating the town librarian, and after Javier and Tiny have a discussion about protectiveness, their fire station decides to fly the gay pride flag.

Which goes over okay with most of the station.

Some of the other firefighters had some concerns, which had been expressed in lots of working out and TV shows about cars playing nonstop in the rec room. He had also been forced to watch wrestling last night as well. Wrestling had never been anyone’s viewing choice before, which could not have been a coincidence. Javier hadn’t had the heart to tell them they couldn’t have picked a more homoerotic choice of entertainment in their efforts to make their heterosexuality clear.

The focus of this story is on Javier, and how he has a crush on Jimmy, but really doesn’t know how to deal with it, because neither is sure about the other’s sexuality and both are afraid to damage their friendship.

Everything looks like friendly teasing if you don’t know what sexual tension is. I get confused.”

It’s a cute novella.
Rating: 7/10

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