mastershakeme

Dinner was quiet. Just me and my parents. Dad talked about the Hendrix viewing tomorrow. He wanted everything perfect. He always wanted everything perfect, but there was an extra edge to it tonight because the Hendrixes were old clients and old money and the kind of family whose opinion could make or break a funeral home’s reputation for a decade. “Owen, I may need you there Wednesday,” Dad said. “At the viewing?” “In the lobby. Greeting people. Handing out programs. You’ve done i

The funeral home was eleven minutes from St. Michael’s. I knew this because I’d been counting the minutes since I got in my car, watching them tick down like a sentence being carried out. Eleven minutes between the best morning I’d had in months and the place where I went to feel nothing. Donnelly & Sons sat on the corner of a quiet street that never seemed to have traffic, which made sense because nobody drives fast near a funeral home. The building was old, red brick, with white colum

Eyebrows!

I hope you also saw jerk-face. And I had hours to change that stupid word. But I didn't. 😎

I'm definitely adding jerk face to his description 😂😂😂

I don't think anyone else read the synopsis. I've been chuckling to myself all morning.

I was slightly jarred by this reaction, ngl 😂

My alarm went off at seven forty-five and I stared at the ceiling for a full minute trying to remember why I’d set it. Then I remembered. VBS. Children. Church basement. Nine to three. I got up. The house was already moving. I could hear my dad downstairs, the coffee maker going, the muffled sound of the morning news. Mom was probably in the kitchen doing whatever Mom did at seven forty-five on a Monday, which was one of the great mysteries of my life because the woman didn’t work and

The house was quiet when I got back. Mom and Dad had already retreated to their room, which meant the kitchen was cleaned, the doors were locked, and all the lights were off except the one over the stove that Mom left on for me like I was still twelve and afraid of the dark. I wasn’t afraid of the dark. I was afraid of plenty of things, but the dark wasn’t one of them. I kicked off my shoes by the door and went upstairs, careful to avoid the third step that creaked. Not because I was sneaki

😂 I guess in hindsight this might be a bad idea. Sigh. Just... ignore the major plot hole here!!!!!!!

Margot drove the way she did everything. Deliberately. Both hands on the wheel, mirrors checked, speed limit respected. She was the most responsible person I’d ever met and it was honestly a little exhausting sometimes, but tonight I was grateful for it. The steadiness. The predictability. The fact that she would never once swerve into oncoming traffic even when I kind of wanted her to, just for something to happen. “Dairy Barn?” she said. “Yeah.” The Dairy Barn was this little dr

Glad to have a little poll going!

Well here you go 😉

I'm kinda testing to see if people like it... I feel shorter is easier, faster to produce... But yes, kinda cruel too! These chapters will be short. One vote for no 😂

Owen has been hiding his whole life. Closeted in a Catholic funeral home family, fake-dating his best friend Margot for three years, headed to a college he doesn't want. Then Ryder messages him on a dating app and everything shifts. Ryder is rough, honest, reckless, and completely unwilling to be someone's secret. As their connection deepens over one Ohio summer, Owen finds himself caught between the safe lie he's been living and the terrifying truth Ryder keeps pushing him toward. Something has to break. And Ryder's determined to take him on the ride of his life before it does.