October Light

When Jordan was nineteen, he learned two life-altering truths, that love can be safe and that it can be taken in an instant. After surviving a turbulent upbringing, Jordan finds refuge in Matthew and the chaotic warmth of his sprawling family. But on an October night in 1995, a drunk driver rewrites the future they were just beginning to build. Left unmarked by the crash that kills the boy he loves, Jordan must navigate survivor's guilt, devastating grief, and the fragile task of continuing to live. Years later, as a mentor at a queer youth center, Jordan recognizes the same shrinking fear in a teenager named Joseph. In guiding Joseph toward safety, Jordan is forced to revisit the love that saved him and the loss that nearly destroyed him. Spanning decades, this intimate novel explores chosen family, trauma, resilience, and the quiet, radical act of staying. Because sometimes survival begins with a knock at the door.