Ron Carlson is a widely respected author whose accolades include a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and a Ploughshares Cohen Prize. Return to Oakpine spins a story of growing up and growing old as four high school friends and former bandmates reconnect 30 years after graduating. When they learn that one of them is dying, it feels like getting the band back together might be the most important thing they can do.

Wyatt Gibson is in Texas looking for answers about his past. When he talks his way into a job at Woods Ranch, he never imagines that the hot cowboy he (almost) slept with the night before not only works there, but is the one showing him the ropes. As a rustler at the ranch, Jackson Summer handles all sorts of things: mucking, herding, grooming, riding-and minding his own damn business. A lifetime of hurt will do that to a guy. What he never imagines...