Meet the players of Riverford — men who've mastered their game and built walls for very good reasons. And the people who make them forget why.
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The prequel story to Icing the Distance — Jake Mercer, three years earlier.
Before Maya. Before the walls came down. A complete short story (~8,000 words) that shows you exactly how Jake Mercer became the way he is — and why he was so certain the right person didn't exist. Free, no strings, straight to your inbox.
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Thomas Ester writes sports romance about patient people and the specific difficulty of letting someone past the walls you built for very good reasons. His stories are quiet where they need to be and sharp where it counts — with just enough heat to make you close the book and stare at the ceiling.
The Riverford Playmakers Series follows five athletes, five sports, and one fictional city in the American Midwest where the wind off the river is different from any other city's wind. Each book stands alone. All of them belong together.
Five sports. Five athletes who've built their lives around discipline, control, and the certainty that they don't need anyone. Until they do.
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Riverford Ice captain Jake Mercer has spent three years being exactly who his team needs him to be — precise, reliable, and carefully closed off. When sports journalist Maya Holloway is assigned to profile the league's most guarded player, she expects resistance. She doesn't expect to understand him.
A quiet story about two people who are better at their jobs than at letting people in — and what happens when that's no longer enough.
More Riverford Playmakers stories are on their way.