Timing is about Tom and Cole, both men are trying to steer their lives in the direction of their dreams, but things like the absence or presence of money, fear, and opportunity seem to keep taking the wheel. Cole is farm grown and wants to stay that way, but the family farm is in the red, so he takes a job as a bartender to help out and that’s how he meets Tom. As a reporter, Tom has been working his butt off to get promoted to head up the entertainment department, but his boss hates him, so he’s just been spinning his wheels. They’re both at a point where their next steps could pave the road in front of them or lead them to a dead end, so maybe now is not the time to bring someone else along for the ride.
I liked Cole. He was a nice guy and seemed a little nervous, but he was straightforward and genuine. Tom? I didn’t like him so much and his best friend Ricky even less.
There was an incident when Cole had a lot of stuff to do the next day and he was ready to cut out early from a night he didn’t want to join in in the first place. Since it was Ricky’s birthday and Tom really wanted him to, he went. But because Tom is an arse who can’t cope when things don’t pan out or he becomes aware of his own failings, he drinks a bit more than he should. Cole wanted to go at that point, but Tom convinced him to stay–basically bribed him with a blowjob. They all had a lot to do the next day, especially Cole, but Tom was wallowing and being drunkenly dismissive of everything. I didn’t think that Tom would do something like that, so I was really disappointed in that display of selfishness.
When the shite hit the fan I didn’t even feel bad for Tom, not at all. He said a lot of things while drunk, but forgot most of it the next day. It was Cole’s fault for believing the declarations of someone so inebriated, but Tom shouldn’t have gotten to that point in the first place. Most of the chaos of that night and the next day could have been avoided if Tom had just talked to Cole instead of acting out like some ill-mannered child. And stopped being so weak-willed. But he was too cowardly to do what he needed to do and mostly because of him, everything falls apart. When he turns up after all was said and done, Cole told him that he didn’t want to see him at the farm house again. I did not feel one ounce of sadness for him, that is exactly what he deserved.
And that’s the problem I have: I think there’s something wrong with disliking a character to the point that I’m happy that his life fell apart. I’m sure the author didn’t intend that. I felt bad for Cole, but not completely because he could have stuck to his plan, but Tom did let him down something awful. I couldn’t see how they could recover from that. I don’t even think that they should have. But of course they did.
As for Ricky, he annoyed me with how he was always finishing people sentences–rather cutting people off–to be funny, but wasn’t funny. It was more often rude and incendiary. Who needs that? I’m sure the author meant for him to be endearing. He missed on that too.
Slight detour–this is one of those story world vs real world things that just occurred to me while I was reading: So, they had a pregnant sheep dog named Susie and I wondered how she got pregnant. They only have the one dog and they never talked about neighbors with a dog for breeding her or any of that kind of thing. Is she just magically pregnant? Immaculate Conception?
Anyway, the story’s premise was good, but I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters and I really would have preferred an unhappy ending. But it’s romance, so I knew that wasn’t happening.