The Leaving Kind, the final book in Kelly Jensen’s Hearts and Crafts trilogy is a beautifully written and heartfelt romance between two men in mid-life who are facing significant changes in their lives and who aren’t looking for love, but find it anyway. Big life changes have been a theme of the series – in book one, Nick and Oliver became empty-nesters; in book two, Grey suffered a heart-attack and had to re-think his approach to life while Aaron faced issues around family expectations – and now, we meet Victor, a highly-strung artist who has sworn off love and Cam, who has spent most of his life running away from so many things that he’s not sure he can ever learn how to stay.

Cameron Zimmermann – older brother of Nick from Sundays With Oliver – suddenly appeared on his brother’s doorstep after being away for twelve years, some of them spent in the military and the rest spent moving around from place to place and never putting down any roots. Two years later, Cam is still living in the family home in Milford (Nick having moved in with Oliver) which he’s ‘looking after’ for his niece, Emma, until she finishes college, and works for a local landscaping supplies firm. He’s mostly content – he likes his job and the people he works with, and he does his own thing, watching Star Trek marathons, helping Oliver with his weekend markets, and hooking up when he wants, but never looking for anything deeper or more lasting. He’s one of those people who needs to be constantly on the go, for reasons he doesn’t care to examine too deeply – or at all, if he can help it.

But in the last few months, the job that has always kept him busy has started to become less so, with custom falling every day thanks to increased competition from a new superstore. Cam knows the writing is on the wall for Shepard’s Tree Farm, and wonders how much longer the owner is going to be able to keep things going. He had never planned to stay in Milford indefinitely, but this is the best job he’s had in years and he’s not ready to move on yet.

Victor Ness is a successful artist specialising in landscape paining because after his father’s death, he couldn’t face portraiture any more. After his upcoming show is bumped in favour of a new artist and his agent tells him his recent work hasn’t been doing so well, he realises that’s maybe it’s time for him to try a different approach to finding material for his next series. But that will mean facing up to the loss that has shaped so much of his life – and admitting to some truths he’s still not ready for.

Cam and Victor’s first meeting is not exactly the stuff dreams are made of. Cam arrives with a delivery of trees and mulch to see two men yelling at each other across the lawn, which is strewn with boxes, bags and piles of clothing. Victor, clad only in his underwear and a colourful silk robe, knows he should have ended things between him and his cheating ex sooner rather than let things drag on and end up in a shouting match on his front lawn, but an afternoon and evening  spent with his good friends Chardonnay and Sauvignon leaves him not caring all that much about good ideas. He just wants Tholo out and to be left alone to indulge in his bad mood – not to be intrigued by the lived-in face and the sparkling brown eyes of the guy who has just turned up to deliver the the stuff he ordered for the garden.

The next day, Cam is unable to resist going back to Victor’s place, just to check he’s okay, and then another day, to put a tarpaulin over the mulch – still sitting in a heap in front of the garage – to stop it getting washed away in an incoming storm. Victor isn’t especially welcoming either time, but at least Cam can see he’s alive and well – and even if he is still slobbing about in his robe, he has, at least, changed his underwear.

As his concern for Victor begins to take up residence in Cam’s brain, he’s also trying to come up with a plan for what he’s going to do after Shepard’s closes down. The last few delivery jobs he’s done have also elicited enquiries as to whether he can do the actual landscaping work in addition to just delivering the supplies, and when he speaks to his boss about it, she’s absolutely fine with Cam taking on the extra work. Before long, Cam has a list of potential clients and a potential workforce – but he can’t possibly run a small business. He doesn’t have the know-how or the money to finance it and he’s never wanted to be responsible for other people. Yet the possibility of building something of his own and making it work is there – if he can just get past his fears and insecurities and go for it.

The chemistry between these two crackles right from the off, but both men are wary of acting on it. Cam makes very clear that he’s not interested in a relationship, that he’s already pegged Victor as a commitment kinda guy, and that he doesn’t want or need any complications. His one serious relationship ended very badly and he isn’t going there again. Victor may have got out of a relationship only recently, but he knows it was really over long before that; and in any case, that isn’t what is making him cautious about getting involved with Cam. He’s never been one for casual sex and knows he has a tendency to “want to make a relationship out of the most unremarkable meetings”  – which Cam clearly doesn’t want. But he likes Cam – a lot – and while he doesn’t understand why he’s so commitment shy, he respects his position and is happy with friendship. Except that friendship isn’t necessarily uncomplicated either – and the more time they spend together and the more they get to know each other, the clearer it becomes that ‘uncomplicated’ isn’t going to work for either of them. Admitting to their intense mutual attraction and falling into bed together as friends is all well and good – but they’re unprepared for depth of what they’re starting to feel for each other, and it’s scary. Is this what they really want? And if it is… they’re going to need to find the courage to take a long, hard look at past hurts and insecurities and work out how to overcome them if they’re to make a life together.

I’ve said this before about Kelly Jensen, but I really appreciate the way she writes stories about mature characters with a variety of life experience who have been around the block a few times and who – perhaps – have fallen into established patterns they need to break out of if they’re to find real happiness. Cam and Victor are both struggling with a weight of grief and loss neither of them has ever really fully addressed, and which affects them in very different ways, but which somehow strengthens the developing bond between them.

A few familiar faces pop up during the course of the story, and I was so pleased to see how much closer Cam and Nick have become and how far their relationship has progressed. They obviously love each other dearly, and I really liked that Nick is now able to step up to give his brother the emotional – and practical – support he needs. Victor’s family is great, too; he and his bestie, Tereza, decided to have kids together – they have a son (Sage) and a daughter (Coriander) – and even though they’re no longer living in the same house, they’re still very important to each other and Tereza is an amazing friend. There’s a really touching scene between father and son (who is now a father himself), where Sage very gently lets Victor know he’s worried about him and offers his unconditional love and support.

Victor and Cam are complete opposites in so many ways, yet their affection and love for each other bleeds off the page. All the characters in the book are vividly realised and individual, and I absolutely loved the romance and how these two guarded men learn that love isn’t something they have to run from. The Leaving Kind is a beautiful, gentle romance full of warmth and heart and life – and I’m putting it onto my keeper shelf.