Keith C. Milne, Author
The book is now finally headed to the finish line — I’m excited to bring you this heartfelt, multicultural story of transformation, second chances, and unlikely connections.
Unity House — Launching October 1, 2025
Tanner Dalton didn’t plan on rebuilding his life at sixty. But a final visit with an estranged mother, a one-bedroom with a view of the past, and a waitress named Sophie set a new course. Unity House traces the fierce work of becoming: confronting old harm, choosing honest love, and learning what “home” can mean the second time around.
Set between Massachusetts memories and the heat of California’s East Bay, this is a novel about resilience, found family, and the quiet bravery of hope.
Available 10/01/2025 in ebook, paperback, and hardcover.
CHAPTER 1: ON DEATH’S DOORSTEP * CHAPTER 2: SOPHIE * CHAPTER 3: DINNER WITH SOPHIE CHAPTER 4: TOO MUCH INFORMATION * CHAPTER 5: TACOS WITH RICE AND BEANS CHAPTER 6: TAMMY * CHAPTER 7: SKYDIVE BYRON * CHAPTER 8: THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN CHAPTER 9: TRIPPING ON YOURSELF * CHAPTER 10: BACK TO WORK * CHAPTER 11: MENTAL SHIFT * CHAPTER 12: CARMEN * CHAPTER 13: COMPETITION COMES TO LUNCH CHAPTER 14: STORIES, EXCUSES, CONFESSIONS * CHAPTER 15: REVELATIONS CHAPTER 16: THE FUN CONTINUES * CHAPTER 17: WEEKEND WITH TAMMY * CHAPTER 18: WEEKEND WITH SOPHIE INSTEAD * CHAPTER 19: SUNDAY * CHAPTER 20: CONSIDERATIONS CHAPTER 21: GONE FISHING * CHAPTER 22: LATE AFTERNOON RAIN—Strike 1 * CHAPTER 23: NEW BEGINNINGS * CHAPTER 24: LIKE A WELL OILED MACHINE * CHAPTER 25: DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE WITH FATALITY—Strike 2 * CHAPTER 26: TARGET LOCATED * CHAPTER 27: UNPLANNED VACATION * CHAPTER 28: THE OFFER * CHAPTER 29: STEPHEN’S AND STEPHEN’S, LLC * CHAPTER 30: THE OFFER 2.0 * CHAPTER 31: CHANGE OF PLANS—Strike 3 CHAPTER 32: EXIT WOUNDS * CHAPTER 33: SOMETHING BIGGER THAN OURSELVES
Excerpts:
Chapter 1 — On Death’s Doorstep
“Growing up with her had been a traumatic, frightening experience. Nevertheless, he’d tried to act like it was all good. But it never was, and never could be…”
“He scanned her face closely, then shuddered—misery and unhappiness, as a habit.”
When Tanner Dalton stands over the hospital bed of the woman who made his childhood a battlefield, closure smells like antiseptic and regret. Twelve years of silence, a pile of debts, and one last decision no one else will make. If love is obligation dressed up as mercy, what does he owe the person who taught him to survive by leaving? Chapter One cracks the door on a life that’s about to be dismantled—and rebuilt.
Chapter 2 — Sophie
“He’d gone from semi-wealthy to counting months, from lush Massachusetts to the brown abyss of the East Bay—deciding whether to wind down or start over.”
“There she was, the woman he had dreamt about more than once, standing in front of him holding a coffee pot and wearing a smile.”
A $1,500 Camry, a one-bedroom with history, and a diner where the coffee is honest and the future arrives wearing a name tag: Sophie. Tanner wants a smaller life—quiet, clean, survivable. The universe serves him a curveball with blue eyes and a past of her own. What if the next chapter doesn’t ask for your résumé, only your nerve? Chapter Two lets hope slide into the booth across from him.
Chapter 3 — Dinner with Sophie
“Sophie’s apartment seemed surreal… Sleek. Minimal. High Tech. His heart pounded; his place was a dump by comparison.”
“Determined to show Sophie that, at his core, he was a gentleman, Tanner took the lead and pulled away—glad he had stopped short before things went any further.”
Behind immaculate glass and granite, Sophie lays out dinner—and truths. Tanner answers with restraint that costs him. Two people built by damage test whether tenderness can be stronger than appetite. Is waiting an act of fear—or devotion? Chapter Three turns heat into gravity, and leaves the night standing at the door, breathless.
Chapter 4 — Tacos with Rice and Beans
“Just as he cleared the end of the building… someone came up from behind and poked what felt like a gun into his back.”
“Little bells jingled as he stepped into Es Picante; cumin, lime, and something smoky said sit down and don’t ask questions.”
A bad break on a quiet walkway shoves Tanner to the edge—no cash, no cards, no cushion. But a bell above a door, the heat of fresh tortillas, and a server with a quick smile tilt his day on its axis. By the last bite, a lifeline appears from the kitchen window—and it has a name, a schedule, and a future.
Chapter 5 — Tammy
“The dents started at the hood and marched over the roof to the trunk—like someone had walked the length of his car.”
“‘I go skydiving every Friday… wanna go?’—Tanner felt the old free-fall humming back to life.”
Fresh dents, old guilt, and the feeling the universe is keeping score—Tanner’s day is already dented when a pitchfork-wielding stranger turns into a long-lost flame. Inside her art-filled refuge, the past grabs the present by the collar, and by sunset he’s saying yes to the kind of fall that makes you feel alive. Some reunions arrive like a test; this one arrives like a jump door opening at 10,500 feet.
Chapter 6 — “Skydive Byron”
“Then he realized that, if today was his day to die, then it was unlikely that he would be able to do much about it; the opposite also held true. If it wasn’t his day to die, then he had absolutely nothing whatsoever to worry about. He realized that the control we all think we have over our lives is only an illusion and he never really had anything to worry about; worry itself was a huge waste of his time.”
“Just like he remembered from his first free fall, Tanner felt the sudden acceleration only for a split second. He arched his back with all he had, keeping his hands horizontal to his head on both sides, with his arms bent 90 degrees at each elbow, and his legs spread, and bent 90 degrees at the knee, while also pushing his abdomen out and arching his back until finally straightening out. He was now looking down and facing the earth, nice and steady, free falling at 120-miles-per-hour, all the while feeling as if he were floating, and almost weightless.”
Chapter 7 — “The Five-Year Plan”
“‘Tanner, no offense, but if you’d had a five-year plan you wouldn’t be where you are right now.’ He turned and looked at her, ‘Fuck you, Tammy! I have had plans throughout my life, and they were going along just fine, and working out well. I was supposed to be happy, once retired, and going on cruises with my wife. She screwed that all up, not me.’”
“It was quiet here. Tanner rolled down his window. He could barely hear the sound of a tractor trailer driving on the main road far off in the distance. A dog barked twice, before everything became silent again. A chorus of crickets made their white noise in the background, singing their hearts out for all who could hear them.”
Chapter 8 — “Tripping on Yourself”
“One by one, individual fiber vibrations began merging with wood particle vibrations, which were merging with pillows, and the couch, until the entire room all merged into one, unified, liquified space that morphed, and stretched, and distorted perfectly in-synch with the beat of the music.”
“The voice from the blurry figure came to Tanner telepathically: Tanner Dalton. I see you at birth, I see you as a baby and as a little child. I see you now, and I see you at death’s door. You are not your past. However, you are your future, but you must make it yours and shape it to your liking. There is nothing to fear, ever.”
