Six months after his wife leaves him, Bob Jansen finds himself spending the holidays with his parents in the town where he grew up. With him is his seven year old daughter, Jenna, who sometimes seems to be handling her mother's absence better than Bob is himself. But he's worried that, in her letter to Santa, Jenna has asked the jolly old elf for something Bob knows he can't pull off. He's afraid she wants her mother back for the holiday.<br><br>While shopping for his daughter's Christmas presents, Bob runs into Dave Knarr, an old friend. They used to be best buds in high school, before Julia, Bob's soon-to-be ex-wife, came between them. The two men catch up over drinks, and before the evening ends, Dave makes his real feelings for Bob known.<br><br>If Bob is shocked to learn Dave has always been attracted to him, he's more surprised by his own reaction. Even if he's willing to take another shot at romance, what will his daughter think of his old friend?

A Present for Daddy

I groan. “Mom! We talked about this. You can’t undermine me as a parent.”


“Oh, don’t worry, Bobby. I’m not.” To Jenna, she says, “Good job, Beanie. Go pick out a pop.”


Jenna races for the refrigerator and tugs open the freezer door to get a popsicle. “No running in the house,” I tell her.


“I’m just walking fast,” she says, throwing me a dimpled smile. “Can I have two pops?”


“One.” I lean back against the counter as my mother dumps Jenna’s plate in the sink and watch my daughter pout. Just in case she didn’t hear me the first time—or rather, in case she plans to ignore me—I reiterate. “One. Jenna…”


She huffs and slams the freezer door shut, but there’s only one popsicle in her hands, thank goodness. “I wanted two,” she complains.


“You should’ve eaten all your peas then,” I point out. “Go watch TV with Pop-pop.”


“It’s boring,” she says. “What are you guys talking about?”


Before my mother can answer, I say, “You. Now go.”


Chapter 4