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 feel like I’m eighteen again, out for a late night with Dave and Julia. We were always out after dark, hanging around and goofing off, finding places to go after the mall closed so we wouldn’t have to go home. Julia’s gone, but I’m surprised how nice it is to reconnect with Dave again.


Revving his engine, he pulls out of the parking spot and into the night.


Leo’s started life as a sports bar, but when Dave and I walk in, there’s only one TV above the bar and it’s tuned to the Weather Channel. I hear a forecast for snow and glance up as we pass the screen, but they’re talking about somewhere out west, not us. Of course not. It’s cold but it isn’t thatcold. Still, I say to Dave, “Snow would be nice. Jenna would love a white Christmas.”


He laughs as he leads the way to an empty booth in the back. “In theory, yes. But if there’s a huge storm and the power goes out, leaving us in the dark, then what?”


Chapter 8