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

“Hey yourself.” I open the door wider, and Jenna ducks out under my arm. “Jen—”


“It’s snowing!” She races off the porch, without a coat or hat or gloves, only a thin pair of slippers on her feet, but she doesn’t seem to notice. On the sidewalk, she turns like a ballerina, staring up into the gloomy sky and watching the snow fall in the porch light. “Daddy, look!”


I step out onto the porch, shivering beneath my thermal shirt. When I wrap my arms around myself, I feel Dave’s warm hand rub the small of my back. “Jenna, come back here. You aren’t dressed for this weather.”


“I’ll get my coat!” She hurries up onto the porch again, dodging around me to get inside.


From the kitchen, my mother calls out, “Not right now, Beanie! We’re getting ready to eat.”


I hear the pout in my daughter’s voice and grin at Dave. “And that’s Jenna. She’d be much happier to meet you if she wasn’t so easily distracted by the snow.”


Chapter 17