Noah and Angel were childhood sweethearts and teenage lovers. With youth comes unrealistic ideas sometimes, and also bad choices. But just about the time they reach manhood, Noah’s demons pull them apart.<br><br>Seven years later, he gets a second chance when Angel returns to town. Hoping everything can be different, Noah sets out to remind him how wonderful their past was by secretly sending him thirteen gifts commemorating their happiest times, one on each day beginning December 11.<br><br>By Christmas Eve, Noah hasn’t heard a word back, and wonders if Angel even recognized the meaning of the offerings. When Angel does get in touch, he only remembers the bad things that drove them apart. Can Noah remind him how good they had it, too?

The Presents and the Past

I needed some white paper and a box of crayons for this project. Paper I had. The printer tray was full. As for crayons, I wasn’t sure I’d owned a box of those since leaving the fourth grade. I’d picked up the sixty-four pack from Dollar General on the way home from the tree lot, along with something else I would need. Then I swung by Holiday Brothers’ for two gingerbread cookies and two black and whites—not to eat—though I did end up buying six more of each and eating five.


I put the paper down on the coffee table and traced my hand. In the blink of an eye, it was twenty years earlier.


I’d only seen Angel a few times over the entire summer between kindergarten and first grade. Once was in the supermarket, with our moms.


When my mom chatted with Mrs. Ramos for more than ten seconds, naturally, I got bored.


“Let’s go look at the waterfall in the produce section.”


Chapter 11