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

My Uncle Bruce really did let me drive it anytime I wanted, as long as he was somewhere in close proximity. This was my first time unsupervised. “We’ll just go from here to there…to the pile of grading sand.”


Now, a joy ride in a backhoe is fucking amazing—jiggly, bumpy, loud—but amazing. We definitely both had boners. Angel was in the school musical again that year. He had one of the leads, playing Lun Tha, a Puerto Rican version of a young Burmese scholar and envoy from the Prince of Burma.


“Sing that song to me.” We’d been around the lot a couple of times by then.


“Sing your song to me…the one you’re all nervous about.” My throat was instantly raspy because of the volume necessary to be heard over the chugging engine. “It’s perfect. No one is here but me, and I can barely fucking hear you.”


Chapter 23