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

Troy had asked, too. Word of my father’s drunken exploits had already spread through town, apparently, maybe even to Angel and his legal eagle mentors. When Spencer went into the kitchen, Troy asked again.


I shrugged and played with the green bow he’d tied to Holiday Brothers’ already festive box. “All in a day. On a happier note…” I told him about the tenth day of Christmas gift, which represented ninth grade. “Things started to take a turn that year…maybe because of that eighth-grade cake and our vibrating backhoe ride. A particularly warm fall and winter percolated our hormones until they were firing on all cylinders, too. Angels, more than mine. Mine were already at maximum voltage. You got time for a story?”


“As long as it doesn’t put me to sleep.”


“I’ll do my best. Come hop on my time machine, back to one decade ago.”


Chapter 24