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

“On the card, you mean?” Angel made me uncover my face by tugging on Santa’s surfboard.


“Not the card. The cake.” I pulled my sweater up again.


“Noah.” Angel’s voice was thick with annoyance.


“Okay. Sorry, but you’re going to be mad, and I hate that.”


“The cake says, Fuck me hard, Angel Ramos.”


“You can’t be serious.” He sure sounded mad.


“Your full nameWe turned the ice into a speech bubble, and gave Cupid a moustache and a cannoli penis…maybe an éclair.”


“Possibly a bear claw, for all I know.”


“There was ice. I didn’t see the final product. Troy was so busy I didn’t want to bug him. Then, I wanted us to see it together…you and me…not Troy and me. So, I don’t know exactly what it looks like. A cannoli penis was one idea, but there was this patch of ice he was going to write—”


Chapter 45