Bowing to his parents’ homophobic demands, Professor Henry Rodimacher always chose Christmas with his family over spending it with his partner. However, when Jeremy became terminally ill, Henry defied his family and stayed home for Jeremy’s final Christmas. After Jeremy passes, Henry decides it’s time to mend fences, so despite a raging snowstorm, he starts the long drive home. Before he gets very far, though, he’s alarmed to see a hitchhiker out in the weather, Henry offers the man a ride, and is surprised the hitchhiker is Jimmy Wilks, a former student of his. The heavy snow eventually forces Henry and Jimmy to leave the highway and take refuge in an abandoned log cabin. As the two hunker down to wait out the storm, they give into their mutual attraction and celebrate a wonderful Christmas together. Can their newfound love survive once the snow thaws? Will history repeat itself with Henry going back home alone, or will the magic of their best Christmas ever live on into the New Year and beyond?

Best Christmas Ever

After dinner they went out for a walk. Jimmy took one of the foil stars they’d made from the boughs on the mantel for the top of the little pine tree they had spared. When Jimmy had secured it to the top of the tree, he turned to Henry and put his arms around the professor’s waist. Jimmy insisted they sing “Oh, Christmas Tree.”


When they finished Jimmy said, “Okay, professor, make a Christmas wish.”


“Whoa! Wait! No! You can’t say it out loud. It won’t come true. Just close your eyes and picture what you’re wishing for.”


Henry did. It was easy. What he wished for was already standing with him, holding him tightly. He hoped Jimmy was wishing the same thing. Maybe that should be his wish—that Jimmy was feeling for him what he was beginning to feel for the young man.


When they broke their embrace, Jimmy announced, “Snowman!”


Chapter 10