Everyone hopes his road to happily ever after will be carefree and smooth, but too often hair-pin turns and detours seem to get in the way. Having thought he was on the road to forever before, former Silicon Valley programmer Dan Lassiter is leery about pedaling down it again. His elderly companion Charlie urges him to get to know Rick Reardon whose bakery is across the street from Dan’s bicycle shop. Under the watchful eye of Charlie, Dan and Rick take tentative steps toward each other, all the while trying to avoid potholes such as exes, homophobes, and family problems. As summer turns to fall and then winter, they hope that the road will be smooth going from their first date and first kiss to having what Rick’s sister euphemistically calls their “sleepovers.” At each step, though, they are tripped up and wonder why there seem to be so many bumps in their road. Maybe Dan and Rick should heed some of Charlie’s sage advice, or maybe they should listen to their hearts instead of the ghosts from their pasts.

Heart of the Holidays

Rick, rather than put his arm around his sister, nephew, and niece, turned to me, pulled me up, and hugged me.


“Despite what my mother thinks, I’m faithful and true. When I say I love someone, I mean it until they prove to me that they don’t want me and probably never did.”


We hadn’t said we loved each other. But it was coming just as surely as the sun rose in the morning.  8


We spent a quiet night watching television. Some sappy over-sentimental dramas of lost kids and loving parents, the kinds of stories that everyone’s dreams are made of, but happen too rarely in real life.


Everyone was silent, lost in their own thoughts. I think Charlie might even have dozed off at one point. Fortunately, neither he nor I snored, so all was good.


About nine thirty, Rick and Patty stood up after communicating through sibling telepathy.


“Be right back.” Rick gave me a kiss on the forehead.


Chapter 23