Stories

"May You Never Be Too Old to Search the Skies on Christmas Eve" - Anonymous

A Further Twelve Gays of Christmas Short Story

Rudy and Trevor return to Loch Arkaig for Christmas with new friends; two men who got together on a gay cruise; a celebrity chef who found love with his late best friend's husband; a baker and his tree-hugging partner; two older men who have been together forever; and finally, a doctor working for charity and his lawyer husband. All about to meet together on Christmas Eve, some for the first time.

But, of course, my dear readers already know them well.

Ember McCain is a mechanic in his late thirties, he's closed off and bitter about his teenage years. His biggest problem is not being able to let go of the anger he feels from the bullying he received in high school. Despite his own short comings he's managed grow a successful mechanic business, most of his employees are strong confident gay men. He's finally in a place in his life where he feels happy, confident, and content being himself. That is until Brady Douglass, his high school bully moves back to town and is everywhere, including his own workplace turning his world upside down.

Ron is a 24-year-old carpenter living in west central Florida. 6’1” tall, sandy blond hair with that lean swimmers body of broad shoulders and narrow waist. Strikingly handsome with a smile you can see for miles. He could have any girl he wanted, if he wanted them.

This is the story of a major shift in his life and the friends that brought him there.

The sleepy village of Crumbington is about to get a wake-up call.

When the new chairperson of the Summer Fête Committee pushes to create a naked calendar of the Crumbington football team, mouths drop open. Her further pronouncement at having snagged a celebrity host for the fête—rising television and movie star Clifton O’Keefe, and ex-resident of Crumbington—is met with indifference.

Not by Nathan Fresher, though, local baker and captain of the football team. He had been Clifton’s boyfriend in high school, until Clifton and his family disappeared into the night over ten years ago.

Jarren is at a crossroad. He needs to figure out who he really is. An impromptu road trip will take him to a place where he's forced to face his inner conflicts. New friends and a certain man who is battling his own inner demons will be the catalyst for Jarren to make the biggest decision of his life.

Devon fled Wyoming as soon as he turned eighteen, leaving behind his high school love, Levi. After six years, Devon returns to his hometown. Not much has changed, except that Levi is no longer in the closet. He’s also single and living his dream—managing the local wild horse population. Both of them are interested in picking up where they left off, but Devon is no more ready to reveal his orientation than he was as a teenager. No one is going to shove Levi back in the closet—not even Devon. For a relationship to work, they’ll have to put the past behind them and find the courage to face the future as who they really are—a couple in love.

The last thing fitness guru Heathcliff Stone needs is a babysitter, mainly because the one thing he hates more than his name - courtesy of his mom who, to this day, continues to be a Brontë obsessed reader - is for someone to try to control him.

When the most important company endorsing him sends over a preppy looking guy to keep him on a tight leash, his knee jerk reaction is to send the yuppie packing.

Yet, there is something that stops him from putting the figurative boot in the guy’s ass. Aidan Spark is exactly what the doctor ordered.

(Full summary inside because there's a character limit)

Can a man ever truly go home again? Can he become who he's meant to be, in a place he never expected to find acceptance? These are questions for Wren as he struggles with life, love, and the legacy of his family.

Does anything last forever?

This question is on the minds of all of our characters in this tale. This isn't a story of eternal happiness. Instead, it is one of using the time we have the best way that we can.

A life well-lived means that we go on long after our last breath - a fleeting life, rippling out forever.

Gabe Nichol has had a few rough years, but his luck changes when he gets some unexpected good news.