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The Healing Power of Eggnog
The Healing Power of Eggnog
The Healing Power of Eggnog
Ebook93 pages1 hour

The Healing Power of Eggnog

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Will Sutherland hasn't been home to see his parents in four years—not since they reacted badly when he came out. This Christmas, he’s finally worked up the courage to go home, where he's surprised to find they've taken in a boarder. Ryan Bennett is just a couple years younger than Will, cute, sweet... and openly gay.

As Will deals with his jealousy of the man who's been receiving the love and acceptance he was denied, Ryan finds himself falling for Will's brooding good looks. But Ryan also suspects the Sutherlands may be using him as a pawn in their long-standing conflict with their son. Will this Christmas finally tear the family apart, or is there a chance they can put their hurt and anger behind them?

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2013 Advent Calendar package "Heartwarming".

LanguageEnglish
Release dateDec 1, 2013
ISBN9781627986069
The Healing Power of Eggnog
Author

Jamie Fessenden

Jamie Fessenden is an author of gay fiction in many genres. Most involve romance, because he believes everyone deserves to find love, but after that anything goes: contemporary, science fiction, historical, paranormal, mystery, or whatever else strikes his fancy. He set out to be a writer in junior high school. He published a couple short pieces in his high school’s literary magazine and had another story place in the top 100 in a national contest, but it wasn’t until he met his partner, Erich, almost twenty years later, that he began writing again in earnest. With Erich alternately inspiring and goading him, Jamie wrote several novels and published his first novella in 2010. That same year, Jamie and Erich married and purchased a house together in the wilds of New Hampshire, where there are no street lights, turkeys and deer wander through their yard, and coyotes serenade them under the stars. Visit Jamie: jamiefessenden.wordpress.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Jamie-Fessenden-Author/102004836534286 Twitter: @JamieFessenden1

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There are far too many cases of parents who don't understanding their children being something other than straight. And even if they don't kick them out, the alienation that follows can be just as devastating as the physical rejection so many young men and women face. As Will, one of the main characters in this story, has experienced, the constant reminder of something "being wrong" with him in his parents' opinion does enormous emotional damage. Luckily for me, the eternal optimist and hoper-for-a-happy-ending, this is a Christmas story and focuses on Will and his parents' reconciliation.

    Will was emotionally disowned by his parents when he came out, and the only thing he could do was distance himself from them. He has created his own life, without them and their religious fervor in it, but at some point, the curiosity and need to go home overwhelms him. What he finds is Ryan, a young gay man, who was taken in by them after Ryan's parents kicked him out and, apparently, had a change of heart. It isn't an easy situation to deal with, not for Will, not for Ryan, and not for Will's parents. While I was able to see why the parents might have taken in Ryan (whom they knew to be gay), the way it looks and feels to Will is just awful. Yes, there is jealousy, but the pain of being reminded of all the love and support he was deprived of is probably the bigger part of the problem for him.

    Ryan has no idea what happened four years ago when Will left, but as he finds out, he begins to understand some of the underlying family dynamics. He is also quickly falling for Will, and that is both good - because it gives both of them something more positive to focus on, and bad - because it complicates the whole situation. What I found fascinating about this book is that he, like I, only sees part of the picture and even though all seems clear, it isn’t the whole truth.

    The resulting "family mess" is very realistic, and I found myself taken on an interesting journey of realizations, emotional healing, and new-found hope. Both main characters and Will's parents do a lot of learning, and I was very touched by what emerged and where they ended up. If you like stories with depth, if you enjoy reading about men who struggle with where they came from and who they are before they know how to approach their future, and if you're looking for a read which is realistic, emotional, and so worth spending time with, more than once, then you will probably like this novella as much as I did.


    NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

Book preview

The Healing Power of Eggnog - Jamie Fessenden

Chapter One

WILL CLOSED his laptop and tucked it into its case as the bus pulled in to the Montpelier bus station. It was a beautiful December day, with just a few clouds drifting through a bright-blue sky and clean white snow blanketing the Vermont countryside. Even here at the edge of town, the snow hadn’t yet become covered with soot and grime near the road. The dome of the state house down the street gleamed gold in the sunlight.

Unable to stop himself, Will scanned the cars in the parking lot, looking for his father’s old brown Ford pickup truck, or his mother’s small blue Subaru. Neither was there, but he hadn’t really expected them to be. It had been four years. They probably had new cars by now.

He stepped off the bus and breathed in the crisp, cold air, fresh-smelling even with the exhaust from the bus drifting by. But as the driver opened the baggage compartment in the bus’s underbelly and he collected his bags, Will couldn’t help but notice that there was still no sign of his parents. He didn’t want to admit that he was bothered by it. Any number of things could have made them late. Still a part of him had hoped to find them standing there, anxiously awaiting his homecoming. It was his mother, after all, who’d sent him the invitations, year after year.

Will?

He turned to see a young man standing there in a gray down jacket, a black baseball cap partly covering his strawberry-blond hair. The guy was perhaps a couple of years younger than Will, broad-shouldered and tall—though not as tall as Will’s lanky six foot two—with misty blue eyes. His full mouth was offering Will a shy, tentative smile. I’m Ryan. Your mom asked me to pick you up. It’s good to meet you.

Will tried not to frown as he stepped forward and shook Ryan’s hand. Are you a new neighbor?

No, I rent a room from your folks.

Will pulled his hand away abruptly and then tried to disguise the motion by reaching for one of his two suitcases. The house hadn’t had any spare rooms when he lived there. Just his parents’ bedroom and his room. Was he going to be sharing it for the weekend? Or were they expecting him to take the couch?

Will was carrying his laptop case over his other shoulder, so Ryan grabbed his second suitcase and led him to a maroon SUV parked behind the bus station. It didn’t look like the kind of car a guy in his early twenties would generally own, and as Ryan opened the hatch to stow the luggage, he commented, My car is full of crap, so your mom told me to take hers.

Cool, Will said, trying to hide his irritation that this stranger was on such familiar terms with his folks.

She said to apologize for her not meeting you, Ryan added, seeming to sense that something was wrong. She’s just been stuck in the kitchen all morning, preparing for the party tomorrow night.

Ah, Will muttered. The party. That will be fun.

Ryan slammed the hatch shut and gave him an odd look before leading the way to the front of the vehicle.

WHAT THE hell is this guy’s problem?

Ryan knew that Will hadn’t been home for the holidays since he left for college four years ago, but Gary and Diane had never said why. Now Ryan was beginning to suspect the guy was just an asshole.

He was cute—no denying that. Hot, even. Tall, with thick, dark-chestnut hair and brooding good looks, like the hero of a gothic romance novel. But so far he seemed just as unpleasant as those heroes tended to be. Whatever had made him turn his back on his family years ago, Ryan had a hard time believing it was anything his parents did. They were the nicest people he’d ever met, doting on him as if he were their own son, when his parents had kicked him out of the house.

Still, they were thrilled when Will e-mailed them that he’d deign to grace them with his presence this year, so the least Ryan could do was be nice to the guy for a few days. He wouldn’t be the one to ruin their Christmas.

So…, he said, fishing around for a topic of conversation while he navigated the SUV out of the parking lot and onto Main Street. Diane tells me you’re a writer.

Will was looking out the passenger side window at the shops along Main Street as they passed by, and he looked reluctant to turn his attention back to Ryan. I’ve only published one novel. And it didn’t do very well.

What kind of stuff do you write?

Nothing you’d be interested in.

Jesus. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? That Ryan was obviously too dumb to read anything but comic books? Ryan bit back an angry response and simply said, I’m interested in a lot of stuff.

Will turned to look at him full on, a sour expression on his face, and then said with exaggerated patience, Do you read gay novels? Because that’s what I write.

Asshole.

Dude! Ryan snapped. What the fuck? Do you think I’m some kind of redneck country hick who can’t go to sleep at night without beating up a fag or two?

Will didn’t look even remotely apologetic, but he said, I didn’t say that.

I’m gay too, Ryan went on. I mean, I didn’t know you were, until just now, but—

You’re gay?

Yes!

Rather than look happy that they’d found some common ground, Will practically snarled, That’s just great.

He turned back to the window again, and Ryan let him. Gary and Diane could deal with him when they got back. Maybe he’d be less pissy around them, though Ryan doubted it.

Chapter Two

THE HOUSE looked the same. Until he saw it, Will hadn’t realized just how homesick he’d been, how much he’d been longing to see it. Nestled in between two snow-covered pine trees and tastefully trimmed with white icicle lights along

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