Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 75

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Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 75

Eli took a deep breath. He got out of bed. He took off Nick’s hoodie and put on the pajamas.
And he did not think about how he’d left Nick naked under a bathrobe after giving him his first
officially queer orgasm. It was Christmas. He could get through Christmas. This was the big set
piece, the whole reason he was visiting, ostensibly. His parents deserved a good show; he could
give them that.
He shuffled out of the guest room wearing the pj’s, with his hair askew. His dad took about a
million long-armed selfies of the three of them in their matching finery. Thankfully it was all
waist-up angles, because Wendall’s pajama pants were way too clingy. Outside, Eli could hear
some kids messing around on brand-new scooters.
Then it was time for presents. They gathered around the “family” tree, now divested of old
photos and redecorated with new ones. Eli sat on the floor while his parents took the couch.
He tried not to feel embarrassed about the gifts he’d wrapped in his trademark half-assed way
for his parents. They tended not to spend too much money on each other when it came to
Christmas, picking out little things or silly joke gifts. One year, Eli had received a box of five
thousand paper clips because he’d complained to his parents—once! Back in August—about
never being able to find one when he needed it.
But this year Eli had really phoned it in. Buying books for librarians, albeit one retired, was like
giving eggs to a chicken farmer. Still, his parents oohed and ahhed over them: a nonfiction book
about the Florida Highwaymen for Wendall and a novel for Cora. The Whatever’s Wife. So-and-
so’s Daughter. Eli hadn’t really paid much attention; it had been on one of the big tables at the
bookstore.
“Thanks so much, son,” said his dad, already reading the copy on the back of his hardcover.
“This is really neat.”

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“Okay, open yours, open yours.” His mom handed him a big box expertly wrapped in shiny red-
and-green-striped paper. The top was decorated with a gold bow and a sprig of pine that had
been glued to a teeny-tiny pine cone. Cora had really gone all out.
Eli dutifully opened the present. Inside was a plethora of crumpled tissue paper. He dug the first
layer out only to find another, slightly smaller box. “You guys…”
This was a gag from when he was about eleven. At the time, he’d thought it was the funniest
thing in the world. Actually, he still kind of thought that. It was nice to know where he’d gotten
his sense of humor, at least.
His dad chuckled. “Keep going!”