Page 39 of His for Hanukkah

He knew whose presents were going home and whose presents were going to be donated and regifted before the family left town.

Judging by the eye contact flying around the room, it looked like Cathy and Min were ready to head out while things were still relatively even keeled.

“Hang on,” called out Tate. “One more present.”

Adam turned around on the couch. Tate walked into the room carrying two guitar cases, both well-worn. One had a blue press-on ribbon bundle on the top.

“This is for you, sweetheart.”

“But you can’t… you can’t just give me your guitar.” That was like, a really big present for spending eight days together. It only made him wish harder that it could continue.

“This one’s mine,” he held up the one without the blue ribbon. It clearly had a much nicer case, so that was a bit of a relief. “This was the one I used in high school. It’ll be great for you to learn.”

Alright, that sounded like something more in line with Tate’s other gifts. Thoughtful, but inexpensive. And if his guitars were over at his parents’ house, where he apparently only went every two years, it wasn’t like he’d been using them. “Thank you, then. That’s really sweet. I can’t wait to play it.”

“Merry Christmas!” shouted Mira.

“Happy Hanukkah,” her father gently corrected.

Tate’s father’s head whipped around. “Are you one of them Jews?”

“Yes, he is,” Tate responded flatly. “And we need to go home to light the Hanukkah candles now.”

It wasn’t even two in the afternoon.

“That’s right,” Adam agreed. “It was lovely meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. White.”

After that, everyone quickly piled out the door and into their respective cars.

As soon as they drove away, Tate turned to him. “I am so, so sorry.”

“No, it’s fine, actually. I don’t know if it helped, but I liked being there for you. I just don’t understand how you and your sister turned out so well.”

“We got far, far away as soon as we possibly could.”

“I definitely understand that. Speaking of your sister, do you want to spend more time with them? It feels awkward for me to invite them over to your house, but if you’re interested, I’d be down for it.”

“Really?” Tate seemed surprised.

“Sure. They’re important to you and you only get to see them every two years.”

“You’re amazing, Little Star.”

Tate pulled his phone out of his pocket at the next light and told Adam his password. That was a lot of trust for a fling and it filled Adam with joy. He was even happier that he’d made Tate happy.

“There should be a text chain already going with Cathy and Min. Just tell them that it’s you and ask them to come over.”

They ended up having one of the best holiday nights of Adam’s life.

The nights before, with Tate, had been sexy and special. But there was something about a low-key family night that helped to fill a hole inside him.

He was a decade younger than his siblings, and even if they were the same ages, his parents would never have fostered such a caring, relaxed environment.

They played the board game that he’d bought for Raven, then had to play it again because they collectively lost the first game. For the second game, Mira sat on his lap and proudly counted how many spaces their piece could move. Eventually she got board and pulled out the magnetic blocks to build between his and Tate’s chairs.

Then, he and Min built a “dragon castle” with Mira and he practiced saying her name until he got it a little bit right. Zixuan sounded more like Jhoo-shuan, but with the vowels kind of swallowed up and the pitches in the right order.

They had a good laugh about the Jewish tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas, and the Chinese tradition of not eating Americanized Chinese food because it was gross.