Page 75 of Dear Daddy, Please Want Me

Daddy laughed. “You’re like an overgrown puppy.”

“Is that bad?” He was pretty sure it wasn’t now.

“Nope. It’s adorable.” Daddy pulled him down for a kiss. Kissing involved a lot of bending over on his part and looking up on Daddy’s part, but if Daddy didn’t mind, he didn’t either.

Plus, if his back got sore, there could be kissing on the couch, or the bed, or the floor, or… yeah, kissing just like this, with Daddy cupping his cheeks and lingering over his lips. Yeah, this was just fine.

“So, tell me about your grand plan.”

Levi dragged him into the living room, pointing to each object. “Chinese food. Movies. Couch. Daddy.”

“Sounds good. What are we watching? Wait… are we watching Hanukkah movies?”

“OMG. I didn’t even think of that. Are there even Hanukkah movies? Christy asked me that and I just assumed that there weren’t, but what if there are?”

“I have no idea. It seemed like something you would know.”

“It seems like something my phone would know.” Levi settled onto the couch. When Saul sat down next to him, he wriggled around until Daddy was snuggling him from behind, looking over his shoulder.

“OK, here’s a list. ‘Eight Hanukkah movies that will light up your holiday.’”

He scrolled down and they both reeled back when they saw the first one.

“An American Tale?” Levi couldn’t get over it. “Everyone’s favorite children’s movie about escaping the Holocaust. Happy Hanukkah everybody!”

He scrolled to the next one, and read the blurb.

“Hang on,” Saul stopped him. “Adam Sandler made a movie about the Hanukkah Song?”

“OMG. It’s an hour and a half long. What’s even in it?”

“Keep going.”

“OK, um, a Hanukkah sports movie about middle schoolers. A private detective spoof? Have you ever heard of The Hebrew Hammer? Ooh! The next one actually says that Vanity Fair named it ‘the worst film of any trilogy to appear in a movie theater.’ This is epic! OK, a rom com, Hitched for the Holidays. Could be OK. They’re straight.”

Saul pointed to the next one. “Look! They’re gay! There’s a gay Hanukkah movie. Call Me By Your Name. We’re watching that.”

“Done. Do you want to see what else is on the list?”

“Go for it.”

“Ummm… the description says this movie isn’t even about Hanukkah, but they wanted eight and one of the neighbors is Jewish. Now that’s just sad.”

“Well, now we know.”

Levi flicked back to the search. “Um…. it looks like there are a couple more rom coms out there. Like, straight ones. And a couple comedies. And… no way. A horror movie. It’s about… wait for it... the Hanukiller. So…”

“Tell me we’re not watching that.”

“God, no. I hate horror movies. They make me all jumpy. And the plots are terrible. But, we have discovered that there are enough Hanukkah movies for a full-day marathon.”

Daddy scowled at him. “Your limit is three.”

“You mean I don’t get to watch”–he flipped back to find the most outrageous one–“Full-Court Miracle?” That was the middle school basketball flick.

“Three.”

He pouted. Not because he wanted to watch more than three movies, but because he could. Because his Daddy didn’t mind him being outrageous.