Happy Tuesday! Today’s #TeaserTuesday is an excerpt from my December 2018 novella, A Holiday Tradition, available initially as part of the Dreamspinner Press 2018 Advent Collection, and later as a stand-alone purchase.
Are you ready for this year’s Holiday Romance?
A Holiday Tradition by Chrissy Munder
Paul Carpenter has his life all planned out. Or at least his father does. The right school, the right degree, the right job. Paul is on track, until a bus accident has him sitting out a coveted internship, babysitting, or being babysat, by a grandfather he barely remembers during his holiday stay in a Florida RV park. His father’s reasoning? How much temptation can Paul find around a bunch of senior citizens playing bingo? There’ll be nothing to distract him from his studies.
It’s hard to muster his holiday spirit when Paul is used to snow and cold, not sun, surf, and plastic flamingos in Santa hats. But then Paul meets Kevin Lombardo, who offers to show him some new holiday traditions. Suddenly Paul’s fast track hits a curve.
Treat yourself for the holidays! Special November pre-order pricing available for the entire Advent Collection. A holiday romance a day delivered to your bookshelf every day in December.
A Holiday Tradition by Chrissy Munder – Excerpt:
“Your father says you sleep with men.”
His grandfather’s unexpected statement dropped into the silence of the RV like a bomb, a nd Paul Carpenter jerked upright, knocking his head into the passenger-side window with a loud clunk.
Oh. My. God. A burning surge of resentment rose in Paul’s throat. What the hell? He’d send his father a furious text if it would do any good. Not only for dumping his sexuality on his grandfather, but also for the idea behind this entire trip!
He closed his eyes, focusing on the coolness of the glass rather than the scream he had held back for the last few miles of the drive from Michigan to some mobile home and RV park on F lorida’s eastern coast. Paul had never heard of the place, but Grandpa Louie swore Decembers were better under the Florida sun.
Two hours down, a minimum of sixteen more to go . Probably eighteen, with as many rest stops as his grandfather made. Paul took a deep breath and dug his thumbnail into his palm, mentally gearing himself up for the confrontation sure to come. “If you’re asking if I’m gay, yes, Grandpa. I am.”
Grandpa Louie nodded in reply. He carried his years with comfort, the bulk of muscle honed by hard work not yet whittled away by time, and his hearty appearance overcame his fondness for dressing in bright pastels.
Paul hoped he would age just as well, but he took after his father’s family. Which translated to him being shorter, thinner, and with hair more dishwater than blond.
“Thanks for telling me. It sure would have been embarrassing if I tried to set my wingman up with a bird of the wrong feather.” Grandpa Louie cackled at his own joke, his quick glance inviting Paul to join in.
Paul released his tension with a choked-off huff. “Wingman?”
“You betcha. Why do you think I spend my winters down south?” His eager grin peeled the bushy mustache away from his lips, making him look ridiculously like Paul’s roommate in the first part of his freshman year.
Paul shuddered at the memory. The adventures of Dean-o Hamilton, the self-proclaimed “Party Dog” of their floor, were something he preferred to forget. While his father’s intense micromanagement of his college experience sometimes chafed , Paul hadn’t protested when his father insisted he transfer to the designated quiet dorm after paying them a surprise visit.
“I can give you the answer in one word: widows.” His grandfather whistled through the gap in his front teeth. “Fun in the sun doesn’t always mean pinochle and shuffleboard.”
A Holiday Tradition by Chrissy Munder – Available for Package Pre-Order from Dreamspinner Press. **special note: last day for package sale is November 25th**
(Be sure to stop by next Tuesday for the #TeaserTuesday Cover Reveal!!)