It’s time for Tuesday Tales!
Today we have an excerpt from The Christmas Pundit, Laurel Holidays #2.
Do bear in mind that these snippets are unedited so please be kind if you find any mistakes.
This story may have gay erotic scenes, strong social issues addressed and mature language. If those things offend now is the time to move onto another Tuesday Tales blog. Thanks for stopping by!
We stopped at my parent’s house. I waved when they opened the door to hand out the goodies. My mother’s eyes went as round as the bright orange bowl of candy bars in her hand. My dad lifted his hand. Gideon waved back.
“Your father is a good man,” he said as kids flocked to the porch for the full size bars. Oh yeah, there was no bitesize candy bars at the Griffiths. It was always the big ones. My Mom rocked.
“Thank you, I think so as well.” He nodded.
“Your mother dislikes me still.”
“Well she is my mother after all. It was her who cleaned up the bruises and cuts and skinned knees you inflicted.”
“That’s fair,” he commented as we walked along, our steps unhurried, the kids and Aubrey getting further and further ahead of us. Dry leaves skittered along the sidewalk, blowing this way and that as the wind gusted and whirled. “I hope someday she’ll be able to see that I’ve grown.”
“It’s obvious that you’ve grown. What are you? Six foot four now?”
“Five if I don’t slouch which I tend to do when I’m tired. I wasn’t referring to physical growth though, I was hinting at my advanced levels of maturity.”
I coughed out a dry laugh. “You don’t act mature around me.”
“That’s because whenever I see you I fall back into being that pudding headed young man who couldn’t understand why your smile and the jut of your chin made me feel wobbly inside.” My toe caught on a slab of cement that had heaved up years ago. Gideon grabbed my upper arm. “Told you the sidewalks were unsafe.”
I glowered at him. His fingers remained on my arm, biting into my bicep, the few dead leaves on Mr. Postwhit’s old maple rattling as a cold zephyr tugged at the nearly naked branches.
“I read chapter four.” It was out before I could catch it. I watched emotions arrive then flee his face, each one more confounding than the previous one.
“Ah, well. Good then. So you know.” His grip on my arm loosened just a bit. I should have shook free then, but I didn’t. His hold on my arm felt good, strong, steady.
“I know…well, I’m not sure what I know to be honest. You said some incredibly powerful things in that book. Processing what you said has been hard.”
He bobbed his head. “I’m sure. It’s taken me years of therapy to get to where I can finally admit to myself that I’m gay. And please, don’t belittle what I said about loving you. That also took years and tens of thousands of dollars to realize. I did love you. I might not have understood the full impact of those feelings, or even what they were, but I knew they were potent and poignant. They still are. You’ve always made me feel things that I didn’t know how to handle.”
“Gideon…”
He huffed a bit, the rueful smirk he wore with such ease reappearing. “Happy Halloween, Mr. Mayor. I’ll see you Wednesday.”
*~*~*
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Love the descriptions here, Vicki. Especially this line. I glowered at him. His fingers remained on my arm, biting into my bicep, the few dead leaves on Mr. Postwhit’s old maple rattling as a cold zephyr tugged at the nearly naked branches. Beautifully put. Well done.
Great descriptive words here. Now I want fall.
As always, great descriptions putting us right at the scene. But the emotion behind this scene and the admission about the time spent in therapy to work out loving someone you pretended to hate — very powerful.
Beautiful descriptions and the deep feelings come across so well. Love the line about his mother didn’t much like him after having to clean up the bruises.
I love the heat that is starting between them as they talk. Now I’m dying to know more about Chapter Four and to know where these two will end up. I also love that they are having this serious conversation and when he trips, Gideon reminds him about the sidewalk needing repair. Great job!