'Tis the Season, page 1
‘Tis the Season (Passages 1)
A Contemporary Hanukkah Romance
Gale Stanley
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Copyright ©2023 Gale Stanley
BIN: 011002-03579
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Changeling Press LLC
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Editor: Kira Stone
Cover Artist: Bryan Keller
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Table of Contents
‘Tis the Season (Passages 1)
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Gale Stanley
‘Tis the Season (Passages 1)
A Contemporary Hanukkah Romance
Gale Stanley
Is it possible to be both a good Jew and a gay man? Jonah Dillon doesn’t think so. He can’t reconcile his faith with his attraction to men so he turns his back on Judaism. Away at college for the holidays, he plans to lose his virginity to Christian, the blue-eyed, blond, goy of his dreams.
But fate intervenes when Jonah meets Aaron Beck, an observant Jew, and they end up celebrating Hanukkah together. Aaron tells Jonah they’re beshert -- meant to be. Jonah’s not sure he believes, but he’s lonely and welcomes Aaron’s company even if he has to celebrate Hanukkah to get it.
Can Aaron bridge the gap and convince Jonah to take a leap of faith? Or will they have to give up their desire for a future together?
Chapter One
The man’s image in the mirror, framed by small twinkling lights and swags of spruce and holly, appeared to be just the sort of ornament Jonah had been looking for all his life -- or at least the part of his life that spanned the years since puberty. The phrase “objects in the mirror are closer than they appear” came to mind, making him smile. I should be so lucky.
Unfortunately, Jonah’s plan to remain on campus for the holidays and lose his virginity to a non-Jew, a goy, wasn’t going according to plan, although he’d gone to great lengths to make it happen.
The worst part had to be when he told his parents that he wouldn’t be coming home for Hanukkah. None of the excuses he came up with felt right and he procrastinated for a long time.
Finally, he could wait no longer. Working up the courage, he called his mother and blurted out the dreaded words, before he lost his nerve. “I’ll be staying on campus for the holidays.”
Dead silence followed his announcement, followed by a worried, “Why?”
Jonah had never been good at lying. He struggled to sound believable. “I have so much to do. The workload in grad school is much heavier and the holidays are the best time to catch up.”
“Bring your work home.”
Also not good at asserting himself, Jonah hemmed and hawed. “I’d be way too busy. No time to interact.”
Unfortunately, his mother was way too good at guilt-tripping him.
Her voice wavered, and she sounded on the verge of tears. “We just want to see you. We don’t ask for much. And we’ve always spent Hanukkah together. I’m making your favorites, latkes and sweet kugel.”
A knife pierced his heart, but Jonah thought fast and stayed firm. “One of my friends is stuck on campus, too, and I promised him we would study together.” Another lie.
“Bring him home.”
“I can’t, Mom, He’s… it’s just that…”
“He’s a girl, isn’t he? Well, if it doesn’t work out, you can always change your mind and come home.”
“Sorry, Mom. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Jonah hung up before his mom could ask any more questions. Damn, she sounded like her world had come to an end. If only he wasn’t an only child. If he had a sibling to pick up the slack, it would make his life a whole lot easier. Taking a few deep breaths, he calmed himself. There would be other holidays.
Now, sitting alone at a bar, he wondered if all the grief he’d caused his mother had been for nothing. Not many students or professors had remained on campus, so Jonah had ventured off campus to find a hook-up. Happy Hour at a bar seemed the best option, but Jonah didn’t have an ounce of gaydar in his body, and gay guys didn’t go around wearing sexual ID tags. Luckily, he’d found a gay watering hole in the small college town. The rainbow flag flying out front had been a dead giveaway, and the name, The Rainbow Room. Could it be any gayer? When he’d first seen it, he’d wanted to take off like a scared rabbit, but he’d been doing that for far too long.
Jonah had forced himself to open the door and go inside. It was a gay bar, so what? Nothing remarkable, nothing to be scared of, just a neighborhood bar, a place where a guy could have a conversation without screaming over loud dance music. Actually, there was no dance floor, and that was all good too. Jonah Dillon didn’t dance, especially with other men. The only thing that differentiated The Rainbow Room from any other corner dive was the fact that it was devoid of women.
Wooden stools butted up against a foot rail at the bar and the mirrored wall behind the bar threw back his reflection. A bearded bartender, sleeves rolled up over hairy forearms, filled orders. Holiday decorations were minimal. Other than the lights around the mirror, there weren’t any, and that was okay because he’d been born and raised Jewish, and a man assimilated a lot of attitudes and beliefs in twenty-one years. Ridding himself of them would take a lifetime. At least.
Having to stare at a Christmas tree or a Nativity scene while flirting with a blond goy would have made him feel even guiltier. Ironic, that the thought of sucking an uncut cock didn’t inspire quite the same guilt. Or maybe he was just too fucking horny to care anymore. Lost in thought, Jonah wondered if he was normal. Between waking up with morning wood and masturbating before bed, it seemed like he was always thinking about sex.
When he got to college, he’d settled for hurried blowjobs with other students. It took the edge off, but Jonah wanted more. It was time to let someone put their dick in his ass so he could lose his anal virginity. Finding a willing partner who made him feel comfortable was primary. One thing he was sure of, he wouldn’t be comfortable having sex with another Jew.
So here he was, trying to fit in with the goyim, to the point of actually shopping for one of those ugly red and green Christmas sweaters with prancing deer. Seeing himself in the dressing room mirror shocked the hell out of him, but he bought it anyway, and ran out of the shop before he could change his mind. He wore it like a costume, thinking it would make him feel less inhibited and able to take some risks.
But as Jonah discovered, the sweater didn’t help him blend in. His appearance in the bar had triggered a few snickers, and after glancing around at the jeans-and-sweatshirt crowd, he’d regretted his choice.
His inner voice told him he was trying too hard and he looked like an asshole. At the time, it’d seemed like a good idea. Now, he just felt dumb, but he forgave himself for not getting it right and toughed it out. Fuck it.
Jonah ordered a beer. The bartender set down a mug wet with condensation, and a bowl of peanuts. Jonah took a few and cracked them out of their shells. He tried to look like he belonged, but nobody looked like him and everybody seemed to be with friends. Ignoring the conversations around him, he glanced at his watch every so often, as if he were waiting for someone. It made him feel less alone. Pathetic.
What would his mother say if she could see him now? Come home, boychik. You don’t belong there. Thank goodness, she was miles away and oblivious. He’d never told his parents he was gay. Hell, it had taken years to admit it to himself.
He concentrated on today’s goal -- find a guy to have sex with. How hard could it be? Pretty damn hard, even in a place that was user friendly.
Jonah took another swallow of his beer. God, he hated this time of the year. The holidays always made him feel more alone than ever. His back was to the room, but he could still see the crowd in the mirror -- guys of all shapes and sizes, pairing up like animals ready to board Noah’s Ark, while he was mooning over a stranger. It was damn depressing.
Finishing his beer, he scanned the mirror for the blond. Yep, still there, but focused on the two men who framed him like bookends.
Hooking up with the man in the mirror didn’t seem likely. Jonah would not, could not, make the f
The hot blond was exactly the type of man he could see himself with. He had the sun-kissed good looks of a surfer dude -- blond, blue-eyed, and cherub-cheeked -- a nice contrast to Jonah’s dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and stubbled jaw. The nerdy guy and the goy. Pitiful. More than the width of the bar separated them.
But looking couldn’t hurt. With his gaze glued to the mirror, Jonah shimmied the barstool to the left, inching his reflection closer to the other man’s. The stool wobbled, tipped…
Jonah realized he was falling and he grabbed wildly for the bar.
Too late. He went down with the stool, arms and legs flailing, and landed flat on his back. A collective gasp from the crowd turned into loud laughter. Please God, let me fall right through the floor and disappear.
But God wasn’t listening. Jonah looked up and saw the bartender looking down at him with a “what the fuck?” expression. Stunned, he lay there wondering if this could get any worse.
Suddenly, a low voice whispered in Jonah’s ear. “Need a hand? Or two?”
Two strong hands gripped him under his armpits and hoisted him up.
Jonah turned and came face to face with the object of his desire.
Evidently things could get worse.
The best-looking man in the bar began brushing peanut shells off Jonah’s sweater. “There you go, good as new.”
“Uh, thanks.”
They were almost the same height, five feet, ten inches, and they were so close Jonah could feel the man’s warm breath on his face. The blond Adonis had a square jaw bisected by a noticeable cleft, and a perfect nose. Thankfully Jonah had been blessed with a non-denominational nose.
Blondie gazed into his eyes, and a slow grin raised one corner of his mouth. Jonah could barely breathe, he was that excited. Only a matter of seconds passed before his face felt hot and prickly. He knew it had turned red, and not in a good way. The blush appeared whenever he interacted with someone he liked. There were other triggers as well, embarrassment, anger, just about anything, really.
Blondie’s grin widened. “Are you okay?”
Jonah had a dull, throbbing ache in his tailbone, but he’d rather die than admit it. “I’m fine, just a little embarrassed.”
“Yeah. You’re blushing.”
Damn, damn, damn. Is he making fun of me, or does he think I don’t know? Of course I know my face is fucking hot enough to fry an egg on. And of course as soon as someone mentions it, I get more embarrassed and blush more.
Jonah cringed. His worst nightmare had come to pass. Pulling at his collar, he tried to blow it off. “Yeah, it’s, uh, warm in here.”
“So it is. Let’s have a drink and cool off.”
Jonah looked over his shoulder. “What about your buddies?”
“They’ll wait for me.” Blondie picked up Jonah’s stool and slid onto the one next to him. He stared at Jonah. “You’re still blushing.”
“It’s not like I can help it.”
“No problem. I freaking love it when you blush.” Blondie waved the bartender over. “Two beers.”
The bartender frowned and pointed to Jonah. “Him, I’m cutting off.”
“But I only had one beer.”
“Maybe you had a few before you got here. You just fell off the fucking stool, asshole.”
Blondie leaned over the bar and vouched for Jonah. “Trust me, he’s just clumsy.”
“That’s what they all say.”
Blondie pouted. “Come on. The guy fell for me. Don’t ruin our relationship before it starts.”
The bartender chuckled. “You’re a glutton for punishment, but okay. Two beers coming up.”
Jonah’s face betrayed him again. Why me? He sighed and settled back on the stool. “It’s true, you know. I am clumsy.”
Blondie leaned in. “I think you’re adorable.”
Jonah met his blue-eyed gaze in the mirror, and his heart skipped a beat. At this rate, he’d need a defibrillator to get his heart rate back to normal.
Utterly tongue-tied, he could only sit there with his mouth open. Of course, he’d never been much of a talker. Chitchat in crowded bars and parties exhausted him. Even after all these years, he still felt like a timid nebbish in the presence of so much Gentile male beauty.
“My name’s Christian, by the way. Christian Radmore.”
Of course it is. Christian. The man’s name is Christian. Follower of Christ. What the hell am I doing here?
“You okay?” Christian asked. “I don’t bite.” He raised his brows and prolonged their eye contact. “Unless you want me to.”
Cheesy, but hot damn, Christian, the man he’d been ogling in the mirror like a lovesick cow, was sitting next to him, flirting. Jonah could barely get a word past the lump in his throat. He coughed it out and cleared his throat before attempting to speak.
“Yeah, sure.” Oh fuck. Blood rushed to his cheeks again. “Not about the bite. I mean I’m okay. Just a little stressed. I’m Joe Dillon.” A little? Jonah’s nerves were strung tighter than the strings on his old guitar.
“Yeah, I get it. Holidays tend to bring out the crazy. Don’t worry, help is on the way.” He gestured at the bartender returning with their beers.
The bartender frowned at Jonah as he placed a mug in front of him. Jonah avoided his eyes and focused on Christian, who raised his glass and clinked it with Jonah’s. “Here’s to a Merry Christmas.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Jonah downed half the mug.
“Boy, I’ve been looking forward to this break.” Christian let out a small sigh. “I’m going for my MBA, business management and digital marketing. It’s a bitch. You?”
“I’m working on a Master’s in English.”
Christian flashed a grin. “Guess I better watch my language. You’re not a grammar Nazi, are you?”
Jonah went cold before he realized it was just a joke. He shook his head and managed a smile. “A grammar queen, maybe.”
“Touché. I think I may be in grammatical lust. Why haven’t I seen you around?”
Jonah shrugged. “I’m always studying.”
“Oh, okay. That explains it, ‘cause I know I would have noticed you.”
Flustered, Jonah could only mumble some unintelligible response. He didn’t get many compliments, especially from hot guys he was lusting over. Was the flattery for real or was Christian playing with him? Jonah wished he could just accept it for what it was. Unfortunately, his background didn’t permit it. He was more prone to over think every situation and roll it around in his head until he killed it.
Jonah set his mug on the bar and tried to make conversation. “Are you going home for the holidays?”
“No, my parents are in Europe for the holidays. I’ll be hanging with my friends who are also stranded. What about you?”
“I’ll be here, catching up on work.”
Christian winced. “Oh, a masochist.”
Before Jonah could think of a witty reply, Christian’s friends joined them at the bar. Christian introduced them. He pointed to the redhead. “Jonah, this is Cheeto, and the dude behind him is Mike.”
Mike looked Jonah up and down. “Nice sweater.”
Jonah felt like an idiot, but it could have been worse. He’d almost worn reindeer antlers. He held up his beer. “‘Tis the season.”
“Right you are,” Christian said. “You look like a Christmas present just waiting to be unwrapped.”
Christian’s friends snickered as heat crept up Jonah’s cheeks. Again. He couldn’t read Christian. Was the man making fun of him or just being friendly? Or was there more to it?
Christian laughed. He finished his beer and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I wish I could stay longer, but we just stopped in for a quick one. We’re supposed to be picking up some goodies for a dinner party. Maybe we can get together some other time.”
