A Small Miracle Happened by Mari Donne Read Free Book Online Page A

going to be hopeless trying to light it at twilight most of the week anyway,” Dan said. “It gets dark too early, and after tomorrow we’ll still be at work when the sun goes down.”
    Chris nodded, picking up a foil-covered coin from the candy dish, then unwrapping it. Dan watched him with a cynical smile that Chris understood the minute he bit into the chocolate.
    “Terrible, isn’t it?” Dan shook his head. “I don’t know why they always taste like sawdust.”
    But it didn’t matter, because then they kissed until the flavor of cheap chocolate was gone, and only Dan filled Chris’s senses.

Chapter Five
    Fifth night—Sunday
    Dan was uncomfortably aware that Chris had been doing most of the work feeding them both for the past few days. So on Sunday morning, Dan ran out early and brought back half a dozen doughnuts, explaining to Chris that as fried foods they were traditional for Hanukkah. Chris replied that he'd found a recipe for kugel the same day he looked up latkes, and he offered to make it that evening. He was intrigued by the idea of noodle pudding.
    But Chris also said it was probably a good thing the holiday was only eight days long, and he was going to have to hit the gym hard soon. He looked genuinely worried.
    Dan laughed and said it would take a lot of doughnuts to make a dent in that hard body, rubbing Chris’s flat belly as he spoke. Chris just muttered something about having to take care of what little you had.
    Chris seemed to think he wasn’t very attractive, which was absurd. He wasn’t conventionally handsome, but his uneven features held so much humor and personality that Dan found them more compelling than many prettier faces. And he was built like a freaking thunder god. He must hit the gym on a regular basis even when doughnuts and kugel weren’t on the menu.
    That was another thing. The guy cooked like Gordon Ramsay, but without the profanity and screaming. Tonight he was planning to produce a dish that sounded like the fried fish of the gods, along with the kugel. And he was amazing in bed.
    These were all points very much in Chris’s favor, but it occurred to Dan he didn’t really know much else about him. Finding out struck him as a good project for a lazy Sunday.
    After breakfast, he took out his tablet for a video chat with his parents, his sister, and her husband, Rich. Sharon looked okay, considering, and Rich seemed to be holding up. They tried to show off the baby, but all Dan could see was something red and scrunched up between a hat with a bobble on it and an ugly blanket decorated with baby footprints.
    “Never mind.” His mother correctly interpreted his tepid praise. “You need to come visit so you can hold her. Then you’ll see her as a real person.”
    “Just a few weeks more. I’m looking forward to it.”
    Some chat followed about exactly when and how he’d travel, and the cost of airfare. Then his father took over and said how sorry he was that Dan hadn’t made it home for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.
    “It’s okay. This guy at work invited me over on Thursday, and my neighbor’s been lighting the candles with me each night.”
    “Yeah? You have a Jewish neighbor?”
    “No, but he makes a mean latke anyway. Chris, meet my dad.”
    Unfortunately, all animation dropped from Chris’s face the moment he picked up the tablet. He had a stilted conversation first with Dad and then Mom. Dan almost sighed when he took the tablet back. Maybe his family would have to hug Chris too before they could appreciate him.
     
    After that, Chris wanted to go back to his condo so he could marinate the fish for dinner, and Dan joined him. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and football naturally consumed the afternoon, but Dan didn’t object when Chris hit the Mute button on the TV remote. They were lying facing each other, their backs to the arms of Chris’s couch, their legs up on the cushions and interlaced.
    Chris explained the furnace’s behavior was erratic,