Rating: 4 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Short Story
Butch has known he’s loved his best friend, Jimmy, since he was twelve years old. As the years have passed and now with them both on the cusp of thirty, Butch may still be in love, but he also knows he will never be good enough for his pal. First off, Jimmy is brilliant—college educated whereas Butch never even graduated high school. Secondly, Jimmy is gorgeous and deserves someone just as beautiful as he is and Butch thinks he’s not much to look at since he’s often covered in dirt and sweat as a byproduct of the forge he runs in his shop. Still, Butch dreams of telling Jimmy that he loves him, but is so afraid that the news may end their friendship, particularly since Butch can’t be sure Jimmy feels the same. So with Christmas approaching Butch must decide—stay silent and try to find someone who is more like him to make a life with or tell Jimmy everything and pray it doesn’t ruin the one good thing in his life.
Pat Henshaw delivers up a sweet love from afar holiday story in Making the Holidays Happy Again. With some definite lack of communication preventing our two main characters from realizing they both feel exactly the same, the story focuses on more of the business aspect of their relationship. Butch is so torn about whether to confess to Jimmy he loves him. And since Butch is just about the sweetest guy one could ever meet, that meant my heart really went out to him as he grapples with the idea of never having Jimmy for his own or, even worse, watching him fall in love with someone else. From the tender way Butch treats a young shy boy who comes into his shop, to the declaration that he will always be there to protect Jimmy no matter what, it is so easy to fall in love with this guy.
Making the Holidays Happy Again is a simple story and one that made me smile. The end is surprising, but lovely, and I definitely could stand to read more about these two and the people they interact with in their small town. It’s a great little holiday story sure to make the romantic in us all give a happy sigh.
