Aunt Dee Dee’s Holiday Check

By Joel Skelton

After his Aunt Dee Dee sends him a windfall, Ethan decides to bail on the family holiday drama and go on a college skiing trip instead. Then a reservation snafu lands him in the same room as Henry, another student on the trip, and Ethan stumbles onto a bonus present of another kind: one that could last through Christmas and beyond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781623801878

Book preview

Aunt Dee Dee’s Holiday Check

Ding-Ding!

With his back to the front door, Ethan Temple toiled over one of the two slicers on the stainless steel counter across from the fine meat case at Nigel’s Deli and Notions, located on the corner of Kendrick and Seventh.

Where the hell is she? There was an unwritten rule at Nigel’s that if you took it upon yourself to clean the slicer, which no matter how systematically you attacked it was one really suck-ass job, you were excused from waiting on customers until you had finished.

When his co-worker failed to appear, Ethan hollered over his shoulder. Page! Customer!

No frickin’ way, a snarled voice hissed out from the back room.

Throwing his pastrami-encrusted rag on the counter he turned, and to his dismay, watched as Irma Leusenheidl piloted her power chair up to the front of the glass case. She’s wearing a Christmas sweater that lights up. I can’t take it. So nasty.

Page! I need you up front, he shouted while at the same time making a beeline away from the counter.

Irma, a distant relative of their boss, Nigel, was without question the vilest and most hated regular. She was at the top of everyone’s short list.

I’m in the middle of cleaning the slicer. Why aren’t you out there? Ethan demanded when he caught up to his lazy, angst-ridden co-worker. You’re worthless. Not one to do anything other than the bare minimum to keep her job, Page was unloading the dryer and, to his surprise, folding the work towels.

Why? Page looked over her shoulder and produced a menacing scowl. "Because you have an entire week away from this hell-hole, that’s why. I’m stuck here with… Irma."

Seriously? Frustrated, Ethan waited to see if there was any chance Page would reverse her decision and march her well-padded ass out to the front.

She did have a point. One more day and he was free for a week. At his mother’s insistence, he requested time off during the busy Christmas holiday when he was hired. His willingness to work most weekends apparently balanced the deal. He was the only part-time employee to be granted such a scheduling gift. Preplanning pays off. But what Page and the rest of his co-workers didn’t know was, his plans had changed.

Ethan had been all set to leave blustery Minneapolis and head south to Arizona to be with his family for the holidays. A heads-up from his older sister, Clair, had prompted him to pull the plug on the visit.

Last summer his parents announced their decision to divorce. We all saw that one coming. His dad, a top-level executive, spent most of his married life away, traveling from one plant to another. He was gone for weeks at a time. I thought I was being raised by a single parent. Now that he was retired and home, whatever his parents had seen in each other had vanished. Amicable at first, their divorce had recently turned messy, and Arizona was the last place he wanted to be. I love you both so much, but I can’t stand by and watch you fight. It tears me up. Might be a while before I get back home.

Restricted by a measly bank balance of $214, he hadn’t much to work with when entertaining ideas for a plan B. He certainly wasn’t going to forfeit his time off and work through break. Maybe he could sneak off with friends and ski a few times. There were discounted student passes available at the union. I’ll think of something. Anything is better than this. To prove his point, Ethan looked over the counter and sucked in a breath that left the aftertaste of corned beef in his mouth. Hello, Irma, he dutifully greeted the old bag. Have you come to any final decisions? That special Black Forest ham you like just came in.

I’m not blind. I just can’t walk. With a grunt Irma maneuvered her chair slowly down the length of the case.

I’m going to hurl. She has on a jingle-bell necklace too.

"Pity you didn’t have the ham on Tuesday when I had the gals over for Mahjong. That olive loaf you sold me was so salty we could hardly eat it. Darlene, bless her heart, showed up with a pasta salad from Petracellies or we would

Reviews for Aunt Dee Dee’s Holiday Check

[katybethmckee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sweet story of Ethan and Henry who met on a ski tour and end up having a very special time.