Free Winter Hopes (Seasons of Love) by Jennifer Gracen Page A

hear you say it.” She pressed her lips together as a thought occurred to her. Her eyes brightened. “I tell you what,” she said. “I’m going into the city next weekend to meet… a friend. For the day. On Saturday.”
    “Who, Melanie?” Matt asked.
    “Yeah,” she lied. “And it’s going to be a long day for me, probably both lunch and dinner. Jane was going to take Andy for the day… but what if we tried a sleepover again? You could pick him up early on Saturday morning, and bring him back home Sunday around dinner time. Would you want to do that?”
    “Yes,” Matt said eagerly. “Yeah, that’d be great.”
    “Okay. Then we’ll do that. And if it goes well… we’ll talk about taking it from there. We’ll see. Alright?”
    “Yeah, alright.” Matt gazed at her and said earnestly, “Thank you.”
    She nodded. Shrieks from inside came through the small crack in the open door. “Sounds like they’re going through the candy,” she said. “Let’s go in.”
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
    SAM SAT DOWN at his computer to check his email. It had been a quiet but productive Sunday. He’d started off with his run, as he did early every morning, then gone to the gym for some light weight training. He only did that twice a week since he'd gotten the promotion. After a shower, he’d taken care of a few errands, then decided to take advantage of the lovely autumn day and gone to the park. He’d stayed there for hours, reading the book he’d started earlier that week.
    He took in the crisp air and colorful foliage from his park bench, and watched families around him enjoying picnics, activities, games—parents and children enjoying being together. He felt the tiny pang, as he had been more and more over the past year. Scenes like this reminded him that he was now thirty-five and without a family of his own. He watched the families around him wistfully, noting their closeness and listening to the conversations, and found himself wondering for the thousandth time what a child of his and Chelsea’s might have looked like.
    After about four hours, he’d finished reading the book, so he’d headed home to check his email, have some dinner, and maybe watch some football or a movie.
    Once home, Sam sat at his computer desk as he listened to two messages on his voice mail—work intruding, even late on a Sunday afternoon. He sighed. He put his cell phone aside and sipped the beer he’d opened. When he brought the monitor to life, he was glad to see there weren’t too many emails waiting for him. In his personal account, the inbox was never overloaded the way his work email always was. A few jokes from John and Everett, a hello email from Alec, an email from Paige with pictures of the kids attached… he noticed an email from Lydia, sent earlier that day, and smiled as he clicked on that one first.
     
    Hi Sam,
    Hope you’re having a good weekend. Thought I’d send you a few pictures from trick or treating yesterday. We had a great day.
    Call me in the afternoon if you’re around. Matt has Andy with him (as he does every Sunday) so I’ll be free to talk. I’m going out in the morning, but will be home reading all afternoon…
    Talk soon.
    Lydia
     
    Sam saw she’d attached a few pictures and clicked on the first one to open it. A broad smile instantly popped onto his face at the sight of Lydia and another woman on their knees, with two cute little boys in costumes between them. The caption on the attachment read, “ Jane, Ethan, Andy, and me”. He knew Jane was her sister, and that Ethan was Jane’s younger son. Lydia talked about Jane and her family often. Sam liked being able to put faces with the names.
    Jane was as pretty as Lydia, but had a distinctly different look; she was more slender, had a more angular face, and long brown hair, not reddish like Lydia’s. But Jane had the same exact eyes as her younger sister, the same shape and long lashes, the shade of golden brown that seemed to glow and reminded