Free This Christmas by Jane Green Page A

invitations to singles nights and singles bars, Eddie isn’t the least bit excited at the prospect of being single.
    He doesn’t want to go on dates. Doesn’t want to start asking women to tell him how someone as beautiful/cute/special as they are could still be single. Doesn’t want to share his history, his stories, what school he went to with anyone other than Sarah.
    He doesn’t want to struggle through a relationship with all the ups and downs until he gets comfortable enough to belch in front of a woman, or she gets comfortable enough to use the bathroom while he’s shaving. He only wants that intimacy with Sarah, and with his kids.
    And, God, how he misses his kids. He calls them every day, which he suspects is more painful for all of them, but now that they’re gone he misses them far more than he would have thought possible. His office is scattered with photos of them, he happily tells his secretary all the cute and funny things they do and say, and most of all he wants to make up for all the lost opportunities.
    For the first time, Eddie sees he could have done things differently. He lies in bed at night and thinks of all the times the kids pulled on his sleeves, danced in front of him begging him to play basketball, or have tea parties, or just hang out with them upstairs.
    And all those times he’d say, “In a minute,” or “Not now, Daddy has to work,” or “Daddy’s had a long day at work; Daddy needs to rest.” He wishes he could turn the clock back and redo everything, be there when they needed him, spend all that quality time with them that he missed, but given that’s not possible he’s praying for a second chance.
    It’s almost as if he’s come out of the trance he’s been in for years. Cutting out the alcohol, the coffee, and the sugar, taking care of his body and himself for the first time since he’s been married, Eddie feels as if he can see clearly again.
    Not that he’s happy, but he knows he could be happy if he were home. He knows, has never doubted, that Sarah is the one for him. All he’s done is blame her for nagging and whining, for being a miserable wife, and yet now he sees his part in the equation. He sees how difficult it must have been with him gone at work for the best part of the day, sees how much it must have hurt for him never to want to spend time with any of them, his relaxation being the television and beer.
    Eddie is determined that he will get that second chance. All he’s doing now is biding his time, working out his strategy. Christmas is coming and Eddie’s getting ready. As far as he’s concerned, this, this separation, isn’t permanent. It’s a vacation is how Eddie is choosing to think about it. A chance for all of them to recharge their batteries, ready to start their lives, their real lives, fully refreshed again, and Eddie has decided that Christmas is when the vacation will end.
     
    “Where’s this place again?” Lisa’s on the phone as Sarah’s getting ready for book club.
    “It’s that new Mexican place on Water Street. Right behind Main Street. Where Pier One used to be.”
    “Okay, great. And you’re dressing up?”
    Sarah laughs. “You’d better believe it!”
     
    For book club tonight they have read, or attempted to read, or are halfway through Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. It’s Caroline’s turn to host, but she’s having her house repainted so Sarah offered to switch, and because she now has more energy than she knows what to do with, because she has started wearing makeup every day, coloring her hair, actually living again, Sarah has decided to do something different for this book club.
    Instead of being in someone’s family room with dessert and coffee, they are going to a Mexican restaurant, and each has been instructed to come in bright, festive colors with flowers in her hair.
    Sarah walks into Villa del Sol, squinting through the darkened restaurant to try to find her friends. She sees Caroline waving at