This Christmas by Jane Green & Jennifer Coburn & Liz Ireland

Author:Jane Green & Jennifer Coburn & Liz Ireland [Green, Jane & Coburn, Jennifer & Ireland, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction, General, Contemporary Women, Contemporary, Short Stories, Love Stories, Christmas stories, Anthologies (Multiple Authors), Love stories; American, Christmas Stories; American
ISBN: 9780758234889
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2005-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

The next day I decided to revisit a ritual from my Girl Scout days. Each summer, our troop leader took us on a four-day camping trip. We did all of the usual things like hiking, orienteering, and bingeing on S’mores, but on the last day, we had to remain completely speechless. We weren’t aloud to charade, write notes, or even use sign language unless it was an emergency. This monastic exercise was supposed to help us “hear ourselves,” as our troop leader said. All of the girls hated it, and I pretended to as well, but secretly I loved the opportunity to turn off the chatter of my own voice and those of my giggly girlfriends. While my friends now have far more interesting topics to discuss—like who should marry my husband’s ex-wife—it would still be nice to spend a day without talking. I’ve lived in Manhattan my whole life and always thought it would be fun to walk from my house all the way down to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. God knows why I’ve never done this. It’s only four miles. I could walk that in heels. I decided today would be the day I made my silent trek. I’d cross through Central Park, then head down Fifth Avenue all the way down to the Arc de Washington Square. I was more excited than when I left for Europe for the summer after college graduation. But, first, I needed to speak with Reilly about when he and Hunter would be home.

“Still closed, hon,” Reilly said. I looked out the window and saw thick snowflakes floating onto the white-carpeted sidewalk. I imagined children celebrating and grabbing their sleds, and tugging on the bottoms of their father’s sweaters, begging to go to the park. The parents would sigh. They too had prayed for a white Christmas, but only so they could light a fire and snuggle under a down comforter as their children played video games in the next room. They’d look at each other and agree that the kids could go out and play. They’d pretend they were reluctant but both would secretly share the deliciously frustrating bond of delayed intimacy by parenthood. If only I had gone with Reilly and Hunter, we could all be snowbound together. For years, we could recall that first Christmas when we were snowed in at the cabin.

“When are they going to open the roads?!” I whined.

“When it’s safe to drive on them,” Reilly said. “Look, I’m as sorry as you are about this, Sarah, but we don’t want to take any chances.”

“Of course,” I said. “You’re right. I’m just disappointed, that’s all.”

“Me too, hon. We could still be home Christmas morning. I’m not sure, but I’ll call you tonight once we get off the slopes.” How I longed to be on a ski slope with my husband and son. My silent trek in the snow would probably take several hours with the inevitable stops along the way. When I ski, I can make it down four miles in minutes.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.