The More The Merrier: A Hobbs Christmas Story by Elena Graf

Author:Elena Graf [Graf, Elena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Lesbian Fiction, Medical Fiction, Maine, short story
Publisher: Purple Hand Press
Published: 2019-12-02T05:00:00+00:00

3

The next morning, Liz didn’t want to get up, so Maggie shook her arm. “You smell like a distillery. I hope you had fun.”

Liz punched her pillow and rolled over. “Not really. But I enjoyed the conversation…I think. Erika told me she is rereading Sein und Zeit and has rediscovered Heidegger.”

“Heidegger?”

“Dreadful man. He became a Nazi and threw his mentor, Edmund Husserl under the bus. Brilliant, though.”

It was too early in the morning for a philosophy lesson. Maggie just nodded and put on her bathrobe. “Everyone is awake. We need to get up too.”

“Okay,” agreed Liz, but seconds later, she was sound asleep.

Maggie took a quick shower, put on her makeup and went downstairs. Fortunately, Alina knew where everything was from her summer visits. She’d fed the children yogurt and cereal and had made herself some herbal tea.

“Good morning, Mom,” she said, raising her bloodshot eyes when Maggie came into the breakfast room.

“You look exhausted.”

Alina sighed. “The girls have been awake since five. I tried to keep them quiet so they wouldn’t wake everyone.”

“I heard them, but it was time to get up. Did you get any sleep?”

“A little. My phone kept pinging. Finally, I switched off the sound.”

“Is Jeff still sending you angry messages?”

“Not exactly. Now he’s pleading for me to come home.”

“Do you want to go home?”

“Of course, I want to go home. But I can’t go back to Jeff.”

Maggie nodded. “I understand.”

“I had some time this morning go online and check our finances. He’s reset the password on all our accounts, but I could get in by calling the banks and giving my social security number. I asked for a new debit card so I can access our money, but when I checked the balance, it was down to a few hundred dollars. The credit cards are maxed out. The mortgage is in arrears, and the bank has filed for foreclosure. Thank God, I still have my 401K. He can’t touch that.”

Maggie put her arm around her daughter. “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. Where did the money go?”

“I think his drug problem is worse than I thought. And he was never any good with money. That’s why I always managed it. But he begged to take it on. Obviously, I was a fool to trust him. I should have checked. It’s only been a year since we switched. I can’t believe it happened so fast.”

Maggie sighed. “Money can go quickly. When did your financial problems start?”

“He won’t tell me. And that’s the real reason it’s over. He won’t be honest with me. He lies about everything.”

“It’s pretty hard to trust people again when they consistently lie to you. That’s what broke up my marriage to your father, lying about his affair. Meanwhile, I knew. Of course, I knew.”

Liz came into the room. Maggie wasn’t surprised to see her looking relatively put-together. She’d showered and dressed. When she leaned down to kiss her, she smelled minty from toothpaste and mouthwash, no doubt to hide the evidence of her indulgence.

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