A Wish for Christmas Read Free Page B

I’m just trying to speed up the appearance of the pies.”
    “I do,” Emily said with a laugh. “But it’s nice of you to admit it.” She handed him an apron, a bowl, and the hand mixer, and he quickly set up shop.
    “Don’t ever underestimate seniors, my dear. We can be rather resourceful.”
    “I wouldn’t dare, Ezra,” Emily promised. She already knew a bit about how crafty seniors could be. And in the days to come, Emily had a feeling, she would be learning entirely new chapters on the subject.
     
     
     
    IN ORDER TO MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT THEIR DINNER WOULD NOT be interrupted, Jack Sawyer had nailed a sign to the fence of the Christmas tree farm:
    CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING—SEE YOU TOMORROW
    Then, for good measure, he removed the clapper from the brass bell that customers used to call him from his house and carried it inside like a prize.
    David had never seen his father do that, not in all the years he had grown up here. But things were different now that his father had married Julie. Everything was different.
    “There.” Jack dropped the brass bell piece on the kitchen table. “Just in case some crazies decide they have to pick out their Christmas tree today.”
    Julie stood at the stove cooking, where she had been stationed since the morning. She glanced at him over her shoulder and laughed. “Good move, Jack. That will do it.”
    “Thank you, dear. I thought so.”
    Julie and Jack had been married about eight months, but they seemed so in tune with each other, David thought it could have been years.
    “I hope you can put that bell back together,” she added. “We’re going to need it.”
    “Don’t worry. I can fix it.” Jacked walked up behind her and brushed her cheek with a quick kiss.
    David sat in the living room reading the paper but could see and hear them clearly. When his father glanced his way, suddenly aware that someone else was there, David stared intently at the sports section.
    “Hey, Dave. Doing okay?” David looked up from the paper and nodded. “Need anything?”
    “I’m fine.” They both knew it was better for David to get up on his own if he needed something. But ever since he had come home, his father was ever watchful, ready to bring him a cold drink, a cup of hot tea, a beer, the newspaper, the TV remote. Anything to spare David an extra step, an extra moment of pain.
    Maybe at one point in his life David would have enjoyed, even encouraged, that kind of attention. But the army had effectively weeded out such lazy, immature tendencies. David knew his father meant well, but sometimes it was hard to fend him off politely.
    “Julie says dinner is going to be a while longer. I think there’s a game on, college ball. Should I try to find it?” His father picked up the remote and aimed it at the TV.
    “I don’t care. You can watch if you want.”
    “It’s okay. I’d rather watch the pros.” His father clicked off the TV set again and sat down next to David on the couch. “Feel like a game of chess . . . or some cards?”
    David considered the offer. His head was pounding and his hip ached. He wasn’t sure what was worse—taking the pain medication and feeling foggy and out of touch, or enduring the pain and being out of sorts and unable to focus.
    “Maybe later. I think I might lie down awhile. I didn’t sleep much last night.”
    His father knew all about that. The night before, David had woken up screaming from one of his nightmares, and Jack had run down to help him before he could stumble out of bed and injure himself.
    “Oh . . . sure. Good idea.” Jack jumped up and grabbed David’s walker and then brought it around to the side of the couch so David could pull himself up.
    David focused on balancing himself and shifting his weight, good side to bad, the foot that had feeling to the one that had gone numb. Step-by-step, he managed to make it out of the room and into the kitchen.
    Behind him, he could hear his father let out a long sigh. David