New Year's Eve Read Free Page A

be single.”
    “Single. Lucky him,” Sharla said, and hit the clicker to turn the TV off. She made a moaning noise as she slipped into the hot water.
    The beer was good. Cool, in this steaming hot room. I sat on the edge of the hot tub.
    “For Pete’s sake, get in,” Sharla said. She knocked back another shooter. “Aren’t you cold out there?”
    “I don’t have a bathing suit.”
    Sharla shrugged, her shoulders lifting out of the water to make ripples. “Take off your socks and sit on the edge, it’ll warm you up.”
    I was still cold from the drive. I pulled off my socks and rolled up my sweat pants.
    The edge was sharp. It dug into my butt no matter how I sat. But the water was hot, hot, hot. I bent to let my hands dangle in the heat. It felt good.
    “Oh, come on, take your sweat pants off at least. The water’s so good...”
    I couldn’t.
    “Too chicken?”
    “Too fat to get in a hot tub,” I said. “Still haven’t lost the baby weight.”
    “You look okay. You’re not that much bigger than you were at my wedding.”
    I must have looked mad, or sad, or something. There was a pause. I thought she was going to apologize. But no.
    “Are you and Ron going to have kids?” I asked.
    She drank another vodka shot, her last one. Four empty glasses in a row on the edge of the tub.
    “I’ve had three miscarriages so far,” Sharla said.
    I didn’t dare look at her.
    “They just keep dying on me,” she said.
    I had no idea what to say.
    After a minute I stood up and pulled off my sweat pants. I got down into the water with her.
    “Sorry,” I finally said. “I’m really sorry.”
    “Yeah. The first was the day before my wedding. That was fun. Another last summer. Lost the third one just before Christmas.”
    She leaned over the edge and stared at Daisy’s upturned sleeping face.
    “She is pretty cute,” Sharla said.
    Then she jumped out of the tub, grabbed a towel, and ran across the tiles, leaving damp footprints. “Shit! I forgot the wings!”

Chapter Four

    The chicken wings were good. Not too burnt. Sharla brought them on a tray and we ate them while we sat in the water.
    After that, the hot tub was too hot. Even the room was too hot.
    “Let’s go over to the town hall,” Sharla said. “It’s just across the road.”
    I had leaned out of the tub to check on Daisy. Still sleeping. Sometimes I want to wake her up and play with her. But that is never a good idea.
    “What’s over there?”
    “Community dance,” Sharla said. “Ron doesn’t go to dances. If you party with people, it’s harder to arrest them when they’re driving home drunk. But we could go, by ourselves.”
    “I can’t go in sweats. I ’d have to get my suitcase from the car,” I said.
    Sharla said she had stuff that might fit me.
    The master bedroom had a huge bathroom off it, with twin sinks and a Jacuzzi tub. Sharla and Ron must spend a lot of time in water, I thought. A lot of mirrors, too. Sharla didn’t have to avoid them, and Ron didn’t seem like the vain type. He was okay-looking. But you noticed how nice he was before anything else. Like a big nose or a mole, his kindness stuck out.
    Sharla pulled rodeo-style shirts and jeans out of the closet, checking which looked best in the mirror. She shoved a pair of jeans at me, new, with the tags still on.
    “Got these at Winners in Edmonton last fall, they’re way too big for me. Before they changed their take-back rules.”
    “I’ll pay you,” I said. Then I remembered that I had no money.
    “Don’t bother,” she said. “They were, like, ten bucks. Good if somebody can use them.”
    I was very relieved. And the jeans even fit. The zipper did up without too much straining.The shirt had pearl buttons that were actually snaps. As soon as I did them up, they snapped open again.
    “I’ll wear the shirt open,” I said, giving up. I pulled my spare t-shirt out of Daisy’s diaper bag.
    Sharla was busy putting on mascara. Her mouth pulled down to stretch