Read FAE-ted for Free Online

thing could happen. Yet here we were in his house. I'd walked
on his floors, sat on his couch, even cooked in his kitchen--the
Christmas miracle to end all Christmas miracles.
    "Are you asleep?"
    My eyes flew open. I realized that Nate had returned, his
    T-shirt spotted with raindrops, and now stood right in front of me. A
quick glance to my left revealed that he'd laid Sparky on Anna's
tummy. "No."
    "Can you get loose?"
    "Maybe." I gently lifted Anna's head from my lap and slipped
out from under her. Nate tucked a sofa pillow where I'd once been.
Anna never moved. We didn't go any farther than the bay window
ten feet away, where we both sat on the cushioned seat and looked
outside, me hugging my bent knees so I could rest my chin on them.
"I wouldn't mind a white Christmas."
    He gave me a wry smile. "Don't get your hopes up. You know
how rare they are around here, and it's not looking good at the
moment."
    I couldn't argue. "I remember a couple. Do you?"
    "Yeah. Dad took me and Neil to this hill on Hwy 10 to sled.
We had so much fun."
    "Neil's your big brother, right?"
    "Stepbrother. We're a modern family. One dad who's had
three wives, two of which had prior husbands and a child
apiece."
    I silently worked that out. "Where's Neil's mom?"
    "She died while married to my dad."
    "I hope he and--" I couldn't think of her name. "Anna's
mom?"
    "Ginny."
    I nodded. "I hope they have a long, happy marriage."
    "So do I." He said it as if he really meant it. "You know, of all
my friends, I can just think of one who has parents who've only been
married to each other."
    "You can add my parents to the list...if you think of me as a
friend, that is."
    "Of course I do."
    Oh how I wished he'd said he did, but wanted to think of me
as more. It would've been the perfect segue, after all. But he didn't,
so I took what I could get, which was more than I'd ever expected.
"Why do you think there are so many divorces today?"
    Nate blinked. "This got heavy fast."
    "Sorry. It's just something I've been thinking about. I see my
grandparents, who've been together for fifty years, and I have to
wonder how they made it that long when so many other couples
haven't. I mean, they all probably started out with the same high
hopes and good intentions."
    "I happen to know the answer to that." Nate turned slightly
and rested his back against the paned glass behind him. His steady
gaze held mine. "I recently watched a documentary about an aging
rock star the other day. Someone asked his long-time, long-suffering
wife how they'd managed to stay together all those years. She said,
'We didn't get a divorce.'"
    "So that's how Nana and Pawpaw have done it!"
    We shared a laugh before Nate went very quiet and stared
out the window again. "That's it, you know. Instead of running for
the door, the man and woman talk it out, compromise, and make
up."
    "How do those kinds of men and women find each
other?"
    "Has to be fate." He looked so wistful.
    "I think you're right." I changed the subject. "Did you move
those clothes to the dryer?"
    "Shit. I'd better do it." He swung his body around and stood,
moving his head as if trying to get a kink out of his neck. "Make that shoot ."
    "It's not that I mind the cursing," I said as I slid off the seat.
"I have a potty mouth, myself, thanks to my brothers. It's just that
little kids pick up bad words so fast and instinctively know when to
use them."
    "Tell me about it."
    "And we don't want Anna to get in trouble."
    "Nope."
    "Why don't I clear the bar and wash up in the kitchen while
you're taking care of the laundry."
    "But I haven't paid you for that."
    "So do it now," I said, crazy words that resulted from my
own wistfulness.
    Our eyes met. Nate leaned close and touched his lips to
mine. When he pulled back, I sort of stumbled forward, a totally
humiliating move that made my face flame. I pivoted on my heel and
made straight for the kitchen, where I tried to catch my breath. If I
wasn't careful, I'd give myself away, and I did not