Page 47 of Season of Gifts

Alice

Thetimezonesclaimedflying from Boston to Minneapolis gave Alice a free extra hour in the day.Fat lot of good it did her more than a thousand miles from both of her husbands.She’d at least left Jay with a kiss and a freshly revealed calendar card this morning—scavenger hunt, so that would give him a distraction after work.But she’d planned to tell Henry about her trip when he called last night to update them, and he’d never called.Her text this morning—Need to talk to you.Maybe you could ask Jay to come up there?—still sat unanswered.

“So no coffee.”Her boss’s boss unfolded himself from the airport lounge chair and stretched.“You want a water before the next flight?Soft drink?”

“Iced tea would be fantastic, thanks.”As Wade ambled off, she debated the wisdom of calling Henry.The morning had been a whirlwind to get to the airport by eight, poor Jay insisting on her opening the card because today was evens, practically sleepwalking down to the kitchen so he could watch.

She’d texted before boarding.Henry hadn’t given them “safe” times to call, and even if his mom wasn’t likely to flip out about the phone ringing the way her dad did, accidentally waking either of them might rob them of healing sleep.Henry sure hadn’t looked like he’d been getting much decent shuteye.She pressed the phone to her forehead and almost dropped it when the ringing started.

“Henry!”

“Alice?”

“Are you okay?”Audio-only; she couldn’t read his expressions to know, not that she always could anyway.“Is your mom okay?You didn’t call last night.”Fuck, that would sound blaming.She shut her eyes to the airport chaos beyond the glass wall.“I know it’s tough when there’s so much going on.”

“I am embarrassed to admit I dozed off right after Mother did and unfortunately did not awaken until well after midnight.”He sighed with the weight of failure, the way she did when a fifth or sixth or seventh iteration of a project crashed and burned in modeling.“I do apologize for missing our nightly check-in.Areyouwell?I’ve tried calling three times, and this is the first time your number hasn’t been unavailable.What’s happened to Jay?Did the lunch go poorly?”

“Jay’s fine.”Lead with the good news, that was the rule.Reassurance first, so the old worry could fade before the new one piled on top.“His sister-in-law is still half a bitch, but only half, and his brother is actually stepping up for him, so that was great.”And for an hour, at least, Jay had seemed entirely relaxed and comfortable.Tears stung the back of her eyes.“Playing with the kids was the best medicine for him.He’s so good with them.”

“But you wish to send him up to Mother’s?”Muffled noise came through Henry’s side of the call.“Apologies, a bit of a kerfuffle in the hallway here.I’m waiting for Mother to finish her rehabilitation session today—group therapy of sorts.Medical events can be challenging emotionally.”

She bit her tongue onyeah, I’m aware.“I know you’re doing everything you can to support her through this, and I one hundred percent agree with that decision.I’m just worried that Jay is going to struggle extra hard this week.Being by your side would help him…” What the hell was the therapy phrase Jay kept using?She could show Henry how serious this was if she got the terminology right.“Emotionally regulate.”

“Sweet girl.”His voice turned soft, liquid, and if she could melt through the phone and reform at his side, she’d do it in a heartbeat.“I’m aware that your tangled relationship with self-confidence occasionally has you feeling less capable than you are.But I have complete faith in your ability to comfort and guide Jay if his anxieties overtake him.I would not have—”

“I’m on my way to South Dakota.”

“I’m sorry?”

She cringed from the innocent question, so delicately laced with confusion.Echoes battered her with Dad’s ragingWhat?when she’d confessed to applying to out-of-state schools and presented her parents with the acceptance letter.

“It’s a work trip.I couldn’t bring Jay with me.I’m heading out on a site visit to help with an implementation glitch at a factory.My boss is still out until after the holidays, and his boss is one of the client-side project managers, and—”

“Jay is by himself?During the time of year wespecifically discussedwould be exceptionally difficult for him after cutting ties with his abusive relatives?”

There was the anger her nervous system had prepped her for.He’d cut her off, but she’d cut him off first, and she’d been babbling, definitely babbling, but she’d just spent hours studying the files on the flight and her head was filled up and spilling over with potential problem areas and system checks.The faster she sorted out the factory’s problem, the sooner she could get home to Jay.

“I didn’t have a choice, Henry.”She forced a smile for Wade, gliding toward her in business casual with a coffee in one hand and a bottled iced tea in the other.Pressing the phone to her chest, she stretched out her other hand.“Thank you.I’ll just be a minute—family thing.”

As she started to stand, he waved her back down and wandered over to the window instead of taking his seat.She jammed the phone to her ear.This wasn’t a talk to have on speaker.“Sorry, I had—” She set the drink on the low table in front of her.“Never mind, doesn’t matter.Are you still there?”

“I am, though not for long.When this session ends, we’ve the pharmacy and the grocery store to visit before dinner, and tomorrow we have the next session and a followup with Mother’s physician.”

Tense, that’s how he sounded.Tight with frustration or worry or both, gruff and at the end of his rope.And she knew fuck-all about how to soothe him from so far away.“I’m sorry things are so rough right now.I didn’t plan this.”

His grunted acknowledgment fell far short of his usual appreciative hum.“I simply don’t have six hours to run home and bring Jay here, Alice.”

Stress made people forget things.Clouded judgment, muddied clear thinking.Struggling to keep her tone even and understanding, she stared at the divot in the carpet beside the table leg.The piece had been in one spot for a long time before it got shoved over an inch, and the imprint hadn’t had time to fill in.

“I’m pretty sure he has the train schedule memorized.If you ask him to come, he won’t be depending on you to figure it out for him or arrange anything.It’ll be…” As she uncurled her left hand from its adrenaline clench, her ring caught the light.“Like the wedding.Just trust him to handle the logistics.What he needs is to be around people who love him.”

“Yes, I thought we both understood—”

Silence ticked on, punctuated by slow breathing in a rhythm she recognized.She joined her lungs to his, a four-count in, an eight-count out.Three breaths.

The PA system announced her gate.Wade shifted his weight at the window, just another seasoned traveler with a gray fade straight out of the corporate headshot playbook.

“I love you, Henry.I’ll have to go soon.”

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