Page 61 of The Scrooge Effect

“Oh, I’m afraid that’s all we have time for. Like I said, we’re on a schedule, and you’ve used up all the time you’ve got.”

But I ignored him and got down on my knees, leaning in close to my wife. “Harper, I always loved you. I always will. Leaving had nothing to do with you. I swear. I need you to know that.”

She sniffled, wiping her nose, but she didn’t hear a word I said.

“Harper, listen to me!” I called urgently as the voice started pulling me away from my wife. “Harper, I love you!”

My body was yanked away from Harper as she laid in bed, and as I was sucked out the window, I could still feel her tears ripping me to shreds.

“Harper!”

The night dissolved around me, and then I was standing in the middle of a stark white hallway as two women in scrubs walked toward me, laughing as they rounded the corner to a locker room.

“Come on, it’s Christmas Eve! Come out with us and have a drink, Eden.”

“Eden,” I whispered, running around the bench to get a better look at her. A grin spread across my face as I took her in. She was normal, beautiful.

“I told you, I’m pulling a double.”

“But it’s Christmas Eve! Come on, I’ve got a really cute guy for you to meet.”

“You always want to fix me up with someone who will marry me,” she said as she pulled off her shoes and tossed them in her locker.

“What’s so wrong with that?”

“You mean besides the fact that I don’t need a man for anything other than orgasms?”

I grimaced at her words. I never wanted to hear my girls say anything like that.

“Eden, men are useful for more than that. And if you keep them around, they fix your car, help with things around the house⁠—”

“Get in the way,” Eden continued. “Want things I’m not willing to offer.”

“You’re such a pessimist.”

“I’m a realist. One third of first marriages end in divorce.”

“Just because your parents got divorced doesn’t mean you would.”

“I know I won’t, because I’m not getting married. A man is only good for one thing, and that’s to get me off at the end of the night and then leave me in peace.”

“You don’t even let them spend the night!” her friend argued. “You’ve never experienced breakfast in bed or morning sex.”

“And I don’t need to. Honestly, it’s overrated.”

I stepped back in shock at her words, running my hand over my mouth in horror. “She’s become me.”

“Yeah, fate’s a tricky thing. See, when you walked away, you basically condemned her to a life of…well, being you.”

“No, this is Eden. She’s so full of love and— After all that shit with my dad…”

“She ended up just like you,” the voice chuckled. “Funny how that works, right?”

It wasn’t what I wanted for her at all. I hadn’t truly been happy until I found Harper, and then I made the mistake of shoving her away. I was doing it again now, and proving to my kids that I was every bit the bastard I had been the first time around.

“What about James?”

“Enlisted in the military.”