Page 8 of A Hard Luck Christmas

When Ari didn’t answer, Patience glanced over to see her daughter nibbling on her bottom lip, her mind clearly on something else. “Ari?” she prompted.

“Mom, can I ask you something?” she said.

A tremor of foreboding ran through Patience. “Yes, of course. What is it?”

“Why’d you and Dad break up?”

The light turned green, and Patience gave their ten-year-old Toyota 4Runner—the only thing she’d taken from her marriage—some gas. “We’ve discussed this before.”

“No, we haven’t. Not really. Not since I’ve been old enough to understand.”

Patience still didn’t understand. She wasn’t sure anyone could. The pain of staying together had simply become greater than the pain of splitting up. They’d been fighting all the time and couldn’t seem to stop. “We just…weren’t compatible, honey. Not in the end. But we still care about each other.”

“So why’d he donate to the Christmas festival?”

Yep. There it was. Ari had paid particular attention to their exchange at the door. “You heard him say why—to help the town.”

Lines of consternation appeared in her young forehead. “I think he’s doing it because of you. At least, that’s what Glenda said.”

Patience gripped the steering wheel that much tighter. “When did she say this?”

“Today.”

“She didn’t want him to contribute?”

“No. She said he didn’t really care about the town, that he was only doing it to impress you.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Patience stopped at the second light. “He cares about a lot of the people I’m trying to help and wants to help them, too.”

“He tried to tell her that, but she wouldn’t believe him. She said there were a lot of other things they could do with the money.”

Patience searched for something she could say that would be somewhat neutral, so she wouldn’t cave in to the temptation to bash Glenda. “You’ve heard your grandfather’s sermons. It’s important that everyone do their part.”

“Dad’s not religious.”

“So? You don’t have to attend church to be a good person.”

“That’s what he told her. But when Glenda realized he was going to contribute anyway, she started screaming that he’d never really loved her and stormed out. That’s why she wasn’t home when you came.”

Patience knew Glenda would hate for her to know the marriage wasn’t perfect. She tried to pretend she and Jack never argued. Maybe she’d be more honest if they were still friends. Glenda had tried to resume their earlier relationship, but Patience had made it clear she wasn’t interested. She’d done her best to absorb the blow when Jack and Glenda got together, but she wasn’t willing to risk her heart on either one of them again. “I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t want to be the cause of a fight between them.”

Ari blew her dishwater-blond bangs out of her eyes. “You don’t?”

“Of course not.”

“But you loved Dad once. And the way you two act around each other… Sometimes it’s hard to believe you don’t love him anymore.”

Ari was too perceptive for her own good. Of course, Patience felt something for Jack. They’d shared such an important part of their lives. And they still shared Ari. But as nostalgic as she could get at times, she wasn’t holding on to anything. “Because we’re kind to each other when most exes are not? That’s because of you, honey. We both love you and want what’s best for you, and we believe getting along is part of that.”

Ari turned her face to the window. “What if Glenda leaves and doesn’t come back?”

“That isn’t going to happen. One fight isn’t a divorce, Ari. Glenda has wanted him since we were all in high school.” Which she’d finally confessed five years ago, before the divorce was even final. That was when Patience first learned they were seeing each other.

“That must be why she’s so insecure,” Ari said in her most adult tone. “He chose you over her the first time around.”

Jack had flirted with Patience a lot, but they hadn’t been together long when she got pregnant. They married as soon as they learned about the baby—in December—and Ari was born in the summer after Jack graduated and she got her GED. Then Patience started to collect a paycheck for working in the office at the church—something she’d been doing for a couple of years in a less official capacity already. And Jack started driving his Uncle Pete’s semi when Pete was getting ready to retire. That was how Jack got his company started—by buying Pete’s truck over time. Eventually, he bought another truck and another. Once he got enough rigs and drivers to warrant it, she quit her job at the church to help him with dispatch only to return to the church once they divorced and she moved back in with her father.

Now Glenda had her old job as well as the man who’d been her husband. “We were just kids when we got married. Maybe he didn’t really know who to choose.”