A Boy's Christmas Wish

And there she was—fully, richly pregnant. He stepped away from the window so she wouldn’t see him, but his heart was already beating quicker than it was before. Beth had always done this to him, mixed him up and made him yearn for more...

The front door opened, and a whoosh of cold air swept in ahead of Beth. She slammed the door shut behind her and shivered.

“It’s cold out,” she said.

Dan nodded toward a space heater he had humming in the center of the store. “That’ll help.”

She moved over to the heater and pulled off her gloves, then held her hands out.

“I took the bell down for you,” he said, picking it up from the counter and bringing it to her across the room.

Beth took the bell with a wistful smile. “Grandpa hung this.”

“I thought so,” he admitted, then cleared his throat. “Look, my goal is to have everything cleaned out by Christmas. I want to open shop in the new year. I’ll be working pretty quickly to get it all done.”

“Sounds like you’d have to.” She glanced around sadly.

“There are probably more things around here that you’ll want, but it’ll be hard for me to know what’s meaningful and what isn’t.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” she admitted. “What if I...helped?”

“I hate to break it to you, Beth,” he said with a wry smile. “But you’re pregnant and I’m not going to be responsible for you hurting yourself.”

“Then what would you suggest?” she asked.

“You not helping,” he said with a short laugh. “But definitely come by. I mean, you can go through the stuff I’m tearing out and make sure you’ve got everything you want.”

“I won’t be in the way?” she asked.

“Probably will be,” he admitted. “But I’ll survive.”

“All right, then.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

He’d probably live to regret this, but his guilt for taking over a place that meant so much to the Thomases had been piqued. Dealing with Rick’s resentment would have been one thing, but Beth’s arrival back in town had softened him.

For the next hour, Beth sat on a crate and sorted through the last of the product that Rick hadn’t already taken. Dan dismantled a slushie machine and carried it outside piece by piece. On his last trip to the garbage bin out back, he entered the store to find Beth behind the till. She was sorting through some drawers, and she held up a small, triple frame that held three photos—one of Rick, one of a teenage Michael and the other of Beth in her girlhood.

Dan crossed the room and took it from her fingers to look closer. Beth had been pretty then, but the beauty that would develop was still sleeping behind big teeth and crooked bangs.

“That’s you, all right,” he said. “You were a cute kid.”

“I gave this to Linda one year for her birthday,” Beth said, then shook her head. “Dad pressured me into making an effort, so I did. I thought I’d give her something that showed she was part of the family. I gave it to her here, and she didn’t take it with her.”

“She left it in the drawer,” Dan concluded.

Beth nodded. “Dad told me later that it hadn’t sent the message I thought. It was a frame with me, my brother and my dad. Linda wasn’t included.”

“You hated your dad marrying her, didn’t you?” he asked.

Beth sighed. “I wasn’t easy to deal with. I’ll admit that. I didn’t like her from the start because she wasn’t my mother, and my mother had been wonderful. Mom loved us with her whole heart, and no one could eclipse her...”

“But your dad must have been lonely,” Dan said. “Your mom was gone, and he was on his own with you kids.”

She took the frame back from him and looked down at the faces for a moment. “You’re a single dad now, too...”

“And I can appreciate how hard that is,” Dan admitted. “Being a dad—it’s amazing, but it’s lonely. I’d never undo Luke. He’s the best thing in my life, but parenthood can be isolating. You child doesn’t take the place of a partner.”

“I guess I’ll find that out soon enough,” she said.

“Yeah. It’ll be the best ride of your life, hands down.”

“You say your child doesn’t take the place of a partner,” she said. “So you must date, then.” A blush rose in her cheeks. She must have realized how it sounded, and he shot her a teasing grin.

“We’ve done that once, Beth. Probably best if we don’t do it again.”

“I’m not interested in dating you,” she retorted. “I’m asking because I’ll be a single mom very soon, and I can’t imagine trying to juggle dating and a baby.”

“It’s not easy,” he admitted. “And no, I don’t really date. I’m busy with Luke, I’m careful about who he meets, and that doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for a relationship.” Her eyebrows went up, and he shot her a grin. “Didn’t expect that, did you?”

“I’m not used to seeing you as a dad.”

“Ditto.” He smiled faintly, and she looked down at her belly.

“Oh...well, yes. I suppose we’re even there, aren’t we?”

Dan regarded her thoughtfully. He was curious about Rick and Linda—all of North Fork was. They were one of those established couples that everyone expected to bicker good-naturedly until they died. Rick was the quieter one, with his laptop set up on the store counter, and Linda was the go-getter. It had shocked everyone when they announced their intention to separate.

“So what happened between your dad and Linda?” Dan asked. “From the outside, there weren’t any cracks.”

“She left him,” Beth said.

“Really.” Dan sighed. “That’s rough. How come? Another guy?”

“Not that we know of,” Beth replied. “But Linda was always a little frustrated by Dad. She wanted him to be the alpha male, but she didn’t like being countered, either. So no matter what he did, she wasn’t happy.”

“Hmm.” Dan nodded. “She decided to leave and your dad just went along with it?”

That was the weird part. Rick hadn’t gotten soppy or angry—at least not in public. He’d just been the supportive guy he’d always been, as if they were announcing Linda was taking a job, or something. But it had been the end of their marriage.

“Dad was tired,” she replied. “And I don’t know...I mean, I was in the city. Whatever their relationship morphed into, I have no idea. But I do know that when Linda said she was leaving him, he was both sad and kind of relieved. I think he was just...tired.”

“After so many years together,” Dan said. He’d always been curious, at the very least. Not that Rick and Linda had ever been nice to him.

Beth met his gaze. “I’m not going to argue that they should have stayed married.”

Neither would he. “I know Linda was hard on you.”

“Kids need love, Dan. She was big on structure and manners but pretty low on affection. And while I might have been a hard kid to love, I still needed more than she gave.”