Chapter 11

Being off on Christmas Eve, it gave me a chance to get the entire house cleaned and all the laundry done. I went to the market, bought groceries and returned home. I was putting away the groceries when the phone rang. It was Beth. I just didn’t have the heart to answer it. I let voice mail pick it up and finished putting away the groceries. When I was done, I sat in my chair and listened to the message.

“Hey Jeff, it’s me, I ... I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. I know it’s not what you ... I mean ... I was hoping ... Oh hell, take care, talk to you later.” was the message.

Funny, I thought. We went from being so close, to an unsigned letter and a strained voice mail in a few months. Life changes so fast sometimes, you can’t keep up. That night I did a lot of thinking about Beth. As hard as it was to accept, it would be extremely difficult to be with Beth. I had no clue how the family would react, then I know Lance would be as difficult as he could be. Perhaps, this is for the best. I decided to call it a night about eleven and go to bed. As I climbed into bed, I realized that a year had passed since my first encounter with Beth. Somehow, it had not seemed that long ago.

The phone woke me up the following morning about nine-thirty. I looked at the clock, surprised at the time. I answered the phone, it was my mother-in-law.

“Merry Christmas, Jeff.” She said, “Dad and I love you.”

“Merry Christmas Mom, I love you too.” I replied.

It was always hard for us during the holidays. Even after all this time, you never really get over it. She then asked me if I had spoken to Beth. I told her no, but that she had called. She went on to tell me that Beth and Lance had reconciled and he had moved back in. I had really figured as much, so I wasn’t overwhelmed by the news. I could tell by the tone in my mother-in-law’s voice she wasn’t elated by the news. ‘If you only knew, Mom.’ I thought.