Chapter 3

Becky arrived at 11:00 the next morning, the trunk of her car filled with a large suitcase, a laundry basket heaped with dirty clothes, and several brightly wrapped gifts. Jack had been sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper, when he heard her come in.

"Daddy?" she called.

Jack nearly bumped into her in the hallway, and she leapt into his arms, wrapping her own tightly around his neck.

"Merry Christmas, honey," he said, squeezing his little girl tight and lifting her feet off the floor.

She pulled back, and he set her down.

"Merry Christmas, Dad," said Becky, blinking back tears and smiling at the same time. "God, it's good to be home. You put up the tree!"

Jack felt tears prick his own eyes and fought them.

Clearing his throat, he said, "Well, of course I did! I didn't have time for the rest of that stuff though."

"It's okay," Becky laughed. "Just the tree is great. I like where you put it."

She hugged her father again.

"It's really good to see you, Beck. I didn't expect you this early."

"I couldn't wait to get home. I left at 8:00 this morning."

"Are you hungry?" Jack asked.

"Starved."

"Well, I don't have a lot of food, so we'll have to scrounge today. I'll go to the grocery store tomorrow and load up though," said Jack. "I'm sorry, honey."

"I don't mind, Dad, honest. I'm just happy to be here."

"Great! How about some eggs?"

Jack and Becky spent the next hour chatting comfortably, as Jack prepared a large western omelet and toast, then sat across from Becky as she ate. She told him all about her classes, her friends, and her boyfriend. She reported a small problem with her car, which Jack promised to take care of before she returned to school.

After Becky rinsed her dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher, she said, "Come into the living room and open your presents, Dad."

"Oh, Rebecca," Jack sighed. "I don't have anything for you."

"You sent me money, remember?"

"Yeah, and you turned around and spent it on gifts for everyone else, didn't you?" asked Jack.

"Not all of it," Becky smiled, a lovely blush coloring her cheeks. "Anyway, it was my money to spend, right?"

She grabbed Jack's hand and pulled.

"Well, wait," Jack said. "I was thinking we could have our Christmas when your brother and Amy get here. That way, I'd have time to do some shopping."

Becky looked disappointed for a moment but agreed.

"Let's go into the living room and sit anyway. I want to look at the tree. Will you build a fire?"

Jack built the fire, and he and Becky sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the couch, holding hands and gazing into the flames.

Becky said, "This is so nice," and laid her head on her father's shoulder.

"Very nice," Jack agreed.

"So, tell me about this lady friend of yours."

Jack laughed. "What lady friend?"

"The one you were talking about on the phone. The one you want to date."

When Jack didn't reply, Becky lifted her head and looked at him.

"Dad? It is Suzanne, isn't it?"

She moved away and turned to face him, drawing her legs up and hugging a throw pillow.

"Uh, yeah, I guess it is," Jack said scratching his head. "But I seem to have made a mess of things."

"What happened," Becky asked.

"Honey, I don't think this something I should discuss with you."

"Why not? I'm a grown up now. Who else can you discuss it with?"

Jack sighed. She had a point. He told her what had transpired, leaving out some of the details that he felt wouldn't be appropriate to share. Becky listened without commenting, nodding her head now and then. He finished up with the conversation in the Ritters' sunroom the night before.

"Wow," Becky said. "It sounds like a huge misunderstanding. Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No!" Jack said. "I appreciate the offer, but I think this is something I need to work out for myself."

Becky was quiet for a moment.

"I have an idea," she said, a smile lighting up her face. She stood up and paced back and forth a couple times in front of the fireplace, then stopped in front of Jack.

"When do you go back to work?"

"Tomorrow."

"Jeez, slave driver." Becky giggled.

"I give them two days off for Christmas. They had yesterday and today."

Becky rolled her eyes. "Okay, well listen. You wanted to do some Christmas shopping, right? Ask Suzanne to help you."

"She's pretty mad at me, honey. I don't think she will."

"No, wait. Ask her at work. It'd be pretty hard for her to refuse you there, right?" Becky rubbed her hands together in anticipation. "Tell her you don't know what to get, which is true, right?" She paused, and Jack nodded. "Tell her you really need her help because you don't have anyone else to turn to. She loves being needed. Trust me."

Jack felt a glimmer of hope, a warm little spark in his heart. "Okay, so if I can get her to agree, then what?"

"You be your charming, adorable self. You make it fun. You keep letting her know how much you appreciate it. Then, take her to dinner. You can talk to her then, explain how you feel."

Becky's face was alight with the little conspiracy, her eyes glowing, her dimples showing. She reminded Jack a great deal of Maggie just then, but instead of making him sad, it warmed his heart.

"You can do this, Daddy," Becky said, sitting down and giving Jack a hug.

The next morning, Jack sat at his desk pretending to work for an hour. Nobody bothered him, as many of his employees had taken a vacation day. Suzanne was in the office though and was making a point of avoiding him.

At 9:05, he picked up his phone and called her line.

"Yes, Jack?" Suzanne answered, sounding not at all friendly.

"Could you come in here, Suzanne? I need to talk to you."

"Sure." She hung up.

A moment later she stepped into his office, her eyes wide, her face pale. She looked scared, Jack thought.

"Close the door and have a seat," he said.

Suzanne did as she was told and sat facing Jack across his desk, looking down at her hands folded in her lap. Jack was breathless for a moment, just seeing her again, smelling her scent, remembering. She looked up, then, and he saw no anger in her face, but neither did he see the sparkle.

Jack cleared his throat. "Did you have a good holiday?"

"Yeah, it was nice," Suzanne replied. "You?"

Jack smiled. "Yeah, it was good."

"Good." Suzanne looked down at her hands again.

"I need your help, hon—Suzanne. I know you're still mad at me, but I'm hoping we can move past all that."

"I'm not mad at you."

"Okay, disappointed then. I am sorry, and I hope I'll have a chance to make it up to you some time. Right now, though, I'm asking you to set that aside, because I really need your help."

Suzanne swallowed and licked her lips. "With what?"

Jack's heart was hammering, but he tried to control himself, to appear calm and collected and in command.

"Well, I realized you were right about my kids, so I called them on Christmas Eve. We talked for a while, and it was good. Thank you so much for that." Jack couldn't stop the smile that lit up his face.

"You're welcome," said Suzanne. "I'm happy for all of you."

"Thanks. So the thing is, they're all going to be home on the twenty-eighth, and I wanted to have Christmas with them then. I need to do some shopping, and that's where you come in."

Suzanne simply looked at him, wide-eyed, so Jack continued.

"I could probably wing it with Jackson, but I have no idea what to get for Becky, and especially not Amy. I mean, I don't know her that well. So I was thinking maybe you'd go shopping with me. I'd really, really appreciate it."

"When?" she asked.

"Uh, tomorrow? After work?"

"I'll need to see if I can find a sitter."

"So you'll do it?" Jack exclaimed, feeling excitement and relief and anticipation all at once.

"Yeah, I'll do it if I can find a sitter on such short notice."

"Great! Thank you, Suzanne. Don't worry about a sitter. I have someone in mind."

When Jack and Becky arrived at Suzanne's house the next afternoon, Suzanne squealed as she opened the door and saw Becky. The women hugged for a long moment, as Nicky and Kaylee whooped and pranced around in excitement and dragged Jack away to show off their Christmas gifts. Jack gave Suzanne and Becky a few minutes to catch up. Then he handed Becky a wad of bills to buy pizza for herself and the children, and he and Suzanne headed for the mall.

"I really appreciate you doing this," said Jack in the car during the ride across town.

Suzanne was silent for a moment, then said, "There should be some really great sales now. Do you have anything in mind?"

"Um, not really," Jack said. "Do you?"

Suzanne looked over at him with eyebrows raised. "Well, do you want to get things they need or just fun stuff?"

Jack considered for a moment. "Fun stuff, I think. I want everything to be special."

"Well, I guess we can just walk through the mall. Maybe you'll get some ideas," she said.

The mall was crowded, which normally would have induced Jack to turn around and go home, but being there in the crowd with Suzanne and all the holiday decorations delighted him. They bought gift baskets for the girls from a bath and body shop and leather jackets for all three kids and a wallet for Jack, Jr. from a leather goods store, which Suzanne picked out. After a few more stops for some smaller items, Jack, who could not carry any more anyway, said he had bought enough. Leaving the mall, they discovered it had started to snow.