Hope - Levy, Marc (web ebook reader .TXT) 📗

you guys anymore? Ever notice how I started working at a different lab? That I might have a life outside of us?”

“What’s your problem?” Josh said. He was stunned by her outburst.

“Oh, nothing! Nothing, other than these blinding migraines, and the fact that we barely have ten dollars to spend on Christmas gifts. You know Christmas is the day after tomorrow, right? Or did you forget that too? I mean, you spend all your time with Luke. You come home so exhausted, you don’t even snuggle up to me . . .”

“Isn’t your dad still coming to spend Christmas with us?” Josh interrupted.

“He left for Honolulu with Amelia the day before yesterday. I told you already. I guess that’s another thing you just didn’t hear.”

Josh stood up, as wooden as a plank. His face broke into a smile.

“Now that you mention Christmas, do you still believe in Santa Claus? Don’t look at me like that,” he added. “I don’t want to encourage you one way or the other.”

“You can be a real idiot sometimes, Joshy.”

“Okay, I guess that means you don’t. Which is a shame. But at least what I’m about to do next won’t shatter any illusions.”

He walked over to their closet, a metal trunk he had spent an entire Saturday afternoon fitting with shelves. Running a hand under a pile of clothes, he drew out a small beribboned box.

“Merry Christmas.” He handed it to Hope, who sat there unmoving, before untying the ribbon and lifting the lid to reveal a pair of eyeglass frames. She remembered. She had spotted them at an antiques store down by the docks, where the Sunday flea market was. She had fallen in love with the lightness of their authentic tortoiseshell.

“You’re crazy,” she murmured. She slipped the frames on. “They were so expensive.”

“We’ll go to an optometrist tomorrow. That’ll be an end to the migraines, and a return of the woman I love, the one with the easy smile.”

“And what about me? Do I get my Joshy back? I lost him a few weeks ago, and I can’t seem to find him.”

“A good pair of glasses should make that easier.”

Hope slipped her arm around Josh’s neck and kissed him.

“I didn’t get you anything.”

“That doesn’t matter. I’m so sorry for being distant lately. I want to make things right. I want to give you a different life, an apartment where we don’t have to wear two sweaters to keep warm, a life where we can go out for dinner whenever we like, where we can go on trips without having to choose between a full tank or a meal. That’s why I’m working so hard.”

“But, Joshy, I don’t care about any of that. I mean, one day I might, sure. But right now, all I want is dinner with you, even sitting here on the floor, even with three sweaters on. You’re the only trip I need.”

Her arm felt heavy and warm around his neck, and Josh could feel the exhaustion radiating off her. He carried her to their bed.

“You work too hard, Hope. That’s another reason for those migraines. If I were a doctor, I would have prescribed a good night’s sleep.”

He placed her down on the bed gently and lay down next to her.

“So? What did you want to talk to me about?”

“The reason I can’t sleep.” Hope closed her eyes. “I need to make a choice, and I can’t decide. I need your advice.”

“What’s the choice?”

“Tonight, I’m going to listen to my very own internal doctor. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

She yawned, turned over on the pillow, and fell asleep almost instantly.

Josh watched over her as she slept, seeing her face tighten as she slipped into what must have been a nightmare. She had been having bad dreams recently, and they sometimes woke her in the middle of the night. He brushed his fingers over her forehead, and his touch soothed her. The next day she would have no memory of it. And the next day would be Christmas Eve.

A storm had gathered overnight. The temperatures had plummeted, and the wind rattled at the loft’s window. Hope finally got the snuggle session she had wanted when she felt Josh’s frozen body pressing into hers.

When they woke the next morning, she rushed to the window. Snowflakes as thick and heavy as cotton wool were fluttering in the sky, falling down and gathering in clumps. The city was coated in white, and Hope thought there was nothing in the world more magical than a white Christmas.

Since nature had worked hard to lend the day a touch of whimsy, Hope decided she would do the same, and set about preparing to celebrate the evening in style.

“What we need is a real Christmas dinner.”

“And a radiator,” Josh said, pulling on a sweater.

“That too!”

He emptied his jeans’ pocket, pulling out a fistful of crumpled notes.

“Twenty-five dollars. That’s all I have. My student is on vacation.”

“So while Dad whisks Amelia off to Honolulu, his daughter is sitting here, freezing her ass off . . . ,” Hope muttered.

“Oh, come on. It’s not your dad’s fault the winters here are rough.”

“Depends on your perspective,” she replied. She pulled open the drawer of their 1940s cupboard. It had been an incredibly sweet deal.

“What are you looking for?”

“This!” Hope held up a credit card triumphantly. “When he gave it to me, he said to use it in an emergency. This definitely counts as an emergency.”

“Hope, we can’t do that . . .”

They started by renting a pickup truck and set off for one of the malls on the outskirts of the city. Hope bought two oil heaters and stopped off to see an optometrist, who confirmed she was slightly nearsighted. He put in an order for corrective lenses for the frames Josh had given her. Next, Hope bought Josh a long thick coat and a wool scarf.

They went to a deli and stocked up for the night and week ahead.

“Shall we get something for Luke?” she asked as