Chapter Forty
Jen
Christmases had been awkward since the divorce. At first, Mom and Dad tried to give Shelley normal holidays because she was so young, but the pain of him wanting his freedom was too much for Mom. Since then, they’d coordinated events so Shelley got time with both parents—though sometimes Dad was away on business before he retired.
As the adult kid, I was caught in the middle, and had obligations to my husband.
Last year, if the snow hadn’t kept them off the mountain, Mom and Shelley were staying over Christmas Eve night and spending Christmas Day with me while Dad was elsewhere with his lady friend, Karen. They’d been together around three years, but he hadn’t married her, unless he hadn’t told me. At his age, I would expect a quickie courthouse thing if any.
But thi
