The Happiest Season Read Online Free

memory—his wife ousting him
from their house, without preamble—informing him in a voice devoid of emotion
that she had fallen in love with someone else.
    Remembering that early morning, he could still recall the
crisp chill in the air, the sunny haze that promised the day would soon warm
up, and the cheerful chirping of the birds in the nearby trees.  His life had
been shattered on a perfect spring day.
    He laughed at the absurdity of his life.  He was thirty-four
years old and living in an apartment the size of a postage stamp, while his
wife and her new husband were living in the home he’d built. 
    Looking back, he probably should have fought her—fought for her—but he’d been so blindsided by the sudden turn of events in his life, he’d
been in a fog.  But perhaps deep inside he’d understood that fighting for her
would have been to no avail.  Kim was perhaps the most stubborn woman he’d ever
met.  Talking her out of anything was akin to trying to talk that camel out of
kicking the back of Maggie’s house.
    A slow smile tugged at John’s lips.  He suddenly envisioned
that camel in the backyard of his former home, kicking the daylights out of the
perfectly painted siding with the crisp trim.  He saw Kim’s face—contorted in
rage—as he imagined her chasing the beast around the yard.
    Who was he kidding?  The camel wouldn’t have stood a chance
against his ex.  Kim would have taken his service revolver and blasted the
animal to kingdom come.
    Maggie, on the other hand, had seemed to take the whole,
ridiculous situation in stride.  She managed to see the humor, maintaining a
relatively cool head for her little boy.  He wondered, was she married? 
    The errant thought startled him.  He hadn’t looked at a
woman since Kim divorced him, probably because he viewed the female gender in
the same way he’d view a cobra—dangerous and ready to strike.  He had to concede,
Kim had hurt him deeply—cut him to the quick, really.  When he’d married her,
it was with the intent of spending a lifetime with her.
    His parents had instilled sound values in him.  He supposed
his mistake was thinking his wife had embraced the same values. 
    He’d known they were opposites.  Every one of his friends
and family members had pointed out to him how different he and Kim were from
one another.  He was solid, quiet, and steady, her—volatile, boisterous, and
prone to flights of fancy.  He’d always told himself that they balanced one
another out. 
    He should have listened to the words of warning from well-meaning
people around him.  He should have listened to his sister and brother, both of
whom had taken him aside and offered counsel.  They’d seen something in Kim he
hadn’t.  They hadn’t gone so far as to call her selfish, but had intimated as
much.
    With a sigh, he sat back in his chair.  Was Maggie anything
like his ex?  Something told him, no, she was not. 
    He gave his head a swift shake.  What was he doing
speculating about Maggie?  Suddenly, he recalled seeing a gold band on her ring
finger.  She was married.  He had no business thinking about her at all.  As a
Christian, he lived by firmly entrenched principles, and fixating on another
man’s wife certainly went against his belief system.
    He was relieved when a couple of his coworkers entered the
large office, laughing and joking with one another.  Their arrival pulled his
thoughts to more neutral territory.
    He didn’t notice that one of his friends had something
behind his back, until he pulled it out with a theatrical flourish.  “Thought
you might like to have this to commemorate your evening,” Steve said, with a
twinkle in his eye.
    John shook his head and chuckled.  “How did you have time to
buy that?”
    “Hey, stores are open late for the holidays.  I called my
wife, and…  Ta da!”  He set a toy camel on John’s desk. 
    John lifted it up and studied it briefly, before returning
it to the desk.