Read Online Cold Comfort by Kathleen Gerard - Free Book Online

enough for me. Time for the young people to cut the rug,” and Jack extended the invitation of his hand my way, my reverie was broken.
    “Oh, c’mon, Aunt Minnie,” I said, inhaling a deep breath and pulling an imaginary piece of fuzz from my sweater. “Don’t make Jack suffer through my two left feet.”
    “I’ll suffer gladly,” he said.
    “We should really go and check on the grill,” I told him, feeling tense and awkward as I rose to my feet, disdaining his offer.
    * * *
    The day fought against the night. The snowfall became lighter and wisps of smoke from the grill swirled in the pale, dim light of the deepening dusk. Jack and I were bundled up, quietly standing in the alley, waiting for the potatoes and green beans to warm a little more.
    “Feels like we’ve been living like pioneers all day, doesn’t it?” he remarked, stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets.
    “Yeah, I don’t understand how and why people go on camping vacations.”
    “Or ice fishing…would never have the wherewithal for that.”
    “Me, neither,” I said.
    Fidgety, Jack kept his gloved fingers firmed around the handle of the grill. He lifted it every now and then, revealing the foil-topped roasting pans cramming every square inch of the metal grate.
    “So, let’s see,” Jack said, pointing to a great big diver’s watch on his wrist. “We’ve gotten through almost three hours together… Is it safe yet for me to ask about the Mr. Wonderful in your life?”
    “Mr. Wonderful?”
    “Yeah, how is he? Who is he?”
    “I wouldn’t know,” I told him, kicking at the snow. “But if you should bump into him, tell him I’ve been looking everywhere for him.”
    He searched my eyes and stuttered. “So, in other words, you-you’re not Mrs. Wonderful?”
    “No. But I have no problem being referred to as Ms. Wonderful.”
    He chuckled. “Last I heard, through the grape vine, you were getting married.”
    “Oh, I am…I am getting married,” I told him, with a sure sense of conviction. “Someday…”
    He grinned.
    “…Never made it to the altar. Things ended badly before we ever tied the knot.”
    “Well, count your blessings,” he said. “When things end badly after you tie the knot, it takes a whole cracker-jack team of lawyers and your entire life savings to sever the damn thing.”
    “That bad?”
    “Yeah, bitter and nasty… And the custody battle made matters even worse.”
    “How old is your daughter now?”
    “Nine and half…”
    I swung my head in disbelief.
    “…And I hate how I miss out on so much of her life.” Jack’s face seemed twisted with grief. “I fought and fought for sole custody. But when they wound up putting her on the stand, seven years-old at the time, and she broke down in the courtroom, I finally gave in and just settled for shared custody… The whole thing nearly broke my heart.”
    “Gee, that’s terrible. I’m sorry,” I told him. “But, at least the ordeal is over and behind you now. I hope you can at least enjoy the time you get to spend with her.”
    “Yeah, but sometimes it feels like cold comfort.”
    Silence carried his words like wind in the leaves. I glanced at the double set of our footprints marking the path behind us in the alleyway. Snow was accumulating in our tracks, diluting them, quickly covering everything up.
    “I think I know what you mean,” I told him. “There’s nothing harder than being on the receiving end of heartbreak.”
    Smoke from the grill rose between us like a ghost.
    “Unless, of course, you’re the one who did the heartbreaking,” Jack said, creases filling his forehead. “You don’t know how many times I’ve wondered how my life would’ve turned out if only I would’ve made better choices, done things differently. I’ve made so many mistakes…”
    “We all make mistakes.” At that moment, I lamented never telling him how I felt back in college.
    “…And the thing is, I was getting married and you were in the midst of