CNU-My daughter-in-law said Christmas would be easier if I stayed away, and my son did not even raise his eyes to defend me. So I stayed home, alone, exactly as requested. …

old refrigerator hum. Hope is a ridiculous thing in a man my age. It survives evidence that would kill a lesser impulse. I told myself maybe Linda had matured. Maybe Vincent had pushed back. Maybe the holiday that Ellen used to hold together with butter, pie crust, and impossible optimism still had enough memory in it to reach across whatever had hardened continue reading …