The hallway floor was scattered with Christmas cards when they entered the house, and Dan simply collected them together and placed them on the hall table. He didn’t particularly feel like opening any of them. He knew that Jackie’s name would be written on every one. So they remained there until that evening when he stood on the front step, waving the girls off to their party. He shut the door, picked up the pile, and took them through to the kitchen. He took a beer from the fridge, sat down at the table, and began to open them. After the fifth one, he pushed the pile aside and took a long drink from his can of beer.

His eye was caught by one envelope that was not the lurid pink or Caribbean blue of a Christmas card. He reached forward and slid it out of the disordered pile and immediately saw the Seascape logo in the top left-hand corner. It was addressed to him in type. He waved the envelope around in front of his eyes, wondering if he wanted to open this one any more than he did the Christmas cards. Blowing out a breath of trepidation, he broke the seal with his forefinger and took out the letter. He took another large swig of his beer before opening it up and reading it.