Her heart took a leap before she could remind herself not to let it matter. But the fact was, it mattered a lot. She had the absurd feeling that he was rescuing her. She’d never liked her parents’ annual affair. Overdressed people eating tiny hors d’oeuvres and talking about nothing while jockeying for position in front of the society column photographers.

This year, the event would improve somewhat, given the infusion of youthful energy and imagination of her partners. But to Elaine, it would always be excruciating. Having Tony present could not possibly make the night any worse. In fact, he might just make it better.

Chapter Five

chapter five

Elaine began to doubt her naive sense of hope a short time later, when she stood on the curb, nearly turning into a Popsicle while trying to flag a taxi. At the same time she talked on her cell phone, trying to fill the void left by Bobbi. Axel liked supermodels, but, so far, all the SMs she knew were busy tonight. Maybe he’d bring his own, she thought, stabbing another number into the keypad.

The marauding carolers had migrated to the other side of the street, but she could still hear happy strains of “Joy to the World” above the throaty sound of traffic and the distant chimes of an old-fashioned church. Larry the elf was a liar. He’d promised magic and miracles, but things had only gone from bad to worse. And into the middle of everything had walked Tony Fiore, stirring up emotions she’d worked years to bury.

The number was busy. Exasperated, she hung up and scanned the avenue. Through a thickening curtain of snowfall, not a single available cab appeared.

Christmas was for the birds, she thought, scowling at a moon-eyed young couple walking arm in arm past glowing shop windows. Christmas was nothing but a commercialized excuse for people to knock off work early and overeat. Who needed that?

Spying a taxi half a block away, she made a desperate bid for it. Relief flooded her when it pulled alongside the curb. She pulled open the door, welcoming a waft of heat from the interior of the car.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a woman and a boy on crutches appeared. Some unthinking impulse nearly made her ignore them and get in. At the last second, she realized what that would make her and backed off.

The boy glanced in her direction, his sweet round face lit with a smile, before carefully folding himself and his crutches into the taxi.

“Thanks,” said his mother, a harried woman in a plain cloth coat. She carried one of those humiliating clear plastic purses the retailers made clerks carry in order to control employee theft.

Elaine called herself a pushover as she handed the driver a bill to cover the fare.

“Thank you,” the woman called. “Merry Christmas, and God bless.”