Snow Place Like Home (Home Sweet Holidays)

by Laura Pavlov

Suzie and Joe Jacobs were the quintessential parents that childhood dreams were made of. Something you’d see on a sitcom, reminding most of us how fucked up our own childhoods were.

“I don’t think so, actually. She went on a date a few weeks ago. I think she’s over him and ready to get back out there. She hadn’t seemed all that happy the last few years with Joshua anyway.”

Hell, the last few years with Joshua had been passionless. In hindsight, he’d done us both a favor, even if I didn’t agree with the way he’d gone about it. But if I was being honest with myself, we’d just been going through the motions for the last few years. I’d been stuck and unable to see that I wasn’t happy.

“Hey, beautiful. How did you sleep?”

“I felt relieved when it all happened. I wasn’t in love with him. Hadn’t been for a while. I don’t miss him. We weren’t happy. And I made myself a promise when I moved back home.” She shrugged. “What’s that?” “That I wouldn’t ever settle again.”