Magic Hour

“Sometimes a mood changes on its own.” Ellie shrugged. “Sometimes it needs a shove.” She plopped down beside him. “Bottoms up.”

“What’s the salt for?”

“Decoration.” She clanked her glass against his and drank up. “Here’s to a better year coming up.”

“Amen to that.” Cal downed the drink and put his shot glass on the coffee table. When he turned to her again, he seemed to be studying her, looking for something hidden. “You’ve been in love a lot.”

She laughed. “And out of it a lot.”

“How do you . . . keep believing in it? How do you tell someone you love them?”

She felt her smile shake. “Saying it is easy, Cal. Meaning it is practically impossible. I pity the poor guy who falls for me.” She wanted to smile again but couldn’t. This whole conversation was depressing her. The way Cal was looking at her made it all worse. “Enough sadness. This is a holiday.”

She cleared the alcoholic evidence away and went over to the stereo. There, she put a CD in the player and turned the volume on high enough to bring the girls out of the family room, where they’d probably been watching another Hilary Duff movie.

“What’s going on?” Amanda asked, tugging on her askew, falling-out braid. The girls stood close together. All of them had sad eyes on this most magical of days.

“First off, you have presents to open.”

That made them smile a little, but not all the way.

“Then I’m taking you bowling.”

Amanda made a very grown-up face. “We don’t bowl. Mom says it’s for trailer trash.”

Ellie looked at Cal. “Are you telling me they don’t know about secret bowling?”

Sarah took a step forward. “What’th thee-cret bowling?”

Ellie bent down. “It’s bowling after hours, all by yourself, with the music blaring and all the junk food you can eat.”

“Mom would never agree to this,” Amanda said.

“I’ll have you know,” Ellie said, “that your dad and I used to work at the Big Bowl. And that’s why you’re the only kids in Rain Valley who get to know about secret bowling. Now, go get dressed.”

Sarah tugged on Ellie’s sleeve, said in a stage whisper, “C’n I be Princeth Fiona?”

“Absolutely,” Ellie said. “In secret bowling, you can wear whatever you want.”

Amanda looked up. “Can I wear makeup?”

Before Cal could answer, Ellie said, “Sure.”

In a flurry of laughter, the girls ran up the stairs.

Cal looked at Ellie. “We haven’t snuck into the Big Bowl in twenty-five years.”

“I’ll call Wayne and let him know. He still keeps the keys in the gnome’s hat. We can leave fifty

bucks in the register.”

“Thanks, El.”

She smiled. “Just remember this the next time I get divorced. Tequila and midnight bowling.”

“Is that the magic potion?”

Her smile faded as she looked at him. “No. But sometimes it’s all there is.”