His & Hers Christmas

By Suzanne D. Williams

"This is a fine kettle of fish."

Carlton wasn't in South Fork. She wasn't in Hayesville. What was going on?

Karen and Carlton Mead are, on the outside, a happy successful couple with two smart, loving kids. They have a nice home, two cars, and lots of friends. They are, by all appearances, the quintessential American family.

Beneath the surface, however, eighteen years of marriage have taken their toll, becoming endless bickering over unimportant things.

Faced with the upcoming Christmas holiday, an argument over travel locations causes a larger-than-usual blowout. Karen digs in her heels. She will not spend her days with his family in South Fork. Similarly, Carlton refuses to spend his in Hayesville. And bore himself to death listening to her mother? I don't think so.

They'll go their separate ways. She'll have her Christmas. He'll have his. Except, soon their mesh of lies becomes more than they can handle, and they have an important lesson to learn – that sometimes, love and family are what really matters.

A sweet Christmas novella by popular author, SUZANNE D. WILLIAMS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Suzanne D. Williams
• Release date: Feb 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201947781

Suzanne D. Williams

Best-selling author, Suzanne D. Williams, is a native Floridian, wife, mother, and photographer. She is the author of both nonfiction and fiction books. She writes a monthly column for Steves-Digicams.com on the subject of digital photography, as well as devotionals and instructional articles for various blogs. She also does graphic design for self-publishing authors. She is co-founder of THE EDGE. To learn more about what she’s doing and check out her extensive catalogue of stories, visit http://suzanne-williams-photography.blogspot.com/ or link with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/suzannedwilliamsauthor.

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SUZANNE D. WILLIAMS

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© 2017 HIS & HERS CHRISTMAS by Suzanne D. Williams

www.feelgoodromance.com

www.suzannedwilliams.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

And More

About The Author

CHAPTER 1

We’re invited to my mother’s ....

They both spoke at once and silenced together, the usual tension between them growing thicker somehow. Karen Mead inhaled and tried not to explode, though exploding was easier and easier to do nowadays. Her husband, Carlton, seemed to be having the same battle, his nostrils distended, that all-too-familiar vein in his neck throbbing.

My mother invited us to South Fork this year, he said.

He spoke low, his voice controlled. Too much. She knew that tone.

And my mother invited us to Hayesville. She thought she sounded calmer than him, but the spark in his eyes said differently. Then again, when he was angry, nothing she said was well received.

We’ve been to Hayesville three times in the last five years, he replied. We haven’t been to South Fork at all.

Which would push their choice of Christmas travel locations decidedly in his favor. But the thought of rambling around that old ranch house’s empty rooms gave her the willies. Not to mention, trying to carry on any semblance of reasonable conversation with Carlton’s mom.

It’s my mother’s sixty-ninth birthday, she said.

That fact shifted the destination back her way. She wished it was her mom’s seventieth, though. Sixty-nine was less notable than seventy, and he couldn’t possibly refuse if that were the case.

Need I remind you that her birthday comes on the same date every year?

Testy. He was getting testy. And impatient. She swallowed the sarcasm that longed to come out. They could discuss this like adults. She thought.

Please don’t talk to me like I’m a nincompoop.

Maybe not.

You’re talking to me like I’m one, he replied.

Because, on most days, he was a huge nincompoop. Carlton’s ideas about anything, from buttering toast to putting up the Christmas tree, were always done the most difficult way possible. She, on the other hand, moved from point A to point B in a straight line and would get there in ten minutes, whereas he’d make an hour-long trek in a stupid circle.

Once more, an argument begged her to take hold, to put him in his place, screw the consequences. That was the wrong method of approach to marital harmony. She knew that. On calm, peaceful days – which usually meant he wasn’t home – she’d read her Bible and inevitably come across some admonition about walking in love or honoring her husband and determine to do it. She’d made a long list of his positive attributes to help her, with faithfulness at the very top.

Carlton Mead would never cheat on her because he had such a low opinion of women. Even thinking that about him seemed like stabbing him in the back, although it was true.

I’m just saying ... Mama enjoys seeing her grandkids on her birthday. That being Christmas Eve. It’s special to her.

So, once more, I bend over backwards and allow you to have your way. I will put on my plastic smile and pretend I care two cents about her dumb cats, the knitting club, or her last five luncheon dates with Frances.

Well ...

Well, her mom did tend to talk about all of that too much.

Exactly. Carlton straightened. That’s why this year we’re going to South Fork. My brother, Earnest, is coming.

Dear God, please don’t make her put up with that Neanderthal, she prayed. If Carlton was a nincompoop, his brother was a caveman. Arm-pit-scratching, dip-chewing, hillbilly always wrapped in camouflage. If only, he was actually invisible.

He has a girlfriend.

She coughed, choking on phlegm and air. Carlton’s face flushed red, and he clamped his mouth closed, tight. She wanted to make an excuse, to explain away her reaction, but her reason for falling apart was clear to them both. Only, Carlton would never admit how preposterous it was for any woman to take up with Earnest, not and have to take her side.

That really was the issue. They were always on opposite poles. If she went left, he went right. They couldn’t be united over anything – that broke some unspoken rule.

I ... I need water, Karen managed to say, for lack of anything else. She rose from her bar stool and rounded the counter to the fridge. Snagging a bottled water from inside the door, she twisted the cap and wasted what she wished was ten minutes, but was, in fact, only one.

It came to her, staring at him, how miserable she was and how much better her life would be if she could just go on her own. She didn’t even know what to get him this year because whatever it was, he’d complain and