The fat, pillowy flakes descending in a slow swirl brought gentle memories to Joe Kelly’s mind, faded pictures from the happiest part of his childhood. It was one blessing atop another, and about damned time. Facing yet another holiday season with pockets on empty, he had been living in dread of Mariel’s wrath. She could make it hard on him and the kids by staying angry right into the New Year. Except this time around, he had a little surprise that would change all that. Actually, not so little. After the better part of a decade scratching his way up a glass mountain, and with just twelve days before Christmas, his agent had called from New York with a breathless bulletin that a certain A-list actor had stumbled upon his first novel, loved it, and promptly made an offer to option it. Joe could hear the wonder in her voice; she couldn’t believe it, either. The amount of money quoted, though not stupendous, caused his breath to come short. After they clicked off, he reeled around the house, sloppy drunk without having touched a drop, working his brain to process news that was edging on fabulous.
