One Day in December

2018·1.34 MB·english

by  Silver

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Josie Silver
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a
division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
crownpublishing.com
CROWN and the Crown colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House
LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 9780525574682
Ebook ISBN 9780525574705
Cover design by Alane Gianetti
Cover illustration by José Luis Merino/Kate Larkworthy Artist
v5.3.2
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
2008
December 21
2009
New Year’s Resolutions
March 20
October 24
December 18
December 19
2010
New Year’s Resolutions
January 18
February 14
February 15
June 5
December 12
2011
New Year’s Resolutions
January 1
January 28
May 3
September 20
October 12
October 13
November 29
December 12
2012
New Year’s Resolutions
January 3
March 10
May 14
June 9
August 4
August 5
August 10
September 15
October 24
November 3
November 12
November 13
2013
New Year’s Resolutions
February 8
February 16
April 20
April 23
December 12
December 14
2014
New Year’s Resolutions
March 16
May 27
June 10
June 25
October 12
October 13
October 27
2015
New Year’s Resolutions
May 6
September 12
November 21
2016
New Year’s Resolutions
January 26
February 23
March 14
March 23
June 9
June 13
June 16
July 2
July 3
October 19
December 17
2017
New Year’s Resolutions
March 1
June 5
August 1
December 22
December 23
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Extra Libris
A Reader’s Guide
A Conversation with Josie Silver
Recommended Snacks and Spirits
For James, Ed, and Alex with love.
2008
D
ECEMBER 21
Laurie
It’s a wonder everyone who uses public transport in winter doesn’t
keel over and die of germ overload. In the last ten minutes I’ve
been coughed on and sneezed at, and if the woman in front of me
shakes her dandruff my way again, I might just douse her with the
dregs of the lukewarm coffee that I’m no longer able to drink
because it’s full of her scalp.
I’m so tired I could sleep right here on the top deck of this
swaying, rammed-full bus. Thank God I’ve finally finished work
for Christmas, because I don’t think my brain or my body could
withstand even one more shift behind that awful hotel reception
desk. It might be festooned with garlands and pretty lights on the
customer side, but step behind the curtain and it’s a soulless
hellhole. I’m practically asleep, even when I’m awake. I’m loosely
planning to hibernate until next year once I get home to the
nostalgic familiarity of my parents’ house tomorrow. There’s
something soothingly time warp-ish about leaving London for an
interlude of sedate Midlands village life in my childhood bedroom,
even if not all of my childhood memories are happy ones. Even the
closest of families have their tragedies, and it’s fair to say that ours
came early and cut deep. I won’t dwell though, because Christmas
should be a time of hope and love and, most appealing of all at this
very moment, sleep. Sleep, punctuated by bouts of competitive
eating with my brother, Daryl, and his girlfriend, Anna, and the
whole gamut of cheesy Christmas movies. Because how could you
ever be too tired to watch some hapless guy stand out in the cold
and hold up signs silently declaring to his best friend’s wife that
his wasted heart will always love her? Though—is that romance?