Sweeter Than W(h)ine Read Online Free PDF

there with the walker…”
                  “I don’t know,” Dina said, fear gripping her a little as she thought about the walk to the lounge area near the nurses’ station. A couple of years ago, she could have made that trek easily; tonight every step was hard. She didn’t need the oxygen now, but…
                  “I’ll be right there with you.” He gathered the rest of the presents, and placed them back into the brown paper bag. “Are you up for it?”             
                  “Okay,” Dina said.
                  Raphael called for an aide, and Dina was happy when Alec appeared. “They made you work on NewYear’s Eve?” she said, when the elfin gentleman arrived.
                  “It’s okay,” he said. “I didn’t have anything to do anyway.”
                  He and Raphael helped her from the bed and she tried to steady herself counting slowly. “One, two…three,” she murmured, managing to get up without too much pain for the moment.
                  “Thanks, Alec,” he said, and the aide disappeared. “Now just take your time. I’ll be right behind you with the wheelchair if you need it.”
                  Dina stared at the velour bathrobe that was on the bed. Raphael seemed to sense that she wanted him to help her put it on. She tried but her shoulders ached.
                  “Here,” he said, helping her into it. Some muscles hurt like crazy; some didn’t. She managed to get the sky blue robe on and, with the walker, she made her way out of the room and down the hall until she and Rafe reached the lounge area. She gazed longingly at the piano. It seemed like such a long time since she’d played on the old upright at home; the one that had belonged to her mom.
                  “Do you want to…”
                  Dina nodded. She went from the walker to the wheelchair. Thanks to Ruthie Gordon, she was able to accomplish that feat without too much of a problem. She saw some sheet music neatly arranged on a table next to the piano and reached for it. Christmas music, she thought. She loved Christmas songs, but she liked to make up her own words. She found the music for “Silver Bells,” and started playing it, singing softly (if one could call what she was doing “singing”). Nope, she thought. That wasn’t singing.
    ***
                  Rafe lost himself in Dina’s piano playing, and found that he liked her sense of humor. She was actually funny, he thought. He guessed she had to be, though, with the kind of job she had. Being a grief counselor didn’t sound like much fun, but it seemed like she’d surrounded herself with fun people like her parents and Jay and Lorrie Galloway. He heard her soft, off-key singing and noticed that she’d made up her own words to “Silver Bells.” Had she actually changed it to “Silver Dreidels?”
                  She had.
                  Sending her a smile when she finished the song, Rafe said, “I have a request.”
                  “I know. You want me to sing ‘Far, Far Away?’”
                  “No. I’d like you to play ‘White Christmas.’ It was my dad’s favorite song, and he always joked about the Jewish guy, Irving Berlin, writing a Christmas song.” He thought about his father, Moe. As a kid, Rafe thought his dad had been named after Moe from the Three Stooges. It turned out his real name was Maurice, but everyone called him Moe. Although his dad had died twelve years ago, it still hurt to think about him. Rafe blocked out memories, or anything that would make him appear weak in front of Dina. Then he wondered why this was important. She was his patient and she might have a quirky sense of humor like he did and be kind of cute, but…
                  She’d started to play the song. Her hands