Book ~ "Vacation" (2005) Jane Green

From Goodreads ~ Just when she’d sworn off men for good, Sarah Evans met Eddie. Sarah was a magazine editor, living in Manhattan, and loving her life - except for the heartbreaks. A successful real estate developer, Eddie was a breath of fresh air, a meeting of minds - and bodies. Soon came wedded bliss, baby number one - and the proverbial move to the suburbs.

You just sit there like a slob while I do all the work. Nine years later, this is increasingly what goes through Sarah’s mind when she looks at Eddie, propped in front of the TV with a beer, ignoring their two children. The truth is, she misses her old life. She misses the old Eddie. She can’t help wondering if she’d be happier alone.

When Eddie’s job sends him to Chicago indefinitely, Sarah shocks him by suggesting a trial separation. But she knows it’s just a precursor to divorce - even if Eddie chooses to think of it as a “vacation.” Yet a lot can change - on both sides - as time goes by. And once Christmas arrives, Sarah and Eddie might re-discover gifts they’d forgotten they had.

When Sarah and Eddie met, they were in their twenties, living in New York, had great jobs and happening lives.  Nine years later, they are married with two children and living in the suburbs.  Sarah is an unhappy stay-at-home wife and Eddie works too much, eats too much and drinks too much.  Sarah has had enough so when he gets transferred to the Chicago office, she sees this as a chance to have a trial separation.  Apart, Eddie realizes that he's been a lousy husband and father and Sarah finds herself again.

This novella was originally published in 2005 in a trio of stories called This Christmas.  You can tell it's dated because someone puts a phone back in its cradle, when Sarah applies for jobs she finds in the newspaper she mails a cover letter and resume, and there is a reference to Demi Moore dating younger men.

I've read a few books by this author and this was okay.  It was a quick and easy read.  It's written in third person perspective with a focus on Sarah and Eddie.