Page 114 of Christmas Criminal

I nod as Hank and Helen walk through the door and wave, Helen's face lighting up when she sees Noelle in the front of the classroom.

"Oh boy," she mutters, as she goes to greet them.

I follow her over, completely unsurprised to see their hands joined between them. Hank and Helen have been an official item since Christmas–to Christina's horror, having shared a wall with them–and they do new love better than the teenagers do. Always holding hands and shooting each other wistful gazes. He holds open every door for her, and she gazes at him like he hung the moon.

"Noelle!" Helen croons, immediately wrapping her up in a hug. Noelle’s eyes follow another attendee as they take a seat near the front with a polite smile, before returning to Helen. "Look at you, teaching a class! Oh, I'm so proud of you, honey."

"Thanks, Mom," she says, catching my eye over her shoulder and pressing her lips together.

"You let us know if you need anything, okay? I don't know all the technical stuff you do, but if there isanythingwe can help with, you let us know."

"Mom, the library is providing an assistant. I'm sure I'll be okay," Noelle says.

Hank raises an eyebrow, catching my eye. "Thelibraryis providing an assistant?"

"Yeah," Noelle says, checking the time on her phone. "Although I'm starting to get a little nervous. It's almost start time."

"Well, you go do what you need to. If you need me, I'm here," Helen says, with another quick hug.

Noelle nods, wandering back to the front of her room where her laptop is set up and projected onto the screen up front. The room has filled in, most of the computers accounted for.

And I guess now is as good a time as any.

I follow Noelle to the front desk, reaching into my pocket for the piece of cardstock I stuffed in there before I left this morning.

After Hank caught me throwing eggs at Noelle's dad's house, he mulled over the best way to punish me withoutpunishing me, like he did with Noelle. And as much as he wanted to find new, creative ways to torture people enough that they snap out of their bad behaviors, there was only one idea that truly made sense to him.

She raises an eyebrow as she watches me shuffle through my pockets, and a look of understanding spreads across her face as she eyes the lined paper and bursts into laughter.

With a grin, I press my timecard onto the desk between us.

"I'm here for community service."

NOELLE

EPILOGUE

Two Years Later

I tried my hardest. I really did.

But in the two years since I rented this apartment half an hour from Snow Falls, I've spent probably two full months there, collectively.

It makes more sense to crash at Nick's. He's close to my mom and sister, and after Christmas the year we got together, he turned one of his spare bedrooms into an office for me in the space of an afternoon. It's cozy and quiet, and when I'm there, I get lost in my work. After school, he comes home and knocks, asking if I have any thoughts about dinner, and we sit downstairs at the island together and give each other a quick download of our respective days.

Considering we're going on two years now, we think it only makes sense to make it official.

So a few weeks before Christmas, I give notice to my landlord that I'm moving out, and over the space of a few weeks, we move all of my stuff to Nick's. He grins with every box he carries in, like each one brings us closer to officiallyliving together.

My lease is done at the end of the year, but my apartment is cleared out by Christmas, and we spend Christmas Eve at my mom's, like usual, but we come back early to spend our first official Christmas Eve together.

He lights a fire and we sit on the floor in front of the tree, two glasses of wine on the coffee table next to us. He throws an arm around my shoulders and tugs me close. "So how does it feel, living with a boy?"

I can't help the laugh that tumbles from my throat. "It feels okay, so far."

He nods. "Good."

"How does it feel living with a girl?"

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