Page 97 of Christmas Criminal

"Alright, so we've got a bunch of presents to hand out to the kids," Hank says, putting on his Santa voice again and kneeling in front of the tree. He reaches into the Santa bag and pulls out the first present, noting the name on it and passing it to Noelle.

"Thanks, Hanky Panky," she says.

He pauses, narrowing his eyes before giving her a quick wink. "Only your mother's allowed to call me that."

Noelle's nose crinkles. "Ew."

He grins. "Yeah, that's what I thought." He turns back to his Santa sack. "Christina!" He throws a present over his shoulder that she just barely catches.

"Hank, I'm broken!"

"You're as broken as your sister is a criminal."

Christina raises her eyebrows, her gaze catching mine for a second as she lets out a puff of laughter.

"Helen, dear," Hank says, handing a present back to her. I catch Noelle smiling to herself at the interaction.

We eat, and we accept presents from Santa, and we laugh hard enough that my cheeks hurt. Noelle leans against me and gives me surreptitious kisses every once in a while, a contented look on her face until she sees her sister frowning at her phone.

Noelle crumples up her discarded wrapping paper and chucks it at her, hitting her square on the nose. Christina flips her off in response.

"Pay attention to Christmas," Noelle says.

Christina huffs. "Dad isn't answering me back, and it isn't going to be morning for much longer."

"He's probably just busy, honey," Helen says, rubbing her knee.

"He said he'dbehere."

Noelle sighs, reluctantly digging her phone out of her pocket to see if he texted her.

Her brow furrows as she taps and scrolls. "Naomi texted me."

Christina leans forward. "What did she say?"

Noelle starts typing back. "She said she hopes we're having a nice Christmas with Dad." She frowns. "She asked if we'd ever consider doing Christmas together so they could see him too."

Christina holds her hand over her heart. "Okay, that hit me where it hurts."

Noelle shakes her head. "I'm asking her to explain further."

With that, Christmas takes a more somber tone. Noelle sends her text, and then we wait, each of us picking at the ends of our food. Helen thumbs the edge of a piece of wrapping paper sticking out from one of her boxes. Christina purses her lips, staring at her phone. Hank sits on the ground in front of the tree, tugging his fake beard down around his neck.

And all I can do is suppress my anger that someone has all ofthis–hastwoofthis–yet has the audacity to blow off people who love him. Who are so ready to look past all of his faults and accept him anyway.

I would give everything for afractionof this.

And he can't even fucking show up.

When Noelle's phone lights up again, we collectively lean forward.

"She said Dad told her he'd be spending Christmas with us this year. That after all the time he's spent with them–" Noelle pauses. "That after all the time he's spent with them, now that her parents are separated, he needs to split his time better." She looks up at her mom. "They separated?"

Helen shrugs. "I don't talk to him. How would I know?"

Christina blinks. "So he told them he'd be spending Christmas with us. And he told us he'd stop by for a fewminutes. Where the fuck is he, then?"

Noelle starts texting rapid fire again, leaving her phone unlocked on the coffee table since Naomi seems to be at hers.

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