Page 146 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

Ten missed calls.

I rush from the courtroom, continuing on even as someone calls my name.

Eight of the calls are from Ms. Liu. Two are from the principal.

CHAPTER EIGHT

JACE

I’m roughing out a fireplace at the Garcia house by myself, while Travis and Chuck work at the house on Vine Street. It’s a complicated design with plenty of angles, and it’s taken most of the day to get right. Measure twice and cut once, as my dad used to say.

I’ve been thinking about my dad a lot over the past couple of days. How disappointed he was in me when he died. How disappointed he would be in me now…

After Dad died, I was so full of anger at the world, and at myself for refusing to give him what he’d wanted most—a son who wanted to take over his company. When I found out what Lester had done to Dad, I finally had a tangible object to turn my anger toward. So I took the car he’d always talked about as his baby, and I destroyed it.

I tried to make up for my mistake afterward, to be the kind of man my father would respect. But it was too late to turn things around for our family company. Even before I was arrested, Hagan Construction had been on the verge of folding. When I was sent to jail, the business went under for good, and the whole mess literally broke my mother’s heart. My sister buried her without me.

And now Amanda will never forgive me.

The incident with Mary has brought all those feelings rushing back, and I don’t like it.

So framing this fireplace is a welcome diversion to the chaos spinning in my head. I have to focus or I’ll screw it up.

It feels good to be creating something. To know I’m doing something good, even if it’s just creating the framework of what will be a stunning fireplace.

But beneath that thin layer of satisfaction, I feel like shit. I keep replaying my conversation with Mary—both before it went to hell and during. Part of me thinks I should have kept my mouth shut, but if Aidan were my son, I’d want to know if the people who were working with him had a criminal past. That doesn’t mean I’d cut them off from my kid, but I’d want to make the judgment call myself. I’d owed it to Mary to let her know so she could decide for herself.

I’d predicted her reaction, so why do I feel so gutted?

Roger and Mrs. Rosa knew something had happened the moment they saw me last night, but I didn’t go into great detail. All I said was that I’d told Mary about my record and she’d chosen to discontinue my meetings with Aidan.

The thing is, I really like Aidan. Ben was always slow to warm to strangers, so I didn’t expect such a quick connection with Aidan. And I definitely didn’t plan on being attracted to Mary. So maybe it’s a good thing they are out of my life. There’s no way it wouldn’t have ended messily.

Susan Duckworth called last night to tell me that Mary had officially cancelled her son’s association with Butterfly Buddies. She apologized profusely and offered to set me up with another kid.

“I’m so sorry, Jace,” she said. “If you’d like, I can tell the next family myself.”

I told her that I’d need to think about it, but honestly, I’m not sure I can go through this again.

After I screw in the last piece of wood, I inspect the framework to make sure it’s damn near perfect for the finish carpenters, then clean up the tools and load them into the back of my truck. My phone rings just as I’m about to lock up the house.

I don’t get many phone calls, so I dig my phone from my back pocket and eye the screen curiously, not surprised to find it’s a number I don’t recognize.

“Mr. Hagan?” a woman asks when I answer. She sounds vaguely familiar.

“Yes?”

“This is Ms. Liu at Thomas Edison Elementary. Ms. Duckworth said you weren’t planning on coming in today, so I’m sorry to bother you.” She paused. “But we have a situation.”

My heart skips a beat. “That’s okay. What’s up?”

“It’s Aidan.” She lowers her voice. “He’s had a meltdown, and we just can’t seem to get him settled down. His mother’s phone goes straight to voicemail, and neither of his aunts are answering either. He’s asking for you.”

She shouldn’t be calling me. Mary will be furious, but the thought of Aidan asking for me unfurls something tight in my chest. “What about Ms. Duckworth?”

“We called her,” Ms. Liu says. “She was the one who suggested calling you.” I hesitate, and she misinterprets my response. “I’m so sorry to have bothered you. I’m sure we can find someone else.”

Only I don’t think thereisanyone else.

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