Page 76 of Holly and Nick Hate Christmas
“Well, I kind of snapped one year.” Nick rotated the Sharpie faster. “I was sixteen, and it was Christmas Eve. My mom was parading around for her clients again. Dad was drinking too much—probablybecauseMom was parading, to be honest.”
“Yikes.”
“I got so sick of it all.” Nick stared down at the table littered with craft supplies. But in his head, he could easily pull up the image of that year’s holiday place setting, shiny turquoise and gold. “I was standing there in the dining room, wearing this stuffy suit and looking down at this perfect table and perfectly wrapped presents under the perfectly decorated tree, and it felt so empty. So fake.”
Holly murmured her encouragement for him to continue.
Nick swallowed. “Everyone was dressed up and making toasts, and Mom was pretending she cooked the four-course dinner being brought out by the hired staff and…I don’t know. I didn’t want to be there, and they hadn’t let me go to my friend’s house that night. Said our brand was our family, and I had to be there and play the part.”
“So you also wanted attention.” Holly’s gentle tone pulled him back from the montage of images dancing in front of him.
“Yeah, I guess I did.Realattention—not the fake kind forthe camera and the billboard and the newsletter.” Nick shook his head. “I ended up with attention, all right, but not the type I’d hoped for.”
“What happened?”
“I snuck out. I was going to go to my friend’s party after all, but somehow ended up just walking, hoping to burn off steam.”
Holly winced. “And I’m assuming you walked right into a situation?”
“The walking led to overthinking, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of a Christmas display at a jewelry store downtown. And I had this immature, really wild thought about how ironic it’d be if the gifts my parents opened from me that next morning were secretly stolen.”
Holly’s eyes widened. “What happened next?”
“That night, I broke into the store. Stole a watch for my dad and a bracelet for my mom.” Nick shook his head. “Then was immediately picked up by a cop. I almost felt relieved. Until I got home and the door opened and my parents’ perfect party was interrupted by the sight of their son and a cop on the porch.”
Holly whistled. “I bet that went over well.”
“Like I said—immature.” To put it mildly.
She touched his arm. “But you were hurting.”
“Hardly an excuse to break the law.”
“Well, of course not. I’m just saying, it doesn’t make you a horrible person.”
Nick tilted his head. “It did for a bit. I kept doing stupid stuff after that. Vandalism. Sneaking out. I was so angry, it was like a dam had burst and I didn’t know how to pile everything back in. I didn’t trust myself.”
“What went down that night? With the police?”
“Well, my mom cried for an hour—the really dramatic, victimized type of tears—while everyone quietly left. I rememberbeing frozen there on the living room rug, staring at this snow globe on the mantel while Dad yelled at me. I think I stared at it for so long it burned into my head as this negative connotation of my failure.”
“And then I got you one as a gift.” Holly sighed as she pulled her arm away. “I’m so sorry.”
He shook his head. “You didn’t know.”
“Still, I’m sorry.” Holly studied him. “I’m guessing the story doesn’t end there?”
“No. Remember the other day in the kitchen, when I said I might have found a new career path?”
She grinned. “Criminal justice system?”
“Close.” Nick chuckled. “Because of my age, I had a few options I wouldn’t have had if I’d already turned seventeen. And thankfully, because my parents were so concerned about image, they spoke with the judge—a friend of Dad’s—and chose to ship me off to this teen work release camp. The chores we did counted for community service. There was counseling, church services, team projects—all the stuff a kid headed down a bad path would need to help him make a turn.”
“That’s really cool.”
He took a deep breath. He could tell her this next part, even if he couldn’t tell herallof it.
And for some reason, he really, really wanted Holly to know about his dream.
