Page 117 of Holly and Nick Hate Christmas
Next to me, Olivia, wearing the ball cap Nick had helped me pick out for her, smiled at Kat and Devin, who were acting more like Chloe and Axel than Chloe and Axel as they snuggled in the recliner and studied the ultrasound picture Kat had framed. Olivia let out a soft sigh. “I’m happy for her.”
“Me too.” I rested my head against my big sis’s shoulder and chuckled at Axel, who’d placed one of the red gift bows atop his blond hair. Next to him, Chloe kept angling her finger in various ways to catch the light with her ring. “I’m sorry Paul didn’t make it.”
“Things are a little worse than I let on with Mom and Dad.” Olivia rested her cheek against my head. “But it’ll be okay.”
Ugh. “I need to apologize.” I sat up and faced her. “I think I’ve been so caught up in not feeling seen that I missed what you and Kat and Chloe have been dealing with. I didn’t seeyouguys.”
“We’re all guilty. Plus, it’s not like I’ve been advertising it.” Olivia linked her arm through mine, and I rested my head against hers. “Speaking of dealing with stuff—how are you feeling about Nick?”
I released a long breath. “Ignored, honestly. But I deserve it. I never gave him a chance to explain, or else maybe he’d have told me the same thing Ryan did.” I quickly filled her in on last night’s conversation with Ryan. “It’s my fault, though. Maybe Nick will respond later, when it’s not so fresh.”
“Well, it’s his loss if he doesn’t.” Olivia suddenly sat up straight, head cocked. “Mason, what’s wrong?”
He crawled out from behind the tree, green needles stuck in his mussed hair, face downcast. “I knew Santa wasn’t real.”
Olivia frowned. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged one shoulder like it didn’t matter, but the heaviness in his eyes suggested otherwise. “No basketball.”
Olivia sucked in her breath and cast a quick look toward our parents. Mom winced and Dad slowly shook his head.
“There’s been so much going on…” Mom’s soft voice trailed off.
Olivia sighed. “No, it’s my fault. I assumed after the mall…” She pointed to Mason. “Hey, you—come here.”
He rearranged his expression, pausing by the tree. “I love my other gifts, I promise.”
“I know you do. You’re not in trouble.” She motioned him to the couch and he squeezed between us, toting his new build-your-own-robot box. “It’s okay to be disappointed, kid. There’s room for both feelings.”
“So that’s that about Santa, right? Because I don’t think I was on the naughty list.” He scrunched his face. “I didn’t get coal.”
“Okay, look.” Olivia hesitated. “Santa isn’t real in the sense that, no, there’s not a man who scoots down every chimney in the world with gifts in one night.”
“I figured.” Mason sighed. “This is one of those hard parts of growing up you always talk about, isn’t it?”
Poor guy. I twisted to face Mason, pulling one leg up under me on the couch. “That’s just the bad news, though.” I glanced at Olivia, who nodded her permission. “There’s good news too.”
Mason raised a dubious eyebrow. “What?”
“There’s somethingwaybetter out there than a man in a red suit with a bag of toys.” I waved one hand in the air.
“Flying reindeer?” Mason asked hopefully.
“No.” I leaned in, lowering my voice to a conspiring whisper. “Thespiritof Christmas.”
“Like in that creepy Christmas story? I really don’t want to see any ghosts today.” He shuddered. “Even the Ghost of Christmas Present.”
“No, not like with Scrooge.” I laughed. “I meant that at Christmastime, people get nicer. They help each other out more and are less selfish. It’s not magical like flying reindeer, but it’s pretty special.”
Mason nodded a little. “I can see that.”
“Just look at you and Janie. You two have barely fought this whole week.”
“Which is much appreciated, by the way,” Olivia added.
Mason swiveled back toward me. “That’s the spirit of Christmas?”
“Yep. The way it works is that the more you focus on other people and less on yourself, the happier you’ll be. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.” I swallowed. Too bad I hadn’t used my own advice sooner. “I used to feel like Christmas didn’t honor me, so I didn’t honor it.”
