Page 34 of Scrooged for the Holidays
“People change.”
“I’m not ready to give up on her yet. We’ve known each other for too long, and I do love her. I’m also her only friend. Everyone needs a friend, Josh.”
He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. “Like I said, you’re too nice. Now come on, let’s go. We don’t want to miss out on all the good alcohol and snacks.”
Avery chuckles. “You and your free snacks.”
The couple walks off, and I look at Greer. The wall is still up around her emotions, but my heart quickens when a pulse of warmth radiates from her. The bleak and unfeeling gray shifts, and even without being as attuned to auras as Remi and Sam are, I sense a spark of love reaching me, filling my chest with hope.
“Come, I have one last memory to show you.”
Greer doesn’t look at me, and the blip of love I felt slips away. In its place is something I was hoping she’d feel. Sadness. Some would wonder why I’d want her to feel that, but it’s better than feeling nothing at all. It’s a starting point for her.
I hold out my hand so she can see it, and she takes it without a word.
“You know…” I wait for her to look at me. “What you’re seeing isn’t to show you that you’re an awful person.”
Her eyebrow raises. “Then you’re just here to torture me, Angel Boy?”
I chuckle at the annoyance in her tone and her nickname for me. “Nephilim. And no, I’m not here to harm you. I wanted you to see that, despite how you treated her, Avery loves you.”
She snorts. “Yeah, that was love.”
“If it’s not love, then what was it?”
“Pity.”
“Greer—”
“Just show me the last thing. I’d like to wake up, or at the very least, get you out of my nightmare.”
I exhale. “And here I thought we were making progress.”
Her eyes narrow, and I snap my fingers. Laughter filters through the air along with Christmas music. A roaring fire and the glow of a Christmas tree lights up Greer’s unhappy features as she looks around.
She tugs on my hand. “No, I know what memory this is. I don’t need to relive it.”
“But you do. It’s important.”
She glares at me. “I know what happens!”
“Do you really?”
She tries to pull her hand away, but I hold it firm. “You can do this. Please, trust me.”
“And why should I do that? This is a nightmare.”
“It’s not a nightmare. I told you what this is. Everything you’re seeing has a reason. You can do this. You can face your past like you’ve faced everything else in your life.”
“And how would that be?”
“With strength.”
Greer goes to speak again but is cut off by a man entering the room. Her hand is still in mine, and I don’t know if she realizes it or not, but she grips it tightly enough that my fingers begin to tingle. This is going to be the hardest scene of her past she’ll have to face, but as I said, it’s important. More important than all the rest. Because here, in this moment, is when she embraced what others said she’d become: an Ice Queen.
Chapter eleven
Greer
