Page 20 of You Can't Ruin Christmas

“It’s okay,” Klaus says, with a wave of his hand. He gives us both a small smile. “I’m still trying to figure out how do this whole life thing without her. No one expects to be a widow in his 30s. Anyway, I am going to head back over to the conference hotel, catch a few seminars. You kids have fun. Hope you’ll come home and visit soon, Sven. Aunt Agnes misses you.”

The two men hug goodbye, and Klaus also gives me a hug before leaving. I watch him go sadly. “That’s awful,” I say to Sven.

“She was a great girl,” Sven says, nodding. “I was the best man at their wedding. Klaus was always close to us growing up, and I always looked up to him—seeing the way he loved Lilly. It was so special. Despite having such a short life, I don’t feel like she missed out on much, because Klaus gave her a lifetime of love condensed into one decade. Maybe more than most people even manage to get in their whole lives.”

Slipping my hand into Sven’s, I wonder if he is thinking of himself. I wonder if he feels like he’s never been loved. “I guess they didn’t waste any time,” I whisper to him.

He looks at me and nods. Then he clears his throat, and looks at his watch. “Okay, Mary—it’s time for your surprise. Are you ready?”

“Sure,” I say with a suspicious smile. “Where is it?”

“Over here,” he says, guiding me to the punching bags. He pauses to send a few texts on his phone, before pulling out his signature punching-bag photographs. He places one of Sebastian with an extremely pretty girl on the punching bag. “I thought we could get in a bit of a warm up before your surprise. This is Seb’s newest conquest, Marianna. That sounds a little like Mary, doesn’t it? Except more feminine and exotic.”

I start punching the bag as he instructs, and continues trying to get me upset and riled up.

“She also looks a little like you, don’t you think? Except younger. And thinner.”

I keep punching.

“It’s kind of like he just upgraded and traded you in for a newer model.”

I stop. “Okay, that’s just mean, Sven. I don’t want to punch a picture of both of them. I don’t know her. She could be perfectly nice and was just misled by hm, the same way I was. Maybe he didn’t tell her he had a girlfriend. In fact, if she’s younger, isn’t it worse? She could have thought she was important to him.”

“You’re right,” he says, nodding. “I figured that you might get sick of this soon, so I got a different image for you to punch, just in case.”

While he hunts for it in his gym bag, I wipe the sweat away from my forehead. “You know, I haven’t really been working out with you to impress Sebastian, or get a revenge body to bother him, or find an outlet for any anger toward him.”

“Then why are you doing it?” he asks.

“I wanted to spend time with you,” I respond.

He smiles at me. Then he slides a picture of himself onto the punching bag. “I want you to show me how pissed atmeyou were yesterday when I dumped you on the bed and walked away.”

I immediately smash my fist into his face. Not his actual face, but the one on the punching bag.

“How pissed would you be if I did that to you again?” he asks.

“I would kill you,” I tell him jokingly.

“Good. I want you to show me, get outallyour anger.”

I actually do have more anger than I expect, because I manage to beat his face until it breaks. The picture of his face, that is. And as he keeps taunting me, I keep unleashing my anger into his broken face until it gets even more broken. It’s rather satisfying.

“She’s perfect,” says a voice from my side. “Absolutely perfect.”

I turn around to see one of the biggest up-and-coming directors in Hollywood, standing and watching my workout.

“I told you that you’d love her, Michael,” Sven is saying to him.

“I need you to come by the studio and audition for me,” the director is saying, extending his hand with a card in it. “I have seen some of your work, Mary Frost, but Ineverwould have considered you for a role in an action movie if it wasn’t for my personal trainer, here. He assured me that you had plenty of grit and ferocity that your previous roles haven’t showcased properly.”

“She’s a firecracker,” Sven says, with a smile. “I can barely keep up with her.”

“I can tell from the way she punched a few holes in your face,” Michael says with a chuckle.

I stare at the card, unblinking, kind of in a daze. “You’ve seen my work?” I ask him, in amazement.

“Oh, yes. That pilot you did was spectacular, and such a disappointment it didn’t get picked up. That’s more due to the politics of network television than your acting skills, believe me. But hit me up whenever you get a chance, Mary Frost, and we will talk about your future.”

---