“With no Christmas presents, I guess.”

“I guess not,” Nora said, suddenly exhausted.

Wesley weighed the pages in his hands, flipped through them and pressed them to his chest.

“Why did you write this? Write a book about us?”

“Because I guess I’ve always known you and I can’t be together. God, I thought I was going to faint a few minutes ago trying to have vanilla sex with you. I hate that we have this thing between us. It kills me a little bit every day. The book—I don’t know. I guess I thought at least we could be together on paper for a little while. It’s not much, but it’s something,” she said, trying and failing to smile.

“Let me read it. All of it.”

“You don’t want to read it, sweetheart.”

“You said it was us.”

Nora remained unmoved.

“Please,” Wesley said, and Nora heard the slight but desperate catch in his voice. Nodding, she slid off the bed and retreated to her office. She grabbed the binder that held her most recent copy of her novel and returned to her bedroom.

“It’s not done yet. I still have about eight or so chapters to write.”

“How does it end?”

“I don’t know,” she lied.

“The Consolation Prize.” He opened the binder and read the title out loud.

“Yeah, the consolation prize. You know, it’s what you get when you don’t win.”

“What do you want to win?” In his voice was a quiet promise that if he could give it to her he would.

“You, Wes. But I can’t win you without selling who I am to afford you.”

“And I can’t win you without selling my soul, right?” Wesley asked.

“Now you see why I said The Gift of the Magi was a horror story.”

Wesley only looked at her before turning his eyes to her novel.

She spun on her heel and left Wesley alone in her room with the book—the book she had written in a reckless attempt to exorcise the demon of love from her heart. Once Wesley finished the book he would know everything—know the good of her love and the evil, know she wanted him and why. They’d been so happy together in the strange little paradise they’d made together, but now she felt expulsion was imminent. And she had no one but herself to blame for her fall.

Nora returned to her office and sat at her desk. Outside, the last gasp of the retreating winter winds paced back and forth across her windows. Wesley was going to read her book. She opened her saved draft and put her hands on the keyboard. What could she do but write? At least now she knew how to end the big scene. William would try to make love to Caroline like she wanted. He would try, but he would fail. And between the two of them a chasm would open up so wide they could not even see to the other side. The moment they tried the hardest to be together is the moment they are forever torn apart.