“I don’t want to sing,” Harper said. “We won’t have any accompaniment, and it’s not like we’ve practiced or anything.”

“We don’t need to practice. I’ve got booklets with the lyrics. And you, especially, have a great voice. Caroling isn’t about skill, anyway. It’s about making someone smile.”

This was coming from her perfectionist sister? The one time Harper knew that what they were planning wouldn’t turn out to be good, her sister said it didn’t matter? “It’ll be hard for anyone to smile if we suck.”

“We won’t suck,” Karoline said.

Harper considered how uncomfortable it would be to stand outside Tobias’s door and sing to him with her girls, her sister, her brother-in-law and her nieces. She’d probably been too hasty when she suggested paying him a visit. But she couldn’t back out now. That would only draw more attention to how she might or might not feel about him. “I don’t know…”

“Don’t be a scrooge, Aunt Harper!” Miranda said.

“Yeah, we want to sing. Don’t we, Piper?” Everly pleaded.

“I want to sing,” Piper dutifully replied.

Harper sighed. She was outnumbered. “Fine. Maybe one or two songs.”

As soon as the girls were finished, Karoline sent them to get bundled up.

“Do I have to go?” Terrance asked when it was just the three of them.

Karoline arched an eyebrow at him.

“The game’s on,” he said by way of complaint.

“You’re recording it, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he said with a sigh.

“Then…” Her look grew even sharper.

“Oh, fine,” he grumbled and went to get his coat.

17

Tobias showered and threw on a T-shirt and some gym shorts. With the game over and Maddox gone, he was going to New Horizons to use the weight room. He hadn’t gotten out to hike this morning, but he could lift before the day was over. That was part of his training, too.

A knock sounded while he was looking for his keys.

Setting his gym bag on the kitchen table, Tobias opened the door to find a group of seven people.

One of them was Harper.

He would’ve said hello, but her sister—he recognized Karoline from the Blue Suede Shoe—burst into “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and soon they were all singing, including Harper, who was holding a gingerbread house and seemed massively embarrassed.

Every time he looked at her, her gaze slid down to the concrete, but Tobias couldn’t help smiling. These four girls, two women and one man, all bundled up and carrying holiday treats, looked like they’d stepped right off the front of a Christmas card. He’d never had carolers come by to sing to him, even before he went to prison.