They departed. Emily and Kate remained in the living room. When the door closed behind the two men, signaling that they were really alone, Emily’s mouth popped into a perfect O and her eyes widened with fake horror.

“Wow. He’s…”

Kate held up a silencing hand. She didn’t need to like Clark to make her plan work, but she wanted to like Clark. No one deserved to be miserable at Christmas, not even the very cruel, but it would make things so much easier if she felt he had even a chance of being a good man.

“I’ve never heard you say a bad thing about another person. Don’t start now.”

“That’s not true. You’ve heard me say many bad things about many people. Most people, actually.”

“Still.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything bad about him. Just…”

“Just what?”

Emily’s hesitation spoke louder than any condemnation ever could. She was one of the most passive-aggressive, backhanded-compliment people Kate ever knew. You’d be on the receiving end of the world’s most beautiful smile while being told you’re a moron, but she’d say it so you thought she was lavishing praise on you. In the end, she picked up a storage tub, shook her head once, and said in the most piteous voice Kate ever heard:

“Bless his heart.”

Even if Clark hadn’t told her he’d rented this car, Kate could have guessed it. The sleek silver car hid a leather interior with a control panel so futuristic it might as well have been ripped out of a Star Trek ship. She could imagine him driving around Dallas in a usually broken-down clunker before she could imagine him forking over the thousands of dollars this car probably cost.

In the front seat, Michael guided Clark down the hill and the twisting, turning roads leading them to the back roads of Miller’s Point. Out here, things were even quieter than in town, if such a thing were possible. Kate’s request to turn the radio to 109.7, the local station that played all the holiday hits from yesterday and today, was firmly denied, and they rode into town in total silence, save for Michael’s occasional navigation tips.

“Yeah, and just pull in here.”

They turned up the familiar drive to the Lewisham house, where little Bradley and his family would be waiting for them. Sure enough, when they passed the tree line towards their humble house, Bradley sat on the front steps, tapping his feet and twiddling the famous Tiny Tim cane. Apparently, last night no one had the heart to tell him he couldn’t bring the costumes home. Kate’s gaze flickered to Clark. Was he heartless enough to take a fake cane worth less than three dollars from a little boy?

Probably not… Right?