“That’s why I was so afraid of the forest. When they told me, I just ran out there. I didn’t bring a flashlight or anything. I just ran through the rain until I couldn’t see the house anymore. My uncle came out and found me eventually, but I was…” He rubbed a rough hand over his face. “He took custody of me, but I begged to go to boarding school. I didn’t want to be here and remember. I didn’t want The Christmas Company reminding me of what happened. That’s part of the reason I hate it so much. I didn’t want to think of Christmas ever again. So, I stayed at school almost all year round.”

He shook his head. “On the one hand, it made me the man I am today. I pinch pennies because I’m afraid if I spend a cent out of line I’ll lose the company. The only thing of them I still have. I wear my father’s old suit jackets because I don’t want to lose them. I stayed in school and worked all the time to make them proud, to become the great man they would have wanted me to be. On the other hand…staying at school made it easier to avoid thinking about it. No matter how much my uncle begged me to come home even for a weekend, I just couldn’t face being here. I wanted to hold onto them, but I didn’t want to remember them, either. It was too painful. Now, it’s like I pushed it all away for so long, I can barely remember even when I want to.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“I mean…why are you telling me all this? You could have just lied.”

All at once, she became aware of tears blurring her vision as she gazed up at him. Tears for a man who’d lost everything. He’d been defeated by the world again and again, all while she’d been basking in the attention he’d been denied. The cookie-cutter remained useless in her limp hand. Clark sighed and put his own down to turn and meet her.

“Because this is the first Christmas no one let me be alone. The first time I pushed everyone away but…” They shared a meaningful look, one filled with the warmth of a freshly lit fireplace. “Someone stayed anyway.”

She wanted to hold him. Or kiss him. Anything to show him he didn’t deserve to be alone. Keeping her hands and lips to herself, she swiftly changed the subject, breaking the emotionally devastating mood with one joking question.

“How am I doing so far on that front? Have I made an elf of you?”