“Okay. Some time to unwind would be good.” She glanced at her mother. “I’ll need something alcoholic, please.”

“Of course. You know your father has the bar stocked.” She waved them away. “Now go. Get settled.”

As they went toward to the stairs, Nic’s gaze landed on the fireplace with its crackling fire and all the Christmasy knickknacks that her mother had put out. Abby nearly laughed as a new stocking had been added. Nicole. Nic glanced back at her with such a cute expression on her face that she did laugh. Nic grinned back at her.

“What’s funny?” her mother asked.

She looked at her mother, still smiling. “The stocking is nice, Mom.”

“Well, we must all have a stocking.”

“Very few people call me Nicole—in fact, no one that I can think of,” Nic said, a smile still playing on her lips. “I doubt Santa will know who it’s for.”

“Oh, you girls with your nicknames. In school, everyone wanted to call me Sandy. Well, that’s not my name. It’s Sandra. And my husband. It’s William, yet everyone calls him Bill. Well, my daughter is Abigail, and you are Nicole. So there.”

Nic smiled at her. “I love it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Abby found she was still smiling when she reached the second floor. She glanced behind her, finding Nic smiling too. “Do I need to apologize?”

“I don’t mind being Nicole. Just not sure I’m going to remember to answer to it.”

She pushed open the door to her room, then laughed. It, too, was bursting with Christmas cheer.

“I think she’s trying to make a good impression on you. She never decorates my room.”

“We even have our own tiny tree.” Nic walked over to it. “This was about the size we had at home.” She touched a red ball. “It wasn’t ever this pretty, though.”

Abby put her bags on the bed and moved closer to her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“About why you dislike Christmas so much?”

Nic shook her head. “No.”

Abby stared at her a bit longer, trying to read her eyes. Of course she didn’t know her well enough to read them. “Is this all going to be an overload for you?”

“I’ll manage. I’m kinda looking forward to it. I’m certain it will be a Christmas I’ll remember always.” She laughed lightly. “I mean, who could forget the year I played a fake girlfriend named Nicole?”

Abby returned her smile, then moved to sit on the bed. “Thank you for interrupting down there. I guess I get too defensive with my mother, but I always feel like she’s blaming me for everything. Like it’s my fault there’s this rift between me and Aaron.”

“Maybe she finds it easier to corner you than to deal with both Aaron and Holly.”