“Mostly the timing, I suspect. The reason we celebrate Christmas on the twenty-fifth has nothing to do with Christ’s birth. In fact, we have no idea when Christ was born. The twenty-fifth was designated as Jesus’s birthday by Pope Julius I, in order to attract new Roman members to the church because they were already celebrating the day in honor of the pagan god of agriculture. Which is why Christmas not so coincidentally takes place near the winter solstice.”

“I had no idea,” I said.

“Also interesting is that historically, Dickens and Friedrich Engels were contemporaries. They were both in Manchester, England, at the same time and they were equally repulsed by the workers’ living conditions.”

“Who is Friedrich Engels?”

“He was Karl Marx’s inspiration for the Communist Manifesto. The early nineteenth century was a dark time for the workingman. The majority of the children born to working-class parents died before the age of five. So while Engels wrote about a political revolution, Dickens was writing about a different kind of revolution—a revolution of the heart. He was writing about the things he wrote about in his other books, the welfare of children and the need for social charity.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I’m a lawyer,” he said, which again made no sense to me.

“What does that have to do with—”

“Shh,” he said, laying his finger across his lips. “The play is starting.”

As the lights came up at the end of the first half, just before Scrooge meets the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, I excused myself to go to the ladies’ room. When I returned Nicholas was standing near our seats, talking to a beautiful young woman. She looked to be in her late twenties, with big brown eyes and coffee brown hair that fell past her shoulders.

“Elise, this is Ashley,” Nicholas said. “We used to work together.”

She smiled at me. “I was Nick’s legal secretary. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I echoed. I took Nicholas’s hand, which she noticed.

“Where’s Hazel tonight?” Nicholas asked.

“With Grandma,” she said. “Kory and I needed a night out. Looks like you did too.” She turned to me. “Nick’s the best boss I’ve ever had, but an insatiable workaholic. I’m glad to see someone got him out of the office for a change.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen him without a tie,” I said.

“I can believe that. I’m pretty sure that he sleeps with one on.” She turned back to Nicholas. “It’s good to see you. You take care.” She leaned forward, and they hugged. Then she walked around to a section directly across the theater from ours.

“How long did she work for you?” I asked.

“Three, almost four years. A year ago she quit to have a baby.”

“She likes you.”

“We worked well together,” he said simply.