Today, Christmas Day, had been lovely, she reminded herself. Ted had been delighted with his gifts from Allison: new socks, a blue cashmere cardigan, and a book—the perfect book: The Hidden Life of Trees. He’d read aloud from it throughout the day, telling her and Terrance—Jillian had spent most of the day in her room—all about the friendships and the hibernation of the trees, the social networking and the love. Tree love. Ted and Terrance had gone in on a gift card to Trader Joe’s for Allison, which was—well, they knew she liked Trader Joe’s, so it was thoughtful on some level. Allison’s parents opted to spend Christmas at Brighton Manor, the first time they’d spent both Thanksgiving and Christmas there. Allison had offered to drive up on the twenty-third, after school let out, but her parents discouraged her. The traffic. The weather. She, Ted, and Jillian could come up in spring. They could attend the Easter party, when they served spiral ham.

Didn’t her parents want to see her? It felt like a rejection of her as a daughter, yet another rejection after being rejected as a wife and mother. Teens were supposed to reject you; that was their job. But it was still a lot of rejecting all at once. No wonder she was so preoccupied with Nick. He was the only person she knew who actually seemed to want her.

Their paths would cross again. It was inevitable. Maybe when Jillian went back to school next week. She imagined running into him on the porch of Lucy’s one cold afternoon, tapping the rims of their coffee cups together as they toasted what might have been. Or maybe he would have forgotten about it. What kiss? He kissed women all the time. That was a more likely scenario.

After dinner Allison left Ted and Terrance playing their annual Christmas-night checkers tournament, and walked Candy to the green. She meant to honor the carcass of the fallen Christmas tree before it was sawn up and carted off—and lo and behold, a Christmas miracle: there were Nick and Rex, apparently doing the same thing. The tree lay like a fallen dinosaur, construction paper and cranberry garlands its funeral shroud. Was Nick responsible for its demise? Had he come back to the scene of the crime, as criminals were said to do? She didn’t think so. But she didn’t want to ask either. Who was it, if not him? It was just so heartless. It was depressing to think someone so heartless lived among them. She didn’t want to think about that. Not right now. There he was. Him!

Candy and Rex barked and cried out their delight. They leaped and pulled, drawing their owners side by side.

“Well, hello, Mr. Cox,” Allison said, hoping he didn’t hear the quiver in her voice.