“It’s okay formomsto hear. That’s different.” Chloe tucked her hand around his bicep.
Axel visibly relaxed. Ryan scowled. Dad shook his head at their exchange and slid one palm down the length of his face. Mom smiled and patted his arm.
The rest of us leaned in to eavesdrop on Mason. Nick’s arm wrapped loosely around me in the huddle. I glanced at him, and he winked. Ah, yes. Operation: Jack & Sally—this was the perfect time to be affectionate in front of Ryan without Mason seeing.
“…favorite brand.” Mason was clearly trying to keep his voice down, but he was too excited.
I struggled to stop focusing on the heat from Nick’s arm searing through my sweater and attempted to make out roughly every other word. “…all the pros…best.”
Olivia tilted her head and squinted. “Maybe?”
“That’s got to be it.” Kat shrugged, tossing her dark hair off her shoulders. She’d worn her favorite Wildcats ball cap again. “What other pro sport does he care about?”
Olivia ticked off her fingers one by one. “Baseball. Hockey. Football.”
“Wait—I just heard NBA.” Nick shot his fist in the air in victory.
“Perfect!” Olivia hiked her purse up on her shoulder. “We’re golden.”
“…but really, all I want for Christmas is the truth.”
Mason’s innocent voice rang loud and clear that time. We all stopped and stared at each other. Then Kat’s eyes darted to the ground. Olivia winced and glanced away. Mom and Dadexchanged a long look. Chloe studied her red-and-white-striped nails. Ryan’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Nick.
The mall buzzed with activity, but you could have heard a peppermint drop in the circle of Sinclairs hunched together. Did we all look…guilty? Or was that my own conscious projecting?
Then Mom shook her nearly empty bag of nuts. “Well, I better go find a trash can.” She hurried off. Dad followed with a frown.
“I’ll get Mason and meet you guys down by the parking lot.” Olivia took Janie’s hand, still avoiding everyone’s eyes. “Let’s go.”
“I’m going to hit the restroom before we leave.” Kat gestured vaguely toward the customer service corridor the opposite direction. “See you back at the car.”
“Wait.” Chloe turned a full circle, her carefully constructed curls swinging across the back of her white sweater dress. “Has anyone seen Axel?”
“He’s in line.” Nick pointed behind us, to where Axel had joined the line of kids to see Santa. A determined expression was set on his thin face.
Chloe sighed and went to join him.
I glanced at Nick as everyone dispersed. “Do you think Mason meant us?”
Nick looked down at me and started to shake his head. Then his eyes drifted to something behind me, over my shoulder, and went wide.
He didn’t get a chance to answer before Ryan’s fist came flying directly toward his face.
“I still can’t believe youpunchedme.” Nick shifted on the hard bench in the mall’s security office, but no position he tried made the stained beige seat comfortable—or the ache in his jaw lessen. Did cops not keep ibuprofen?
Ryan, who’d refused to sit and had chosen to pace the holding cell instead, sheepishly shoved his hands into his back pockets. “You were supposed to duck.”
“That script would have been nice.” Nick gingerly touched the bruise on his jaw, not sure if he was glad it was in roughly the same place as the bruise from his fall the other day. Probably would have hurt less in a different spot. But at least he wouldn’t have a second area of his face purple for the holidays.
“I’m so sorry.” Ryan winced and his glasses slipped down his nose. Part of Nick wanted to yank them off his face and toss them into the mall’s fountain they’d passed while being escorted by two security officers. Make Ryan fish them out among the wads of chewing gum and tarnished pennies.
And the other part of Nick felt he had it coming. Maybe not from Ryan. But in general, for all the lies and half-truths andmisunderstandings hovering around the Sinclair home—all revolving aroundhim.
Ryan craned his neck to see down the hallway through the barred door, then turned back to Nick. “I was trying to play along, like you suggested. Make Holly think I’m mad about you two being together.”
“Oh, I think you made it clear.” Nick shifted his jaw to the side, testing the tenderness. Not that bad. Ryan’s fist had glanced more than landed, though it’d caught them both off guard. Lydia had screamed. Holly’s face reddened deeper than her hair. And then both women had launched simultaneously at Ryan like the first bout in an MMA fight.
“Holly’s strong, man.” Ryan shook his head with a little laugh. “I’m sort of shocked she and Lydia aren’t locked up in here with us after their reaction.”
