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But not before I caught Nona lowering her hand from the alarm switch.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“It’s never too late. You can always change if you want to.”

—Scrooged

By the time I made it outside, most of The Market folks were already on the street, shielding their eyes from the glare of the sun reflecting off snow. I did the same and found Leo with my mom and most of my family, but Sam had disappeared.

“Hey.” A hand appeared on my shoulder. I turned around to find James, a bit flushed but still grinning, standing before me. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if you were into grand gestures, but…um, I thought I might as well get into the holiday spirit, you know?”

The answer I knew I needed to give, but hated myself for giving, slowly took form. I swallowed over the growing lump in my throat and took one of Leo’s deep breaths, then I said, “I can’t go with you to the Mistletoe Masquerade.”

He slowly took off the elf hat. “Can’t, like you’ve got something else going on? Or like you just can’t go with me…”

Neither? My stomach rolled, souring. “I know I agreed to do this fake-dating thing with you, but…um, something has changed.”

“I feel the same way.” He stepped forward and took my hand in his. “I know it’s not what we planned on,” he continued. “But—”

Sirens sounded from down the street, and everyone standing in the road hurried onto the closest sidewalk.

I pulled him around the corner and away from the crowd near Cherry Street and swallowed hard. “James, I never expected to start having feelings for you—”

“Me too—”

“Just, hold on. Let me get this out.” I took a step back. “It was real for me, but…it just…isn’t enough.”

I thought finally speaking the truth of my heart would make me feel better, like a weight lifting off my small shoulders, but watching his beautiful smile change to something far worse than sadness like felt the biggest sucker punch to my gut.

I pressed my hand against my stomach. “I’m so—”

“It’s all good. Timing was against us, I guess.” He pulled his hand away and tucked it into his pants pocket. “Operation Ho Ho Humbug would have to come to a close inevitably, right?”

“Right,” I said softly.

So, wait, that was over, then, too?

Of course it’s over. You just broke his heart, genius.

Sandy barked and trotted over. James crouched down and rubbed her head for a moment, saying something only she could hear, and then followed her back toward Mistletoe Lane.

The lump in my throat turned to an ache as they disappeared into the crowd.

What a hypocrite I was to think that James’s dad would be the Scrooge in this story.

After the fire marshal cleared the building, Breakfast with Santa picked back up, but most people took the alarm as a sign to pack up and go home early. As if my guilt wasn’t thick enough, I was now responsible for ruining the band and choir’s winter fundraiser.

Humbug indeed.

Thankfully, my family took mercy on me and left me alone while we cleaned up the event and reset market vendor stands so businesses could open midafternoon. When Leo and I were folding our third of the long tablecloths, Mom appeared at the top of the stairs outside her studio door. “Gianna, can you pop in here before you leave, please?”

Womp womp.

“Yikes,” Leo said as we finished our final fold. “That was the same face she gave you when you tried painting over the hole we put in the wall.”

“You mean the hole you put in the wall, you little sneak.” I ruffled his hair and then sighed. “Do me a favor, okay? If I’m not out of there in thirty minutes, tell Nona to pull the alarm.” Again.

Mom stood behind her easel when I arrived in the studio, holding up a finger after I closed the door as she finished whatever she was working on. I walked around her and sat on the windowsill, running my fingers over the leaves of one of her pothos. A couple minutes later, she laid down her brush and wiped her hands on the apron covering her pants.