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“I didn’t want to ruin Christmas.”

“Someone is trying to ruin Christmas,” Momma said.

“Someone is just trying to win the competition!” Mom said, pointing at the Moreno house.

I wasn’t sure if it was because our voices had gotten so loud, or if it really was a coincidence, but Mrs. Moreno was standing in her driveway staring at us as our attention turned to their house with my mom’s accusation.

I let a sharp breath out through my nose.

“Excuse me? What are you accusing us of now?” Mrs. Moreno called.

“Stealing more of our yard decorations!” Mom returned.

“Don’t blame us for your ridiculous yard!”

“You can see with your own eyes something was stolen!” Mom moved off the porch to present the empty space where the snow globe used to be.

“Why would we want your garbage?” Mrs. Moreno yelled back.

My face flushed.

“Because you were tired of looking at it!” Mom snapped.

“Everyone is!”

“We’re tired of you!” Mom screamed.

Mr. Moreno walked out of the open garage door, joining his wife. “That’s enough! Control yourselves!” he barked.

“Don’t talk to us that way!” Momma joined in. Marcus had positioned himself by my moms as well, puffing out his chest.

My face was hot with embarrassment. “This isn’t helping,” I said, tugging on Momma’s arm. “Please, stop.”

“We’re going to call the police and see what they have to say about this!” Mom snapped. “We have evidence of your son taking our stuff.”

“Mom,” I whispered. “No, you don’t.”

She shot me a look that made me close my mouth.

I whirled around and walked away, my feet stinging from the cold now.

“Where are you going?” Marcus asked.

“Away from this. This isn’t us. This isn’t Christmas.”

I burst through the front door. Harris was sitting in the front room over a brown shipping box, its contents spilling out. It looked like crumbled holiday cookies. It was hard to tell because they were broken into so many pieces and all over the carpet. They were the right colors, though.

I kept walking. When I was halfway up the stairs, my moms and Marcus came inside.

“What’s this mess?” Mom asked.

“I found Aunt Josie’s present!” Harris said.

I shut myself in my bedroom. My phone was on the nightstand, and I picked it up, hoping for a text from Ryan.

But there were no notifications. No texts, no likes on my social media posts, no DMs.

Nothing.