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Mitzi looped an arm around her shoulders. “You’re right. No woman should have to convince a man to love her. Good reminder.”
Mary Paige tapped her friend’s thigh. “I know you already got the tremendous gift of remission, but I have a little something else for you.”
Mitzi clapped her hands. “Oh, goody! A present!”
“Come on.” Mary Paige tugged Mitzi toward the small living room, where the tree blinked in tune to the carols spilling out of the stereo. Okay, so Mary Paige hadn’t synchronized the music to the blink, but it still looked as if they were in perfect harmony.
She reached under the tree and pulled out a small box and handed it to Mitzi. “For you.”
“I have something for you at my house. I can go get it.”
“I’ll get it when I bring the cat over and give your mother her gift.”
“Okay.” Mitzi tore through the gold wrapping paper with little care for saving the bow. Pulling off the lid of the box, she gasped. “Ooh, Mary, it’s so…sweet.”
Lying on a square of cotton was a silver bangle bracelet with a pink cancer-survivor ribbon charm.
“You like it? I got it in October because I knew you were going to beat this.”
Tears shimmered in Mitzi’s eyes as she unhooked the bracelet and slid it onto her wrist. “What if I hadn’t?”
Mary Paige smiled. “Eh, it would have kept until you did.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, and I also got this for you.” Mary Paige had finally put the money in the bank, realizing that ignoring it wasn’t making it go away. And it was high time she figured out what to do with it. One of the things she planned to do was spoil the people she loved. “Here.” Mary Paige passed an envelope toward Mitzi.
“What’s this?”
“Open it.”
Mitzi lifted the flap and pulled out a brochure. Her eyes skimmed the first page before opening to the middle. “This is a brochure for breast reconstruction…oh, Mary Paige.”
Tears spilled down Mitzi’s face right before her expression crumpled.
“Don’t cry, Mitzi. You’ll make me cry, too.”
“How did you— I can’t let you do this. It’s too much.”
“No, it’s not. It will make me so happy to see you happy again. To see you confident, wearing those skimpy halter tops you always wore before your diagnosis.”
Mitzi laughed through the tears. “I can’t believe you bought me a boob job. Do know how bizarre that is?”
“Well, it’s a little—”
Her words were cut off by Mitzi’s full-out sobs. And that made Mary Paige cry, too. Mostly because it felt so good to do something for her friend, something she knew Mitzi could never afford. She also cried because her heart had been broken into a billion itty-bitty pieces when Brennan closed that office door, ending their relationship as if it had meant nothing to him. Happy mixed with sad.
Hope mixed with despair.
Love mixed with loss.
“You’re the best person I know.”
“Sure.” Mary Paige sniffed. “Don’t you know I’m the Spirit of Christmas?”
Then it was Mary Paige’s turn to sob into the arms of her friend. The love of a friend was a joy, but no substitute for the love of the man she wanted.
No doubt about it—Brennan Henry, the big, fat Scrooge, had broken her heart.
