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  “And what did you say?”

  “I think it was, ‘Rot and die.’”

  “You think you might have been overreacting there?”

  “No.” Trudy sat up again and stuck another red gumdrop on the roof of the gingerbread house. “I think I just told him the truth. Which was the best thing I could have done. I don’t care if he thinks I’m nuts or irrational or anything else, I told him the truth. He did the worst possible thing he could do to me, so don’t bother showing up with flowers, making cute apologies and bad jokes. And yes, I know it’s not all about him, I know he’s cashing Daddy’s emotional checks, but right now? It’s about him.”

  “He sounded like a nice guy when you were dating him.”

  “He is. He’s great. Hell, Dad’s a nice guy most of the time. That’s why we believed in him for so long. He loved us, he was a good guy, how could he keep forgetting us like that? Jesus, Courtney, I could have ended up in a relationship like that. ‘Nolan’s a nice guy, he loves me, why am I bleeding from the ears all the time?’”

  Courtney nodded. “Yeah. I know. It was almost a relief when Pres left because I could finally stop aching with disappointment.” She sighed. “Except there’s Leroy. Now I ache for Leroy. Especially tomorrow morning.”

  “We did it to him, you know.” Trudy blinked back tears. “We should have said, ‘Leroy, there is no Santa, and there’s not going to be a Mac Two under the tree on Christmas Day, although we will do whatever we have to do to get you one as soon as possible because we love you and always will.’ We should have told him the truth. Hell, Evil Nemesis Brandon told him the truth. Pretty damn bad when the only person you can trust is your Evil Nemesis.” You and me, Leroy.

  “I hate the truth. Except this part.” Courtney gestured to the Twinkletoes box. “The part where you almost got yourself killed trying to get him that MacGuffin. The part where you brought me a Twinkletoes to make up for twenty years ago. The part where you’re fixing my gingerbread house. The part where we’ll take care of Leroy together tomorrow. I like that part of the truth.”

  Trudy dropped the gumdrops and sat back next to her sister, and Courtney snuggled closer and put her head on Trudy’s shoulder.

  “Yeah,” Trudy said, patting her arm. “I like the part where you waited up for me. And did the boring part of the gingerbread house. And didn’t tell me I’m an idiot for still wanting a lying bastard.”

  “So it’s not so bad,” Courtney said as the first gumdrop slid off the roof of the gingerbread house.

  They watched for a minute while another slowly followed the first one.

  Trudy thought about putting them back again and decided to let them slide. “What are we going to tell Leroy tomorrow?”

  “How about, ‘Maybe it fell off the sleigh’?” Courtney said.

  Trudy sighed. “Well, it beats, ‘Aunt Trudy had a Mac for you, but the United States government lied to her and took it away.’”

  “Yeah,” Courtney said. “He’s mature for his age, but we’d never be able to explain that one. I’m still not sure I get it.”

  “That’s okay.” Trudy straightened. “I get it. Let’s go to bed.”

  She stood up and pulled Courtney to her feet and steered her in the direction of the stairs, and when her sister was gone she walked around shutting off lights and turning off the fire, stopping when she came to the stereo where the CD had changed. Judy Garland was singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” the carol that most made Trudy want to kill herself every holiday. She stood in the darkness and listened to Judy break her heart and let the tears drip as she thought of Leroy in the morning and of Nolan that night. I really did believe in you, she thought. For about five minutes, I believed, and it felt really good.

  Then Judy finished her song and Trudy turned the stereo off and went to bed.

  * * *

  The next morning, Trudy curled up in an armchair in her flannel robe and mainlined coffee while Leroy opened his presents. When he was done, he turned and looked at them, standing straight in his Lilo and Stitch footie PJs, and said, “‘Guffin?”

  Courtney swallowed. “It wasn’t in there? Gee, baby, maybe it fell off the sleigh.”

  Leroy looked at her with the five-year-old version of, How dumb do you think I am?

  Trudy put her coffee cup down and took a deep breath. “Leroy, here’s the thing. There really isn’t a—”

  The doorbell rang, and she stopped, grateful for any interruption. “I’ll get it.” She went to the front door and looked through the square windows at the top, through the gold wreath Courtney had hung on the outside.

  Nolan was standing there, looking like three kinds of hell.

  Good, she thought, you’re as miserable as I am, and opened the door. “Oh, look, it’s a Christmas miracle.”

  He was holding two Christmas gift bags, slumping with exhaustion as the snow started to settle on his thick, dark hair. “Merry Christmas, Trudy.”

  “Ho ho ho,” Trudy said. “I was just about to explain to my five-year-old nephew that there is no Santa. Can you come back at another time? Never would be good for me.”

  He held out one of the bags. “Chill on the Santa. I got you covered.”

  “Uh huh,” Trudy said.

  “Go ahead. Look.”

  She took the bag and looked inside at the top of a camo-colored box that said, New! Now with Toxic Waste! “You are kidding me.” She pulled out the box and saw the Mac Two, its pudgy little face uglier than ever now that its lips were pursed to spit goop. “How—”

  “Top-secret,” Nolan said, trying an exhausted smile on her. “I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

  “That’s lame.” She put the Mac Two back in the bag, hope beginning to rise that maybe he wasn’t a rat until she remembered that what he’d really come for was the Twinkletoes. She handed the bag back to him. “You’re too late. And your patter is falling off.”

  “It’s six A.M., I’ve had no sleep, and I’m freezing.” Nolan held the bag out to her again. “Everything I have is falling off. Will you take this, please?” Then he looked past her, toward the floor, and said, “Hi.”

  Trudy turned to see Leroy, blinking up at them, looking absurdly small in his footie pajamas.

  “What’s that?” Leroy said, pointing to the Christmas bag.

  “I found it out on the front lawn,” Nolan said. “I think it fell off the sleigh.” He handed it to Leroy.

  Leroy looked into the top of it and his face lit up. “Mom!” he yelled. “You were right!” He took off for the living room and then stopped and came back. “Thank you very much for finding my ‘Guffin,” he said to Nolan, and then took off for the living room again, so happy that Trudy felt her throat close.

  “Cute kid,” Nolan said, and looked back at Trudy.

  “Thank you,” she said, feeling absurdly relieved. Don’t get suckered by this guy again. “Well, I’d invite you in, but I’m still mad at you. So thanks. Merry Christmas. Have a good life. Somewhere else.” She shut the door in his face.

  “If you don’t sleep with him, I will,” Courtney said from behind her. “He got my kid a MacGuffin. He forgot the extra toxic waste, but what the hell.”

  “He’s not leaving,” Trudy said as the doorbell rang again. “Go get your Twinkletoes, he’s going to ask for it next.” She opened the door.

  “Forgot this.” Nolan handed her three packages of toxic waste.

  “How do you feel about dating women with children?” Courtney said.

  “Get the Twinkletoes,” Trudy said, and Courtney went back to the living room.

  Nolan leaned in the doorway, looking too tired to stand. “Look, I know you’re mad, and I don’t blame you, but I want to see you again. We got off to a bad start because we were lying to each other—”

  “I never lied to you,” Trudy said, outraged.

  “You like faculty cocktail parties? And you really wanted to see that foreign film I took you to?”

  “I was