I heard a huff. “No, Faith. I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
Christ. This little girl always had a shit ton of questions.
I heard a deep sigh. “Because Mr. Timber decorates differently than we do.”
I detested Noelle’s festive cheer that she greeted me with every damn Christmas season when I opened my blinds. Bright colors full of classical merry vibes, while I wanted the opposite. All greedy and green. God, we were completeopposites with no attraction there whatsoever, but her damn gorgeous eyes tempted me to question otherwise.
“All in the color green?” Faith asked.
“Yeah.” Elle sighed as she crossed her arms. “It’s his favorite and matches his attitude every winter season.”
“Green is my favorite color too!” Faith shouted with excitement as she bounced up and down. “I have a concert at school he can help me out with. Maybe—”
“Come on, sweetie,” Elle interrupted her daughter with all of her damn cheery crap. “Let’s go finish decorating the front lawn with Santa and his reindeer.”
“Yay!” Faith squealed happily.
Little Elle garnished her place far too joyfully for me—an abomination I wanted to squash like the fucking Abominable Snow Monster inRudolphand ruin her festive glory for all of eternity. I hated Noelle Evergreen with a passion, and nothing would excite me more than destroying the joyous glint in those cinnamon hues.
I’d love to make Elle’s Christmas a living hell for once, but I’d have to answer to her father once the dust settled. I respected Gabriel far too much to mess with his only child, and I’d kept the peace for all these years.
My blood boiled, and my knuckles turned white as I clenched the strand of green lights and listened to their footsteps crunch in the snow. Noelle and her daughter skipped away singing afa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-lasong that hurt my damn ears.
Goddamn it!I loathed any classic joyful symphony. Bah, humbug.
My mind raced, and I was back to scheming as I hung lights on my shed. I had to keep little Elle on her pretty pink toes. The damn woman had crawled under my skin the moment I had laid eyes on her, and she never left me alone. I wanted her gone. Out of my life and off my street.
This Christmas, I’d decorate my house full of green carnage and outshine Elle’s chipper bullshit—a neighborly war her father wouldn’t have to know about. He wasn’t here for the holiday season, having flown a plane away on vacation to somewhere sunny, but I’d take care of his daughter. I always did, with a grumpy face staring directly at her property.Noelle’s damn words, not mine.
I’d toy with my best friend’s daughter and make a festive game she was bound to enjoy because she got off on that shit. This merry season would be one she could take a picture of and keep in her damn scrapbook. A Christmas we’d never forget.
TWO
Bitter Hatred
Noelle
“There.” I sighed and wiped my mittens together as snow fell to the ground. “Perfect.”
The jolly man sat inside his sleigh in a bright red suit full of glitter and glee as his reindeer led the way on my front lawn. Rudolph, with his nose so bright, shone the way for Santa’s journey across the world. Faith placed a couple of presents inside the carriage, and Old St. Nick waved at her. The electronic machine lit up brightly, and everything was perfect for a delighted audience to view from the street.
I could picture children’s faces full of joy, their eyes twinkling at the magical sight, and their rosy little cheeks. Parents would hold their kids’ hands as they took in the wondrous spectacle and relived the magic of Christmastime. Wishes of fortune and new beginnings, as memories danced in adults’ heads while the kids hoped to receive their favorite toys that they’d been waiting for all year.
Who doesn’t love a traditional Christmas?
I could think of only one person.
Jack Timber was the meanest, wealthiest asshole on the entire street. He didn’t go to charity events, didn’t donate money to unfortunate kids, and hadn’t given one act of kindness in his bitter existence. Except when he partook in saving my assat nineteen.
Mr. Timber was an extremely grumpy man who could make a child cry with one angry stare. He was absolutely unlovable, without an inch of kindness inside his icy heart. I wondered how his organ still had a heartbeat.
“Mommy?” Faith tugged on my coat, and her sweet rosy face peered up at me. “Do you think Santa will like our yard?”
I tapped her nose and smiled. “Absolutely, sweetie. He does every year.”
Faith narrowed her eyebrows and pointed behind me. “But Mr. Timber’s property has all new stuff. Santa might love his house more.”
