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“Chris,” I respond, after a long pause. “Good to hear from you.”

“Sorry to call you so close to the holiday,” he says, letting out a sigh. I hear a shuffle from beside him and wonder if Gloria is there with him, if she’s putting her hand on his arm for support. Thoughts of Cami are like battering rams against my mind. I can’t stop myself from wishing she was here, wishing I had someone next to me, their hand on my arm, giving me support, too.

“That’s all right.” I clear my throat, set a hand on my desk and try to regain the confidence I normally have when conducting a phone call with a potential seller. “I’m in the office, actually.”

Chris lets out another sigh, as though that’s the last thing he wants to hear.

“Right. Well, I’ve made a decision, and I think it’s only right that you hear it from me. David has agreed to take over the company after all. I’ll be selling it to him. I hope you can understand.”

I wait for the crushing disappointment.

“I understand,” I say, and to my surprise, I actually do.

“I really like you, Patrick. I just think that your heart isn’t in the right place here. Everybody has their own reasons for what they pursue in life, and I recognize that I can’t go around judging others for how they choose to conduct themselves.”

I bite my tongue to keep from saying that he can definitely judge others. He can judge me for lying to him.

“What I want you to know, Patrick, is that I’m not pulling out of the deal because of the lie. Don’t get me wrong, I hate that you did it. But in a way, I get why you did. You felt pressured, felt like if you weren’t just like me, I wasn’t going to pick you. And it must be true because it worked! I liked you more when I found out you were engaged. Which isn’t fair. Plenty of folks don’t want to get married or anything, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

I blink at Chris’s surprisingly self-aware statement, open my mouth, but can’t figure out what to say to that. Luckily, I don’t have to think of anything to say, because Chris goes on.

“It’s not because you lied, son. And I know there are some people who don’t have the same kind of family as me. But the thing is that you’ve got to have some kind of family. You’ve got to have people you care about, and those people have got to be more important than the business. Than making money. And that’s why I couldn’t hand Moreno Toys over to you. Because I need it to be in the hands of a person who knows family is more important than anything else. I can’t watch the company get swallowed up by algorithms and market trends and toys that appeal to the bright, flashy consumerism and not much else. The whole point of the thing is to make toys that bring people together. Get mom and dad to play with baby. That sort of thing.”

There’s a low murmur on the other end of the line, and I hear Chris clear his throat.

“Well, anyway, I’m rambling. Sorry for taking up so much of your time, Patrick. I hope you enjoy the rest of your holidays, and sorry again for how everything turned out.”

With that, he says goodbye, and I’m left standing in the middle of my office, processing everything he just said.

Moreno Toys is gone.

Even with the best mergers and acquisitions lawyers in the world, I’m not going to be able to get the company from David once it’s sold. Part of me feels bad that it’s come to this, but I believe David would rather take the company from his dad than watch it go to the wrong person.

After all this, there’s no way I’m going to get my hands on the toy business.

And I’m not even the slightest bit disappointed about it.

I keep waiting for a sinking feeling to come, to be frustrated or angry about the loss, but there’s nothing.

Well, not nothing. I’m still missing something.

Someone.

It hits me, with a sudden and certain clarity, that the thing I’ve lost isn’t Moreno Toys.

It’s Cami Aaronson.

And I’m going to do something about it.

CHAPTER 30

CAMI

Iam back in my hometown, walking down the brightest, most festive street in the area, with a tiny radio hanging around my neck. It plays classic Christmas music with just the slightest bit of static. I’ve been using the same radio since I was a kid, when we were coming here and sitting single file in a wagon pulled by my parents.

My family unfurls around me in a familiar pattern that continues to grow.

My oldest sister, Bianca, is with her husband Erik and their two kids, Liam and Amelia. Liam is just getting to that age—double digits—where he’s starting to think things are no longer cool. I wish it could hold off a little longer.