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I step forward.

The mayor is holding the microphone out to me. His face is warm and his eyes are shining.

I take the microphone and look out at the crowd.

There are so many faces I know. Mrs. Peterson near the front, with her hands clasped under her chin. Marge Harding wrapped in a giant scarf. Mr. Barlow next to her, actually smiling. Noëlle and Sam together, arms around each other’s waists. My parents in the middle of the crowd. My dad’s arm around my mom’s shoulders. Both of them beaming.

I take a breath.

“Thank you.”

My voice comes out steadier than I expect.

“The last four weeks have been the hardest of my career. When Chief Morrison told me the town square would be shut down for a month, I thought Christmas was over. I really did. And it wasn’t over because I fixed it. It was because you all fixed it with me.”

I clear my throat.

“I could not have done any of this without my assistant Emmett, who has kept me from losing my mind more times than I can count. I couldn’t have done it without Meredith, who is currently at the soundboard and is going to kill me for calling her out, but she deserves every bit of it. And I couldn’t have done it without Chief Morrison and Marcus Chen from public works, who worked with me to make sure we could do this safely, and every single vendor who said yes to being flexible when I called to tell them everything had changed.”

Cheers from the crowd.

“And thank you to all of you who came out tonight in the cold, on Christmas Eve, and made this feel like a party instead of a workday.”

I have to stop because my throat is closing.

“I don’t know how tomorrow can be better than tonight, but that’s the town we live in. We take care of each other. Please have a beautiful Christmas. And, uh…” I glance at the mayor. “The Winterberry website has our full year of events, so if you can’t wait until next Christmas to see us do this again, we’ve got stuff going on all year round.”

Laughter and more applause. Mayor Caldwell claps me on the shoulder as I hand the microphone back.

I walk off the stage, but I don’t make it three steps before I can no longer hold it together. Tears come up fast and hard, and I put my hand over my mouth to keep the sound in. I turn my back to the crowd and duck behind the side of the stage where the equipment cases and the cable runs are.

Bastian is right behind me.

“Finn.”

“I’m sorry⁠—”

“Hey. Hey. Come here.”

His arms come around me, and I fall into him. My brother, who used to hold me like this when I was small and something had scared me. His hand on the back of my head. His voice quiet in my ear.

“What is going on?”

“It’s my fault, Bastian. It’s my fault he’s gone.”

“What?”

“It’s my fault Fox is gone.”

The name comes out wet and broken.

Bastian goes very still.

I hear other footsteps behind me. Nikko. Stone. Taylen. They stop at the edge of the equipment cases and don’t come closer.

Bastian pulls back just enough to look at me.

“Finn, what is going on?”