Page 14 of The Scrooge Effect

She looked up at me sadly, not even fighting with me. “Is that all this is to you? A big joke?”

“Harper, you’re not going to make me believe in the magic of Christmas. I’m sorry, but I didn’t have this magical time as a kid. My dad was drinking. He smacked my mom around. He smacked me around. This day is just another reminder of something I’d like to forget. You need to stop pushing me on this.”

“But this is for the kids! You’re taking their Christmas and ruining it for them the way your dad ruined your Christmas.”

“That’s not—” I huffed out a laugh at her words. “No, they still have you. All of you can do your Christmas thing, and I’ll stay over here.”

“But we want you involved!”

“Well, clearly, when I get involved, it only ruins everything. If you hadn’t forced me to go with you tonight, you would have seen fake Santa, and everything would have been fine.”

“We didn’t force you to go with us. It was your idea! And if you didn’t come with, we wouldn’t have had you to share it with,” she whispered.

“Do I look like someone who wants to share jingle bells and sing silly songs? Listen, if you want to have a good Christmas, just do me a favor and leave me out of it. I’ll still get your tree and hang your lights, but don’t ask me to participate in any of it.”

I walked out before she could pull any crazy Harper moves on me. She had a way of doing that, of twisting me to get what she wanted, but that wasn’t going to work this time. I didn’t want to enjoy Christmas. I didn’t want to fake it or pretend this was something magical. It was all a bunch of lies, and the longer I participated, the worse I would make it for everyone else.

Heading downstairs, I flipped on the television and tried to chill out for the rest of the night. I had the feeling I wouldn’t be welcome in bed tonight, so I laid out on the couch and searched for a game. But every channel I put on had a freaking Christmas movie or people wearing Christmas hats.

What was with everyone? Why did they all have to be so freaking cheery? I hated it all, and worse, I hated myself for not being able to give this to my family when they really deserved it.

Spying the envelope on the table, I picked it up and pulled out the contents. Leave it to Harper to place this in the exact spot I would find it. She was never very good at letting things go, so this really shouldn’t have surprised me.

But as I stared down at the paperwork leaving Dad’s house to me, I couldn’t help but feel resentful that Harper would intrude on this part of my life. It was in the past, and I wanted nothing to do with the old man, or what he left as a parting gift.

That man had ruined my life for years, and it was only after I joined the military that I had anything resembling a normal life. Now that I finally found some peace, he was reaching out from beyond the grave for one last fuck you.

I grunted as I read through the contents he left me. It wasn’t just the house. It was everything inside, along with all of Mom’s stuff.

Tossing the paperwork on the table, I scrubbed a hand down my face and tried to erase it all from my mind. I would not spend the rest of my life constantly reminded of that bastard, or my mother, who never bothered to stand up for herself or me.

How many times had she told me she was going to leave him? How many times had I stepped in and tried to save her? But she fought back, baiting him into one argument after another. And for what? Because they were toxic for each other, and they tried to pull me into the chaos.

“You don’t have to deal with it,” Harper whispered.

I hadn’t even heard her walk up behind me. God, I was getting really bad at not letting my guard down, especially around my wife. I was so used to her being there that I sometimes forgot how easily she wormed her way into my life in the first place.

“I’m not.”

“I mean, I can take care of it for you. You won’t have to speak to anyone.”

“Harper—”

“Just listen to me,” she said, rushing around the couch to sit beside me. “I know how much this bothers you. Let me take care of it.”

“I don’t want to deal with it at all,” I bit out.

“But you can’t just⁠—”

“Yes, I can!” I snapped, getting to my feet. “Signing for that house is like admitting that he was even my father, and the last thing I want to do is acknowledge the man who killed my mother and nearly took you from me!”

“Ignoring it won’t make it go away!”

“Look, the lawyer can send me copies of this all he wants. I’m not taking it.”

“Edu—”

“No,” I snapped, cutting her off. “Do not ever bring this up to me again. It’s over.”