Chapter 24

As Christmas approached, I couldn’t seem to shake the overwhelming urge to drive past the Reynolds’ household.

There was nothing festive. The cottage looked as if no one had lived there in months. The front veranda hadn’t been shoveled since the blizzard, but there were fresh tire marks in the snow, which suggested that Dr. Reynolds was still coming and going from the hospital.

I drove by late one night and saw his car parked out front. In an upstairs window, a television cast an eerie, flickering glow.

I drove home, called Lizzie to tell her what I had seen, and suggested we at least send her father a Christmas card.

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “We should. Why don’t we pop by tomorrow night? I’ll bring some sugar cookies and a present I made for him.”

I agreed it was the right thing to do, and I hoped we’d be given a better reception than last time.

Knowing it was rare for Lizzie’s father to arrive home from work before 7:00 p.m., we showed up at 8:00. Unfortunately, the house was dark and his car wasn’t in the driveway.

“We probably should have called,” Lizzie said with disappointment. “But I was afraid he’d tell us not to come. Let’s go inside anyway. I still have my keys. We can drop this off in the kitchen and leave the card and my present.”

Then I took note of the snow-covered veranda. “Why don’t you wait here for a minute while I clear off the steps?”

I returned to the car to grab the shovel out of my trunk and quickly established a path to the front door. She opened the front door and we kicked the snow off our boots before letting ourselves in.

Looking around, I noticed that even with Mrs. Reynolds gone, everything was still tidy and spotless. There wasn’t a single dirty dish in the sink or a jacket left draped over the back of a chair.

Lizzie appeared and set the cookies on the counter. “There’s no Christmas tree,” she said. “No decorations anywhere. Mom always took care of that stuff and made Christmas so beautiful. It seems very sad and lonely.”

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know. There’s an artificial tree in the attic. That’s where all the decorations are. We could set it up.”

“How do you think your father would feel about that?”

Lizzie sighed. “I have no idea. He’s always been such a mystery to me.” She thought about it for a few seconds, then turned to me. “I wonder what Wendy would do in this situation.”

“I’m pretty sure she would want us to set up the tree.”

“I think so too,” Lizzie replied. “Let’s get to it then. I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”

I kissed her on the cheek and asked for directions to the attic.

By 11:00, the tree was set up and decorated in the front parlor.

“It’s lovely,” Lizzie said, stepping back to admire our work.

“I’m going to take a picture.” She went to get her phone out of her purse, returned and snapped a photo. “Maybe I’ll send this to Mom.”

“The only thing that’s missing are gifts under the tree,” I said.

“You’re right.” She lowered her phone to her side. “Just my present. It’s kind of sad.”

“We could come back tomorrow and bring something,” I suggested.

“Yes. Maybe.” She checked her watch. “It’s late. Dad could be working all night for all we know. We should probably go.”

Without another word, we made sure to turn off all the lights in the house, even the ones on the Christmas tree, gathered up our belongings and left.

As we drove home through the brightly lit city, we talked about our plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which included dinners with my family. Since it was late, Lizzie agreed to stay over at my place.

We were still discussing options when there was a sudden urgent knock at the door.