Elin Hilderbrand - Winter Street

Ava grabs a glass of white wine from Kevin at the bar. “What do you think about Isabelle in Mitzi’s dress?” she asks.

“I was never a particular fan of that dress,” he says. “But she looks fine, I guess.”

“I’m trying to set her up with Scott,” Ava says.

Kevin, who is as nimble a bartender as one will ever meet, nearly drops a highball glass and the bottle of Jack Daniel’s he’s holding. “What?” he says.

“I think they’d be cute together, don’t you?”

“No,” Kevin says, with what sounds like genuine anger. “I do not think they would be cute together. What is wrong with you, Ava?”

Ava is speechless. Kevin never gets angry with her. Kevin is her prime ally in this family. Ava wanders away, wondering if he’s right to be mad. Maybe it is terribly manipulative to try to fix up Scott with someone else just because she doesn’t want him.

Well, her intentions were pure. She won’t let Kevin ruin her good mood or her fun time.

Ava has a few minutes yet before she has to sit down at the piano and start the carols. She hits the food table; she’s been so busy getting ready for the party that she hasn’t had anything to eat all day. She fixes herself a plate of cocktail ribs and Swedish meatballs, which are disappearing fast-there is beef at the Winter Street Inn Christmas Eve party for the first time ever! On top of everything else, Isabelle is a phenomenal cook! Ava must mention this to Scott-who cares what Kevin says! She takes two dates stuffed with peanut butter and some scallop seviche and a mini crab cake. She even drags a cracker through the salted-almond pinecone and eats it right away. Delicious!

She makes a plate for Scott and then a plate for Kevin, as a peace offering-both heavy on the meatballs-adding deviled eggs, spanakopita triangles, and cherry tomatoes stuffed with guacamole. It’s nice to be able to load up her own plate. When Mitzi was in charge, there was strict adherence to Family Hold Back. Mitzi was always worried they were going to run out of food; she once took a celery stick out of Ava’s hand and set it back down on the crudité platter.

This party does not miss Mitzi. Ava does not miss Mitzi.

Fun, fun, fun, chitchat, happy holidays! Everyone who is anyone is there, and people keep streaming through the door-all five Nantucket selectmen; the police chief, Ed Kapenash, and his wife, Andrea; Gene Mahon, aka “Mahon about Town”; Jordan Randolph, the editor of the paper, and his son, Jake, who is a junior at Penn; the real-estate agent Eddie Pancik and his wife, Grace; and many of Ava’s fellow teachers from school, including her friend Shelby. Shelby grabs Ava by the arm and says, “Is that Scott in the Santa suit? Because he looks good. He looks, I don’t know, kinda hot, don’t you think?”

“Well…?” Ava says. Shelby is of the opinion that Ava should break up with Nathaniel and date Scott. Nathaniel is too much work; Shelby is sick of watching Ava try to persuade Nathaniel to love her. Whereas Scott already loves her. “He’s doing a British-accent thingy.”

“British accent?” Shelby says. “Scott?” She nudges Ava. “That’s hot, too, right? It’s very Downton Abbey .”

“It’s weird,” Ava says. “It’s like he’s someone else.”

“And who’s the chick?” Shelby asks.

“Isabelle,” Ava says. “She works for us. She’s French.”

“She’s stunning.”

Ava decides not to tell Shelby that she’s trying to set Scott and Isabelle up; Shelby might not like the idea any better than Kevin did.

Ava and Shelby find themselves moving close enough to Scott that they can eavesdrop. He has Micah Daniels, the terror of the entire kindergarten class, up on his lap, but for once Micah is quiet, awestruck. It’s Father Christmas.

“Hello, young chap,” Scott says. “What is your name?”

“Micah Daniels.”

“Micah Daniels! Capital, capital! And tell me, Micah Daniels, have you been a good boy this year? Have you been polite and respectful to your parents and… your teachers?”

Micah nods solemnly, and Ava rolls her eyes. This is the kid who brought a Chinese star to school and stuck it in another student’s hot dog. This is the kid who called his teacher, Mrs. Peale, an “old fat ass.”

“Are you sure about that, Micah Daniels? Because, you know, Father Christmas watches you night and day, at school and at home. I check in with your parents, and also with… Mrs. Peale.”

Micah looks sufficiently intimidated. Ava is waiting for Scott to say that Micah is getting COAL, NOTHING BUT COAL-or at the very least that he is lingering on some sort of Undecided List, a Santa Claus Limbo. But Scott has mercy.

“And what, Micah Daniels, is your heart’s greatest desire for Christmas morning?”

Shelby mouths, Xbox.

Micah says, “Xbox.”

Isabelle steps back a few feet to take the picture with the Winter Street Inn digital camera-photos later to be posted on Facebook-but before she snaps it, Scott says, “Ho-ho-ho, Mrs. Claus, why don’t you get in the picture?”

Isabelle lowers the camera. “Excusez-moi?”

Scott waves her in. “Come, be in the picture. Ava will take it, won’t you, Ava?”

Ava hands her glass of wine off to Shelby. “Certainly, yes, of course.” She accepts the camera from Isabelle, thinking she can’t blame Scott for not wanting his picture taken alone with the nightmare that is Micah Daniels. Isabelle will improve it. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…

Isabelle stands next to Scott and slides her arm around his superhero shoulders and tilts her pretty blond head so that it practically rests against Scott’s. When Ava looks through the viewfinder, she is shocked to find that she is bothered by their pose. She is… jealous. Scott, Isabelle, and Micah Daniels look like a family, which of course they’re not, although if Scott and Isabelle do start dating and get married, they may find themselves in a similar pose in the not-too-distant future.

Ava does not like it.

Wow.

She’s confused.

She grits her teeth and beams at Scott, Isabelle, and Micah. “Smile!” she says. She takes the picture, and the flash goes off.

Scott says, “Take another one!”

She takes another one.

Ava has to go to the ladies’ room, so she heads to the back of the inn. She doesn’t know what just happened with Scott. She thinks of Kevin saying, What is wrong with you, Ava? There isn’t anything wrong with her. She is setting Scott and Isabelle up so that the two of them can find happiness together. Maybe she’s bothered because Scott has always been hers and hers alone. But Ava doesn’t want Scott, right? She wants the mind, body, and soul of Nathaniel Oscar, maker of fancy and special pantry doors.

The party is fun, and she has a nice glow, although she is far from drunk, which is good, because she still has to play the carols.

She will not check her phone. It’s ten after eight. She will not check her phone.

She checks her phone.

Nothing from Nathaniel. Her heart breaks a little.

There are two texts: one from Patrick and one from her mother.

Patrick: asdhaosihdkqebrkb . (Butt dial? Or incredibly drunk? Ava doesn’t care.)

Margaret: Oh, honey… (Margaret forgot what she was going to say? She got interrupted? Or “Oh, honey” is a general statement of guilt because she can’t take Ava to Hawaii? Ava doesn’t care.)

She sits on the edge of her bed and takes a deep breath. Oxygen.

Why did she check her phone?

She goes back to the party.