Elf on the Beach by TJ Nichols Read Free Book Online

go home. But he’d heard his foster parents talking about her and how she didn’t deserve a second chance. He turned away from the happy kids. He’d been four, barely old enough to understand that his mother wasn’t coming for Christmas dinner. He’d cried in his room while the family had eaten.
    After that he’d refused to go anywhere near Santa.
    The old cynicism crept back up. He could feel the warmth as the poison slid through him. When he glanced back at Santa and his fake elves there was nothing special about a bunch of overexcited kids and bored teens.
    In that moment he hated himself for sneering at the kids’ obvious joy.
    His mother had gotten clean. She had been trying to get him back, but when she’d tried to leave her druggie boyfriend, he’d killed her. He’d learned all of this when he left school. Maybe his wish had come true, only to have it unravel by the actions of one sick man. Those actions had stolen the color and magic out of his whole childhood.
    Kyle closed his eyes and sighed. No more. When he opened his eyes there was a shimmer everywhere. A family passed by, their kid almost glowing while the parents were dull. How dull he must look to Roone.
    And yet Roone obviously saw something in him. Something worth saving.
    He squared his shoulders. This might be the only decent Christmas he ever got. When he got home he was going to hang up the damn stocking Roone had bought him, and he was going to believe as hard as he could that he’d get what he wanted on Christmas morning.
    He hoped Roone would get what he wanted too.
    He hoped he hadn’t blown it with the best person ever to grace his life.
    Before he left the shopping center, he bought a small plastic Christmas tree. The tips were dusted in white like snow. It was rather pathetic, but it was a start. The first Christmas ornament he’d ever bought.
    He smiled as he set it up, and he even turned on the radio to listen to their mix of pop songs and carols. While he had nowhere to hang the stocking—he had no mantelpiece—he left it under the tree.
    The part of him that was still scoffing at the idea refused to be silenced, but he was going to give this one shot and do it right. He’d bought a tree, put out a stocking, and he was going to leave out a plate. He had a vague memory of leaving out carrots for reindeer, but he couldn’t remember who he’d done it with.
    He had no carrots, and Roone hadn’t mentioned reindeer or flying sleds. Leaving out a plate of cookies was dumb. He added a beer—twist top to make it easy.
    Now he felt like a real tool. If anyone saw it he’d be laughed at. For a moment he wanted to shove the tree in the bin and drink the beer himself.
    No. He refused to let the fear of failure gain traction.
    The magic hadn’t failed him as a kid, but he’d been too young to know. Now he knew he had a chance to change direction. It was the chance he needed to change his life.
    And if nothing happened?
    Nothing had been lost.
    He put a glass on the table and a paper napkin to make it look a bit prettier. This was like setting up an occult altar to an ancient god that no one believed in anymore.
    He bit his lip.
    Was this part of the ritual of belief?
    Going through the motions of belief wouldn’t be enough. Roone had warned him. If he didn’t really believe, then nothing would happen. Kyle wasn’t sure what he wanted to happen.
    But he was home instead of out drinking with his childless friends and getting wasted.
    He was giving magic a chance.
    He was giving Roone a chance.
    He channel surfed through three different Christmas movies. Before he went to bed, he checked everything again. However, instead of saying a silent prayer to the man in the red suit, he prayed that Roone get what he wanted too and that he believed enough for Roone to be true. That he hadn’t messed up and pushed away someone who actually cared.
    It was possible for someone to care about him and for him to care about someone. Roone had made him