Keeley, two hours before her 8 p.m. test, studied in the library. Using her annoyingly shattered but still functional phone, she sent a group text:

"To celebrate my freedom, I'm making sugar cookies tomorrow. Who wants to help decorate?"

Responses poured in:

"My flight leaves at 7 a.m. tomorrow, sorry!"

"Can I bring Cam?"

"I'm in, as long as I get some to take home. Your cookies are amazing!"

Everyone except Valentina (whom Keeley had forgotten was leaving for Peru early) could come. Valentina was returning home for two weeks.

"The more the merrier! You guys free at 3?"

Jennica and Ryan both replied yes. Perfect. She still needed to bake sugar cookies, pretzels, and snickerdoodles. Everything else was done, but Christmas was only four days away, and she was behind.

A pang of guilt surfaced. She hadn't invited Aaron, the only person she saw regularly. But how could she? Jennica would immediately recognize him as the ex she'd mentioned. He loved her cookies and would enjoy helping.

Keeley decided to make it up to him. She texted: "Hey, when do you want your cookies? They probably won't be ready until the 23rd."

He replied with a question: "What are you doing Christmas Eve?"

"I can't bring them then; I'm with my dad."

Visiting Aaron usually resulted in longer stays than intended. She couldn't leave her dad alone.

"Can I join you? I'm free until Christmas Day, and I've been meaning to visit your dad."

She'd forgotten that in 2012, the Hales only had a Christmas Day party. Keeley, too depressed to celebrate, had stayed in bed on Christmas Eve, oblivious to Aaron's activities.

She hesitated. Thanksgiving had been different, with many visitors. This felt like bringing a boyfriend home for the holidays—though Aaron was not, and never would be, her boyfriend again.

Still, she couldn't bear to let him spend the holiday alone in his large apartment. She'd probably regret this, but…

"My dad and I keep things low-key. We drink eggnog, sing carols, watch Christmas movies, and wear embarrassing matching pajamas. If that sounds okay, you're welcome."

His response was surprisingly enthusiastic: "It sounds great! Where can I get those pajamas?"

The image of Aaron in a red reindeer onesie was too much. Keeley cackled in the library, earning angry shushes.

She’d pay to see that, so she sent him the link. They used to have snowman onesies, but her dad's ripped, so they'd replaced them a year ago. The reindeer ones were still available. He could actually match if he wasn't bluffing.

She suspected he was teasing; a dignified person like him wouldn't do something so silly. He might be less stiff than she remembered, but he still had a reputation to maintain.

"What time should I come over on Monday?"

"Around 4. We're having an early dinner."

"Great! See you then. Good luck on your test!"

Smiling that he remembered her test, she stretched and returned to her studies.

Keeley took her cookie baking seriously, directing her friends like a general. "Ryan, more flour! Jennica, roll these out! Cameron, find the Christmas cookie cutters!"

"Why so many?" Cameron wondered, sifting through the giant tub of 101 cutters.

"I won them in a raffle."

Ryan gave Jennica the flour to dust the rolling pin. She finished rolling the dough before Cameron finished excavating the tub.

"Cam, babe, you're too slow," she said sweetly, taking the bin and finding the Christmas cutters in seconds.

He shook his head. "You're good at everything! How?"

She beamed, kissing him quickly. "Flatterer."

"It's true."

Ryan and Keeley saw the anime hearts. Cameron was nice, but every visit was like this, so they usually went to his place for their alone time.

"Are they always like this?" he whispered to Keeley.

"Yep. I'm still getting used to it."

"You poor thing."

It wasn't so bad. Valentina, lacking male attention, was far worse off, oscillating between dejection and squealing over their cuteness.

"Okay, everyone take a cutter. I want a relatively even number of each."

The next half hour was filled with laughter, rolling, cutting, and witnessing Jennica and Cameron's love fest. They really needed to get married.

Stacks of cookies grew on the cooling rack. Once enough cooled, Keeley made the frosting, dividing it into colored portions.

"That looks like an alien," Jennica pointed out.

"It's a snowman!"

"An alien snowman." She patted Cameron's arm. "We need more frosting practice."

"I have before it's been a while. My sisters preferred it, so I helped Mom and ate mine right away," Cameron confessed.

Keeley scrutinized his cookie. It did look alien—three eyes instead of two.

"Maybe next time, don't use chocolate chips for the mouth," she advised. "Use a piping bag."

"That would be better."

"We can't all be artists," Ryan shrugged, dipping his knife in green frosting.

Cameron wasn't comforted. "Yours look fine."

"That's because he's only done Christmas trees—almost impossible to mess up," Jennica said shrewdly.

"Wow, thanks."

"I call it like I see it."

Keeley laughed. This was exactly the rejuvenation she needed.

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