“Oh, Nicholas, I’m just saying that you're a successful businessman,” she explained. “I mean, your watch probably costs as much as my whole year’s salary.”
Nicholas looked down at his watch. He looked back up at Molly and then undid the clasp and attached the watch to Molly's slim wrist.
“Nicholas, what are you doing?” she asked, her eyes going wide.
“I want you to have it, Molly.” Nicholas pressed his hand over the watch now on Molly’s wrist. “I just want you to have it.”
“You’re really giving me your watch? Isn’t this basically like giving me your still-beating heart?” she asked playfully.
“No.” Nicholas kept his response plain, his fingers still holding her to him. “It’s not like giving you my heart. You already have that.”
Molly went silent. She then opened her mouth to speak, but Nicholas raised a quiet finger in the air, silencing her before she could even respond. “Don’t. Don’t say anything. Please. Not when I’m about to break your heart.”
“Nicholas, what are you talking about?” Molly asked, her voice low and worried. “What did you do?”
“Molly, I...” Nicholas closed his eyes and he forced the rest of his sentence through his mouth. “I already sold the store. This afternoon.”
“What?” Her voice held such shock that it felt like a punch when she said it.
“I sold the store. The investors offered me a million dollars for it, for everything,” he explained, feeling worse with every word out of his mouth. “They’re going to let my parents keep 25% of their ownership. But by tomorrow, Christmas Wishes won't be in the Kerstman family anymore.”
He watched as her face went from shock, to hurt, to anger, and back to hurt again. Her beautiful eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry. I think I have to go. I need to go,” Molly said. She pulled away from Nicholas's hold on her.
Nicholas rose from the counter, walking around it and over to her as fast as he could.
“Molly, please. Please. Listen to me. I know how much you loved that store, but that kind of money? Molly, that’s enough to expand Kerstman Enterprises. That’s enough to jumpstart the future of my company,” he explained. An idea hit him. “That’s even enough for you to open your own little Christmas bodega in Manhattan, if you really wanted to stay in the Christmas business—”
“How nice of you to include me in your dream for your future,” Molly said bitterly. “How nice of you to give me my own little spot in some small, little bodega, in a city that I’ve never even mentioned wanting to live in.” She spat out the words. Nicholas could see both the rage and tears in Molly’s eyes. Her hands shook beside her waist. “Nicholas, how could you do something like this? How could you be so selfish?”
“I’m not being selfish, Molly. I’m being logical,” he replied. “I’m not going to apologize for moving my business forward and I’m not going to apologize for taking a load off my parents’ backs. They’ve worked hard enough, haven’t they? Don’t they finally deserve a break, too?”
“Stop. Stop trying to blame this on logic. Stop trying to blame this on your parents.” Molly sniffled, taking a step away from him. “I’m not a child, Nicholas. I understand why you did what you did, okay? I just thought that you were different. I thought that you cared about something other than the bottom line. I just thought that I was really beginning to mean something to you—”
“Molly, you do mean something to me. Molly, you mean so much to me,” he pleaded, reaching out for her, but she stepped away from him. “Please, let’s talk this through.”
Molly stared at him with heartbroken eyes and then shook her head.
“Nicholas, we don’t have anything else to talk about. There’s nothing else to say. You've made your position clear,” she said flatly. “I hope you have a safe trip back to New York—”
“Molly, don’t—”
“Goodbye, Mr. Kerstman.” Molly took another step away from him, her eyes still full of betrayal and hurt.
She then turned towards the front door of Sweetness & Light, making her exit from the bakery.
Nicholas could hear keys jingling and a keypad beeping on the other side of the door, and he knew Molly was locking up for the night, making it so once Nicholas decided to leave for himself, the bakery’s alarm system would be set to ON.
But Nicholas didn’t want to
leave.
It felt like he had nowhere else to go.
Nicholas took a seat at the counter once more, and he would’ve sworn that daggers were threatening to stick through his chest.
The assortment of Buche de Noel cakes on the bakery’s countertops now haunted him. They became an instant reminder of his time spent with Molly, how she wanted to share something with him in the form of Christmas Wishes, how she maybe even wanted to build their own something someday. They were a symbol of her kindness and hope. A hope he'd destroyed.