Novels

It was Christmas Day, and Ashley told me she had to go on a business trip. Then I got a one-gig video from her ex, Derek. There she was, dressed up like Catwoman, grinding on Derek like there was no tomorrow. Super aggressive. Turns out, her "business trip" was just a code word for hooking up with him. I smirked, acted like I hadn’t seen the video, and called my childhood friend, Chloe. “Wanna do Christmas together? I’ve got some juicy gossip, guaranteed to be sweet.” 01. While I waited for Chloe to come over, I sent Ashley a bunch of texts. No response. She was

It was Christmas Day, and my daughter, Lily, had been in a car accident. She needed a $100,000 surgery, and fast. I called my husband, Mark, pleading with him to pay for the surgery and come see our girl. But Mark was overseas with his "old flame," Sarah, and her daughter. They were having Christmas together. He was completely dismissive. "Sarah's kid has never had a dad; she needs me!" he snapped. My voice broke as I begged, "Lily’s surgery can’t wait! She really wants to see you, Mark." "You and Lily are both so selfish and needy," he retorted with disgust. "Just wait at

“Hey, Chloe, don’t say I never do anything for ya.” “Last night was Christmas Eve, right? So, that gold pendant you got me, as your big sis, I gotta get you something back. And the gift….” “You gotta come home and unwrap it yourself.” “It's at Mom and Dad’s.” My sister, Sarah’s, voice was buzzing through my phone, playful, even a little teasing. “Don't say I didn't warn you, but it’s that thing you’ve always wanted but never get for yourself. You'll be stoked!” Her voice echoed in the room, the heat from the radiator battling the chill that had settled into my bones. I touched my

My husband, Mark, drugged our baby's formula with sleeping pills so he could go on a Christmas Day date with his assistant. I rushed our feverish daughter, Lily, to the emergency room, only to see Mark waltzing in, holding his little assistant, Tiffany. “Tiffany twisted her ankle, I’m just here to make sure she’s okay!” he said, completely ignoring the fact that our kid was in surgery. I gripped the million-dollar lottery ticket in my purse. It was time to end this seven-year marriage. … After finishing up a few work things, I called Mark. “Hey, babe, don’t forget about Christmas dinner! I have some

I met Chris on Christmas, we got married on Christmas, and today marks our seventh anniversary. But instead of celebrating us, he brought home his first love. They walked in wearing matching outfits, like they were the couple, while I was in an apron looking like the hired help. “Honey, it’s the holidays. The more, the merrier, right?” Then, before I could even blink, he’d pulled his arm around Sarah, and was ushering her to the table like she belonged there. Chris, who usually has a memory like an elephant, suddenly went blank when he saw the “Happy 7th Anniversary” cake. I knew he’d forgotten.

For our tenth anniversary, which just happened to fall on Christmas Day, he'd meticulously planned a return to our special spot: Springtime Amusement Park. We were going to relive our first dates. But the happiness barely had a chance to settle in when I vanished in the park. The staff did a full-on, grid search for a week before finding my body in the woods under the roller coaster. The police investigation concluded I died from a fall. The official story was a tragic accident caused by a malfunction on the ride. But nobody knows the truth: my safety harness was deliberately unfastened. The one

Christmas was coming, and I’d been puttering away in the kitchen, baking a batch of my famous homemade cookies. My son and daughter-in-law had me working overtime, cranking out two thousand cookies for their bosses and coworkers. My granddaughter, Lily, was bugging me to make even more for her teachers and classmates. Armed with just five hundred bucks, I pulled two all-nighters to get the job done. Just as I was about to munch on the slightly-less-than-perfect ones, Lily came barreling in and smacked the cookie right out of my hand. “Those are for Grandma, you can’t eat them!” My daughter-in-law, Brenda, chimed in, “You

My brother, Billy, was diagnosed with leukemia when he was six. The doctors said he’d be lucky to make it to ten. From then on, I had to let him have everything. My parents would always tell me, “Lilly, you have to be understanding. Billy only has a few years left, don’t fight him for stuff.” “Mom, Dad, you’re so unfair, but how many years do we even get to love Billy?” Later, Billy had a successful bone marrow transplant. Then I was diagnosed with leukemia. I actually felt relieved, like, finally, it was my turn to be the favorite. Chapter 1 Billy was a sickly

Ashley had a secret she’d been keeping: an abortion that left her unable to have kids. The baby had been her professor's, but she’d told me it was a sports injury. To help her climb the career ladder, I happily became the man behind the scenes, a stay-at-home husband who took care of everything. I was basically her live-in housekeeper. Then came her twenty-eighth birthday. I walked in on her in the office with her arms around her boss, Jake’s neck. She was making a wish: “I wish, no matter what our status is, that we’ll be together like this, day