It's the most wonderful time of the year... Except not. I mentally told Andy Williams to shut the hell up and stormed out of my mother's house, skidding on the ice-frosted sidewalk.

I looked at my own reflection, very, very uncertain. I had a date that night, the first in a long time. Not that I hadn't been interested; I just didn't have the time. My life had been turned upside down ever since I'd gotten back to college.