Christmas was over, and Clay felt better than he'd felt in a long time. The holiday meal had gone so smoothly, and he finally felt closer to both Dylan and Ellie.

The next morning, Ellie brought him a steaming cup of coffee and kissed him on the cheek, and he wondered if things were looking up.

A little while later, Ellie said, "Clay, why are these here?" pointing to a stack of envelopes sitting on the ground near the coat rack.

"Those? Oh. Sorry. I brought in the mail the other day and then got distracted. I haven't even looked through that pile yet."

Ellie sighed to show she was upset, but she didn't say anything. After bringing the stack of mail to the coffee table, she sat down on the couch next to him and began shuffling through the pile.

"Oh look," she said. "We've been invited to Trina's family's New Year's Eve party."

Clay became suddenly aware of his beating heart, and he leaned forward casually to look at the invitation. A picture of Trina, her husband, and their daughters donning matching royal blue and bright smiles decorated the front of the card, which said, "Happy New Year from the Smiths!" On the back was the invitation to their party. He wished he'd seen it and thrown it away.

Swallowing, Clay wondered once more if Trina had lied to him. She'd claimed her husband was leaving her, yet they were throwing a New Year's Eve party?

"I'm going to R.S.V.P." said Ellie.

"Why?"

A look of suspicion took residence on Ellie's face. "Why not? I've heard the Smiths throw the best parties, and not everyone gets invited. This invitation means we've made a good impression. We have to go."

"I just mean, why can't we do something with just our family on New Year's? It's not like she invited Dylan."

Ellie looked agitated, holding up the card and pointing her finger at some of the handwriting. "It says, 'Please invite Dylan' in her handwriting."

Clay looked more closely. Ellie was right.

"Fine," he told her. "We'll go to the party. We'll need to find a sitter." The card also said, "Adults only," also in Trina's handwriting.

"I'm on it."

Clay nodded and walked away, trying to come up with some way to convince Ellie they shouldn't go, before saying, "Why don't you let me handle finding a sitter? I still have that college girl's number...my client's daughter, the one who watched Avery on our anniversary. He had fun with her, didn't he?"

"I think so," Ellie said.

"Great. I'll give her a call."

Ellie nodded.

Truthfully, Clay had no intention of giving the sitter a call. He had no intention of going to Trina's party. He had no intention of purposefully going anywhere near Trina or her husband again, even if that meant he had to give up his position as assistant soccer coach, which he hadn't wanted in the first place, which he'd only volunteered for because Ellie had forced him to.

If Ellie wanted to go to the party of the year, that was fine, but he would find a way to get out of it.

He and Ellie and Avery spent the rest of their post-holiday in a lazy leisure in their great room, the fireplace burning, Avery playing with his new toys on the carpet, and Ellie messing around on her laptop. Clay decided to read a thriller instead of working on projects in the garage, if only because he wanted to be near his family, to continue feeling like things were finally on the up-and-up. He tried to forget Trina's party, but the thought kept popping up.

He kept trying to forget Trina, but she kept popping up.