Pictures Of Hollis Woods

The chapter resumes an hour or so after Chapter 13 ends. Josie and Hollis have finished decorating the living room for Christmas, but Josie has started expressing regret that Beatrice isn’t there. To cheer her up, Hollis retrieves her finished portrait of Josie and Beatrice. Josie loves it, noticing her cat Henry in the portrait. In exchange, she gives Hollis a tin of the hard candies Izzy always had, saying “This is from Santa Claus” (139), which means Steven has brought them, though Hollis doesn’t know this. They fill Hollis with memories of the Regans.

Then, Josie retrieves Hollis’s Christmas present, which is the finished wooden statue of Hollis she’s been making. Hollis is overwhelmed by it. When she tries to say it doesn’t look troublesome enough to be her, Josie disagrees and says, “I wish you could see yourself the way I see you” (141). Hollis cries briefly. They rest on the couch, and Josie falls asleep. Soon, Hollis gets up and goes to Steven’s room, where she finds a blurry photograph that he took of her on the river that summer. She remembers how happy she felt when he took it. Feeling confused, she heads outside into the cold.