“It wasn’t—” He rubbed a hand over his face. “It wasn’t like that.”
Aileen rolled her eyes. “Oh please. A hot man grabbed your hand in public and gave you his name? In Mapleford? That’s practically a marriage proposal.”
“It was just a weird moment,” Eli insisted. “He panicked.”
“And reached for your hand.” Her lips twitched. “Interesting choice.”
“He asked me to pretend to be his boyfriend,” Eli added before his brain could stop him.
Aileen made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a shriek. “Eli Winters, you had a full rom-com meet-cute and you’re acting as if he asked for the time.”
“He lied about having an ex. Does that sound like someone I should be interested in?”
“Ofcoursehe lied.” She waved a dismissive hand. “He saw someone he liked and then spun a story. That’s flirting with extra steps. He gets points for thinking on his feet.”
“It wasn’t flirting,” Eli muttered, untangling a string of lights with unnecessary aggression.
“Then why are you turning pink?”
He dropped the lights. “I amnot?—”
“You are,” she sang. “You’re blushing like a teenager.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Do you want these lights hung or not?”
“I want a full play-by-play,” she said. “But yes, hang the lights while you tell me everything. And I meaneverything.”
“You might wanna rethink that last part. We’ve been down this road before.”
Aileen’s eyes glinted. “Yeah, but I’m in safe territory. Unless you both did something unquestionable in the middle of Home Depot? In which case you don’t need to tell me that part, because word will get around fast.” She pointed to the door that led into the shop. “Thataway, slave.”
He grabbed his armfuls of lights and his power bank, and trudged into the warm, fragrant bakery.
Sam, a guy who looked all of twelve years old but clearly wasn’t, was in full flow, dealing with the customers.
Aileen placed a step stool next to the front window, her grin still smug.
“So what was this guy’s name?”
“Noah Carter.”
She blinked. “Wow. You are one fast worker.”
“Will you quit that?Hehit onme, remember?”
Aileen’s grin widened. “Well, you’ve got good taste in men. There are quite a few gay guys in Mapleford, and you just nabbed the cream of the crop.”
“I didnotjust—” Eli gave up. There was no way he was going to win this one.
He climbed the step stool, noting the hooks from previous light displays. Outside, snowflakes drifted lazily, catching on the garlands strung between lampposts. Mapleford’s main street was alive in that pre-season way he always remembered, bustling, humming, plastered with wreaths, and teetering on the edge of full holiday chaos.
He took a deep breath, forcing Noah’s smile out of his head.
Well, hetriedto. Because some traitorous part of his brain kept replaying the way Noah had looked at him, bright-eyed, a little mischievous, a little vulnerable, and surprised as though he hadn’t expected Eli to say yes.
Where do I know you from, Noah Carter?
If Aileen knew him, maybe Noah was local, and that meant Eli might have known him too, way back in the dim-and-distant past before he left Mapleford for the lure of Boston.
