“I honestly wasn’t expecting you to bring up peanut butter with my mom.”
“Yeah. Maybe I should stop talking to her,” Hallie grumbled. Not talking to Jill wouldn’t be a loss, but it seemed like an unlikely to succeed plan with several long days ahead of them living in the same home. The cabin wasn’t quite big enough that she could reasonably avoid the woman for a whole week.
River laughed. “You don’t need to do that, silly. But… whatdoyou think we should do?”
Hallie’s face scrunched up. “I don’t know.”
She did though. If they wanted to sell this thing and distract from all the parts she was messing up, they needed to be more… coupley. Things were very platonic between them. River had promised they wouldn’t need to be too intimate, that her family didn’t operate like that. And, while Hallie had noticed they weren’t exactly… cuddly, the couples definitely had an energy between them that was different than whatever she and River were doing.
River narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to Hallie. “You do know. You have an idea but you don’t want to tell me.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you. It’s that… we’ve already been over this and I thought we were on the same page.”
River cringed. “You think we need to be more… romantic with each other.”
“Not quite the word I’d have picked, but, essentially? Yes.” She shook her head, feeling exactly like she was going to Hell. “I’ve been watching your family all day and things are just… different between couples. We’re not selling it very well and people will start to notice.”
River looked horrified as she glanced around before whispering, “We’re not not going to have to kiss, are we? Like, I like you and I’m really grateful, but…”
Hallie laughed. This whole thing was absurd. “I don’t think things are quite that dire yet.”
The second they weren’t on the same page about not kissing would be the moment this entire thing actually fell apart.
“Okay,” River said, eyes wide and relieved. “So, what, then?”
Hallie sighed. She’d never done anything like this, and it wasn’t like there were a lot of guides on how to fake date someone for a week around their family. It had sounded so simple when River asked. A week. Nothing too intimate. Christmas spirit. Sure, there was the weird family, but Hallie worked in a hotel. It wasn’t like she was unfamiliar withweird.
But, of course, they needed to be closer, to gravitate towards each other, to get… wrapped up in conversation with only each other a little more. That would probably be fine. They could fake all of that. Right?
River frowned as Hallie explained. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I figured it wouldn’t matter, that nobody was very… touchy in front of everyone, but I guess you’re right. They do have their little moments together. I usually do that with my partners, even. It’s just…you, you know? Well, us. You’re not the problem. But I don’t want to date you. Sorry.”
Hallie laughed in relief. “I’d be more upset if youdidwant to date me, don’t worry. As for trying to sell this whole thing to your family… Pretend I’m someone else?”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know. Who are you interested in right now?”
River blushed and looked away, walking over to the window. “Nobody.”
Hallie smiled, more genuinely than she had since accidentally poking holes in their whole ruse. “Right. That’s how I always react when I don’t like anyone.”
River groaned and turned back to face her. “Okay. Fine. There’s this person at the gym.”
“You go to the gym?”
“Not as a general rule…” Her cheeks were getting redder by the minute. “I went with a friend for emotional support one time and, well, the person in question helped us figure out one of the machines. They’re really hot and cool and… muscular…”
Hallie nodded, watching her in amusement. “So, you joined the gym in the hope of running into them again?”
“No! Maybe. Just a tiny little bit. But it wasn’t weird! They said they’d like to see me back. That they were always around if I needed a hand. It was sweet.”
It did sound sweet. And maybe that was the kind of person River needed. Bold, forward, disciplined. Maybe they’d be good for her in the face of all this chaos.
Hallie clapped her hands together. “Okay, well, every time you look at me, just picture them and do what comes naturally. Well. Dosomeof what comes naturally. I don’t actually want you doing whatever you’d want to do to them.”
River laughed and covered her mouth like the notion was hilarious and horrifying in equal measure. “Okay. I’ll… try it. I might be bad at it, though.”
Hallie thought she might be too. “That’s okay. It’ll hopefully still be better than what we’ve been doing so far. And it’s only a few days. We’ll be fine.”
