“Eve! Gross, no it isn’t Ron. It’s—it’s Nick.”
“What?” Eve deadpans, all of the muscles in her face going slack.
“Ahhhh! Oh my gosh, I’m so happy for you!” Belle holds onto my shoulders as she jumps up and down. “I knew you would get back together; you two were always meant to be together.”
I jump along with her, trying to sell my fake marriage to my two best friends.
“Haha, yep. You said it,” I say as convincingly as I can, painting a smile on my face as we bounce around behind the check-in desk.
“What are you talking about?” Eve barks. “You aren’t supposed to end up together. We burned pictures of that low-life, piece of shit’s face after he dumped you. You’re not supposed to end up together and you’re definitelynotsupposed to be married to him. You better tell me right now that this is some sort of stupid prank, Noey.”
I stop bouncing to look at her.
“It…it isn’t a prank,” I lie and feel my heart sink when I do. “When we went to coffee we talked and he apologized. Being back in the same space and him being back in town brought all those old feelings back up. I don’t know; it’s hard to explain.”
Eve glares at me and takes a few steps closer, bringing herself just a few inches short of where I’m standing.
“Noelle Holly, you look me in the face and swear on your grandmother’s life that you and Nick got married for real.” She holds my stare and I can feel the nervous sweat starting to roll down my back as her eyes pierce straight through me like the expensive knives she uses to slice vegetables with.
I press my lips together trying to get my mouth to lie but I can’t. I glance around the inn before snatching them both at the wrist and pulling them into the backoffice. I shove them inside and close the door behind me. The room is tiny to start with but with the added boxes filled with Christmas decorations that need to go up and the old clunky desk that’s been in here since I was a girl, it’s even smaller.
“I can’t lie to you two,” I start, looking between them. “And I’m not going to swear on Grams’s life, that’s just asking for bad luck to hear me and come knocking,” I add, glaring at Eve.
Taking a breath, I let them in on the secret.
“Nick and Iaremarried. We went to Boston this weekend and got married at the courthouse.”
“You’re fucking kidding,” Eve mutters.
“But it’s not permanent,” I cut in. “Belle, your rent–a–husband joke gave me the idea of finding someone to marrytemporarily.Long enough to where Grams will sign the inn over to me so it can stay in the family. It sounded crazy at first but the more I thought about it, the less crazy it sounded.”
“So you picked Nick Winters to be your temporary husband?” Eve grimaces as if she just took a bite of bad fruitcake.
“He was the choice that made the most sense. We have history, we used to be together. When I presented the idea to him I fully expected him to tell me no, but he didn’t.” I shrug.
“Of course he didn’t,” Belle hums, looking at me with hearts in her eyes. “I never thought you two were supposed to break up. He’s probably still in love with you after all this time which is why he jumped at the chance to be your husband—even if for a short while.”
“Nick is not still in love with me,” I say firmly, shaking my head at her.
“And Jack isn’t in love with Eve,” she deadpans, looking at me with a flat expression.
“Jack isn’t in love with me,” Eve butts in. Belle and I both roll our eyes at her.
“Look, I know this is crazy. I know this sounds made up or like it’s from some silly romance book but it’s not,” I say, waving my hands out in front of me. “Nick and I are married but it’s all fake. And we need to convince the town, and Grams, that itisn’t fake. At least long enough for me to inherit the inn and save Holly House from being sold.”
I look between the two of them, both with different expressions on their faces. Belle is beaming from ear to ear and Eve is scowling at me like this is the dumbest thing she’s ever heard.
“So what do you need from us?” Belle asks, sounding excited.
“To help us sell the story? Tell people around town if they ask about it that we’re really in love and happy to be married?” I offer.
“I can do that!”
“I can’t,” Eve comments. Her arms are crossed in front of her chest as she looks between the two of us. “This is crazy, Noelle. You can’t pretend he’s your husband for what, eight weeks, then divorce him and move on like nothing’s happened. I know you; I know how your heart works.”
“Eve, I’ll be fine. I’m a big girl; I can handle this.”
“I don’t want to see you get hurt again.” There’s a softness to her that she rarely shows as she speaks. She’s one of my longest and dearest friends, the one who was there to put me back together when everything fell apart before. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that she’s worried about me.
