I pull her into a hug and speak into her ear. “I promise, I can handle this. It’s not about me or Nick or our past. It’s about Holly House. You know I’d do anything for this place.”
She pulls away and holds me by the arms, studying my face. “Yeah, including putting your heart on the line to be broken again. But if this is what you want to do, I’ll help you do it. Even if itisinsane.”
“Thank you, Eve. Thank you both, seriously. Help us keep our secret and sell our fake relationship and there’s a Christmas bonus in it for both of you,” I say with a smile.
“I’d take cheaper rent if I’m being honest,” Eve says as we spill out of the tiny office space.
“You don’t pay rent as it is,” I call out to her as she heads back to the kitchen. I hear her fall into a fit of laughter as she lets the kitchen door swing closed behind her.
Before I know it, the day has gotten away from me and it’s past six. Belle and I spent the afternoon going through Christmas decorations and taking stock of what needs to be repaired, replaced, and restocked. We’re working to count the number of wreaths we have to make sure we have enough bows for each when the bell above the front door chimes. I step around the boxes to greet the newcomer.
“Welcome to the Holly House Inn, how may I—what are you doing here?” I stop dead in my usual greeting when I see Nick standing in front of me. He’s wearing a dark gray overcoat and some sort of deep burgundy sweater underneath. The color of it highlights the color of his eyes and I can’t help but notice the fresh stubble dotting his jawline.
“I’m here to walk my wife home,” he replies confidently. His eyes move to where Belle is standing behind me in a mess of artificial pine and flower wire. “Hey, Belle. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. How are you doing?” she calls back with a sideways smile.
“I’m doing better now that I get to spend the evening with my beautiful bride.” He looks back at me. “You ready to go?”
“Uhh, we’re kind of in the middle of something here?—”
“She’s ready,” Belle hurries out, dropping the wreaths in her arms to the floor to reach for my stuff from the office. She pushes my coat and my bag into my hands andshuffles me out from behind the counter and into Nick’s arms. “You two have a good night now.”
I make a face at her, confused why she’s acting like this when she knows as well as I do that Nick and I are only acting. She simply smiles at me and Nick, pushing us both towards the door.
“I’ll finish our little project tonight and give you an update tomorrow. Bye, you two!”
Before I can stop him, Nick is taking my jacket from my hands and helping me into it. I go to take my bag from him that he’s taken but he pulls it away.
“I got this,” he says, turning away from me so I can’t reach it.
“I can carry my bag, Nick. Give it to me,” I say under my breath.
“That’s okay, sweetie. Let me carry it for you,” he replies a little louder than necessary. Looking behind me, I notice that the entire dining room is watching us go through the little dance we’re in with raised, suspicious eyebrows.
“Thanks,” I say, suddenly feeling on display.
He opens the front door of the inn for me and takes my hand into his before pulling me through it. When it’s closed behind us, I try to pull my hand away from his but he only hangs on tighter.
“Let me go, Nick, we don’t need to hold hands.”
He releases an almost comical sigh, breathing in the crisp fall air that’s only getting colder and sharper with each passing day.
“Nope. I don’t think I will. I think the best way to ease people into the idea of us being married is to walk through town holding hands. Don’t you?”
“Uhhh, no?” I sputter, hating his idea more than anything.
“Come on, wife. It’s time to show the town that theWinters’ are wed and we have something to celebrate.” He pulls me down the front steps and I have no choice but to follow along with him.
“I wish you would stop calling me that,” I grumble as he pulls me down the main drive and into town.
Not because I don’t like it, but because I hate how it makes my insides hot and wish something fierce that this is actually real.
CHAPTER 13
Nick
Ihold onto her hand tightly as we walk down the sidewalks of Evergreen, heading back towards Chris’s tree farm that sits on the other side of town. On one end is Holly House and on the other is the Wyte’s farm, almost like two opposite poles drawing the boundary line of Evergreen between them. To get from one end to the other is only a thirty minute walk, but it’s a thirty minute walk through the heart of downtown where plenty of people will see us together. The entire town will know by this time tomorrow that the high school sweethearts have reconciled and gotten together once more.
