“What are you all talking about?” Ava asked with a raised eyebrow, doing her best to remain cool on the outside. Inside, her heart beat wildly with fear. She hadn’t had time to fill Kinley in on the fake relationship. She was planning to mention it tomorrow when they met for lunch to talk bridesmaid dresses. “I’m not dating him.” A few giggles followed, forcing Ava to repeat herself. “I’mnot.”
Kinley leaned against the counter, that mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she scrolled through her phone. “Here it is.” She held it up for Ava to see the screen.
Ava’s eyes tripled in size as the photo she and Brayden took only a couple of hours ago stared back at her. One she had sent to only one person. “Where did you find that?”
“Your mom’s Facebook page.”
The color drained from Ava’s face as she realized the single photo she’d sent her mom was now posted on social media with dozens of heart emojis. Mom hadwaytoo many friends. Way too manylocalfriends. Her post, hardly an hour old, already had over fifty interactions and dozens of comments. Ava recognized far too many names.Should’ve just gone on the date.
She dropped her elbows on the counter and covered her face with both hands.Deep breaths.“This is a disaster.”
Three expectant sets of eyes fixated on her. For once, Ava was relieved the store was empty of customers. Not that they’d be alone for long. She suspected more than a few locals would pop by to pry into her love life.Well, they’d better buy something too. “It’s a . . . long story.”
“So, are you, then?” Kinley pressed.
Ava spent too long selecting words in her head. Before she could get any of them out, her phone buzzed beside her. She didn’t have to look at the screen to know who it was. After dozens of ignored texts, Mom was back to calling.
As tempting as it was to send her to voicemail and crawl into a dark hole until this all blew over, she was too furious about the invasion of privacy. “Give me a minute.” She swiped her phone off the counter and barricaded herself in her office, away from prying ears. After a breath so deep she thought she might pass out, she hit the answer button.
“Ava, I’m so happy for you!”
“Mom, take it down. You had no right.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t send me such an adorable picture and expect me to keep it a secret. Especially when Mary Ellis’s daughter just announced she’s having twins. That boy is pretty cute, Ava dear. How long have you been keeping him a secret from me?”
Ava groaned and dropped into a chair. Maybe this whole thing was stupid. If she’d only thought it through for twenty-four hours, she’d never have agreed. Common sense would’ve warned her where this might lead. Why did she let Brayden talk her into this? How would she explain to an entire town that this was just a hoax? “That was a private photo. It wasn’t yours to share with the whole world, Mom.”
“I’m sorry, dear. I was just so happy you finally met someone. And he’s so dishy, too!”
“Can youpleasetake it down?” Ava asked through gritted teeth, working to calm her erratically beating heart in a futile attempt at multitasking. So much for spending time at the shop today. The moment she was finished with Rilee’s interview, she’d have to head straight home and warn Brayden of the impending doom. He could hide out in his shop until the holidays were over. Or at least until Cadence’s wedding. The town generally forgot level-one dating when a wedding was on the horizon.
Ava dropped her forehead into the palm of one hand, phone still pressed to her ear. She couldn’t abandon the store, though the temptation to hunker down at home in pajamas for a couple of weeks sounded nice.
“I don’t know how to do that. I’m still learning, you see.”
Mom, you are such a terrible liar.Ava swore she could hear the giggle in her mom’s voice. “Have Jamie show you. You’re over at her house, right?”
“She ran to Target. I’m hanging out with Trey. Ava dear, are you sure I can’t leave it up? It’s such a cute photo. I can tell from those eyes that he looks like a keeper. I know Pete will be devastated once he sees it, but I’m sure he’ll understand. It might help lessen the blow.”
“Pete?”
“Geraldine Franks’ grandson.”
Right. The setup.How could I forget the bullet I barely dodged?“He’ll be fine, Mom. Take it down.”
“I’ll talk to your sister when she gets back.” Mom cleared her throat, and Ava held her breath, awaiting whatever question came next. “How’s the store? Did you get all the decorations up for Christmas? Run all the holidays sales? I thought you underpriced those angel ornaments. You should mark them up a dollar.”
Ava pressed her palm against her forehead a little harder, pretending she could rub away the growing headache. This was why she sent most of Mom’s calls to voicemail. To avoidthisconversation. After she figured out how to get off the phone with her lovingly overbearing mother, she was going to blackmail Jamie into getting that photo off social media, like yesterday. “Fine, Mom. Everything is fine. All is on schedule.”
“I didn’t see the buy-three-get-one-free fudge sale mentioned on the website.”
“I’m not running that one this year. Switching it up.”
“That’s a shame. Was always one of my best sales.”
And my worst last Christmas. “Did you need something else?”
“I’m surprised you answered,” she continued. “It’s usually so busy this time of year. I remember working fourteen-hour days and forgetting all about lunch. If Chase didn’t cook dinner some of those nights when your dad was working late too, you all would’ve starved. There simply wasn’t time for me to do it and keep up.”
