***
Lina didn’t seem to mind tagging along again, but this whole thing was getting ridiculous. She and Dillon’s stubborn middle seatbelt were friends now, and she buckled herself in without any help. Worse, his family was already treating her like an expected guest. Trent had practically ordered her to show up today.
“Does your family get a real Christmas tree or an artificial one?” Lina asked as they drove past a Christmas tree lot.
“Both. My mom usually pulls out the artificial one early, and then gets a real one to display in the entryway in mid-December. She’s really into Christmas. Five bucks says she’s wearing her Santa hat and elf slippers when we get there.”
“I will not take that bet because I totally believe you.” She slapped out a rhythm against her knees. “Elf slippers… I didn’t even know those existed. I think I’ll get me a pair of those.”
“You do that. Just cut the bells off the ends.”
“True. It would be hard to sneak up on someone if I was jingling.”
Dillon shook his head. “For when you want to scare people with your crazy cold water bottle?”
“Exactly. Or my cold hands.” She reached up and pressed her hands lightly against the sides of his neck. Her hands were as cold as she’d hoped, but he shivered for an entirely different reason. What had he gotten himself into? He couldn’t have feelings for her. That sort of defeated the whole noble speech he’d given her friends about this not being a sneaky, backdoor attempt to get her attention.
His words mocked him now.If things change, both of us will know.Well, that wasn’t true because he didn’t have any idea how open Lina would be to dating him for real. And he couldn’t ask. Not without making it look like that’s what he’d hoped for all along.
Were they even compatible? She liked to tease him about his lapses into silence, but was that because it bothered her or amused her? It had definitely bothered Cammie, his last girlfriend. Maybe he needed someone quiet and shy, like him. But if that were the case, why did he gravitate toward the opposite? Why did relationships have to be so hard anyway? And why did he want one so badly when he was so terrible at them?
He turned onto the dirt road that led up to the farm, and the dogs barked out a frantic welcome, just as they had yesterday. Thankfully, the yard was drying up. The pools of sludgy water from yesterday had turned into puzzle pieces of cracked earth.
He jumped out first and held onto the dogs’ collars. Lina didn’t hesitate to follow, quickly jogging to the front door.
When he caught up, she was already in the kitchen with his mom, helping her prep a gigantic lunch no one would be around to eat. He’d texted Kip right before driving over, and the girls weren’t even halfway done with the list of stores they wanted to hit. It made Dillon feel slightly better knowing Kip seriously regretted his decision to accompany them on their Black Friday utopian mission to save money.
“Lina, are you comfortable following the directions on the back of this ranch dip?” Mom looked at her with an expectant smile, ready to take over if Lina couldn’t handle it. She was not wearing elf slippers, but she did have on a big red sweater with puff ball snowflakes.
“Yes, I think I’ll be fine.” Lina glanced over at him. She really had been laying it on thick yesterday when she’d used overly-ignorant cooking questions to distract Mom. Proof that even benign lies could take on a life of their own.
“Dillon, go flag down Alec. He made some excuse about needing to apply fertilizer to the alfalfa fields, and he’s been gone all morning.”
“We did a soil test Monday. It does need fertilizer.”
Mom lowered her glasses. “Today? Do the fields need it today?”
Dillon gave up arguing and went out to the west fields to find Alec, who was indeed spreading phosphorus with the tractor, but mostly avoiding being caged inside. Mom didn’t understand the restlessness in men used to working every day. Thanksgiving was over, but if she had it her way, it would be one long family holiday from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
He waved until Alec noticed him and then threw his hands up in a defeated way, a sign language of sorts that this was not a dire emergency, but he’d been sent to fetch Alec anyway.
Alec pointed at his last section and nodded. He’d finish the field he was working on and come in.
If it wasn’t for Lina waiting inside, Dillon would’ve been tempted to come up with his own stalling tactic, but who knew what she and his mom would be talking about without anyone else around to hear?
***
“What dentist office do you work at? I’ve been looking for a new one.”
Lina paused in scraping the last of the Jell-O salad into a smaller bowl. Lying would come back to bite her, but having Dillon’s mom as a patient would entangle her further in this boyfriend/girlfriend lie. She could only imagine Dillon’s reaction.
“I’m at Daily Dental.” Lina immediately wished she’d made up a name, something so generic Brenda wouldn’t ever find it. Southwest dentistry or something. There were a million variations with that name in Phoenix.
“Oh, Daily Dental isn’t far from here. That’s wonderful.”
Yep. Wonderful. Lina grabbed up a baby carrot and did a taste test of the dip she’d made earlier. “Did you not like your last dentist?” She couldn’t help being a little curious.
Brenda shrugged. “I’m one of those silly women who’s afraid of the dentist. I don’t even remember where I went last.”
