A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year

by Jackie Lau

  But he needed to do this. For Jo. And for himself.

  “I will help you,” Ah Yeh said, “but first you need to go to the grocery store to get a few things.”

  Zach returned half an hour later with the ingredients, along with flowers for his mother and grandmother. He’d also brought his family a few foods in Toronto that couldn’t be found here. Asian eggplants and gai lan, for example.

  His parents and grandparents were already in the kitchen.

  “Stuart has convinced me that Jo will be good for you,” Ah Ma said, “even if she draws inappropriate things if front of your family. I give you my blessing.”

  “Thank you,” Zach said.

  “Me, too,” Mom said. “I was worried you wouldn’t let yourself fall in love again after Marianne. I’m glad I was wrong.”

  “No, you were right. That’s what I thought until recently. But this crept up on me, and Nick, Greg, Tasha, and Lily talked some sense into me.”

  “Now start cooking,” Ah Ma said. “I want to see you cook.”

  “Is everyone going to watch?” Zach asked. “And provide unwanted comments?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Dad said.

  “It’s not a cooking competition.” That, of course, didn’t deter Zach’s family, and Zach understood. He’d had a good time watching Nick bake for Lily last year.

  He sighed.

  Oh, well. Jo was worth it.

  He owed her something special, that was for sure.

  Chapter 12

  Jo plodded down the sidewalk toward Zach’s house. He’d texted, asking her to come over, and here she was.

  Perhaps he wanted to make up for last night. Yeah, that was probably it.

  But she had plans of her own. She would do what she should have done last week: tell him they needed to stop their Friday nights together at Finn’s.

  She wasn’t sure what kind of excuse she’d use. She didn’t want to reveal her feelings. Maybe she’d just say that having sex had made things weird between them?

  She couldn’t help recalling how it had felt when he dove between her legs and licked her, when he slid inside her... He’d made her feel beautiful again, after Matt had made her feel like she wasn’t worth his time. She was thankful for that.

  But this had to end.

  * * *

  All of the food was ready.

  The ginger beef Zach had cooked with his grandfather hadn’t made it home. He hadn’t expected it to. He’d let his family consume it, then made a new batch back at his place, as well as gai lan with oyster sauce and some rice. He also had drinks and dessert.

  Now he was waiting. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this nervous, but he was going to declare his feelings for the woman he loved, and he couldn’t help it. He just hoped she was interested and it wasn’t too late.

  He was so nervous that he started reciting the periodic table as he paced the hallway, and then, when he was at silicon—atomic number fourteen—his doorbell rang.

  * * *

  Jo curled her hands into fists, ready to do battle.

  But when Zach opened the door, she lost her nerve. An errant lock of hair flopped over his forehead, as it often did, and she itched to touch it. He was wearing jeans and a gray Henley, and dammit, she wanted to pull off his shirt again, but she wouldn’t.

  She had a mission, and she would not fail.

  “I have something to tell you,” they both said at exactly the same time.

  This was followed by synchronized awkward laughs.

  “Let me go first,” Zach said.

  She nodded. She could delay this another minute or two.

  He took her hand and led her into the kitchen. It smelled good in here. There were utensils and empty plates set out on the kitchen table, as well as a vase of mini carnations.

  No, she must not let her resolve waver. She’d say her piece, then go home and eat Kraft Dinner rather than whatever he’d planned here. He probably wanted to get her in bed, and as appealing as that sounded, she wouldn’t let herself do it again.

  But if he just wanted sex, would he have done all this?

  She told herself not to get hopeful.

  “We’re going to play a round of Pictionary.” Zach walked to the whiteboard in the corner of the kitchen. The same one that had been at his parents’ house.

  “Okay.” She sat down. She had no idea where he was going with this, but she could give him one round of Pictionary.

  He picked up a marker and started drawing. It was pretty clear what it was.

  “Eye,” she said.

  He nodded, then drew something else.

  A heart.

  Her pulse kicked up a notch.

  Lastly, he drew an animal. It was fluffy—a sheep?

  “Eye love sheep,” she said, even though she was pretty sure it meant something else. But that seemed too good to be true.

  He shook his head and held her gaze.

  She swallowed.

  “Eye love ewe,” she whispered.

  “Point for Team Hipster.” He knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his. “I never thought I’d want this again. I was heartbroken after Marianne left, but there was a good side to the break-up. I found a friend in you. Some people assume the events of life just roll right off me. But you didn’t assume that. You understood what I was going through, and you helped me get past it without every Friday night turning into a misery fest. Our nights together were the highlight of my week.”

  This was really happening. It was an effort for Jo to keep breathing.

  Eye love ewe. I love you.

  “I said I’d never have another relationship,” Zach continued, “because I was afraid of being hurt again. But I’ve been over my ex for a long time, and I think I was holding onto it because I felt like our friendship depended on us both being single and heartbroken.” He squeezed her hands. “I was wrong. And as we went out for dinner and skated hand in hand and won Pictionary because of your incredible drawing skills...”

  Jo couldn’t help blushing.

  “...I realized our friendship was changing. I still want to be your friend, of course, but I want something else, too, though it took a while for me to accept it. I think you may have felt that way about me for a long time—much longer than the past month—but never said anything because you thought it was hopeless. I’m sorry, Jo, for not seeing what we could be for each other until recently, but I do now, and the last month has been the best of my life. You’re beautiful, sexy, intelligent, kind, and you have a huge competitive spirit hidden beneath it all.”

  She chuckled, but at the same time, tears came to her eyes. She was overwhelmed.

  “It’s been a long time for me,” she said hoarsely. “Two years.”

  “We have a lot to make up for.” He wiped away the lone tear that had fallen from the corner of her eye, but he didn’t tell her not to cry.

  Instead, he walked to the counter and dished out some rice, then—oh my God!

  “You made ginger beef!” she exclaimed.

  “I had my grandfather teach me, while the rest of my family watched, unfortunately.”

  “Did they hear the gossip about our fake relationship?”

  “They did.”

  “I’m sorry. I was at the bakery with Tiffany—she’s the only one I confided in—and Shelly Sanderson overheard. I was telling Tiffany that I had to let you go.”

  “And now?” He came to stand in front of her.

  “You want this to be real, and there’s nothing I’d like more.”

  She stood up and threw her arms around him. He pulled her close, and then his lips were on hers, tender and needy at the same time. He slipped his hands under her sweater and stroked her skin as he kissed her. Kisses that were full of love.

  “I love you,” she murmured. “I never thought I’d actually say that to you, but I do.”

  “And I love you. I was just too stupid to realize it until recently.”

  “Not stupid. You weren’t ready, bu
t you are now, and you were worth the wait.”

  “Is that so?” He cocked an eyebrow, then pressed himself against her, the winning word from the infamous Pictionary game between her legs.

  “Let’s eat first,” she said.

  “Good idea.” He returned to the counter to dish out the rest of the ginger beef, followed by a green vegetable. “Gai lan—Chinese broccoli—with oyster sauce. I know you like broccoli, so you’ll probably enjoy it.”

  She was sure she would.

  He brought over their plates of food, then returned to the fridge. Before sitting down, he placed two bottles of Guinness on the table.

  She laughed. “You’re drinking Guinness, too? You don’t like it.”

  “Just for today, since it’s your favorite.” He raised his bottle and clinked it against hers. “Cheers.”

  As they ate their food—Zach had done an excellent job cooking—they held hands under the table and gave each other dopey looks, and occasionally exchanged a few words. He told her about his trip to Toronto to see his brothers.

  “Next time you can come with me,” he said, and she grinned, still unable to believe this was happening.

  After they finished their dinner, he asked her to close her eyes.

  When he set his hands on her shoulders a minute later and told her to open her eyes, there was a giant sundae on the table.

  “Are these the fudge brownies from Cardinal’s?”

  “They are, and there aren’t any children to knock it onto the floor. And since we’re in the privacy of my home...”

  Zach sat down next to her. He dipped a spoon into the ice cream covered in chocolate sauce and held it up to her mouth. She wrapped her lips around the spoon and ate the ice cream, then licked her lips, nice and slow, relishing the desire in his eyes.

  Next, she fed him a bite of fudge brownie with ice cream, and he did the same thing, his tongue swirling over his lips in slow motion.

  She shifted in her seat before standing up. “My turn to draw.”

  She didn’t erase his “eye heart ewe” but drew another picture at the bottom of the whiteboard. Two stick figures, the one with long hair lying on top of the other. She added a large rectangle—the bed—and a smaller rectangle under one of the stick figure’s heads. A pillow.

  “Ooh,” Zach said. “I know this. Group push-ups? Calisthenics? Surfboarding?”

  “That’s an odd way to surfboard.”

  He shrugged before giving her a lopsided smile that suffused her with joy and warmth.

  She no longer had to hide how she felt about him.

  She’d already had much of what she wanted in her life, but now she had the one person she’d assumed would never return her feelings.

  Fortunately, she’d been wrong.

  They finished eating the sundae before going upstairs so she could show him exactly what those two stick figures were doing in her drawing.

  Epilogue

  It had been a while since Zach Wong had gone out with a woman on Valentine’s Day.

  He’d left school right after classes ended, and he and Jo had driven up north to the skating trail, which had been full of couples.

  Now the two of them were having dinner at Cardinal’s, sitting at the same table where they’d had their first “date” a month ago. Zach was having the lamb; Jo had ordered the eggplant parmesan. She was wearing a sweater that showed a tantalizing amount of cleavage, and her hair fell in soft waves about her face.

  How had it taken him so long to realize how beautiful she was?

  He was very glad he’d decided to get a fake girlfriend for Chinese New Year, and even happier that he had a real girlfriend for Valentine’s Day.

  “I don’t know why they’re out together for Valentine’s,” said a woman standing near the door. “Everyone knows their relationship is fake. What’s the point in pretending now?”

  Across from him, Jo stifled a laugh.

  “I heard the whole fake relationship story was actually a lie,” another woman said.

  “Then how did the rumor start?”

  “Shelly overheard Jo MacGregor talking to Tiffany Bauer, but maybe Jo was being sarcastic. Shelly’s not always great with sarcasm.”

  The women headed outside, and their voices faded into the night.

  “Well,” Zach said, “we gave everyone in town a lot to talk about.”

  “We certainly did,” Jo said.

  For dessert, they ordered a fudge brownie sundae. Sure, they’d shared one of these just six days ago, but it was a special occasion.

  Although Zach hadn’t celebrated Valentine’s Day in years, he knew he’d be celebrating it again next year with the woman sitting across from him. They hadn’t been together for long, but somehow, he just knew.

  She slipped a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and swirled her tongue around it.

  Okay, that was it. Time to get out of here.

  But before he could ask for the bill, his mother walked toward him, followed by his dad.

  “We didn’t think you’d be here,” Mom said. “We figured you’d stay in for your first Valentine’s Day.”

  Zach shouldn’t be surprised. This was the thing about living in a town where there was only one “nice” restaurant: you were bound to run into lots of people you knew when you were out for Valentine’s Day. Including your parents.

  Still, he wouldn’t trade this life for anything.

  “Hi, Jo,” Dad said. “Nice to see you doing something other than drawing phallic objects.”

  Jo choked on her ice cream.

  Just then, Zach’s phone rang. It was his grandparents. Shit, why were they calling at eight thirty? Was everything okay?

  “Zach,” Ah Ma said when he answered the phone. “You have been lying to us again.”

  “What have I been lying about?”

  “Silly boy. You know! Sebastian and Amber were together, and you didn’t tell me?”

  “Wasn’t my news to share.”

  “Of course it was. You hear news like that, you immediately tell your ah ma.”

  Zach pulled the phone away from his ear. His grandmother was too loud.

  “It’s Ah Ma,” he said to his parents. “Since she’s probably going to call you next, you might as well know that Sebastian and Amber are seeing each other, and yes, I already knew, but was sworn to secrecy. For obvious reasons.”

  “Were seeing each other,” Ah Ma said. “I think they have broken up now, but I don’t know, because nobody tells me anything. You didn’t tell me your girlfriend was fake.”

  “That would have defeated the purpose of the fake relationship.”

  Dad grabbed the phone and said something to his mother in Cantonese, then ended the call and handed the phone back to Zach.

  “Anyway,” Mom said, “we’ll deal with that tomorrow. You two have a nice night.”

  His parents headed to a table at the far end of the restaurant, and Zach took Jo’s hand as they finished off their ice cream sundae.

  “Sorry about the interruption,” he said.

  “No problem.” She was laughing.

  After he paid the bill, they headed out into the snowy night. She pressed a quick kiss to his mouth, snowflakes in her lashes, and they started back to his house, where they would do something more fun than play Pictionary. No beer at Finn’s tonight—he had other plans.

  “Hi, Mr. Wong! Dr. MacGregor!” said one of Zach’s super-keen grade ten students.

  Zach lifted a hand in response.

  He kept his arm around Jo’s waist as they walked through the familiar streets of Mosquito Bay. This was their home, and they belonged here.

  Together.

  * * * * *

  Thank you for reading A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year! Amber and Sebastian’s story, A Big Surprise for Valentine’s Day, will be out on February 4. More details and pre-order links here.

  To learn about my new releases, sign up for my newsletter. You will receive a free copy of the novella One Bed for Ch
ristmas, a standalone prequel to my Baldwin Village series.

  About the Author

  Jackie Lau decided she wanted to be a writer when she was in grade two, sometime between writing “The Heart That Got Lost” and “The Land of Shapes.” She later studied engineering and worked as a geophysicist before turning to writing romance novels. Jackie lives in Toronto with her husband, and despite living in Canada her whole life, she hates winter. When she’s not writing, she enjoys gelato, gourmet donuts, cooking, hiking, and reading on the balcony when it’s raining.

  Find out more at jackielaubooks.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or join her Facebook reader group, Northern Heat, with fellow Canadian rom-com authors Jenny Holiday and Farah Heron.

  Also by Jackie Lau

  Holidays with the Wongs Series

  A Match Made for Thanksgiving

  A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas

  A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year

  A Big Surprise for Valentine’s Day

  Baldwin Village Series

  One Bed for Christmas (prequel novella)

  The Ultimate Pi Day Party

  Ice Cream Lover

  Man vs. Durian

  Chin-Williams Series

  Not Another Family Wedding

  He’s Not My Boyfriend

  Kwan Sisters Series

  Grumpy Fake Boyfriend

  Mr. Hotshot CEO