The Christmas Girlfriend

by Taylor Hart

  This was news to Zoey, but she tried to act like it wasn’t. “That’s right. That’s really cool.”

  Lacey shrugged. “It was my dream, and I did it, but sometimes dreams change.” She let out a light laugh. “I never thought I’d want to come back to Snow Valley, but it’s home.”

  It felt like Lacey’s words hit Zoey square in the chest. Sometimes dreams change. Her dreams had changed. She’d wanted to become a nurse, and she had, but she really wanted to have a shot as a singer.

  Mike’s mom grabbed the cocoa mix and slowly stirred it in. “Lacey, please grab the secret ingredients.” She looked at Zoey with a serious expression. “Ann, you have to pinky promise that you won’t share the secret Snow family cocoa recipe.” She winked at her. “It comes from my side of the family.”

  Warmth rushed through Zoey. How long had it been since she’d felt such kinship? She linked pinkies with both of them and laughed. “They couldn’t torture it out of me.”

  Lacey added some vanilla, then followed it up with chocolate syrup.

  Mike’s mom smiled at her and put a finger to her lips. “It makes it taste amazing.”

  After a bit, they all filled their cups and sat at the counter eating the cookies, which were doubly amazing, and drinking the hot cocoa.

  Zoey felt bad about being an imposter. She tried to remind herself it was two thousand dollars, and she was getting her car fixed. She would be able to pay rent in January if she needed to, but she might not need to. She might get on her dream team with Sloane Kent and be off to L.A. She would think of it as a job, not as deception.

  Lacey glanced at her phone. “So you’re pretty into my bro, huh?”

  “Of course.” Zoey shoved a cookie into her face. Then she worried that maybe she wasn’t eating “daintily” enough for a Bostonian. Did they eat daintily? She was thinking about an old Parent Trap movie with Hayley Mills when the girl who went to Boston had to be totally refined.

  Lacey narrowed her eyes. “That’s good. I’m glad he found you.” She hesitated. “Ann, we were all a bit worried about him being so lonely in Boston.”

  “Lacey.” Her mother sipped hot chocolate. “No need to act so dramatic. Mikey was fine.”

  Lacey was clearly not bothered by her mother’s chiding. She took a sip and shrugged. “The first month he was in Boston, I swear he would send me a hundred landscape pics per week. Crazy, right?”

  Zoey nodded, pretending to understand.

  “He loves his photography, and he’s good at it,” his mother said quietly.

  Lacey agreed. “He is good at it, but where do you get the time when you’re at Harvard Business School to go take pictures of mountains and forests?”

  Zoey couldn’t help but wonder about Mike. He hadn’t seemed that thrilled about Harvard, nor had he been excited about going to California. In her mind, he had everything, but hearing about how much he loved photography was insightful.

  His mother cleared her throat and grinned at her. “So, Ann, just between the girls, do you think a Snow Valley wedding would be in your future?”

  Zoey’s mouth fell open. She scrambled for something to say.

  “Mom!” Lacey shook her head and told Zoey, “Ignore her. I say too much about landscapes and I get in trouble, but she kinda throws the whole paint can at you, doesn’t she?”

  Mike’s mom stood and winked at her. “Hey, I saw that kiss at Big C’s too. It was a good one.” She waved a hand at her face like she was cooling herself down.

  Lacey and Zoey laughed. But it was the kind of laugh that said she’d been caught.

  Mike’s mom scrunched up her nose. “Are you ready to ‘decorate’ the trees?” She waved her hand like one would wave a magic wand.

  Zoey couldn’t help but like the fun way Mike’s mom had about her.

  Lacey sputtered and held the cookie in the air. “She takes her flowers seriously.” She walked over to the large family room window, which provided a nice view of the rest of the property, including the place where the tents and flooring had been. “The trees are being delivered. Mom, we better get over there so we can get them placed.”

  Zoey stood. “Great, let’s go.” She’d happily think about anything except that kiss or his mother planning a wedding for Mike.

  Chapter 10

  Mike watched Lacey, Zoey, and his mom get out of his mother’s truck and walk toward the tent full of guys putting Christmas trees in the midst of the tables and chairs. There were a couple of chocolate fountains too. Clear lights had been strung on the top of the tent and the sides. Shimmery gold and silver and pale blue peacock-looking flowers were placed along the tent walls and up and down the aisle. Mike knew it would be beautiful because his mom was a perfectionist.

  He stared at Zoey, who hadn’t even noticed him yet. Dang, she was pretty. Attraction pulsed through him, and he tried to shut it down. “Not real. Not real,” he reminded himself.

  “What?” Dom asked, standing a couple of feet away from him, hanging a strand of lights.

  “Nothing.” He focused on hauling a Christmas tree across the rest of the tent, but kept his eyes on Zoey. She was getting instructions from his mother and taking a pile of blue, white, and silver flowers toward the trees.

  He couldn’t lie; that kiss had been amazing. The way she’d spurned Nellie was believable. He’d been told he’d turned five shades of red when Chase Moon had showed him the footage, with his brother Adam grinning next to him.

  Adam had pointed at him. “You’re going to be the next one we’re doing a wedding for.”

  “No way,” he’d sputtered, but the thought had gotten stuck in his brain.

  He wanted a wedding. He’d never realized how much he liked the family life until he’d gone to Boston and had nobody. Attending MSU had been a semi-extended version of high school, since there were so many kids from Snow Valley. Plus, Billings wasn’t that big, and Snow Valley was close. Anytime he wanted to, he’d come home for the weekend.

  Boston had been different. He hadn’t wanted to admit how hard it’d been, and he dreaded going back. Which was funny, because up until Zoey had agreed to be his Christmas girlfriend yesterday, he’d dreaded coming home.

  When Zoey had asked why he’d dated Ann, the plain truth was that he’d needed someone. He’d had no lack of female attention at MSU, but suddenly, it felt like the girls were so different. So driven. So … he didn’t know. All he knew was that when Ann asked him out after that debate tournament, he’d jumped at the chance for conversation.

  Later, he’d figured out there was no passion in her. No fire. No …

  Ugh. He put the tree where he thought it should go and where he knew his mother or Lacey would have him move it a thousand times anyway. He tried to put his finger on what was different about Zoey. The spark of attraction was there, and not just since the kiss. He’d barely been able to sleep the night before, just thinking about her and her situation.

  He grunted. Maybe he dug chicks with bad attitudes. She sure had that. It was like when they’d first met and slid off the roof down the snowbank together—they’d somehow been in sync. Maybe she had thought her life was in danger, but he’d been instantly hooked, even though he hadn’t realized it then. Maybe the in sync part was only for fleeting moments, but those moments felt like they meant something.

  Mike headed back to the truck with the trees. All the guys had finished the floor, tables, and chairs. Half were working on lights, and half were setting up trees.

  His mother was bossing everyone around. “Oh, Mikey, sweetie pie.” She reached out for him, and he went into her arms, knowing she wanted to peck his cheek. She did, and then she leaned into his ear. “I saw that kiss. Wowza! I bet Nellie was ticked.”

  Pulling back, he saw the humor on his mother’s face, and he couldn’t help but laugh. He was genuinely friends with his mother, which was nice. “Yes, she was.” He winked at her. “We had to go before Ann got her butt kicked.”

  His mother laughed. Then Lacey came over and
wanted in. His mother replayed their conversation, and Lacey laughed too. “Ahh, Nellie Bells. Sheesh, her parents cursed her with that name.”

  Mike grunted. “Okay, Mom.” They needed to get back to work. “What’s next?”

  As soon as he asked, his father drove up with a trailer attached to his truck.

  His mother gave him a placid grin. “Ask and ye shall receive. Now, the work starts.”

  And it did. For the next three hours, they hauled out assorted flowers. His mother called out all of the names: silver Boronia, blue thistle, ranunculus, and baby’s breath.

  The band Iron Stix arrived and got set up. Mike noted that Iron Stix never did gigs like weddings anymore, but they had made an exception since his mom and dad were friends with the band members.

  The sun was long gone, and Mike was hungry by the end of it. His father had ordered pizza and had waters and cookies for all the people that had come out to help.

  It was amazing to chat with everyone. There was such a feeling of community. He saw some of his high school friends, like Morgan Moon and Harris Snow. They were talking with Zoey, and then he saw her laugh. It was a real laugh, and the sides of her eyes crinkled. He honestly thought he’d never seen anything so beautiful. Part of him wanted to just watch her look so happy.

  Her eyes met his. She said something to his friends and headed his way. On her way, she stopped to grab her pizza and water before coming to his side. “Hey.”

  He leaned into her. “Thanks for all your work today.”

  Looking around, she shrugged. “That was the deal, right? A Snow Valley wedding. You were right. They’re kind of epic.”

  “Seems like you were enjoying yourself over there.”

  A small smile played at her lips. “Your friends are funny. They think Nellie’s going to want to fight me tomorrow night.”

  He grunted. “Might be right.” He didn’t want to deal with Nellie. “Too bad she’d have to deal with my mother, and she’s not going to want to do that.”

  She leaned up and gently kissed the side of his cheek. “I’ll be ready.”

  Stunned by the kiss, Mike gazed into her mischievous green eyes and knew he was lost.

  Chapter 11

  Zoey stared into Mike’s eyes. Every part of her felt on edge. Why had she just done that?

  He seemed to be asking the same question with his eyes, even as he said aloud, “So, I guess you got out of the poetry tonight. Since the snow slowed everything up and this took so long, they decided to dispel with a real rehearsal dinner.”

  She sucked in a breath and turned away, blowing it out. “Oh, good.” But she felt that trying to make up a poem was the least of her problems.

  “Mike, will you come help me?” his father called out.

  Zoey turned and saw some containers being loaded up to store in a truck.

  “Yeah,” Mike called back, then turned to her. “We’re almost done here, but do you want to see something tonight?”

  It was almost eight o’clock, and it was pretty dark. She wondered if he meant a tree-lighting ceremony. “Ah, sure.”

  The edges of his lips turned up. “Great, I’ll meet you back at the house in half an hour.” He winked at her. “Put your swimsuit on beneath some sweats, and meet me by the front door.”

  “What?”

  He laughed and turned away. “Trust me.”

  Half an hour later, she stood by the front door, swimsuit on under her sweats, boots, and coat. She couldn’t help but feel excited.

  Lacey and Dom walked into the living room on their way up to Lacey’s room, and Lacey smacked Dom in the shoulder. “Ah, you know where he’s taking her.”

  Dom winked at her, looking tired. “You’re going to love it.”

  Dom and Lacey stopped at the bottom of the stairs and began a full on make-out session.

  “Oh.” Zoey immediately felt uncomfortable.

  Lacey laughed and pulled away from him. “Sorry. It’s just he can’t come up with me, so we’re getting some smooching in.”

  Dom captured her lips and began kissing her again.

  This wasn’t going to work for Zoey. She opened the front door and stepped out onto the wraparound porch. Her breath came out in puffs and she knew she couldn’t wait too long, but she had to laugh. She stared up at the moon and sucked in a long breath, trying not to remember her and Josh’s wedding night.

  “Hey.” Mike strolled around the corner of the house. He was dressed in boots, but he looked funny because he was wearing a swimsuit and his bare legs were exposed to the cold.

  Attraction wove through her. His legs were not too bad. He wore a tan beanie cap with “Boston” on it, as well as his lumberjack coat with matching boots. It was the same outfit he’d been wearing last night.

  Had it only been one day since they’d met?

  “Are you ready?” He waited at the end of the stairs and held out a hand.

  Nervously, she walked down the stairs, but didn’t take his hand. “I don’t think we need to do that, right? I mean, there’s nobody out here.”

  He shrugged and started walking toward some kind of trail that had obviously been shoveled. “You might slip, so it’s best you take my hand.”

  She complied, humming with anticipation as they walked down the path. “Where are we going?”

  He looked down at their joined hands. His hand was warm; hers was less so. “Okay, remind me to get you some good gloves. Your hands are like icicles. Just wait, you’re going to love this.”

  The fact that they were wearing swimsuits and walking through the snow made her believe they must have a pool or something. When she’d inspected the property while she’d helped decorate, she’d noticed lots of land, two huge barns, and horses. Plus, there was a dance studio/boxing area that Mike’s mother had pointed out to her on a break. “Don’t tell me you wanted to be an Olympic swimmer so your dad had a facility installed.”

  Letting out a laugh, he shook his head and tugged her closer. “Walk a bit faster.”

  She upped her pace and noticed the path they followed was almost like a hike into something. Now there were passing by boulders.

  “This property has been on Snow land for a long time. When my parents met up later in life, the land was on the verge of being sold.” He smiled at her as they approached a structure. “But my dad bought it, and he put the tree house here for her. He was a romantic because he’d helped her build a similar tree house when they were in high school.”

  “So your parents were high school sweethearts?”

  He shook his head, and they kept walking down the trail. “Nope. Well, yes, but my dad had to move away his senior year. They lost contact. When he came back after high school for her, she was married.”

  “The plot thickens.” They reached a clearing, and Zoey noticed the water and the hot springs. The snow melting everywhere made it look like a haven. “Wow.” It took her breath away.

  “I know, right?” Mike pointed to a big rock. “Let’s get in over there, and we can put our clothes right there.”

  Zoey felt self-conscious but didn’t really know why. It wasn’t like she was embarrassed of her body, but she hadn’t been in a swimsuit situation like this with a guy in a long time. Her mouth went dry as she followed Mike.

  He quickly shed the boots, coat, and hat. Bam, she had a bare-chested mountain man right in front of her. Butterflies swarmed in her stomach. Mike Hamilton didn’t disappoint in the chest area. His muscles were very defined.

  “I know you like to check me out, but it’s freezing, Zoey.”

  Jolted out of her blatant staring, she turned away from him. “I wasn’t.” But it sounded stupid even to her. She tugged off her coat.

  A small laugh escaped from him. “It’s your story. You can tell it.”

  Annoyed at herself, she went into business mode, pretending that it was a nursing thing she was doing. When she had to give people shots in the butt or see something she didn’t want to see, she’d slip into clinical mode and find i
t didn’t matter anymore. Without looking at him, she stepped on the rock and put her boots beside his, then shed her sweats. She’d worn a black one-piece. Luckily, she had bought it last summer, so it was fairly new.

  “Nice,” Mike said casually.

  When she met his eyes, he was obviously checking her out. She glared at him and didn’t know what to say.

  His grin widened, and he put his hand out. “Wanna jump in with me?”

  She stared into the steaming water. “I have no idea where the rocks are.”

  “C’mon, you think I would let you get hurt?”

  The way he said it, half offended, made her realize that this man would never let her get hurt. “Of course not, hero.” Reluctantly, she took his hand, stepping over the rest of the clothes. Good thing Mike had brought two beach towels, she noted.

  They both stood on the edge. He pointed with his other hand to the center of the water. “We’re going to jump on three and land right in the middle. We’ll go all the way under, okay?”

  Anticipation wove through her, but she hesitated.

  “Hey, a girl like you—on rooftops, hitchhiking. Again, that’s all dangerous, but you should love this.”

  Her heart raced. He was right. It was why she didn’t mind running up on that roof and why she didn’t mind hitchhiking. She liked the rush of doing stuff like that.

  “One, two three.” They both jumped.

  The water engulfed her and kind of scalded her skin. She flailed to the surface and sucked in a breath.

  “Yeah, baby!” Mike yelled, pumping a fist into the air.

  She laughed and said, “You’re certifiably crazy, you know that?”

  He shook his head, and once again, she was reminded of a dog shaking out water. Of course, it got in her eyes.

  She wiped the water from her face. “Down, boy!”

  He laughed and gestured to the side of the hot spring. “There’s a bench over there. We can sit or jump off some more.”