Page 33 of Finally Moore

“When are you going to give it to her? Oh, will you drop to a knee?” Tilly jumps up and down while clapping her hands.

“I’ll figure it out,” I say as I tuck the ring into my pocket. My next thought isperfect timingas the bell chimes over the door and I watch Scarlett and her mom walk into the bookstore.

“Welcome!” Tilly announces.

“Hey, Tilly,” Scarlett greets my sister with a smile. “This is my mother—”

“Ginny,” Tilly fills in, as if they’re old friends.

“I still cannot get over how radiant you look.” Mrs. Valentine tugs my sister into a hug while air kissing each of her cheeks. “See, Scarlett? Pregnancy has many positives. Even with every top-of-the-line skin product currently at my disposal, my skin has never been nicer than when I was carrying you.”

“Oh, I forgot you stopped in here yesterday,” Scarlett says through clenched teeth and a fake smile. “Without me.”

“A good thing too. Otherwise your fiancé wouldn’t have known about our dinner,” Ginny scolds, before turning back around to greet me the same way she had my sister. “Scott,” she hums.

“Good morning, Mrs. Valentine.”

“Oh, call meMom. We’ll be family soon enough.”

I struggle to maintain my smile. It’s not that I have a problem with Scarlett’s family. They’re not perfect but we all have our own issues. It’s more the fact that I’ve only ever called one other womanMom, and she’s not around to hear it anymore. It almost feels sacrilegious. Besides, I know I agreed to this, but the fakeness is starting to get to me. I really hate lying to people.

“I appreciate the offer of lunch and shopping,” Ginny prattles on, clearly unaware of my discomfort. “I was beginning to worry I’d hardly get a chance to see you while we’re here.”

“It’s been two days, and you’ve seen him twice.” Scarlett’s jaw is clenched so tight I’m worried she may crack a tooth.

“Oh, Scar,” Tilly interrupts. “We got a new shipment in this morning. Some of those covers are...” My sister trails off, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think she might be drooling. She regains her composure with a smile. “Trust me, you should check them out.”

Scarlett mouths, “Thank god,” before walking over to the display.

“I’m going to see if our lunch is ready.” I try to use this moment as an excuse to escape and get my bearings.

“Oh, Scott, before you go… would you mind helping me put these books out?” Tilly motions to the stack piled up next to her on the counter. “Jax is with the twins, and I don’t want to risk lifting—”

“Where do you want them?” I cut her off and reach for the books.

Tilly smiles. “Oh, over there, on the new release display. Jax must have missed a few.”

“Sure thing, sis.” I take the stack and walk to where Scarlett is standing. She’s reading the back of a book. I lean forward to inspect the cover. It has some big blue muscular guy and a woman on the front. “Looks interesting.”

Scarlett shrugs her shoulders, but I also notice how her cheeks have turned an adorable shade of pink.Is she blushing?

“You know—” I start to say.

“Oh, hey,” Tilly calls out. “Look at that.”

Scarlett and I both turn to glance over our shoulders at my ridiculous sister, who’s pointing towards the ceiling. I follow her line of sight and sigh.Why am I even surprised?

“Mistletoe!” Ginny announces, just as excitedly as Tilly appears to be. “You have to kiss. It’s tradition!” I look down at Scarlett, her eyes wide with panic. “Come on, lovebirds,” her mother urges.

“We don’t have to,” I whisper so that only Scarlett can hear me.

She gnaws on her bottom lip as her mom cheers us on from the sidelines. “No, we have to,” she says as though she’s being forced to do this. Which I guess she kind of is. “We’re adults. It’s just a kiss.”

“Yup, no big deal,” I tell her.

“A peck on the lips,” Scarlett continues to pump herself up.

“What’s taking you guys so long?” Tilly says. “It’s like you’ve never kissed before.”

---