Page 54 of The Holiday Games

Kayla doesn’t fuck up—ever—and on the rare occasions when she makes an error, she never uses the “f” word about it. Kayla doesn’t curse. She’s the squeakiest clean human, I know.

“I’m so sorry,” she says, her voice breaking. “So,sosorry.”

“Calm down, honey,” I say. “Whatever it is, we can fix it, I promise. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“We can’t fix it,” she bleats, her breath coming faster. “No one can fix it. I let the cat out of the bag, C.C. I let it all the way out. And now it’s running around, scratching people and tearing things apart and peeing on all of your hopes and dreams. And it’s all my fault. I’m the worst friend ever!”

As she breaks into soft sobs, I frown so hard that my forehead starts to cramp. “Please, Kay. You have to calm down and tell me what happened, or I can’t help make things better. Just take a breath and start from the beginning.”

“I spilled the beans,” she squeaks guiltily. “Harry and I ran into Vivian at the tavern last night. We were having hot toddies to celebrate our engagement when she and Frank walked in. I was already tipsy, and she was acting so smug and innocent that I just couldn’t take it anymore. So I…followed her to the restroom.”

I clutch at the neck of my sweater dress. “You didn’t.”

“I did,” Kayla says. “I followed her, and I confronted her about all the lies she told everyone. About Leo and the cat dying and everything else.”

My stomach sinks so fast it makes me dizzy. I lean in, letting my forehead rest against the cool glass. “Oh, Kayla, no. You didn’t. Please, tell me you didn’t.”

“I did,” she says, voice wobbling again. “And I told her that you and Leo were falling in love and that she’d better not interfere, or she’ll have to deal with me.”

I pinch the top of my lids as my eyes slide closed. “Oh God.”

“I know. I was a maniac,” Kayla says. “I don’t know what got into me. Well, I do. It was whiskey. I shouldn’t drink whiskey. I promise I’ll never drink it again, and I’ll never talk to anyone behind your back again, either. I feel terrible.”

I exhale a ragged sigh. “It’s okay. I’ll call Vivian later, once I’m done with filming, and run damage control.”

“You can’t,” Kayla says. “I mean, you can, but this isn’t something a phone call can fix, C.C. It’s not something that can be fixedat all, not after what Vivian told me last night.”

“What did she say?” I ask, pushing on when Kayla sobs in response and mutters something inaudible beneath her breath. “Kayla, please, you have to tell me. I only have a few minutes before I need to get off the call. We’re almost at our filming location. After that, I’ll be tied up for hours.”

“Vivian’s lies are worse than we thought,” Kayla says. “So much worse. So, so much?—”

“Just spit it out, Kay. Please!”

“Gilbert isn’t Frank’s baby,” she says in a rush. “He’s Leo’s. And if Frank finds out, Vivian’s afraid he’ll leave her, and her family will be torn apart forever.”

My jaw drops and my guts squirm like someone shoved an eggbeater into my intestines. I have to try three times before I can finally convince my lungs to wheeze out, “What?”

“Gilly is Leo’s son, but he doesn’t know, Candy. No one knows except Vivian, and now…us. I haven’t even told Harry. She made me promise not to tell anyone but you.” Kayla sniffs. “She begged me to have mercy on her, Caroline. She literally got down on her knees in the restroom and begged. She’s scared to death. She said she’d do anything, if you’d only keep her secret and…stay away from Leo. Forever.”

I try to swallow, but it’s suddenly impossible. Every organ in my body has gone hard and heavy, everything from my esophagus to my pancreas protesting the thought of saying goodbye to Leo.

Last night was one of the best nights of my life and by far the closest I’ve ever felt to a man. Leo already feels like a part of me, a part it would shatter me to lose. I honestly don’t know how I’d survive it. I’ve fallen so hard and fast that imagining a future without him is enough to bring tears springing to my eyes. I already crave his voice, his touch, the way he looks at me—like he sees me,reallysees me, in a way no one else ever has—like a drug.

Leo Fenton is heroin—one dose and you’re hooked for life. I will never love someone the way I love him, not even if I live another fifty years and meet all the best and brightest men the world has to offer.

Because Leo is it for me. He’s my One.

And now I have to leave him behind…

I have to get out of here. Before I do something devastatingly stupid.

Leo absolutely deserves to know that he has a three-year-old son he’s never met, but I can’t be the one to tell him. It isn’t my place. Vivian has to do that. I have toconvinceher to do that…and then I have to step back and get out of the way. I have to do whatever it takes to help keep my cousin’s family together, while giving Leo the chance to find a place in his son’s life.

It’s going to be a nightmare, probably the most scandalous, awkward, upsetting, stress-inducing thing to happen to our family—hell, the entire town of Reindeer Corners!—since my great aunt Alma was caught sleeping with her twin sister’s husband not six months after Ada’s funeral. And Aunt Ada was dead! And eighty-six. And Uncle Tom and Alma swore their relationship had been above board while Ada was alive.

No, that scandal was a lab fire compared to the Chernobyl Vivian has unleashed.

The only thing that could make this worse were if Leo and I were together. My nephew is going to have a hard enough time getting used to having a surprise bonus dad pop on the scene, let alone if that new dad were also Aunt Caroline’s boyfriend. The thought of a family holiday celebration with Vivian and her husband on one side of the room, and Leo and me on the other was sufficiently stress-inducing before this secret came to light. Now it’s…impossible.

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