Page 19 of 12 Days of Mistletoe

“I said, I’ve been trying to get you to go see Bonniein personfor months.” She gives a small shoulder shrug, unashamed of this confession.

“You have?” Elliot’s brows are furrowed—almost as deeply as my own.

“Yes, and yet you kept sending those ridiculous notes.”

“Yes!” I point at May. “So ridiculous!” Maybe the woman doesn’t know about Noel. And now, I’ve spoiled everything by telling the dog-hater.

May ignores my rant, unable to see my inner turmoil. “I assume you’ve offered her some kind of compensation with this charade?”

“Uh, well, yes,” Elliot says. I send a glare his way. If May doesn’t know about Noel, do we have to tell her?

“Something to do with the dog?” Her eyes flick to mine.

She knows.

And oh,guilt. Ouch. It punches me right in the gut. Sure, I never liked being dishonest with Mrs. Elliot, but I never really felt like I was doing anything seriously wrong. Noel is such a good girl. She’s never caused any problems. But theinkling of remorse I felt before is nothing compared to the guilt that fills me now. Being face to face with the kind woman who owns the home I love so dearly changes things.

“Mrs. Elliot, I’m—I’m—”I’m sorry.And yet I’m not. And aside from the whole fake girlfriend bit, and the hiding my dog bit, and the lying to Elliot when he insisted I had a dog bit, I’m a pretty honest, decent person. While my track record would like to dispute that fact, I really am.

I swallow down my stutters. “I apologize,” I say. “Noel is a good girl. I promise you. She’s clean and well behaved and—I need her. I love this place. It’s my home, and I just couldn’t fathom leaving and?—”

She nods. “Yes, dear. I get it. I assumed it was something like that. The deal? What is it?” Her penciled brows lift, waiting.

My eyes flick to Elliot’s. How did I get on the same side as the dog-hater?

“Well, Gran, Bonnie agreed to pretend to be my girlfriend for the next two weeks?—”

“Twelve days,” I say, correcting him.

“Right, twelve days.” He shoves his hands into his pockets and peers at the ground. Puffing out a breath, he says, “I just needed a win, Gran, something more than work in my life.”

My heart aches a tiny bit with his vulnerability. It’s an ache I can and will ignore.

“I need them to believe I’m okay. You know?”

I clear my throat and ask him, just him, in a small voice, “Are you? Okay, I mean.”

His brow lowers. “Yes. I am.” Then he turns back to his gran. “So, Bonnie agreed to go along with me, in order to keep the secret from the family?—”

“And me? You were keeping that secret from me as well?” she says.

Elliot licks his full lips, his cheeks a guilty shade of pink. “Yes, and you. You just seemed so pleased to see me with someone, I didn’t know how to come clean.”

She sighs. “Oh, Elliot.” Then nodding, she says, “Go on.”

“So, Bonnie agreed to go along as my girlfriend, and I agreed to talk to you about allowing her dog to live here.” He shakes his head. “I know it was dumb. I shouldn’t have tried to keep anything from you. I didn’t want to disappoint you. I also know the no-animal policy is in place for a reason, and trying to talk you into changing that is awful of me. I?—”

“Stop,” May huffs. “All right, then. I want in.”

I squint, watching the little woman before us and thinking, trying to make sense of her words.

Elliot scratches the back of his head. “What does that mean, Gran?”

“It’s a saying, isn’t it? If you’re betting and someone says they want in, they want to bet too. Right?” Mrs. Elliot looks from Elliot to me and back again.

“Ah.” Elliot darts a glance my way. “Right. It’s a saying.”

“Well, I want in. I’d like you to keep up this charade for the next twelve days, and in return, I will allow you, Bonnie,” she says, looking at me, “to keep the dog here.”

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