Page 41 of The Mistletoe Makeover

“Are you here for the day?” she asks.

“Yeah,” I say, my anxiety skyrocketing, making it so that I can’t stop talking. “I made him come to Evergreen to have our Christmasdreamdate.” I give her a big smile and squeeze Jace so hard, he coughs.

He’s going to be furious about this.

“Good thing you missed the snowstorm yesterday. I hear it was a doozy,” she says.

Jace slowly wraps one arm around my shoulder. Maybe my plan is working and Jace wants to pretend he’s not lonely and single, trying to recover from his worst year ever.

“Oh, we didn’t miss it,” I blather. “We got stuck in the snow and had to get a room at a motel. It was quite a memorable night,” I conclude, before realizing what I’ve mistakenly suggested.

Ava’s face drops as Jace coughs harder, like he’s choking on something.

I smack Jace’s chest, helping him catch his breath again. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

“No, I’m not,” he sputters, giving me a mortified look.I am so dead.

Ava’s eyes skirt over me, like she’s made up her mind about me. “We should probably go,” she says, grabbing Benedict’s hand. “We’re here to catch the next sleigh ride.”

“Perhaps we’ll see you later and we could do dinner or something?” As the words fly out of my mouth, my stomach drops. Jace looks at me in panic.

I don’t even know why I offered it, other than when I get nervous, I say really dumb stuff.

“We already have reservations. For twoonly,” Jace growls, eyeing me.

“We do?” I ask Jace before realizing he’s making this up to give us an out. “Oh, right! We do!”

“Where?” she asks. “We’re looking for a nice restaurant after our ride.”

Jace stares at me in panic again. He doesn’t know what restaurants are here because he preferred no agenda. For once, my planning has paid off.

“The Belle Mansion,” I say automatically, choosing the most expensive restaurant in town, and then realizing the last thing Jace needs is to run into Ava there. “But it’s very exclusive,” I backpedal. “I bet they’re full tonight. Actually, we’d better get going before we miss our reservation.”

I link my hand with Jace’s, twining my fingers through his, like we can’t get enough of each other. “Right, honey?” I’ve never called anyone honey in my life and it sounds ridiculous.

Jace frowns slightly, like he’s going to strangle me with his bare hands. “Right,sweetheart,” he mutters.

Then he yanks me away before striding in front of me in dead silence until we’re out of earshot.

“Um, Jace?”

He doesn’t stop, just keeps one step ahead of me, his jaw set.

“Are you mad at me?”

He stops and wheels around. “What in the world, Mia?”

“I was trying to help you.”

“By telling her we’re dating and suggesting weslepttogether?” he nearly shout-whispers at me.

“Well, technically, we did.”

“Nottechnically.We sleptbesideeach other. There’s a difference,” he says, then drags his hand through his hair. “Why couldn’t you just stop talking?” He grunts, then storms off.

I blink as he leaves, realizing I’ve ruined everything. Not only this day, but this whole trip. I’m the worst assistant ever.

“I’m sorry, Jace,” I say, trying to catch up. “I thought you might appreciate having a pretend girlfriend to make your ex jealous. I was doing this for you.”

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