Page 19 of Holly, Jolly, and Oh So Naughty

“Sorry, pal!” He clasps my shoulder, and I catch a whiff of chalk as we pass by one another. He continues inside as I step out into the frosty afternoon air, but when I glance back inside, my heart freezes.

The strange man is embracing Lily tightly, and all the warmth she left me with vanishes.

Who the hell is that guy?

Could he be… Emma’s father?

7

LILY

“Alright, sweetie, you be good for Grandma, okay?” Kneeling down, I adjust the buttons on Emma’s blouse and cup her cheeks. “I know how much you enjoy a sleepover, but you still have to be on your best behavior, okay?”

“Okay, Mommy!” Emma grins happily at me. “We’re gonna play storekeeper!”

“Oh, really?” Laughing softly, I ruffle her curls and stand as my dad comes out from the back of the inn.

“Lily! And Emma, look at you. Are you ready for your sleepover?”

“Yes, Grandpa!” Emma beams up at him, then she waves at me with a tiny fist and scurries off behind the counter. I hear my mom’s excited exclamation a moment later.

“Can you keep an eye on her?” I ask Dad while I smooth out the rumples in my T-shirt. “I’m a little worried about her.”

“Worried how?” Mom pokes her head through the door like a magpie spotting something shiny. “What’s wrong?”

“Emma’s just having a little rough patch with some kids at school, so I just want you to keep an eye on her and make sure she’s okay, that’s all,” I explain. “It’s nothing too serious yet.”

“We will,” Dad assures me with a comforting squeeze of my arm. “You don’t have to worry. You have a night to yourself. Go and have fun.”

“It’s about time you got back out into the dating world,” Mom agrees as she busies herself, shuffling papers at the front desk. “It’s not good to be alone this long.”

“One, there’s nothing wrong with being alone. And I’m not alone. I have family and friends. And two, it’s not a date. It’s just dinner with a friend who I am pretending to date to help him out of a tough situation. It’s not real.”

“Sure.” Dad chuckles. “And I was born yesterday.” He chuckles to himself and heads through the door to the back of the inn to find Emma.

“You don’t need to pretend with us,” Mom says, moving around the desk to take my hand. “You’re a grown-up. You make your own choices, but you don’t need to hide a date from us.”

I should try to persuade her that it’s really not a date, but that would take longer than I have time for. Instead, I thank her for taking care of Emma for the night and promise to pick her up in the morning. Then, I drive home while my mind races on what on earth to wear.

“What about that little black dress?” Amelia asks me half an hour later on the phone, after I spent twenty minutes tearing apart my closet and called her in desperation.

“It doesn’t fit,” I whine softly. “That dress is from before I had Emma, and my body then was very different from my body now.”

“You’re still gorgeous,” Amelia says gently.

“I never said I wasn’t,” I point out. “I just have a few more squishy bits that didn’t exist when I bought that dress.”

“Hold up the phone. Show me what else you’ve got in there.”

I do as she asks and hold the phone with one hand while dragging a brush through my hair with the other. “I don’t even know why I’m so nervous. It’s not a real date.”

“Sure, but it’s in public and that’s the lie you’re trying to spin,” Amelia counters. “That’s sure to drag up all sorts of feelings, considering who he is.”

“There are no feelings,” I murmur.

“Don’t think you can lie to me just because I can’t see your face right now.” I can hear Amelia sucking on her teeth and bite back a smile. “What’s that at the back? It looks red but black at the same time?”

“Uhm.” Following her instructions, I hunt out a knee-length, strapless dress that’s deep red with a love heart neckline. It’s covered in sheer black fabric that deepens the red whenever the material ruffles.

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