Page 43 of A Christmas Bargain

“I’m sorry. I just am not going to buy this line that you’re dating her.”

“Then what else would I be doing? Why else would I be spending time with her?”

“I don’t know.” She furrowed her brow, scrutinizing me. “To make itlooklike you have a girlfriend?”

“Jeez.” I stood. “You nag me to date, then when I want to, you act like it’s not happening.”

I had to get out of here, too nervous with how close she was to the truth. I was only trying to make it look like Claire and I were dating to dissuade other women from pouncing on me and thinking I was available. But it felt like it came so naturally, that Claire and I looked like a couple because it made sense to just be one.

“You’re not interested in her.” She wiped the clean counter, vacant and frowning as she avoided making eye contact. “She’s not your type.”

“You know, you said that about Jenna when I met her too.”

“Jenna made sense, though. She was sweet.”

“Claire isn’t?”

“She doesn’t have…” She gestured with her hand, struggling to find the words. “She doesn’t have the same goals as you. As what Jenna had. She’s a career woman. Always on her phone.”

“Yeah, it’s not a crime for a successful woman to care about her job.”

“And she’s more interested in being in the city,” she said.

“So what? Naomi and I enjoy weekends in Denver, and elsewhere too.”

“She’s not the kind of woman who’d want to be a mother.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’dknow that? Just from looking at her? You haven’t even tried to get to know her.”

“Because she’s always taking calls.” She crossed her arms. “I think she’s just a gold-digger. She’s using you, Derek.”

No more than I’d be using her.

I shook my head, tired of her nonsense. I was sure she thought she was looking out for me, but this was annoying.

“How do you know she’s not just taking a break from her man in the city to have a little holiday fling with you?”

I rolled my eyes.

“I heard her talking to some guy named Shawn?—”

“Her assistant,” I corrected. “Shawn is her assistant.”

She pressed her lips together, unhappy. “I still don’t believe you. There’s no way you can really be interested in someone like her.”

“Someone like her?”

“Yeah.” She flung her arms out, annoyed. “A city woman who wouldn’t care about being a mom for Naomi.”

Wanna bet?Here I was, asking her on a date because I was envious of how well she got along with my daughter and wishing I could have more of her attention.

“See you tomorrow,” I said, leaving to say goodbye to Nicky and Naomi in the adjacent woodshop.

I didn’t have time for my sister to be acting so wounded that I would turn down all the matches she’d decided for me just because I wanted to be with Claire. It was none of her business, and that was the first matter of it all. But hearing her guess that I could be pretending this just to throw her off bothered me.

There was no way she could possibly suspect that Claire and I were just going through the motions and faking this. It didn’t feel like we were. Every minute I spent with Claire was fun, and I was sad to see her go.

This time, instead of picking her up at her dad’s home in Macomb—which would definitely shift the gears from fake to real, meeting her parent—she drove to my house so I could take us to Gregario’s. It wouldn’t be as “real” if we met there.

---