Page 94 of Not in My Book

“You don’t even have snow boots on,” I said. “Your feet are going to freeze.”

He laughed. “I’ll be okay.” He had his new Tennessee cap on instead of his beanie. “Thank you for letting me stay and for letting me spend Christmas with you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I said honestly. I hesitated before reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. “Get home safe, okay?”

He nodded. “Merry Christmas, Rosie.”

“Merry Christmas, Aiden.”

My family and I spent Christmas Day lounging around, catching up on everything. We watched a few movies on my laptop, talking over all of them. It was how Christmas typically went at home, too. We’d sleeplate and spend the day in our cozy clothes, messing around with our gifts.

Their flight wasn’t until late at night the day after Christmas, so I thought it’d be nice if I showed them a popular Peruvian restaurant in midtown, Pio Pio, the next afternoon.

Whenever we went out to eat at a Peruvian restaurant, we let my mom order food for the table and shared it family style. Inca Kola and a pitcher of Chicha Morada sat in the middle of the table, and the best food I’ve had in a year was piled on my plate—and I couldn’t get enough of it.

“Aiden is very handsome,” my mom said casually, picking at her Lomo Saltado. “Why didn’t you tell us you were together?”

I could feel Maria’s gaze on me as I shrugged. “I didn’t know when to bring it up. It’s still new.”

“It doesn’t look new,” my dad said. “He likes you.”

“I should hope. He’s herboyfriend,” my mom replied

“How long have you two been together?” Dad pressed. “The way he looks at you, Rosie, it’s like—”

“Rosie!” Maria interrupted them. “Tell Mom and Dad about that fellowship thing you mentioned on the phone.”

I was grateful for Maria changing the subject, but I was also afraid to tell my parents how important the fellowship opportunity was for me. I didn’t want to get their hopes up in case it didn’t work out.

“It’s a really cool opportunity,” I said, downplaying it. The fellowship submission deadline was soon, and I was growing increasingly nervous. The more I worked on my piece, the more I wanted to win. Of course the money was important, but more than that, I wanted to prove that a romance writer could be as good as the other litfic writers. If I won, they’d publish my piece in the literary magazine. I wanted to be able to proudly send a copy of the magazine to everyone I knew and say,Look! Iama good writer. Someone else thinks so!“I’m submitting a short story I wrote last year and hopefully I get selected.”

“How wonderful.” My mom smiled at me. “Look at you, making a name for yourself in New York.”

“Oh, I don’t know about I that,” I said, bashful. “I hope so. I think this will help. And Ida and Aiden are looking over it—”

“Aiden’s looking over your piece?” My mom lit up.

“I like Aiden,” my dad declared.

Maria and I shared a panicked glance. My dadrarelyliked the guys we brought home. He really hadn’t loved Simon—he’d claimed Simon was egotistical and self-centered, but I didn’t really care. The only guy I dated that my dad had ever liked was Josh when I was ineighth grade.Maria and Peter dated their senior year of high school and all through college, and that was fine, but Dadhatedall of Maria’s boyfriends before him. He had this intuition about people and now that he’d declared fondness for Aiden, it meant he’d probably be asking about Aiden frequently.

“He’s not that great,” I said casually, shoveling food into my mouth.

“He bought you that necklace.” My dad gestured toward the locket. “And you haven’t taken it off since he gave it to you.”

Instinctively, my hand reached up to clasp the necklace closer to me.

“We’ve just started dating,” I explained. “I don’t even know him that well—”

My mom gasped. “You don’tknowhim? Ay, Ros—”

“I have to pee,” Maria announced. She turned toward me. “Come with me to the bathroom?”

“Of course,” I said, jumping up from my seat. The minute the door closed behind us I told her, “I love you.”

She laughed. “They’re being a lot. They’re happy you found someone after, you know, everything with Simon.”

“I’ll tell them when they go back to Tennessee that Aiden and I broke up or something. Otherwise, Mom’ll hound me with questions every time I answer the phone.”

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