Page 69 of Texting My Secret Santa

“Tell Dan.”

She sighs. “I—oh, fuck—I don’t know. What are you doing now?”

“I’m going to see Mom. She needs to be comforted. Do you want to come?”

She gasps. “Do you want me to?”

I didn’t plan on making the offer, but now that I have, I know I want her there. “She cares about you.” We both do.

CHAPTER 25

HOLLY

“See, the email is anonymous,” Brianna says, showing Asher her phone, which has screenshots of the email on it.

“We know who sent them, Mom,” Asher snarls. “There’s a lowlife who can’t take no for an answer. He’s been harassing Holly for months.”

“I don’t get it,” I mutter. “He could pick anybody, and he’s fixated on me. It’s weird.”

“That’s not the weird part,” Asher says. “You’re beautiful, funny, kind, intelligent, and talented. There are plenty of reasons for somebody to choose you.”

I smile like the world’s biggest fool, like a girl who doesn’t understand this can’t have a happy ending.

“Do you think he has photos?” Brianna asks anxiously.

“I doubt it, Mom,” Asher replies, leaning back in the armchair and groaning. “He’s a lunatic. I don’t know what his problem is.”

“He mentioned something about his childhood.” I shrug. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, it’s bad for us. If he tells Dan …”

“That’s why we need to get there first,” Asher says. “Get out in front of this.”

“Care to explain?” Brianna murmurs.

“This Derek douche has a recording of me admitting I’ve been with Snowflake—with Holly.” Brianna smiles at the nickname. “He’s going to tell Dan I’ve been with his sister.”

“Dan’s going to find out eventually anyway, isn’t he?” Brianna says, sounding confused.

“How so?” I ask.

She looks at me as if I’m missing something. “What’s the alternative?”

I shift in my chair. “Well, the alternative is we keep this …” I almost call it a fling, but it would be dishonest. “Keepusa secret. We go on with our lives. Dan never learns what happened.”

“Surely you can see that will never work,” Brianna says. “I don’t mean to overstep. I hardly know you, Holly, though I feel like I do. And you, Asher, I’ve never been the mother to you I should’ve been.”

Asher lays his hand over hers. “That’s in the past, Mom.”

Pride swells in me.

“Anybody could see that you two are in this for the long haul,” Brianna remarks.

“Why do you say that?” I ask sharply.

Perhaps my anger comes from a place of knowing it’s true and knowing I can’t even wish it wasn’t.

“I just …” Brianna looks at her son and then at me. “If I didn’t know your circumstances, I’d assume you were a couple already. It radiates from you. The sense of being a team: the affection, the love.”

“Nobody said anything about love,” I whisper, sounding desperate.

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