Page 53 of Fake It for Christmas

“I’m sorry,” Shane said, cracking up and dutifully taking a shot of the cocktail.

“Well, what did it say?” Mariel asked.

“It just said two words: duck butt. Duck. Butt. It’s not even that funny, but I couldn’t stop myself laughing at that.”

“Duck butt!” a kid across the room shouted out. He looked like he was about 9 years old, and he was grinning wide. “That wasmine!”

I cracked up, and so did Mariel and Shane’s mom. All three of us also had to take our shots, and Shane’s dad was the only winner of the round.

“Okay, okay, we’re getting serious now,” Mariel said. “I’m next.”

“Alright, we want in on this game,” Frankie said, he and his fiance coming up and making the circle a little wider.

Mariel fished in the hat and pulled out a paper. She read it aloud in her best British accent.

“What does a hot dog wear for protection? Condom-ments.”

Shane’s dad was the only one who laughed at that one.

“Dad, was that your own joke?” Shane said as his dad took his shot.

“Yes. Yes it was.”

Mariel laughed at that, and Shane pointed at her. “You have to drink, too!”

“Doesn’t count. I’m laughing at how Dad likes his own dad joke, not at the joke itself.”

“I saw you laugh a little even as I was reading it.”

“That was only because your accent is so freaking bad, Mariel,” Shane said, grinning. “Okay, fine, I’ll drink.”

Soon, even Ethel and Betty had joined the circle to play the game, though Shane’s mom made the cocktails much weaker for their shot glasses. When Ethel picked out a slip of paper, her wrinkled hands shaking as she looked down at it, everyone listened in.

“I once took LSD and made out with a random strange woman on top of a mountain,” Ethel read out loud, her eyes widening with every word. “Wow. Suppose that’s more of a confession than a dirty joke. Who on Earth—”

“That was mine,” Betty whispered beside her, a mischievous look on her face.

Everyone started to laugh. “That isnotyours, Betty,” Mariel said, incredulous.

“It really is,” she said. “After I got divorced, I had a wild year!”

“Okay, okay, I think we all need to have a round of cheers to that,” Shane said, and we clinked our glasses together, taking a shot in honor of Betty.

We kept playing for many more rounds, some people switching over to shots of ginger ale when they needed to slow down. By the end of the game I had laughed way too much, and thinking anything about my old life in New York honestly felt like some far-off past.

“That was so fun,” Shane’s mom said. She turned to me as the group started to disperse, reaching out to grab my hands. “Rowen, I need to say something. I am so glad you are here.”

“Oh no, Mom’s drunk,” Mariel said, and Shane nodded with a smile beside her.

“I am indeed abitdrunk,” his mom said, a gleam in her eye. “But I mean it when I tell you, I am so happy you came, and that you’re here with Shane. He’s—he’s really needed somebody, and God, I can justseehow good you two are together!”

“Holy hell, that’s enough, Mom,” Shane said, a blush settling on his cheeks.

She waved her hand through the air like she was swatting away a fly. “Shaney is going to get all embarrassed, but I’ve been drinking and I don’t care. You two are perfect together. I already know it.”

My heart felt like it was two sizes too big. I’d been drinking enough that I couldn’t shove away my feelings as easily, and as his mom looked me in the eyes, I even felt my throat start to tighten a little.

Fuck.Fuck.What was happening to me?

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