Page 87 of The Jinglebell War
Peach hugs me. “Thank you.”
“Does that mean I can see your wedding plans?”
“Nope.” She pulls out of the hug with a smile. “But only because you have enough on your plate. You’ll get to be surprised, along with the rest of the guests.”
I don’t want to be surprised. I want to be a part of it all. But she’s not wrong about me being busy enough already.
“What’s the story with Garrick?” Cherry asks. “I thought you hated him. How do you know anything about his family?”
I forgot they don’t know the whole story. I told Francis and Marcus most of it, but I haven’t had a chance to tell my sister and cousin. I pop my feet in my fuzzy cupcake socks onto the coffee table and pretend I’m watching the challenge happening on the reality show. “I guess I’ve heard stuff around town.”
“Not possible,” Cherry says. “Xavier told me Garrick’s family is one of the big mysteries in Yuletide. Apparently, he never visits them and they’ve never come to town. Xavier figured Garrick’s an orphan, but you obviously know something.”
I sigh and sit up. There’s no way Cherry’s just going to let this go. “I did him a tiny favor to convince him to help me plan the festival.”
Cherry and Peach gesture at me to go on.
“It’s no big deal. I pretended to be his girlfriend for a visit home to his family.”
“Who are they?” Cherry pops onto her knees on the couch and leans toward me, her eyes lighting. She’s such a gossip hound. “Where do they live?”
“And why do you look so sad about it?” Peach asks. “Was he mean to you?”
Cherry studies my face and gasps. “You fell for him.” Her expression falls. “But he broke your heart.”
Sometimes I really hate having family who know me so well I don’t even have to speak for them to figure out what’s going on with me. “I’m sworn to secrecy about his family, and I’d rather not talk about Garrick ever again.” It hurts just to say his name.
“Tell us,” Cherry says. “We need to know whether we’re going to help you bury a body or just knock some sense into him.”
“Neither. It’s not that big a deal.” But I tell them everything, anyway. They’re my family, my best friends, and I need some perspective.
“I think maybe I might love him,” I say, after I’ve told them. “I miss him so much, and we didn’t even spend that much time together. I never thought I’d say this, but I can actually see how a relationship, how love, might be worth putting up with someone else’s annoying little habits.”
I don’t tell them we forgot to use a condom or that I lied to him about my period starting. And I definitely don’t tell them I’m almost certain I’m pregnant.
“Does your heart hurt?” Peach asks.
“Do you feel like there’s something really important missing and then you remember how he hurt you and you go through the pain all over again?” Cherry asks.
“Yes.” I press a hand to my chest to ease the ache there. It doesn’t work.
“Then you definitely love him,” Peach says. “But he clearly doesn’t deserve it.”
“He’s being an idiot,” Cherry says. “But men get weird around financial success. Remember how awful Xavier was when he was so determined to take his candy store nationwide?”
“Anyone who puts his business and what he wants before me is going to bail on me, eventually. Everyone does.”
“Oh,” Cherry says. “I was afraid your anti-relationship stance might have to do with all the men who’ve walked out on your mother.”
“And Mom sending her away to boarding school,” Peach says. “You were never quite the same after that, Blue.”
It hurts to hear her say I changed, but she’s not wrong. “Everyone leaves, because everyone is basically selfish. I’m glad Garrick showed his true colors before we got serious.” But I didwant to get serious with him, which is something I never thought would happen to me.
Maybe he has a magic penis that bewitched me into thinking a relationship would be a good idea.
“Do you believe that’s what’ll happen with me?” Peach’s tone is light, her expression open like she doesn’t believe I’ll say anything other than what I do say.
“Of course not. You two have the real thing.” I try to put as much feeling into the words as I can manage, but they come out sounding robotic. I’m such a terrible liar.
