Page 13 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
The snow flurries dancing about in Adaline’s belly came to a screeching halt. Was hemockingher predicament?
“What fundraiser?” she countered.
“Touché.” He rubbed his free hand over his face, and that’s when Adaline saw it—the exhaustion etched in the lines around his eyes. It wasn’t an ordinary exhaustion, either. The deep-carved weariness in those lines was about more than mere physical labor.
Grinchy Uncle Gus.
Mr. Martin’s sour expression sprang straight to the forefront of Adaline’s mind. She’d been so wrapped up in herself and her own problems that she’d all but forgotten about Jace’s grinchy uncle. Was Mr. Martin the reason he’d come back to Bluebonnet?
She couldn’t imagine having to deal with that man on a regular basis, much less having him as an actual blood relation. It almost made her feel sorry for Jace.
Great. Just what she needed—another crack in her resistance.
“Look, I feel bad about what happened, okay? It wasn’t my intention to kick your group out of the space,” he said. “I like dogs.”
Judging by the slobbery display of affection going on at his feet, the feeling was mutual.
Adaline glared at Fuzzy. Where was her dog’s sense of loyalty? But Fuzzy was too busy gazing up at Jace, hoping for a pat or a scratch behind the ears, to notice.
She’d trained her therapy dog too well, that’s all. He was just doing his job, showering affection on anyone and everyone he came across. Grade-school heartbreakers included.
“I’d like to propose a compromise,” Jace said.
Adaline’s gaze flew back to his face. “What kind of compromise? Unless it involves moving your tree lot far, far away, I’m not interested.”
Jace’s eyes flashed over her, and the corner of his mouth curled, as if he could see straight inside her head and read her every thought. Because the truth was, a compromise didn’t sound half-bad. At this point, she might have to take what she could get.
“As soon as you let me come inside and set up your Christmas tree, I’ll tell you.”
Chapter Five
Every pair of eyes in the bakery—human and canine alike—remained firmly fixed on Jace as he got the blue spruce set up in a corner by the front window.
He turned the tree this way and that, more out of habit than anything else. There wasn’t a bad angle to be found. Not a single crushed limb or bent twig. It was the best tree on his lot and for some ludicrous reason, he’d wanted Adaline to have it. Once he was done here, he needed to get his head examined.
Oh, but wait. Jace didn’t have time to get his head examined. Between single-handedly running the town Christmas tree lot and checking on Uncle Gus, he still hadn’t had time to fully unpack his belongings and get settled in Gus’s old house on the outskirts of town. Yesterday he’d bought a new toothbrush at Bluebonnet General—the small grocery store in the town square with a seemingly nonexistent organizational system—just so he wouldn’t have to figure out which moving box contained his personal grooming items.
He’d wanted her to have the tree, so he’d given it to her. Case closed. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. If he had to look at the storefront bakery all day, every day, it may as well have a decent-looking Christmas tree in the window.
“Wow.” Jenna, one of Adaline’s friends who wore a pink wraparound sweater and had her hair twisted into an elaborate blond bun, circled the tree in its stand. “It’s stunning.”
“Gorgeous. I’m definitely getting one of these tomorrow for the pet clinic before Grover drags out some pathetic plastic tree he’s had tucked away in an attic for half a century,” Maple said. Her hand rested on Lady Bird’s head as her gaze swept the tree from top to bottom. Once the golden retriever had given Jace a thorough tail-wagging welcome, she’d glued herself to the veterinarian’s side.
“I wonder if I could convince the school to let me put a live tree in the library. It smells like Christmas,” Belle said as she absently twirled her chestnut ponytail with one hand as she cradled Peaches, a female lookalike to Adaline’s pup, Fuzzy, in the other.
“What do you think, Adaline? It’s nice, isn’t it?” Maple prompted.
“It’s a lovely tree,” Adaline said, barely sparing it a glance before fully turning her back on it to square her shoulders in Jace’s direction. “Now about that compromise you mentioned?”
Jace shook his head. “We’re not ready to talk about that yet.”
She pinned him with an accusatory glare. “But you said...”
“Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle. I said I’d tell you all about it once your Christmas tree was set up. We’re not finished yet.” He glanced around the bakery. “Don’t you have anything to decorate it with around here? A string of lights, perhaps?”
His gaze lifted purposefully to the glittering pink bulbs draped behind the bakery counter.
“Maybe you could use some of your bakery ribbon to tie bows on the branches,” Belle said, somehow oblivious to the growing look of horror on Adaline’s face.
