Page 20 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
“She’s perfectly lovely.” Jace tried not to think too hard about decorating the tree with her last night. The rosy glow of the twinkle lights had suited her. He’d felt like he was seeing her world through rose-tinted glasses. As if when he’d stepped inside Cherry on Top, he’d somehow found himself in a place filled with sweetness and beauty and light.
Just thinking about it made his chest ache.
“Too lovely for the likes of me,” Jace said, and he wasn’t sure who exactly he was trying to convince—his uncle or himself. His parents liked to tell him how much he reminded them of Uncle Gus, and in this context, that didn’t seem like a good thing. “What if I want to be a lifelong bachelor like you?”
Gus went still.
“You don’t want that,” he finally said with a crack in his voice that Jace had never heard before.
“Why not?” he asked, hoping Gus might peel back a layer of his hard exterior and tell him something real. Something that might explain why he’d chosen such a solitary life.
They were running out of time. In a matter of months—a year, at most—Gus would be gone. Jace had been so busy building Texas Tidings Christmas Tree Farm into a sustainable business that he hadn’t had the chance to come visit his uncle in recent years. He regretted that now, obviously. The farm...the trees...the house he’d worked so hard to restore...none of that seemed to matter now. He should’ve been here. He was all Gus had.
But why?
Why hadn’t Gus let himself get close to anyone else? There had to be reason. Or was it just who Gus was?
A loner.
Maybe it’s who I am too.Jace was beginning to wonder. More than one woman he’d dated had told him he was too closed off for a real relationship. He never let anyone get to know him beyond surface level. Jace disagreed, but maybe they were right. Maybe he was more like Gus than he wanted to admit.
“Trust me. You don’t want to be like me. You need a family,” Gus said with a finality that told Jace he had no intention of elaborating.
Jace studied the board for a long moment, and then he finally saw it—the move that would give him the win. He could checkmate Gus if he wanted to. All it would take was a simple diagonal cross with his bishop and he would win. He’d beat Uncle Gus at chess for the very first time.
Fifth-grade Jace wouldn’t have hesitated. Not for a second. Adult Jace didn’t have the heart to do it, though. Not here, of all places. Not now.
“You do have a family, Uncle Gus,” he said as he made a useless move with his rook. Then Jace smiled at the older man, and his heart gave a bittersweet tug. “Me.”
Chapter Seven
“How bad do you hate me right now?” Maple winced as Lady Bird tugged at the end of her leash to touch noses with Fuzzy.
Then her gaze swept over the hot cocoa stand Adaline had set up beneath the gazebo. A massive stainless steel dispenser held several gallons of cocoa. She’d filled canisters with garnishes like marshmallows, chocolate shavings and peppermint sticks. And of course, she’d wrapped the gingerbread dog cookies in individual cellophane bags and tied them with red satin ribbon. Comfort Paws stickers decorated the cocoa cups, and brochures about the organization’s mission were stacked at both ends of the wooden cart.
“Okay, this all looks incredible. I can’t believe you pulled this together in a day,” Maple said, agog. “But circling back to what I said before, how bad do you hate me?” She scrunched her face. “Really, really bad?”
“Of course I don’t hate you. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Adaline adjusted Fuzzy’s Comfort Paws therapy-dog-in-training vest, which wasn’t the easiest task while he greeted his good friend Lady Bird with a heaping dose of enthusiasm.
“I’m talking about last night.” Maple gave her a curious once over and then lowered her voice to a whisper. “When I left you alone at the bakery with you-know-who.”
“Oh, that.” Adaline tried—and failed—not to glance across the square at Jace, who was carrying another tree around like he was Paul Bunyan. She’d been overly aware of his presence since the moment she’d arrived to set up the hot chocolate stand.
It was beyond annoying.
“I had no idea that Jenna and Belle were going to follow me out the door. Ford and I had a meeting scheduled at Bluebonnet Chapel, and I didn’t want to say anything until our change of plans was official. I kind of wanted to give Ford the chance to tell you himself, anyway.” Maple’s eyebrows rose. “I heard he got to sit down with you and Gram this morning. What do you think? Are we crazy?”
Crazy in love, maybe.
Adaline’s gaze once again strayed toward Jace. She really needed to stop doing that.
“I love the idea of a Christmas Eve wedding. Gram is thrilled to pieces, and Jace said I could bake the wedding cake. Please tell me he cleared that with you first,” Adaline said.
“Of course you’re baking the cake. I would never even consider anyone else. We’re going to besisterssoon. Can you believe it?” Maple sighed. “I always wanted a sister. I hated being an only child.”
“Me too.” Adaline bounced on her toes before she could remind herself to be cool and take it down a notch. “I mean, not the only child part because Ford was there. As awesome as he is, a brother isn’t the same as a sister.”
“And you’re sure about the cake? I know you’ve got a lot going on this month.” Maple gestured toward the cocoa cart, the new bane of Adaline’s existence since it involved working in such close proximity to Jace.
