Page 38 of Santa’s Little Faker
Was I being deliberately vague?
Of course not.
I just hadn’t thought about what would come next and spelling it out didn’t seem like a good idea. The anticipation of what it might be would definitely get better behavior from him.
“Dessert is just part of the meal.” Orlando looked deviously innocent as I started us walking again. “Terrence said so. Dessert is only a treat when it’s unexpected.”
Bullshit.
“There’s no way Enzo agreed with that logic.” One glare at Orlando had him giving me a beaming smile. “Enzo didn’t. Terrence was just trying to convince his friend that was how dessert worked.”
He was a terrible influence.
“I like the logic.” Swinging my hand, Orlando stopped himself after a second and sighed. “You make it hard to stay big all the time.”
I thought that was a good thing, but since he didn’t, we needed to fix it. “Then we’ll talk about grown-up stuff and we won’t talk about Terrence or little stuff.”
It should’ve been simple but he glanced over at me like I’d said something confusing. “Like what? Like real-date stuff?”
Real date?
Real versus pretend?
Fuck it all.
“Yes.” What the fuck were we doing? “You can tell me about your week and I can tell you about mine. You could tell me what the family is doing and I can commiserate with you about the chaos they’ve caused.”
That finally got a laugh from him. “Lots. They’re still trying to break into Enzo’s house. He thinks the weather has been too mild lately and he’s hoping it drops in temperature so they get too cold to cause problems.”
“Does he know who he’s talking about?” They would not let a bit of bad weather or even a blizzard stop them. “There’s no way that will work.”
“I know.” Orlando’s shrug said we were on the same page with that. “But I’m enjoying the chaos and it’s keeping them out of my hair for the most part.”
Hmm…
“For the most part?” My question had him sighing, which was not a good sign. “What did they do?”
“Well, my mother called this morning at a truly insane hour and wanted to know if I’d like to make a trip to the library with her.” Good grief. My wince made him smile for a moment but it faded quickly. “And Uncle Marty texted me later asking what my thoughts were on a summer wedding. He said it was just to settle an argument but it was concerning.”
God.
“You have to be kidding me.” His immediate wince and the way he shook his head radiated sincerity.
“No. I might have fun with other things. It’s a family trait…we can’t help it. But not about this.” Crashing his head into my shoulder, he let out a long, dramatic exhale. “Don’t let my mother marry me off to the library lady.”
“I won’t.” How that woman thought it was a good idea I’d never know. “But we’re not getting married this summer just to stop her.”
Orlando’s response was to look over at me and give me wide eyes. “I want a Christmas wedding.”
For fuck’s sake.
“Don’t tell your mother that.” She’d have him married this Christmas. “But that would be pretty. Maybe up at that resort your family went to a few years ago? The one in the mountains? I saw the photos everyone posted online.”
That got a romantic sigh, not the dramatic kind.
“Oh, that had the biggest Christmas tree I’ve ever seen.” Orlando’s smile was beaming but I couldn’t decide if there was little in it or not. “It was all silver and red and it was perfect.”
Speaking of Christmas trees.
