Page 47 of The Fake Dating Plan

We all sat down and ate dinner Gerry made. Francie insisted he sit down and eat, too. Francie took hold of the conversation from the get-go and kept asking Emilia tons of questions about her job. Fashion was never Francie’s thing, and her being interested was a way of showing me how much she wanted to act as though she cared about her. I also thought it was funny that she never liked or cared about my other ex-girlfriends, except Emilia. Hell, everyone in my family was overly invested in my relationship with her.

“What are you doing for Christmas?”

Emilia stiffened. Christmas was always a sore spot for her. And thanksgiving. Basically, all family-gathering type holidays. “Nothing much. Watch Netflix, I guess.”

Francie nudged my hand. I ignored her. She nudged me again and this time I gave her a confused, “What’s your problem,” glare. She rolled her eyes. She turned to Emilia. “We rotate who hosts Christmas. Last time it was mom, the previous year it was Tiago.”

“And you never host, because you practically don’t have a place of your own,” I said.

She grinned. “Yes. But it’s your turn to host this year, right?”

Where was she going with this?

“Why don’t you come?” she said to Emilia. “You’re dating after all, aren’t you?”

I stood at the door of my ex-boyfriend’s penthouse suite, feeling like I had lost my mind. And maybe I had. Who attends the Christmas dinner of their ex-turned-business partner, turned fake boyfriend? Not sane people. Sane people had better things to do. It was better to leave; give him an excuse and pretend I was never here. That was the most logical step, but as I was about to turn, someone came out of the elevator. A couple. Some of the most beautiful people I had ever seen together. They walked hand in hand looking like the definition of a loving unit. I knew the man. He was Caiden Scott. The other half of KMVH. The woman I recognized, but couldn’t place her. She had a gift in her hand. Hers was bigger than mine; I noted. As if that meant something. And wasn’t I supposed to be dashing out of here? Who cares how big their gift was?

Caiden smiled when he saw me. “Well, look here? I didn’t know Ax had invited you.”

“I don’t know why I said yes.”

They both laughed.

“She’s funny,” she said to Caiden. “Ax never said that about her.” To me she said, “Hi, I’m Hailey.”

Then it all clicked. Of course. Hailey Lyndell. Or rather Hailey Scott now. I remembered seeing her wedding pictures on social media. She looked better in real life. And happier too. There was a glow to her I couldn’t explain.

“How are you? I’m Emilia.” Before I could say anything else, the door opened.

“Why are you convening outside when you could just come in?” Francie was standing at the door wearing a dress that fit her like a sack. “Idolook weird in one of these don’t I?” she said, “Mom’s coming, so I might as well make her happy at least once a year.” We all followed her into the apartment.

The place was filled with white and silver Christmas decorations that hadn’t been there before. The living room had an enormous Christmas tree in the corner. When did he have the time to put up all of this, I had no idea until I remembered who he was? As if to answer my question, a few people wearing catering clothes passed by me as they went to the kitchen.

Ax came from downstairs and, seeing all of us, Hailey, Caiden, and I, he said, “You all came together?”

“We met just outside,” Hailey said. “We come bearing gifts.”

Caiden sauntered down until he was standing in front of me. He wore a red wool sweater and cool black pants. He was clean-shaven and his hair looked like it was air-dried a few moments ago. It made me want to brush my hands through it.

“What did you bring me?” he said to me even though it was Hailey who spoke. I handed him the gift, my throat feeling a little too constricted to say anything. He took hold of the box, his hands landing on top of mine. Electric shocks ran down my spine at the contact. My body yearned to feel more than just his hands on top of mine. He didn’t take the box and instead held my gaze with his. Time felt frozen, and the room disappeared as if for a moment it was only the two of us. Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone clearing their throat, and I was brought back to the present. I stepped back, suddenly feeling like we were too close, even though an object was separating us.

“Nothing big,” I said, remembering his question. I wanted to thank him for taking care of me the other day. That was why I had made the gift. That was the only reason. It had nothing with the topsy-turvy emotions that were making my stomach swerve whenever I was in his presence.

“We brought you something too, or you don’t care about our gift?” Caiden said.

Ax took the box Hailey was holding and put both of them under the tree. “You didn’t have to.”

“We wanted to,” Hailey said.

Francie came in with a tray filled with champagne flutes and presented them to us.

“Alcohol already? And shouldn’t you let the staff do it?” Ax asked, but Hailey and Caiden were already helping themselves. I took one too.

“Lighten up, it’s Christmas,” Caiden said, raising his glass.

Francie raised her eyebrow. “Those are the last words I expected to hear from the most uptight man I had ever met.”

“He’s loosened up recently,” Hailey said, “Babies do that to you.”

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