Page 31 of Kissed By Her Fake Fiancé

Holden gave a nod. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll take her,” Faith said. Of course, she would. It made total sense. “I have to go, anyway.”

“Oh,” Holden said.

He seemed surprised by that offer. If Faith wasn’t here, how did that work? Did he stand with J.J. in the long line for the women’s restroom, then wait outside? Did he take her into the men’s room? Neither sounded like a good option.

Yeah, they needed Faith in their lives if only for situations like this.

“I’ll go to the men’s room then grab some refreshments and meet you two back here,” he said.

Faith assumed that meant they’d have plenty of time, but then she saw the line for the women’s room. They passed the men’s room, and the line wasn’t even close to the length of the women’s, which was more of a large cluster of a hundred people or so than a line. It definitely looked like Holden would have plenty of time to grab refreshments and beat them to their seats.

“They’ll hold the show if we’re not finished yet,” J.J. told her once they got to the end of the line. “They can’t start without all these people.”

Faith smiled down at her. “Do you think?”

“I know.” J.J. nodded. “We do this show every year.”

That was news to Faith. “Your dad brings you here every year?”

J.J. shook her head. “Not this one. We went to one in New York every Christmas. My mom used to take me when I was little.”

When she was little. As though, at the age of eight, she was a full-grown adult now. It was cute.

“Dad took me last year, and that’s when he was looking at his watch the whole time. His messages pop up there. That’s how you know he’s bored.”

“Maybe some of the messages are emergencies,” Faith said. “I’m sure his pilots have questions sometimes that need to be answered quickly.”

“It’s much better now,” J.J. said, sounding much more mature than her years. Maybe she hadn’t been so far off with that comment about when she was little. “Where he used to work, he had to take calls all the time. And email. Tons of emails.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t like email.”

“Me, either.”

Faith tried to remember the last time she had to deal with that sort of thing. She had personal emails, of course, but they were mostly spam these days. When she’d quit her corporate job to help run her ex-fiancé’s parents’ store, she left corporate life, and the constant barrage of emails that came with it, behind.

That would change soon enough, though. In fact, she was already mapping out a game plan for starting her job search. Now she had experience running a store, but she’d moved to England as a museum curator for a business based out of Knoxville. She just had to find a way to spin that work into a job that paid well.

Maybe Holden would let her do some marketing work for his business. That was where her interests were these days, and if he’d let her put him on her résumé, she could possibly get a job out of it.

“I think you’re good for him.”

J.J.’s voice pulled Faith from her thoughts. All around them, people were talking and laughing. Meanwhile, this little girl’s words had gone straight to her heart.

“Your dad?” Faith asked, knowing that was exactly who J.J. meant.

“Yep.” She nodded. “He smiles a lot now. He’s doing stuff like this without looking like he wants to be somewhere else. It’s like he always wants to be right where he is when you’re around.”

A surge of emotion almost knocked Faith over, it was so strong. She wasn’t even sure what to say in response. Luckily, J.J. let her off the hook by quickly launching into a story about her friends. But her words stuck with Faith as they returned to their seats and Holden handed Faith the bucket of popcorn for all three of them to share. He’d bought each of them bottled waters. He’d even grabbed a handful of napkins to make sure they were well taken care of.

As the lights dimmed and the opening notes of “Silent Night” rang through the air, Faith felt especially sentimental. It wasn’t just the song or the Christmas costumes and props. It was being here with Holden and J.J. This was Christmas. This was what it was all about. The feeling of family, of belonging, was something that had been missing from her life for so long. She didn’t ever want it to go away.

17

Holden owed Faith a peppermint latte, and today was the day to pay that debt. The drive-thru line at the franchise coffee shop on the strip was too long, though, so he parked and walked in. If it saved time, he never minded going to a little extra trouble. It was all about efficiency.

“Holden!”

He heard his name called out as he was standing in front of the counter, looking at the menu. He usually just grabbed a black coffee with a splash of creamer at these franchise places, but Faith had him curious about the peppermint latte. She made it sound as good as pumpkin pie.

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