Page 28 of Under the Christmas Tree

“It wasn’t date night. Maggie and I aren’t dating.”

“Yeah right.” He looked at her like she’d never told a bigger lie in her life.

She scrubbed a hand over her face, suddenly too tired to deal with all of this. “I’m serious, Adam. Maggie and I aren’t dating.”

He studied her for several moments before looking across the room at Maggie, still caught up in conversation with their mom.

Katie wasn’t sure whether it was just a conversation or whether, at this point, Maggie was being held hostage by the woman. She’d always known her mom would love Maggie, but she hadn’t quite been expecting this.

“You can’t be serious,” Adam said eventually, looking back at Katie. “You’re literally always with her.”

“I thought I wasliterallyalways at work?” she pointed out, reciting her family’s most frequent complaint about her life.

“You do work too much. But, really. You and Maggie. When are you not together when you’re not at work?”

“Plenty of the time,” Katie insisted, knowing that she was lying. They did spend some time apart, but, given her working hours, it did rather seem like they spent most of her non-working hours together.

Seriously, how had she not realized earlier?

Adam frowned. “You’re really not dating?”

“We’re really not,” Katie said, and she couldn’t help but hear the sadness and longing in her voice. She refused to look at Adam in case he could hear it too.

“But, tonight?”

“What about it?”

He gestured around them as if every plan she’d had for the night hadn’t been thoroughly trampled all over. “The table was laid for a romantic dinner, you were cooking and it smelled great, honestly, and you had your whole cute little tray set up for hot cocoa and everything.”

Katie scowled at him. “Why are you saying that like it’s a move I use on people?”

He laughed, the sound a little startled. “That’s definitely you saying that, not me, Specks. I don’t think you’ve got a single move. You never date. Where would you have picked them up from?”

She swatted at him like they were kids again. “Rude.”

“I know.” He grinned at her. “I’m just saying, everything about tonight screams romantic date night and, not ten minutes later, Maggie comes through the door. Seems pretty cut and dry if you ask me.”

“Oh, yeah, my apartment being invaded by my whole family absolutelyscreamsdate night. How silly of me.”

“Beforewe arrived.” He shot her a look.

Katie’s heart hammered in her chest. What did he want from her? Did he want to know? Did he want her to spill her guts for everyone to see? Did he want her to say things she’d never be able to take back, and before she knew whether they would go well?

He watched her with a studying, sympathetic look.

That was exactly what he wanted, and it barely mattered whether she said it out loud. The look on his face told her he already knew, he just wanted confirmation.

She huffed. “Fine. We’re not dating, but, tonight, I was going to…” It was harder to say than she’d realized. She’d started the sentence with so much bravado, but it drained fast. “I was going to… to…”

“Tell her,” he finished. Katie thought it should have been a question, but they both knew it wasn’t.

She nodded, feeling like she might throw up. “Yeah.”

He frowned, looking back at Maggie. “Why haven’t you done it before?”

“I was busy.”

“Too busy to date?” He laughed before she could answer. “I guess that has been your whole thing.”

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