Accidentally Under Your Tree (Grand Ridge Christmas #1)

4. Will

Will

Six nights before Christmas

I shifted the rental car into park outside of a scenic little brick ranch. Icicles clung from the gutters on either side of the porch. A wreath of what looked like real pine boughs hung on the front door. It was adorable.

And I was going to go inside of this adorable house and lie to its occupants.

I turned to Rose sitting in the passenger seat. "We aren't going to have to kiss, are we?"

Her face twisted in disgust. "Why?"

Despite the minor blow to my ego, it was a comfort that she and I agreed.

"To prove our relationship." I shrugged.

Her snort vaguely reminded me of Lizzy from the hotel bar, but then…I'd been thinking about Lizzy a lot over the past few hours. The two women couldn't be more different, especially considering the dynamic chemistry I'd had with Lizzy. And although Rose was beautiful with her blue eyes and angular face, she and I had only ever been just friends.

She shook her head. "No, Billiam, you sweet, sweet boy. They're not going to make us kiss to prove our relationship. My family does not want to see that. Why would we have to prove anything?"

I raised one eyebrow in her direction.

She smiled at me in a aren't you adorable sort of way—that was usually endearing, but I currently hated. "If you're going to look guilty, then they will know something is up."

Drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, I walked backward in my memory, wondering how I got from point A to point HERE.

"Just be your normal self and your charm'll dazzle them." She sounded less confident with every word, a fault in the facade.

"It, you know, made so much sense when we decided to do this—"

"Yeah," she agreed, showing a bit more of the nerves we obviously shared.

"—but now…"

"We're going to convince my family that we're in a relationship."

I pinched my lips between my teeth and nodded.

She swallowed. "But I don't think it'll matter as much as it feels like it does right now."

The queasy twist in my gut didn't believe her.

"It's not like they'll be heartbroken when we tell them we broke up. Especially since we're still going to be friends afterward and all of that."

"Yup."

"It's almost like if you and I were in an actual relationship, but we weren't in a very physical phase. We're in the like comfortable-silence-pal-ing around part. Right?"

She was convincing herself as much as she was convincing me, but it was working. The tightness in my chest loosened slightly.

"That's a good point."

"And technically," she continued, her voice brightening as she spoke, "we are exclusive for the next couple of weeks. You're not gonna go on a date, and neither am I, and everything's cool, you know?"

When she put it that way, I kinda wanted to come clean about the way I'd spent my time last night, but our agreement didn't start until she picked me up from the hotel. So, I wasn't technically in the wrong .

"That's a very good point." The unease in my stomach relaxed. "It's not like your parents are gonna fall head over heels for me in a week."

"According to the network, they fit your target audience."

My face split with a grin. "The network."

The one that had rejected turning our YouTube channel into a show for their streaming service. But even the rejection had been a little thrilling.

"It has such a ring to it." She smiled back, her eyes sparkling.

When Elise, our agent, approached us to sell Will it Bloom Renovations to a streaming service, we'd almost dismissed the possibility. Then decided to go for it. Why not, right?

Rose and I were out of our depth, but Elise knew more about all of this than we did. She'd suggested we appear more unified, based on the input from the rejecting network. I didn't know if pretending to date was what she had in mind. Our fanbase seemed happy about it. The announcement had been flooded with comments about Rose and me being a cute couple.

According to our social media profiles, we were "trying it out." A perfect place to back track without creating too much drama. There weren't a ton of people paying attention, anyway. We weren't a huge show, even in YouTube standards.

It'd only be for a couple of weeks before returning to normal.

Hopefully, Lizzy would still be interested in hearing from me by then. I really wished meeting her hadn't timed so poorly with this little farce. I hadn't called or messaged her yet. But the temptation was real.

She didn't seem like she could fall into such a hair-brained idea. Rose and I might not have gone this far if Rose hadn't complained about inevitably seeing her ex-boyfriend when she went home for Christmas.

"I swear," she'd whined, "fucking him is detrimental to my health, but I cannot stop myself. I need a goddamn babysitter."

It was unclear how we'd gone from that comment to texting her parents that I'd be joining her. Like most of our choices, the decision happened quickly and without a lot of forethought. Her flight was fully booked, so I'd opted to fly in a night earlier.

Now we were in her parents' driveway as the sky turned dark purple, bright pink, and gold.

A pine tree strung with lights and stockings hung on the mantle, created a perfect Christmas scene through the bay window.

If I had gone to my mom or dad's, the view would be different. Neither of my parents did much for the holidays. Luckily, neither of them was exceptionally upset that I would miss this year. They were disappointed, but they just understood.

Or they thought they did. Actually, I had lied through my teeth about a budding relationship between me and Rose.

I scraped my palm across my jaw. "What about your sister?"

Rose's shoulders tightened like they usually did when someone mentioned her twin. "What about Anne?"

"Is she gonna believe us?"

Rose scoffed. "Anne won't care. She'll avoid us all week, anyway. She's like a temperamental house cat with new people. She might even hiss at you."

Snorting, I joked, "If she's that bad, I'm doomed to fall in love with her."

"Don't you dare!" Rose shifted in her seat, leaning her back against the passenger door. A mixture of terror and outrage filled her blue eyes.

"I won't."

Despite the speed that I fell for Lizzy, I didn’t become infatuated with every grumpy woman I met.

"God." Rose groaned. "I didn't even think about that. What a nightmare."

"I was just kidding."

She sighed, resting her head on the window behind her. "I'm more anxious than I thought I would be."

My comforting smile felt tight at the edges, but it was my turn to set her at ease. "It'll be okay. We'll be pretty much the same. I just might hold your hand sometimes."

"I can survive handholding."

"It's just a couple of weeks."

She sat up straight, her shoulders squared. "Just a couple of weeks. Come here, let's do a pic for Internet people."

Holding her phone at arm's length, she put her other elbow behind her on the center council. I leaned forward, placing my chin near her shoulder. We smiled at the camera, both of us looking a little unsure.

"Um…maybe look at me out of the corner of your eye or something," she suggested.

"I can do that."

"Nope. That's not good."

"Just smile at the camera?"

"Yeah, we'll try other things later."

She typed out a little caption, then posted the image to the show's stories.

I pushed my door open, and the frigid wind hit my face.

"It is so goddamn cold up here!" Rose grumbled, filing out of the car as well. "I'm making them come to me next year."

"Get inside. I'll grab the bags."

"Aren't you a good little boyfriend?" She took quick steps to the front door.

Her comment didn't sit right. I'd probably get more used to it. This strange title that didn't make any sense in our friendship.

"Sure am." I hit the fob to open the trunk. With her full-size suitcase in one hand and my slightly smaller one in the other, I followed her to the porch as the door swung open.

"Rosebud!" a middle-aged woman exclaimed. Her short silver hair curled toward her jaw. Her smile reminded me so much of Rose, it felt like I already knew her.

"Hi Momma."

Pulling her daughter into a hug, the two women hurried through the doorway, making room for me to walk through.

"I'm so glad you're here!" her mom exclaimed.

I set the luggage on the tile floor and closed the door. The white-pink walls were a bold choice, but it worked with the emerald green sofa and gold accents throughout the room. It wasn't a room for everyone's taste. Based on what Rose had said about learning design elements from her mom, it was intentional and obviously what her mom wanted.

"Is Rosie home?" A man's gruff voice called from an adjoining room.

"She is!" Her mom answered, still holding her daughter tight.

A large man walked through an archway to the left, and I glimpsed a woman darting down the hallway. A door closed directly after. She moved quickly, just a flash of soft fabric and brown hair.

My stomach flipped. My heart jumped. My throat grew tight. I had to remind myself that just because I wanted to see Lizzy again—it didn't mean she was here. It was Anne, Rose's sister, who apparently actually was like a house cat and scurrying away instead of meeting me.

Their parents, Jim, and Kelly passed out hugs and welcomes. Their joy at having Rose home was infectious. In only a matter of minutes, I had a mug of coffee in my hand and the promise of Shepard's pie for dinner.

It was a whirlwind of excitement until it came to a screeching halt. The blood drained from my face. My vision darkened around the edges. Everyone suddenly sounded as if they were underwater—or I guess, I would be the one underwater.

Above the fireplace mantle were photos of the family. The largest one was from when Rose and Anne must have been in high school. There was hardly any resemblance between the two girls. Where Rose took after her mom, Anne looked like her dad.

It was a smaller, more recent photo that stopped my heart.

I had to remind myself to breathe.

I startled when Jim—surprisingly silent for how big he was—stood next to me. "Isn't that a pretty picture?"

I choked out a sort of hum.

"That was at my niece's wedding this summer." He took a sip from his coffee, looking over his shoulder. "Lizzy's around here somewhere."

My mouth was too dry. I didn't know how I could form words. "I thought she was Anne."

"Some people still call her Anne. We named the girls' Rose and Lisianthus after our mom's favorite flowers. She was always Lizzy to me."

Fuuuuuuck.