The Gratitude Guarantee (Boyfriend in the Bargain #4)

32. Zach

32

ZACH

T hat was the best trip I’ve ever been on, and I’ve been on some pretty cool trips. But this is the first one I’ve ever been on with Brenna, and I hope to goodness it won’t be the last. We had the best time during our two days in Nassau, beach bumming, trying new restaurants, and buying souvenir trinkets at the Straw Market. Brenna is so full of life and up for anything. Once she hit her stride, I was doing the opposite of babysitting. I was the one who had to keep up with her as she made plans to visit The Queen’s Staircase and Fort Fincastle, taking a million photos of everything along the way.

Perhaps my favorite memory—not just from the trip but from my whole life—is the afternoon we spent on Pig Beach.

“Swimming pigs are not a thing,” Brenna immediately replied as I read from a list of popular things to do. “Are they?”

It turns out that they are, and it’s only a two-hour speedboat ride from Nassau to the island beach they inhabit, where tourists are encouraged to swim with and feed the critters. It was an experience unlike any I’ve ever had, especially when one piglet took a particular liking to Brenna, squealing and chasing her around for a solid ten minutes until she took refuge on my shoulders. The piglet immediately lost interest once she was out of his line of sight, but Brenna was done after that. “I can’t believe some people keep pigs as pets,” she said as we walked back to the boat, looking over her shoulder for the tenth time to make sure her porcine stalker wasn’t following us. “I never realized how creepy they are.”

It's all I can do to keep from laughing aloud even now as I remember the look on her face as she ran from that tiny pig.

“So, how do you rate traveling as a hobby?” I ask as we wait in the security line at the airport, preparing to fly home. “On a scale of one to ten, with ten being it surpassed your wildest expectations and one being you’re locked in a room full of poisonous snakes?”

“Ten,” she says without even thinking. “I can’t believe I waited until I was twenty-eight years old to fly somewhere cool.”

I grin. “Now the whole world awaits you.”

“Oh, believe me, I’m already thinking about where I want to go next.”

Before I can formulate a casual way to volunteer as her travel companion again, the line moves forward and we’re getting scanned and waved through. The Nassau airport is much smaller than the one in Nashville, so it doesn’t take us long to find our terminal and settle in to wait for our flight.

I’m feeling a little restless, in contrast to Brenna sitting beside me. She’s reading a book she picked up at an airport bookstand a few minutes ago and seems totally engrossed in the story until her phone buzzes with a text message.

I watch as she reads the message and frowns before darting a glance at me and finding me watching her.

“What’s wrong? You look like you got some bad news.”

“No, it’s not that, it’s just…” She looks chagrined. “I kind of never got around to telling my family that we aren’t actually together, and Mom just texted to confirm that you’re coming for Christmas next week.”

“Am I?”

She looks surprised by the question. “I…no? I don’t know, I assumed not since you already fulfilled your commitment at Thanksgiving. Unless…” She studies my face, and I try to keep a neutral expression so she can’t see how much I hope she’s getting ready to invite me. I don’t want her to feel obligated. “Do you want to come?”

I tamp down my eagerness and shrug. “I don’t have any plans. Would it help you out?”

She huffs an exasperated sigh. “It’s not always about me, Zach. You don’t always have to do what you think I want to do, or what makes life easier for me. Sometimes it’s okay to think about yourself, too. So, I’ll ask you again, and I expect an honest answer. Do you want to come?”

I hesitate for a moment, then nod. “Yeah, I do. I really enjoyed hanging out with you guys at Thanksgiving, so if you’re sure I’d be welcome, I’d like to come.”

She pats my knee. “Was that so hard? Yes, I’m sure you’re welcome. I’ll RSVP a ‘yes’ for you right now.” She lifts her phone and taps out a message.

“Just to clarify,” I say when she’s done. “Are we still ‘together’ for the purposes of this trip?”

She rolls her bottom lip in her teeth. “Well, the original reason for pretending was so I didn’t get set up with an unwanted date for the competition. That’s not really a problem this time, but I also don’t want my family mad at me during Christmas for lying to them, so…I guess the only thing to do is wait until after Christmas to ‘break up’ with you.” She uses air quotes.

“You could break up with me before we go and I could come as a friend,” I offer.

“They would never buy that. How weird would it be for me to bring my ex to Christmas?”

“Yeah, I guess I didn’t think it through before I said it.”

“Is that okay with you? To pretend for a few more days? I was planning to drive down on Christmas Eve morning and leave the day after Christmas.”

Am I okay with that? I was okay with it a few weeks ago, so why does it feel different now? Probably because with each passing day, my desire to make this real gets a little stronger. Finally, I nod. I don’t want to miss an opportunity to be with her at Hartford House for Christmas.

“That’s fine with me.” Then something occurs to me. “What about presents?”

“What about them?” she asks, bemused.

“I don’t have gifts for any of your family. Or for you.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” She waves a hand. “I got gifts for all my family, and we’ll just say it’s from both of us. Couples do that.”

“That would probably work.” I’m relieved by this solution. I would have no idea where to start if I had to choose something for each member of her family. I barely know them, which makes how much I like them all the more surprising. “I’m at least going to bring a gift for you, though.”

She holds up her hand in stop motion. “You already gave me a gift when you decorated my apartment and again just now when you said you’d keep pretending to be my boyfriend. You don’t have to do anything else.”

I purse my lips and don’t argue, but she’s definitely getting something. I just have to figure out what. “One last question. Is there any kind of competitive event that I should be aware of in advance of this holiday? Who can wrap the fanciest package or build the best life-sized gingerbread house or anything like that?”

Brenna tips back her head and laughs, her hair falling in soft waves behind her, hazel eyes twinkling. “Not that I’m aware of, and I beg you not to mention that idea to my mother or we may be doing it next year.”

I grin. “It does sound like something she’d enjoy.”

“She bakes a mean gingerbread man, so don’t tempt her to expand to edible buildings.”

A voice over the loudspeaker calls for our flight to begin boarding, effectively ending the discussion. But that’s okay, because even though this trip is coming to an end, now I have Christmas to look forward to, and I haven’t anticipated a holiday this much in years.