Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 145731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145731 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Corbin’s face goes blank. Then he turns to me. “Lawyer. Definitely a lawyer.” But his expression clears quickly as he levels me with another I see right through you stare. “Complicated, huh?”
It’s asked dryly, a callback to the conversation we had at the North Pole Nook.
Even though Corbin’s not a teammate of mine, I feel like he counts broadly in the teammate category since he’s a hockey friend. Since it’s best I don’t pre-announce that we’re dating before I tell the other guys—or my kid—I practice my best poker face, answering with, “Just a little.”
After he says goodnight and walks down the street to his car, I turn to the two ladies beside me. “Do you want a ride?” I ask Isla, even though I’m pretty sure the answer is going to be no—she probably has her car with her.
And my heart already feels a little heavy when she shakes her head. “I drove.”
“Oh, you’re in the Christmas car! The one with the lights. I want to ride in it again!”
“I would love to take you,” Isla says, letting her down gently. “But your dad has his car. But I promise—I’ll take you another time. Would you like that?”
Mia’s smile turns a little impish. “Maybe you could give me a ride tomorrow to a Christmas tree farm…and we could hang this ornament on a tree?”
Shit. A tree. I’ve got to deal with a tree here in Evergreen Falls, where I usually get away with avoiding trees inside since we’re surrounded by them outside.
While there are certain things I’m liking about Christmas a lot more this year, thanks to Isla, a tree isn’t one of them. Still reminds me too much of my ex. I’m about to tell my daughter we can get a tree at my parents’ place when they arrive in a couple days…except when I look at her hopeful eyes, I can’t keep disappointing her with my bah humbugs.
I want to make my daughter happy at Christmas, even if it’s not the most wonderful time of the year for me. And really—is a tree such a terrible thing?
“Do you want to look for a tree?” I ask.
Isla gasps quietly at the same time that Mia’s face lights up brighter than any holiday display. “Yes!” Mia says. “Tomorrow, please. But I want Isla to come. She is my Christmas lawyer, after all.”
I glance at Isla. Her blue eyes dance with a secret thrill. They say, too, that she knows what a big deal this is. That she’s…fuck. It’s like she’s proud of me.
“Would you like to?” I ask. “We have a contest thing tomorrow, but maybe we could go—”
“After,” Mia finishes for me.
“Let’s do it in the late afternoon,” Isla says. “Then, you can see the lights on the car when we’re done. And I’d be happy to drive.”
“This is going to be so fun,” Mia says.
But the tree farm might also give her ideas about Isla and me. Mia likes Isla a lot. I don’t want her to get her hopes up. I’m not even sure I should wait till we’re home.
“Hey, cupcake,” I say, after checking to make sure the coast is clear and that Corbin’s well and truly gone.
“Yes, Dad?”
“Can you keep a secret?”
Those are magic words to a kid. “Of course I can.”
I give Isla a now or never shrug. She nods, as if she understands me immediately.
“We need to tell you something,” I say, then offer a simplified version of events. “You know how my teammates hired Isla as a matchmaker for me?”
“Yes.”
“They want me to have a date for the big team gala, so Isla and I came up with a clever plan. But you can’t tell anyone the details.”
She nods crisply, like a soldier. “I promise.”
“She’s no longer my matchmaker.”
“Your dad fired me,” Isla says, but with a teasing grin.
“He did?” Her jaw drops as she whirls toward me. “Dad, that’s not nice.” Mia latches onto Isla. “Say you didn’t fire her.”
Isla stage-whispers, “He so fired me.”
I heave a sigh. Isla is such a troublemaker. “We agreed she’d stop matchmaking me. And you want to know why, cupcake?”
“Why?” Mia asks, all protective of her new best friend.
“Because,” I say, then lower my voice to a whisper, “we’re going to pretend we’re dating. To fool my teammates.”
“Weird. You two already act like people who like each other.”
I blink, as if I’ve been knocked into the boards. Her assessment is scarily spot on. But I recover quickly. “Sure, she’s cool,” I say.
Isla snort-laughs. “Thanks. You’re swell.”
Mia rolls her eyes. “Well, now you both just sound like you’re faking it.”
Great. Now I’m getting dating advice from my nine-year-old. “I’ll do better. And of course I like Isla,” I say. “We’re friends. We went to the bookstore with her, and we set up her tree.”
“Right,” Mia says, a little wary. “So is it fake?”