Faking Christmas (Christmas Escape)

by Cindy Steel

“It’s recently come to my attention that you might be crazy about me.”

Any woman of mine wouldn’t be able to keep her hands off me.”

“Alright,” I started. “We obviously need to set some ground rules.” “For what?” “Fake dating.” “Why?” He had a small smile on his face, which meant he was very much trying to goad me. “Because I’d hate for you to fall in love with me.”

“So…what book have you read where fake dating worked as planned? Should I take a quick peek into your Kindle?”

“Nah. I’d be over every morning, acting the part of the concerned boyfriend with chicken soup, and fresh blankets, and Home Alone.” “Why Home Alone?” He looked at me like I was crazy. “Because it’s the best Christmas movie.” “Agreed.”

“My books are more fun.”

“Some people are perfectly happy to be at home. They don’t need to prove themselves to anybody,”

“Quick question. How do you like your ham? Board shorts or Speedo?”

Why had I never put those two ideas together? I hadn’t realized they correlated until I began speaking. I just thought he’d been trying to buy the students’ love so they’d want to be in his classroom rather than mine. But…sudden memories of a faculty meeting where we had been discussing the kids we knew weren’t getting enough to eat on the weekends came to mind. There had been several ideas thrown out to help, but to my knowledge, nothing concrete had ever been done. Was this Miles’s way of helping to feed the kids who might not have enough food? And why hadn’t I ever thought of it like that?

“If that was being bad, I never want to be good.”

“I’ve got a thing for pretty, uptight English teachers.”

“I would never fake date somebody I didn’t already want to be dating.”

“You want me to wait until the end to tell the girl how I feel? I refuse to be a cliché. Like a real man, I told you in the middle.”

never thought I liked my name. But the way he said it caused shivers to run chaotically down my spine. It was low and gravelly and made me instantly wish I went by Oliviana constantly.

“You could bottle that laugh and make millions.”

“Enough trying to seduce me, Olive Wilson. We’ve got a sledding hill to get to.”

“It always used to make me so mad to see you pretend so much. You’d smile, and take on extra jobs, and wash dishes, and get taken advantage of by everyone because, for some reason, you thought you needed to. And you’d be smiling the whole time, but it would never hit your eyes. But in the past few days, I’ve heard your laugh, and I’ve seen your smile—your real smile…” He broke off, shaking his head. “That’s not something a guy can just unsee. It’s a craving now, trying to make you laugh, or smile, or even get mad at me.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. My natural instinct was to deny it all, but I couldn’t remember a time when I had felt so seen by someone. With so little effort, he had brought my hidden parts and pieces into full view between us. He had put words about me into existence that I hadn’t fully realized about myself.

Your feelings are what they are. And there’s a reason for it. You don’t need to sugarcoat them. They’re valid.”

Reading books and swinging on the porch is living, too. There’s definitely a balance to be had. I just think that getting out of our comfort zone every so often is when the magic starts to happen.”

“It’s been a lot longer for me,”

If I understand your self-persecuting mind as well as I think I do, you woke up about to die of embarrassment. Don’t. Please don’t. It was my sincere pleasure to be your listening ear. Everyone needs one. Thank you for being mine.

“One thing I’ve learned through all of this, Olive, is that people don’t fill up on love. There’s no brim on the cup. Love overflows. It grows and bubbles over. I used to believe there was something I would be trading to let another man into my life. That I would have to give away a part of my heart that belonged to somebody else. And then I met Russ, and I realized that a person doesn’t reach the capacity for love. Love just is. It’s all-encompassing. There’s no trade-off. I don’t have to sacrifice my love for your dad or you and Chloe to love Russ. He doesn’t take any of your dad’s place in my heart because the heart doesn’t retract–it expands. My heart grew bigger for Russ. But I will always ache for your dad.”

“You are a rush to me. Every time I make you smile, my heart rate goes through the roof. The way you blush and bite your lip and pretend to be annoyed when I tease you…” He patted his chest. “Straight shot of dopamine. Let’s not even talk about what your laugh does to me. But you’re not just my dopamine hit. You’re my soft place to land when I come back down. I don’t need you to go skydiving with me. Or rock climbing. I’m perfectly happy reading a book. Or hanging out watching a movie with you. But there are times when I’d want us to get out of our comfort zones. Make some memories. I want to pick our moments, whatever they are, and live them.”

He was my wings, and I was his nest.