I also snuck away while the twins and Ben were napping and visited Chloe. It had been her turn to know the truth about me and Miles. The smack to my shoulder that Chloe dished out as I confessed didn’t feel great, but I probably deserved it.
“You lying punk! I called it! I KNEW there was something fishy about the whole thing.”
“I’m sorry!” I said, holding my hands out. “I panicked and needed an excuse to not be around Glenn.”
“Why couldn’t you tell me?”
I gave her a look. “Do you remember the whole shopping-trip debacle of three years ago? You can’t keep anything from Mom.”
She made a face. “Fine.”
“Besides, I owed you a lie, remember?”
Her mouth dropped open before she burst out laughing. “If this is about—“
“Dirk McCoy. High School. You lied to me for WEEKS about that.”
“Because you had a crush on him, and you would've killed me.”
I sighed. “If only I hadn’t been in middle school. I think we really could have had something special.”
We laughed a bit longer until a contemplative silence came over us both. She turned to me, her eyebrows raised. “But…what about all the kissing? With you and Miles? Was that planned? I may have missed the famous mistletoe kiss, but I was there for the sledding. That sure didn’t look fake.”
Heat tinged my cheeks, and I tried my best to hold back the smile, but I couldn’t.
Thankfully, Holly had woken up with a start and began screaming, so she had to go. I slipped out soon after, and instead of turning toward my own cabin, I went back to my mom and Russ’s.
Even though it had been a nice morning, I also learned that I could only take Russ’s “dad” jokes for so long before wanting to bash my head into the wall. Hence, my excitement to see my fake-but-maybe-not-so-fake-but-quite-possibly-still-fake boyfriend.
“You coming to challenge us in a battle of Risk?” Russ called out to Miles.
I blanched. Risk? That game would take approximately ten thousand years.
Miles must have had that same idea because his face dropped a tiny bit. Thankfully, Mom stepped in.
“He’s just teasing. You two go for your walk.”
We took our leave before Russ could think of another game. I adjusted my mom’s beanie over my ears as we stepped out onto the snow-covered sidewalk, each with our hands in our pockets, walking side by side.
“Look at you, getting all cozy with Russ. And not a single battle wound on you.”
I gave him a look. “I’ve got a date with a bath and a book this afternoon as a reward for good behavior.”
“That sounds nice. Need some company?”
“No.” I bumped against his shoulder.
He chuckled softly. “Seriously, though, how was it this morning?” Any improvements?”
“I think so.” I gave him a sheepish smile. “I mean, I was still really happy when you showed up, so it must not have been that great.”
His arm snaked out and pulled me to his side. “Oh, really?”
I laughed and attempted a half-hearted escape but not before he grabbed my hand and shoved our clasped hands into his pocket.
We walked for a few moments longer before I said, “But it was better. I feel like Russ and I broke past a barrier between us. It’s not perfect. It probably won’t ever be. His personality still drives me crazy, but he does love my mom. And it’s kind of sweet to see.”
“Good. When we get back, you should definitely play that game of Risk. Twenty-seven hours in somebody’s company is a great way to bring people together.”
“Don’t even joke about that. How was your morning?”
“Good. My little sister got home late last night, so it’s been fun having her here. Jett and I played on his new PlayStation for a couple of hours until it just got embarrassing for me to go on. And I had a good chat with Glenn a few minutes ago.”
I stopped walking and faced him in horror. “What?”
Miles laughed and kept strolling, pulling me along with him.
“What did you talk about? Did you fight him?”
He grinned. “Almost. But he was leaving.”
“He left?” I repeated.
“Yup. Said he’d wasted enough time here already.”
“Aww, he always knows just what to say.”
“But before he left, he asked me to give him a few pointers.”
I looked at his face now, trying to decide if he was teasing me. “About what?”
“He has this book idea and wants to start writing it, but he just doesn’t know if he can find the time in his schedule to get it done.”
I snorted. “It must be hard to be so much busier and more important than everybody else. Did you give him the name of your publishing house?”
“Yeah, but that’s meaningless without an agent.”
“What’s his story about? Did he tell you?”
“I don’t think he really wanted to tell me, but it definitely had dragons. And possibly a zombie character, but I might have misheard him.”
“Ohh, that’s a fun twist. Where are we going, by the way?” We were meandering through a trail in the woods out behind the village cabins. It was a pathway I hadn’t been on before.
“You’ll see,” he said.
We walked a bit longer in silence while I took in all the beautiful trees. Once, I had traveled out west for a school trip and remembered feeling so exposed with the lack of trees everywhere. They had trees, but it was nothing compared to the dense thickness I’d grown up with. Everything was so open out west. And dry. Its own kind of beauty, for sure, but I craved the cozy, protected feeling only a mountainside of trees could give. And Vermont was full of them. This time of year, they were covered in snow but still cheerful somehow.
We rounded a bend and stopped at the sight of a small, red covered bridge atop a winding, frozen creek. I said a quick apology in my head to Vermont for thinking covered bridges were just decoration pieces. A warm, romantic glow filtered through me as I thought about the heated couple of hours we’d just spent in one the day before.
“So, we’ve come to the agreement that shoulders and covered bridges are the new sexy. Is that right?” I asked.
“Definitely,” he said as we ambled toward the structure.
When we got to the bridge, he stopped us just before we walked inside. “With Glenn gone, I guess the ruse is up,” he said softly, brushing a strand of hair off my forehead.
I swallowed and nodded, immediately feeling a tightening in my chest. “We’ve still got a few squares left on the bingo card before it can be totally over, though, right?” I asked, meeting his eyes.
He watched me, a small smile on his face as he seemed to concede that I definitely didn’t want to talk about that right now. “I guess.”
“Did you tell your parents?” I asked, my hands on my hips, very aware of his close proximity to me on this bridge.
“About the ruse?” When I nodded, he said, “No.”
“Why?” I waited in dreaded anticipation for his answer.
“Because there’s no ruse for me. They know I’m dating you right now, and that’s true.”
He inched a bit closer to me. I made the mistake of looking in his eyes and found them to be smoldering. I turned and began walking through the small bridge. He was at my side in seconds.
“Are they doing the drawing tonight?” I asked.
“No. Tomorrow morning at the goodbye breakfast, but we have to turn in our cards tonight.”
“What all do we have left to do?”