Chapter 5
five
Reese
Cole grabs my hand and brings it down to his lap. “Reese.” He waits until I look at him, his icy blue eyes locked on mine. For once, there’s no teasing twinkle in them. “It’s gonna be fine.”
“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t know these people, and in a few hours, you’ll never see them again. But these are my friends, Cole. And I’m lying to them.”
He puts the car in park and shifts his body toward me, my hand still resting in his. “You didn’t bring me here to lie to your friends. You brought me here for you. To make sure you have a good time instead of trying to pretend you’re okay. Right?”
I nod.
“Focus on that. You said you told Hannah that you and I are a new thing. That part’s true. So, let’s lean into that and have some fun together, okay? Worst case scenario, I fake that work emergency, and we bail.”
I take in a breath. I don’t know Cole very well, but if there’s one thing I do know about him, it’s that being with him is highly enjoyable. And I could use a gigantic dose of highly enjoyable to get me through the next few hours.
I breathe and let myself smile. “You’re right. Let’s have fun.”
He squeezes my hand, then lets it go. “If I sense you starting to spiral again, I’m gonna have to take drastic measures.”
“What sort of drastic measures?” I ask warily.
He cocks a brow and puts the car in drive.
“Cole,” I say. “What drastic measures?”
“Just focus on having fun with me, and you’ll never have to find out.”
Oh, boy.
He parks the car right next to Brady’s. So weird to see that car here and know he came with Megan in it.
With a big, calming breath, I go to the trunk to get the bag of stuff. Cole’s beat me to it and is already slipping the handle over his shoulder.
“You ready to have a good time, Reese’s Pieces?” He shuts the trunk.
My entire body lights up with a mixture of nerves and anticipation. “Let’s do it.”
We take the stairs together, my nerves building. I haven’t seen Brady since he broke things off with me. I’m so glad I’m not doing this alone.
Little as I know Cole, I feel confident he’s not going to let me make a fool of myself. He’s ready to enjoy himself, and I want to too. I just want to let go for tonight and embrace the unexpected.
I stop on the porch and turn toward him. “Thanks for doing this.”
“You’re welcome.” He reaches to my hair and guides it gently behind my ear.
I suck in a breath at the gesture.
“We have an audience,” he says softly as he looks into my eyes like he just stepped onto the set of a romcom.
I can’t help but steal a sidelong glance at the cabin, where I see Hannah’s blond head peeking around a curtain.
Cole’s mouth quirks upward. “Can you try to look less deer-in-the-headlights and a little more like you like me?”
I let out a laugh and wrap my arms around his neck. “Better?”
“Much better.” His eyes lock on mine, and his hands settle at my waist, warm and steady. “Should we give them something to remember?”
I have no idea who’s watching us, but just the thought that it might be Brady is enough for me to nod.
Cole’s eyes rove over my face for a few heart-thumping seconds, then drop to my lips.
My pulse hums in my ears, my wrists, my chest. I want him to kiss me, but at the same time, I’m not ready. I haven’t kissed anyone since Brady. What if I’m a terrible kisser? Maybe that’s why Brady broke up with me.
Cole’s hands grip my waist as his lips draw nearer.
They’re just inches away, and I wonder if I should close the last bit of distance. I did tell him I’d play my part just as well as he’d play his, didn’t I?
What will it feel like to kiss Cole, though? I’ve never kissed someone I’ve known for such a short time—and definitely not with an audience.
Based on his two-date policy, Cole has possibly never kissed someone he knows better than he knows me. He’s probably a great kisser with all that practice. Or maybe he’s done it so much he’s gotten sloppy.
I want to move my lips closer, but I’m frozen, inhaling his cologne and waiting for his lips to slide into place over mine.
He squeezes my sides, and I jolt, retracting my arms instinctively. I smack his chest with a laugh that’s half-incredulous, half-annoyed.
His responsive grin meets my gaze with a distinctive What’re you gonna do about it? glinting in his eyes.
He presses a kiss to my cheek, hovering afterward, his breath against my ear. “What? You thought I’d give you the good stuff already?” He grabs my hand, then opens the front door with the other one.
I squeeze his hand as hard as I can in retribution, heart still flapping like a bird that can’t find a place to land.
There’s no indication he even notices my passive aggressive act of violence as my friends start to appear around the entry.
“You’re here!” Hannah calls, arms out as she runs over to me, the ring on her finger glinting. Her long blonde hair is damp and smells like shampoo as she wraps me in a hug. “Ohmygoshhe’ssohot!” she whisper-yells in my ear.
I glance at Cole as she pulls back, and he winks at me as Hannah’s husband, Tyler, says “I heard that.”
“We all heard that.” Tess smiles as she comes in for her hug.
“He really is,” she whispers more discreetly.
Tess’s shorter brown hair is in two braids like she has no intention of letting it get in the way of the weekend she has planned.
She’s the one who always makes sure we don’t just sit around and veg out, though we always do plenty of that.
I introduce Cole to Hannah and Tyler—the blond duo—then Tess and Dylan while Megan and Brady hover behind.
“And you must be Megan and Brody,” Cole says with a smile that, even on its own, could persuade Simon Cowell to press the Golden Buzzer.
“Brady,” Brady corrects as he puts out a hand, sizing up Cole in an unmistakable way. Brady’s a good-looking guy—dark brown hair just long enough to tease a little bit of curl, strong jawline, nice boy-next-door smile. Totally my type.
But Cole…those blue eyes and blond hair are giving tall, dark, and handsome a run for their money.
Megan’s eyes are on me, watchful and timid, like she’s waiting for me to set the tone for things between us. I can see what Hannah said written on her face. She thinks I hate her.
I pull her into an energetic hug. “So good to see you, Meg.”
I feel her melt a little, then her hold on me tightens. “I’m so happy for you,” she says in my ear.
I pull back and smile gratefully at her. I think she is happy for me. I think she’s also happy for her conscience.
She steps back so she’s even with Brady, whose gaze is on me.
“Hey, Reese.”
“Hey,” I say, pleased to hear my voice sound pleasant and casual—and even more pleased when Cole slings his arm around my shoulders and pulls me up against him.
I look up at him and smile, and he looks at me like I’m the best thing since Costco brought samples back.
Oh, he’s good. Maybe too good.
“You guys upped the cute factor of this party by a good ten times,” Hannah says, watching us with her arms crossed and an appreciative smile as she snuggles up against Tyler.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Brady pull Megan against him. “To be fair, we’d already upped it by a factor of five,” he says.
“True,” Tess says with a smile, then she turns back to Cole and me. “Are you sure you can’t stay the night? It’s so lame to drive all the way here and have to leave so soon.”
“It’s my fault,” Cole says. “I’ve got a job I’m under the gun on.”
“Shoot.” Tess fiddles with the tie of her apron, and Dylan steps in to help. “But you could at least stay longer, right, Reese?”
I clench my teeth. Defending the decision to come just for the evening was a lot easier over text. I don’t have a great reason for leaving, honestly, aside from the fact that Cole is my ride home and I don’t want to stay without him.
“Yeah,” Dylan chimes in. “You don’t live too far from Brady, right?” He turns to her. “You could drop Reese at home, couldn’t you?”
Oh, boy. I like Dylan a lot, but he’s not the most perceptive guy out there, which makes him a bit blind to the ultra-awkward situation we have going here. Megan and Brady came together, and I’d rather pick-axe my way over Snoqualmie Pass with an ice skate than do the hour car ride with them.
“Cole doesn’t like driving at night,” I say, pulling him closer to me and looking up at him. “I promised I’d go with him.”
Cole’s hand squeezes my shoulder, his smile still intact while his eyes flash with amusement. He faces the others with that charming smile. “Never quite grew out of being afraid of the dark.”
I rest my head on his shoulder. I just threw him under the bus, and he tucked his knees and rolled.
“Ugh,” Hannah says. “You two. Never thought I’d find a grown adult being afraid of the dark cute, but you guys manage it. Are you scared of the dark, Ty?” She looks over her shoulder, where her husband has his arms wrapped around her from behind.
“So scared,” he says, nuzzling his head into her hair.
A little smile peeks through as she cocks a brow at the rest of us. “Says the man who puts stickers over every light source in our room to make it pitch black.”
“Very emo of you, Tyler,” Tess says. “Okay”—she claps three times in a row—“if Reese and Cole rudely insist on leaving tonight, we have limited time to get a lot of things done. So, let’s get this party started!
” She leads us to the kitchen, where an array of snack foods are laid out—homemade peppermint bark, a holiday trail mix, a cranberry orange loaf, a cheese ball with crackers, and gingerbread cookies.
There are a few things we do every year at this party, and gorging on the fruits of Tess and her mom’s labors is always first on the list. Tess’s mom runs a bakery, and Tess got the baking genes.
The interior of the cabin has been cozified and Christmas’d up like it is every year. Festive pillows and throws on the couches, a fully decorated Christmas tree in the corner, and the long dinner table set with a holiday centerpiece adorned with fresh pine.
I have so many great memories in this place. I wish this year wasn’t so different, but hey, so far, Cole’s getting full marks on the fake boyfriend gig.
“Jeez, Tess,” he says after finishing his third gingerbread cookie. “If this is how all the food’s gonna be, I may have to quit that job tomorrow and stick around.”
I laugh but slide my foot into his. I don’t even want him joking about staying. Seeing Megan and Brady together is every bit as weird as I’d anticipated, and then some. The last time I saw Brady in person, he broke things off, but the night before that? We were…cozy together.
It’s just a lot of visual and emotional change to process, even without my fake relationship thrown into the mix. I may need an emotional chiropractor after tonight.
“Is everyone full?” Tess asks.
Cole nods but snags two more handfuls of trail mix.
“Good,” she says. “You’re going to need all your energy for our next activity. Normally, this is a Day 2 thing, but we couldn’t let you miss out, Reese.”
I raise my brows. “Do you mean…?”
She smiles and wags her brows, then disappears into the pantry.
“What does she mean?” Cole whispers.
“Gingerbread houses,” I say. “Tess’s mom makes the most perfect gingerbread and frosting. We each assemble and decorate our own house, then her mom judges the final products. Whoever wins gets a box of Tess’s mom’s fudge.”
Tess reemerges holding a sheet pan stacked with gingerbread house parts.“This year will be a bit different.”
She can say that again.
“Since everyone has their special someone here, we’ll be doing the houses in teams, and the winning couple will get not only Mom’s fudge but…”
Dylan does a finger drum roll on the kitchen island counter.
“A $50 Visa gift card.”
“Oh, that fifty bucks is mine,” Brady says. “My family does a gingerbread house competition every year, and I’ve never lost, so you can all just save yourselves the trouble.”
Megan laughs and nudges him with her shoulder. “Don’t oversell us.”
Cole leans into me and mutters, “There was no us in that smack-talking.”
“Impossible,” Brady says, smiling at Megan. “We’ve got this thing in the bag.”
“Well,” Hannah says brightly, “Tess has won three out of four years, so you two have got your work cut out for you.”
“Who won the other year?” Cole asks. “It was you, right?” He looks at me expectantly
I let out an awkward laugh. “Uh…no.”
“Thankfully,” Hannah says, “we have our trusty scoreboard to keep track.” She reaches into one of many reusable grocery bags on the counter and pulls out a small white board.
Sharpie’d across the top are our four names—Megan, Reese, Hannah, Tess—and each row is a different year. There are six checkmarks total, and not one of them is under my name.
Cole sets a hand on the counter and turns toward me. “Are you telling me my partner has never won this competition even once?”
“And today won’t be the day that changes,” Brady teases.
Cole ignores him, and I do too. At least outwardly. Inside, I’m mixing sriracha into his gingerbread house frosting.
“Mine always collapses,” I say to Cole, feeling more embarrassed than I care to admit. “You got stuck with the lemon.”
“I love lemons. Besides”—he leans in and speaks in a low voice—“I happen to know a thing or two about building houses.”
I pull back to look at him. I hadn’t really considered that, but the image of him working under my sink flashes across my mind, broad shoulders and all. “Does that knowledge translate to using materials made out of flour and sugar?”
He shrugs. “I don’t see why not.”
“Okay, people,” Tess says, putting out bowl after bowl of edible material for us to decorate with, some of which I brought. “Come over and take a look at the available materials. You’ll have ten minutes to come up with a concept for your house before the two-hour timer begins.”
Cole’s eyes gleam with excitement, and I feel it trickle through me. I’ve never cared much about winning the gingerbread competition. It’s always just been a fun time with my friends. But this year?
I really want to win.