Chapter 7 Allie
ALLIE
Allie stood in a daze for a moment after Ash pulled back, wondering how a little kiss on the forehead could feel so romantic.
She didn’t exactly have a lot of dating experience, but she knew most men seemed eager to recklessly go in for a big kiss and hope to get away with trying for more.
But the warm press of Ash’s lips to her head was somehow even better, so deliberate and filled with real intention.
There is no intention, a worried voice in the back of her head reminded her. All of this is pretend.
She begged herself not to blush and give the game away.
Allie felt awful about her lie. But she didn’t feel a bit sorry that she had stopped Ash from resorting to violence, even though it would be hard to blame him.
Her own blood was boiling at that silly man’s insinuation that Maya wasn’t normal, but it would have been awful for Ash to do exactly what his daughter had just learned to avoid.
Thank goodness Maya had been playing with Timmy Lanford and hadn’t heard what the man had said.
Or what I said!
Allie felt ashamed of her lie all over again. What if the little girl had happened to overhear?
“We’re going to go look at the raffle items,” Libby announced. “I’m sure we’ll see you around. We took a suite at the Snowy Pines for the holidays.”
For the holidays?
Ash had said they were only here for today’s event. Allie looked to him, but he seemed as surprised as she was.
“That’s good,” Ash said, pulling his expression back together again as the other couple hurried off, looking relieved.
We’re not a couple, Allie reminded herself.
“You were incredible,” Ash murmured, turning to her.
Allie couldn’t help noticing that he hadn’t let go of her hand, and his compliment might have gone to her head if she hadn’t remembered that he was basically telling her what a good liar she was.
“I… um… need to run to the ladies’ room,” she heard herself mumble as she untangled her hand from his.
But when she turned to go, she nearly slammed into her brother Tripp’s enormous chest.
“Oh,” Allie gasped.
There were people on either side of him, as if they had formed a semi-circle around her to listen in. Her sister-in-law winked at her, and Willa from Second Hand Rose was smiling widely.
They think I’m actually engaged, she thought to herself frantically.
“Let’s walk and talk,” Tripp said, taking her by the arm like she was still a little girl and he was marching her off to give her a big-brother-talking-to.
“Why did you do that?” Tripp whispered to her a moment later when they had reached a quiet spot in front of the school.
“That was his ex-wife and her new boyfriend,” Allie said, automatically starting to pace. “The boyfriend said something awful about Maya, and I thought Ash was going to punch him. I didn’t really have time to think about it.”
“Maya is Ash’s kid, right?” Tripp asked.
“Yes,” she said, turning to her brother in surprise. “How did you know?”
“Oh, everyone knows,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “As soon as you three showed up here, the rumors started flying.”
“Typical,” Allie said, trying not to roll her eyes.
There were so many things she loved about Sugarville Grove, but good luck having a private life here.
“Anyway, Maya just got in trouble in school for shoving. I couldn’t let her dad knock someone out in the middle of the playground.
It would ruin everything for them. So I just… did the first thing that came to mind.”
“The first thing that came to your mind was to say you were engaged?” Tripp asked.
He was clearly trying so hard not to laugh that it might have been better if he’d just let it out.
“I know, I know,” she said, pulling her phone out. “It’s bananas. I’ll come clean in the family chat right now, so no one has to wonder why I didn’t tell them I was engaged.”
“No,” Tripp said, quickly, placing a hand on her arm.
“I can’t keep this going through the holidays,” she told him. “If I’d known they were here for longer than just this event, I never would have even said it.”
“Have you even met our family?” Tripp said, shaking his head. “First of all, you’re already the worst secret-keeper we’ve got. Secondly, if you hadn’t noticed, all our brothers have married themselves off. That family chat has like a dozen people in it now.”
“Fourteen,” Allie remembered. “Tag added Olivia when she turned seventeen.”
“Right,” Tripp said. “Anyway, between all of us, the wives, Dulcie’s little sister, and Olivia, someone’s going to slip up.”
“This town is too sleepy,” Allie said, nodding in defeat.
“It runs on gossip,” Tripp agreed.
“So, what do I do?” Allie asked.
“Just go with it,” Tripp said right away. “He’s a nice guy, and that ex is a piece of work.”
“I don’t know,” Allie said.
“I have a feeling about this,” Tripp said, his voice dropping a bit like it did whenever he was serious. “You have good instincts, little sister. There’s a reason your heart told you to say what you did. Don’t question it.”
She couldn’t help smiling as she looked up at the earnest expression on her brother’s face.
Tripp had always been the wild one, more at home outdoors than in, never able to settle down and commit, whether it was to a higher education program or a woman to love.
Secretly, Allie had always felt she was the most like him of all her brothers. He probably knew her best, and so his compliment hit harder than it would have from anyone else.
“Thank you,” she told him.
He nodded to her, his sudden eloquence apparently drying up as fast as it had come on.
“I guess I’d better face the music,” she said, taking a deep breath.
“No one else can do it for you,” Tripp said, laughing. “Good luck out there.”
“Are you coming?” she asked him.
“You first,” he said, winking.
She rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t really blame him for wanting to see the show.
Crunching back through the snow, it occurred to her that Ash hadn’t been even a little bit angry with her for her lie.
You were incredible…
His murmured words echoed in her mind and she felt his lips on her forehead again.
When she came back around the side of the building, she found Ash was surrounded by well-wishers, all smiling, laughing, and shaking his hand.
It was heartwarming to see that the citizens of Sugarville Grove were so happy for them.
It’s not real, she reminded herself again, feeling like she was losing her mind as she approached the small crowd.
“Miss Lawrence, Miss Lawrence,” Maya yelled, sprinting for her, with Timmy trailing behind her, a big smile on his face. “Come on. I have to show you something.”
“Okay, Maya,” Allie said, unable to resist the little girl’s enthusiasm.
Maya grabbed her left hand and Timmy took her right and they headed for the area where Linda had set up spray bottles with colored water for the little kids to decorate the snowmen the bigger kids had made.
Ash turned to Allie just as Maya and Timmy hurried past him.
The look of adoration on his handsome face took her breath away.
It’s not real, she reminded herself again.
But what if it was?