Chapter 14 – Jenna
JENNA
My father’s garden was lit up in full holiday excess—white lights wrapped around bare branches, oversized ornaments tucked between hedges, and a glowing sign near the patio that read Who’s Home for the Holidays?
I slowed as I stepped onto the path, a pang of guilt hitting me for nearly missing it this year.
Hanging my “Jenna” ornament on the family check-in tree, I picked up my beer and admired the others already in place.
“So… how’s it feel to be back home, Jenna?” Brandon rounded the corner, and my stomach dropped.
I was hoping he wouldn’t turn up until Christmas Day, and even then, I was hoping for him to grab a to-go plate, say hello, and leave.
“It feels good, Brandon,” I managed. “How have you been?”
“Pretty damn good, but I’m currently confused…”
I looked away, refusing to ask why.
“I see how it is now.” He moved in front of me. “How’s the big city life?”
“It’s amazing.” I smiled. “It’s nonstop work, but I can’t complain.”
“Let’s cut the shit, then. Are you seriously with that guy in there?” He lowered his voice. “Like, Nicholas Saint—your boss?”
“Yes.” I sipped my drink and nodded; I wasn’t sure if Mr. Reaves was hovering around, ready to pop out and take notes.
“Does he treat you well?”
“Yes.”
“As well as I used to?”
“I…” I tilted my head. “We broke up years ago, Brandon.”
“We didn’t end on bad terms, though.” He stared at me. “It was just a difference in jobs and dreams.”
“We still broke up.”
“Answer my question.”
“I forgot what it was.”
“Does your boss-slash-boyfriend treat you as well as I used to?”
“Yes. Better.”
“How so?”
“It’s none of your business.” I started to head back inside, but he grabbed my elbow, his grip tight enough to make my skin prickle, and spun me around.
“I disagree.” He lowered his voice. “We have a holiday engagement pact, and we spoke about this four months ago, remember?”
He didn’t wait for me to give him an answer.
“If neither one of us is married by thirty, we’ll marry each other,” he said. “You were single just a few months ago, and I overheard your Aunt May talking about you being engaged…”
Knots coiled in my stomach. “Brandon…”
“You even told me you hated this guy last time we spoke, and every time before that, all you ever said about him was how terrible of a boss he was to you.”
“He is a terrible boss.”
“But he’s good enough for you to want to be with for the rest of your life?” He scoffed. “Come on, Jenna. Let me in on the game. This is a game to him, isn’t it?”
“No.” I set down my glass. “It happened unexpectedly. I fell in love with him, and that’s all there is to it.”
“So, it has nothing to do with him getting his inheritance via a consummation clause?”
How the hell do you know that? I swallowed. “No.”
“Say it a bit more convincingly for me, and I’ll consider letting it go.”
“It’s none of your business.”
“It is if he’s the reason why I can’t have you now.” His eyes were cold. “You know I used to be one hell of a journalist, Jenna. You should know better than to try and pull one over on me…”
“No one is pulling anything on you, Brandon. Your opinion is irrelevant.” I pushed him away and returned inside the house.
In the living room, my smallest cousins were using Nicholas as a ladder to reach the secret elf hiding atop the ceiling fan.
“Nicholas?” I whispered to him. “Nicholas?”
“Hold on,” he said, waiting for the last toddler to get off his back. “What’s going on?”
“We need to talk in private,” I said. “Now.”
“It’s time for Fact or Fiction, everyone!” My stepmom announced. “Christmas Eve Edition!”
“Me and Nicholas will be right back to play,” I said. “Save us a round.”
“I will do no such thing.” She scoffed. “Sit your ass down at the dining table and play round one with everyone else.”
Nicholas smiled and clasped my hand, pulling me to the dining table with him.
“What did we need to talk about?” he whispered as my other family members took their places.
“It’s about—”
“Cousin Jenna and her boyfriend are cheating!” Elizabeth, my seven-year-old cousin who never let anything get by her, squealed. “They’re not supposed to be talking!”
“Exactly.” My stepmom smiled, setting down the cards. “You know better, Jenna.”
“You sure do.” Brandon sat right across from me, a smirk on his face. “No cheating.”
Okay, just end me now…
“Anyone want to explain how the game goes for our new friend, Nicholas here?” my dad asked.
“Yes.” I sat up. “I can explain it to him outside for just a moment.”
“I think I need a refresher on how this game works,” Brandon said. “Tell us both.”
I rolled my eyes, but before I could explain, Elizabeth took it upon herself to play mediator.
“We go around saying a fact or fiction about each other and you have to answer really fast.”
“Ah!” My stepmom kissed her pinky. “Hold on, everyone. Just do small talk while I grab a Band-Aid. Elizabeth, you keep watch for cheating.”
Elizabeth nodded, looking around the table.
Everyone laughed.
Except me.
I was still on edge.
“So, question, Nicholas. I can call you that, right?”
“Just for the holidays.”
“Funny. Why don’t you tell us all how you knew Jenna was the one you wanted to be with?” Brandon asked. “I mean… she’d worked for you for years prior, and you just started dating recently, right?”
“That’s more than one question.” Nicholas pressed his hand against my shaking thigh, stilling me before he continued. “Jenna did work for me for years, but our becoming a couple is a bit of a long story, though.”
“I think we’re all in need of a feel-good tale today.” Brandon leaned back in his chair. “Anyone opposed to that?”
“No, I’d love to know.”
“Me too.”
“Yeah, take your time.”
Brandon rolled his eyes.
“Okay, I’m back.” My stepmom smiled. “Let’s do a few warmups as an example for Nicholas. Everything we’re having for dinner on Christmas this year is one hundred percent homemade.”
“Fiction,” everyone at the table uttered in unison.
“Okay, too easy.” She laughed. “How about, we have exactly five presents for Jenna under the Christmas tree.” She covered Elizabeth’s mouth before she could blurt it out and handed her a card. “Write it down. Then we can go with Brandon next—just for a warmup.”
“Gladly.” His eyes were on mine. “Jenna isn’t just dating or sleeping with her boss,” Brandon hissed. “She’s apparently secretly engaged to him, and for the groom’s sake, I hope there’s one hell of a prenup in the works.”
There was a collective gasp in the room, and Nicholas set down his pen.
“I highly suggest you walk that comment back within the next five seconds,” Nicholas warned.
“Which part?” Brandon looked deranged. “The part where you admit to sleeping with one of your employees or the part where I caution you from marrying a gold digger?”
“Both.”
“Fine, then we’ll go with the truth.” Brandon’s eyes turned ice cold. “This isn’t a real engagement. It’s a fraud, all set up for him getting his inheritance. He’s rich as hell already, but he won’t touch ‘billionaire’ status unless he gets his hands on it—and he has to be married to do that.”
My heart pounded loudly, drowning out everything else he was saying.
Mr. Reaves’s mouth fell open.
“It’s not personal,” he said. “But I do have to check on every fraudulent claim.”
“Enough, Brandon. That’s fucking enough.” My father stood up at the table. “No one will talk about my daughter or my future son-in-law this way.”
“But Mr. Dawson, listen—”
“You’re not saying anything worth hearing.” His deep voice silenced the room, so much so that Brandon leaned back.
“Not that it’s anyone’s business,” my father continued, looking at me, “but Mr. Saint did call and ask for my permission. He even flew down here last weekend to shake my hand in person like a real man, and I proudly gave him my blessing and said I’d keep it a surprise until they were ready to announce it. ”
“Jenna’s engaged?” “Really?” “Why didn’t she say anything?” my cousins muttered.
“It’s not real, sir,” Brandon pushed. “I can prove it.”
“What does he mean it’s not real?” “What is he saying?” “Why would they fake an engagement?”
“I think you’ve wasted far more minutes than you’re entitled to at this dinner.” My father crossed his arms. “You need to leave, and you need to get over the fact that Jenna upgraded and moved on.”
“Fuck you,” he hissed, and then he pointed at Nicholas. “And fuck you, too, for using Jenna just to get your inheritance.”
His gaze met mine. “Oh, and you, too, Jenna. Fuck you, too, for leading me on and—” His sentence ended on Nicholas’s fist, and before I knew it, Nicholas, my dad, my uncles, and cousins were taking turns beating the shit out of him.
Overwhelmed with him outing us, I slipped away from the table and headed down the hall.
“Well, then…” Mr. Reaves stepped in front of me, a half-eaten candy cane in hand. “I really don’t know what to say about what I just witnessed, Mrs. Saint.”
“You can call me Miss Dawson.”
He furrowed his brow. “It’s not personal, but I do have to check on every fraudulent claim—no matter how silly it sounds for his inheritance.”
“I’m aware,” I said. “Can you please step out of my way?”
“But—”
“Now.” I glared at him. “Please just leave me alone.”
He stepped to the side without another word, and when I was halfway to the guest suite, Elizabeth rushed to me.
“They are truly beating Brandon’s ass right now.” She smiled. “I’m about to grab my brass knuckles and do the same!”
“What?”
“Before I pull them out, if the engagement is true, can you show me the ring Cousin Nicholas got you?”
He’s not going to be your cousin…
“Sure.” I pulled it out of my pocket and pressed it into her hand.
Her jaw dropped as the carats sparkled against the hallway’s dim lighting.
“OH. MY. GODDDD…”
“Do me a favor, will you?” I felt tears pricking my eyes.
“Anything.”
“Give that to Nicholas, okay?” I said. “Tell him to keep it for me for the rest of our trip.”
“Okay!” She rushed off without another word, having no idea of the shattering in my chest.
GAME OVER…