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“Aiyah! What is Julie talking about?” Bonnie asked. “This is not making any sense. A pretend boyfriend?”
“I suspected it, you know,” Charlotte said. “When I went to Julie’s room to look for something, there was a sleeping bag on the floor. Maybe that was just because it’s hard to share a twin bed, but...”
Tom should say something. Everyone was looking at him.
But Julie’s words had rendered him speechless. He’d never expected her to reveal the truth. Plus, the distress he felt at hearing her emphasize that their relationship was fake—it was overwhelming.
“Wah, tell me my daughter is lying!” Bonnie said.
Tom shook his head. “No. It’s exactly as Julie said. She asked me to pretend to be her boyfriend for the holidays.”
“But she has been telling us about you since November,” Albert said.
Tom nodded. “After we went on a date.”
“So you are dating?”
“No, her roommate set us up, and the date was a disaster, but I guess she talked to you on the phone and...” He stood up. “I should go to her.”
“I’ll go,” Charlotte said. “It’s not like you’re her real boyfriend.”
He flinched. “No, I’ll go.”
The look he gave Charlotte seemed to convince her.
He left the room.
Behind him, he heard Charlotte say to her parents, “You really do bug Julie about her career a lot. I’m not surprised she couldn’t take it anymore.”
Tom ran up the stairs and flung open the door to the room where he’d stayed for the past three nights.
Julie was looking out the window, sniffling.
* * *
A solid pair of arms wrapped around her from behind. At first, Julie relaxed into them, but then she stiffened.
“You don’t need to do that,” she said, her voice monotone. “Nobody’s around, and they know you’re not my boyfriend.”
“But I want to hold you.”
Last night, she’d vowed to protect herself when she’d realized she was falling in love, but then she’d let down those fences, just for a moment. He’d stuck up for her, and now he was here...
That didn’t mean anything. It was just Tom being Tom.
He was much more than she could have imagined when they first met.
There was some yelling downstairs. Charlotte’s voice, then her mother’s, but Julie couldn’t make out the words. She should go down and make everything right, but also be clear that if her parents kept pestering her about how she lived her life, she was going to talk to them less often.
God, this was a mess.
She freed herself from Tom’s embrace and started toward the bedroom door, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“I have something to tell you. Five minutes. Please.”
The pleading note in his voice made her pause. She’d never heard him talk like this before.
“Okay,” she said.
He sat down on the bed. She sat next to him, and he took her hands in his.
“I don’t want this to be fake,” he said. “I want to be with you for real. When we go back to Toronto, I’d like to keep seeing you.”
She hadn’t let herself hope, but now he was saying the words she’d longed to hear.
However...
“We’re so different,” she said. “How will it work?”
“Just the way it worked this weekend.”
“We’re going to make gingerbread houses, drink eggnog, and fuck on the floor?”
“If you want. Though a softer surface could be nice.”
She laughed, even though it didn’t seem at all like the moment to do so.
“When we met,” he said, “we both quickly decided the other person was the opposite of what we wanted.”
“You like ties, but not mayo. It was disturbing. And you called my life ‘chaotic.’”
“My standards for chaos are very low, but as I’ve discovered this weekend, I like a bit of chaos. I had no idea what this weekend would bring, which freaked me out even as I wanted to do something to celebrate Christmas. But I enjoyed myself a lot, even my failures at making snow angels. Because I was with you.”
“The holidays are like a break from reality. Are you really going to feel this way when you head back to your regular life?”
“Julie, if you don’t want me, just say so. It’s okay.”
From his tone, though, it sounded like he’d be crestfallen if she rejected him.
But he would thank her parents for their hospitality and drive everyone back to Toronto without a complaint.
She’d judged him based on his clothes and his stain remover pen and the food he wanted to order at the restaurant, but he was so much more. And she’d come to love the things she’d once hated.
“I do want you.” Her voice was unsteady. “Last night, I realized I was falling for you.”
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “But you were horrified you could feel that way about someone who wore paisley ties?”
“No. Well, maybe a little. But you hadn’t said anything, and I was convinced I wasn’t the kind of woman you’d want for more than a few nights. Though now I wonder...”
“I meant what I said downstairs. You don’t need to change. I wouldn’t rather date another pharmacist, if that’s what you’re imagining.”
“I hardly even know who I am. I feel like you’re supposed to have this stuff figured out by the time you’re thirty, but I don’t. I tried working in an office a few years ago, but it wasn’t for me. Waitressing is better, though I may well be doing something else in five years, even if I have no dream job I’m working toward. I’m just living my life as it comes.”
“And enjoying it. I like the Julie Tam I know, very much, and I want this to be real. If you’ll have me.”
Her stomach was swooping in an unfamiliar way.
He meant it. No matter how many “buts” she threw out there, he’d say he wanted her.
She believed that now, and she believed they could make it work, even if she’d never convince him to eat corn on the cob with mayo.
“I know I might not be exciting enough for you,” he said. “I know it might distress you to be with a guy your parents like, but... Julie. Say something.”
“Yes, Tom, I’ll go on a date with you when we get back to Toronto, and I have a feeling it will go very well. It might even end with us having sex in a queen-sized bed that doesn’t squeak.” She leaned forward, then froze. “Shit.”
“What is it?”
“Now I have to tell my roommate that she was right. We do belong together.”
“I hope you can live with that. For my sake.”
“I can, but God, she’s going to be annoying.”
He smiled, and now his smile made her warm inside, like drinking hot apple cider. He slid his hand up her cheek and looked into her eyes before pressing his lips to hers. She pulled him into her arms and deepened the kiss, needing more of him. Overcome that he could feel this way about her.
A real Christmas miracle.
She ran her tongue along the seam of his lips and—
“I thought it was fake!”
They jumped apart at her mother’s voice. Her parents were standing in the doorway to her room.
“Why didn’t you knock?” Julie demanded.
“Because you said you weren’t dating, so how could I expect this?” Mom put her hands to her head. “I’m so confused.”
“We’re together for real now.”
“Ah, really? You’re not lying to me again?”
“I’m not, I promise.”
“What’s happening?” Charlotte appeared in the doorway.
“I caught them kissing,” Mom said. “They are together for real, and it’s so exciting! Tom will make a perfect son-in-law.”
“I think—”
“Don’t tell me I’m getting ahead of myself.” Mom turned to Julie. “We understand we were wrong. We will not bother you all the time about your job.”
“Just because you approve of my boyfriend?”
“No. Charlotte has convinced us.”
Julie shot a look at her sister, who shrugged.
“If you are happy and comfortable enough,” Mom said, “then it’s fine. You are a good daughter, and we are glad you have someone who appreciates you.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
Tom squeezed her hand, though he still looked slightly stricken.
It was probably the first time he’d been caught kissing like this, although it wasn’t a first for Julie. With her, he’d likely find himself doing many things he’d never done before.
“We will leave you to it,” Mom said, putting her hand on the doorknob. “Just make sure you come down in half an hour.”
Julie choked. “We’ll be down in two minutes.”
When her family had gone downstairs, Julie put her hand on Tom’s cheek.
“I’m sorry about that,” she said.
He gave her a peck on the lips. She missed the passion from before her parents’ interruption, but now, she knew there would be more kisses. They could wait until they were back in Toronto.
* * *
An hour later, Julie, Tom, Charlotte, and Mike stood at the door with their suitcases...and lots and lots of food. Apparently, Mom and Dad didn’t think there was food in Toronto. Julie had tried to alter this misconception for years, but she’d yet to succeed.
She didn’t bother today, though. She was too happy to complain.
“One more thing,” Dad said. “The prize for the winners of the gingerbread house competition. Since we didn’t have three competitions as planned, Julie and Tom get the prize.”
Dad headed to the basement and returned with a box containing...
Even more food.
Specifically, baking supplies.
“I’ll have to sit on the roof,” Charlotte muttered. “There won’t be room for me in the car.”
“I’m sure you will manage,” Dad said.
“Thank you,” Tom said as he took the box. “I’ll bake something nice for Julie at home.”
Julie knew he would. She smiled.
Yes, she was looking forward to spending more time with him.
Without pretending.