Page 26 of Snowed

How could I? Dinner with my ex and his fiancée wasn’t half as weird as photoshopping a stranger into your Christmas card and pretending he’s your boyfriend.

CHAPTER 4

Nolan

I was out to lunch with my buddy Tim on Christmas Eve when I noticed a familiar face coming into the restaurant.

“Crap,” I muttered.

“What?” Tim asked.

“Nothing.” I shook my head. “There’s just…someone I know over there.”

Before I could say anything else, Joy’s ex, Davis, spotted me and came over to our table.

Straightening in my seat, I feigned a smile. “Hey, man. Good to see you again…” God, I want to punch that guy.

“You too.” He looked between Tim and me. “Hailey and I were supposed to go out with you and Joy this weekend, but she texted me to cancel already. I’m sorry you can’t make it.”

Hmm… “Oh yeah? What did she say?”

“Just that you two had a lot of holiday plans already and maybe we could do a raincheck after the new year. I was bummed because your buddy Ben and his girlfriend are coming, too. Figured the six of us would have a good time.”

Thankfully, I’d confided in Ben about Joy’s lie. Otherwise, he would’ve been hella confused. Scratching my chin, I said, “I see.”

I wondered why Joy had never asked me to accompany her. I totally would’ve gone.

“Anyway,” he said, “talk to her and see what works for you guys after the new year. Would still love to get together.”

I nodded. “Will do.”

After Davis walked out of earshot, Tim narrowed his eyes, looking understandably confused. “Um…am I missing something here? Since when do you have a girlfriend named Joy?”

I chuckled. “Clearly you haven’t been on social media lately.”

He took out his phone. “Let me look at your page…”

Tim’s eyes widened after he pulled up my profile. He began scrolling through all the fake photos I’d generated. “Okay. Wow. She’s a smokeshow. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well, for one, because none of it’s real.”

“She’s AI?” He laughed.

“No.”

He squinted. “What the hell are you talking about, then?”

“Joy is a real person. And that’s really her. But every single one of those photos is photoshopped. We were never together. Not bad, right?”

His eyes widened, and I spent the next several minutes explaining the Joy situation from the beginning.

“That’s some wacky shit.” He paused. “Okay, wait. When we met up here today, you mentioned you had a date tonight that you weren’t all that excited about. Are you telling me that’s with someone else and not the woman in these photos?”

I chomped on some ice. “Correct.”

“So, if you’re not pumped about that date, why the hell aren’t you going out with Joy instead for real? You said she’s single, right?”

I sighed. “I don’t get the impression she’s ready for anything right now.”