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She got out of the car. Noah grabbed her bag without asking. She smiled.

Maybe she hadn’t left that feeling behind after all.

CHAPTER 20

Pretending

Noah’s POV

That night, Noah couldn’t sleep. He lay awake in bed. Biscuit jumped up next to him, and Noah absentmindedly scratched behind his ears.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Claire. About the weekend in Saratoga Springs.

Everything they were pretending to be and everything they already were.

Everything they had become without meaning to.

He remembered waking beneath the extra blanket and immediately knowing Claire had done it. Claire had taken care of him in the same quiet, unspoken way he usually cared for everyone else, without asking and without expecting recognition.

He thought about how Claire fit into his family like she’d always been there. He had always had a close family. He grew up surrounded by love. Claire hadn’t.

He had watched Claire fit into that home effortlessly.

His family didn’t just welcome Claire. They claimed her.

And he realized he wanted them to.

Ainsley asked to call her Aunt Claire. He expected her to panic. But instead, she smiled and said yes.

He’d wanted her there. He’d wanted to see her sitting at that table, laughing with Emily and braiding Ainsley’s hair while sitting on the floor of the living room.

Some part of him had already known she would fit.

And she had.

Perfectly.

His mom had texted before they even reached Manhattan: Claire better come back for Christmas.

He set his phone on the nightstand. He had read that text more times than he cared to admit. Biscuit rested his head on Noah’s leg.

He smiled. Because he couldn’t imagine telling her no. And because he couldn’t imagine Christmas without Claire anymore.

He was getting far too comfortable acting like Claire was his girlfriend.

Just the thought of the arrangement ending sent a rush of panic through him.

Eventually, they would have to tell their neighbors and coworkers they weren’t together. Claire would stop coming to Saratoga Springs. Ainsley would stop calling her Aunt Claire. Somehow, they would be expected to return to whatever they had been before.

He couldn’t even picture it.

He didn’t want to.

They still called it fake dating. He couldn’t remember the last time anything about them had felt fake.

CHAPTER 21

The Confession