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Izzy let out a heavy you-are-ridiculous breath. “Jameson deserves to know who his dad is, and as much as I loathe Drake, he deserves to know he created a life. An amazing life.”
Jameson was amazing. But . . . “Drake said I was a mistake, Izzy,” I whispered. The sting of his words after everything we’d shared six years ago still felt like a sucker punch. “And then he went right back to Marissa. I meant nothing to him. I can’t let him reject Jameson too.”
Izzy placed her hands on my shoulders. “I know how much that scares you, but if he doesn’t want anything to do with him, at least you’ll finally know so you can move on.”
“I have moved on,” I cried.
“Of course you have.” She gave me a cheeky grin. “You totally avoid social media because of him. You freak out every time the man has a new movie out and you see one of the posters at the theater or even hear someone talk about it. And how about the fact that you never date or talk about men except for fictional characters?”
“Which you totally love, by the way,” I interjected. We could talk all night about our favorite romantic heroes and watch rom-coms until our eyes bled.
“Real men do have a tendency to severely disappoint, as I well know.” Her divorce had been finalized just a year ago. I think it’s one of the reasons she agreed to take on this adventure with me. She, too, wanted a new start.
“Exactly. And as we both know, all my poorest choices have involved a man. Better just to stay away from them. Besides, I hope people will start some rumors about us in this town. Two spinster sisters living together and running an inn. Think of all the possibilities. We could be jewel thieves or in witness protection, or maybe we practice witchcraft.” I wagged my brows.
“Let’s hold off on the rumors for a while, especially since you’re already harboring a huge secret.”
I rubbed my chest. I knew the rumors that would swirl if my secret ever got out. “I know,” my voice hitched. “Am I a bad person?” I had asked her that question probably a thousand times since the day I saw two pink lines appear on the home pregnancy test I’d taken six years ago. Almost two months to the day after Drake and I had gotten snowed in, in this very magical place.
She pulled me to her and hugged the life out of me. “No, honey. You’re the best person I know.”
“I know I should have tried harder to tell him, but at the time it made so much sense not to. I mean, the last communication I had from him was a text that said, ‘What more do we have to say to each other?’ Besides, I didn’t want him to think I was trying to trap him or extort him for a large sum of money, like you are now,” I teased.
“Hey, I figured he deserved it, and he’s bringing his assistant. So that’s a two-for-one deal.”
“Did you say his assistant was a man?”
“Yep.”
“How odd.” Drake had only ever had female assistants, as far as I knew.
“Maybe he’s changed,” Izzy reluctantly said.
“I doubt it.” I snuggled more into her chest. “I can’t see him, Izzy. What would I say to him?”
She squeezed me tighter. “You tell him the truth.”
Oh. Is that all?
Chapter Two
I stood immobilized on the ladder, scraper in hand, watching the homemade liquid concoction seep into the popcorn ceiling in the Graham and Amanda room—which would one day resemble the cozy English cottage in the beloved movie The Holiday. Izzy and I must have watched that movie at least a hundred times. There was something about Jude Law. The way he could play both a villain and a romantic lead so perfectly. It was like he always brought a little of both to each role and the combination was devastatingly yummy. He reminded me of someone else I knew. Someone who would be here in five hours.
I had hardly slept the night before, thinking about what I was going to say to Drake when I saw him. He didn’t like surprises and this one was a doozy. So, I ruled out “Surprise, happy Father’s Day” as an intro. I was considering “I have some good news for you, your aim is fantastic, and your genes are impeccable.” Perhaps I could go with “Just wanted to give you a heads-up that in twenty years our son might do one of those DNA test kit things you get in the mail, so don’t be surprised when you get a phone call out of the blue, because he is one hundred percent yours.” Or “Look what you made—isn’t he beautiful?” But I didn’t want Drake to see Jameson, and I didn’t want Jameson to see Drake. I couldn’t stand the thought of Jameson knowing who his father was if Drake wanted nothing to do with him. On the flip side, I was also worried Drake may want to be a part of his life and I would have to share my little J with him and his flavor of the month. Or worse, Marissa, his flavor every other month.
