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How on earth would he know? He sighed. “They all smell like pine.” He paused. “You know who’d be great at picking out candles? Lia.”
His mother huffed. “Look, it’s no secret that your sister and I don’t particularly get along.”
Whose fault was that? As the adult and curator of the relationship, he’d bet his mother was the one who should be to blame. His sister had even hosted a family reunion that fall to bring everyone together. His mother had to see the efforts she was making. She’d purposely held the reunion at a time she knew Mitch couldn’t make it, but if he didn’t hold that against her, why should his mom? “You need to stop pouting about Christmas. For the first time in years, Lia and I are both home.”
Both of them were leaving before Christmas Day, but he still hadn’t grown balls big enough to tell her that. He’d focus on the positive for as long as possible.
His mother waved a hand. “I’m over it. It’s fine.”
She was absolutely not over it, but Mitch had already exhausted enough energy on trying to get through to either of them over the years. His attempt to bring them closer always just ended up with both women being pissed off at him.
Can’t win. Don’t try.
And there was actually something else he wanted to talk to her about that morning. He stopped in front of a display of personalized tree ornaments and pretended to peruse them as he said, “Hey, Mom, is it okay if I bring a plus-one to early Christmas dinner?”
His mother dropped the snowman diamond necklace she was looking at and turned to face him. “Like a lady friend plus-one?”
Wow, he wasn’t that old that he’d refer to Jess as a “lady friend,” but it was all semantics, so he nodded.
Intrigue was all over Ally’s face, her holiday decor shopping completely forgotten as she hurried to his side. “Is it someone your father and I know?” she asked in a conspiratorial whisper.
He nodded again.
“Well, obviously it must be someone in town.” She bit her lip, thinking. She loved this twenty questions game. Loved solving puzzles and mysteries, so he didn’t ruin her fun by just telling her who it was.
That. And he was a little freaked out. What would she think about him dating one of Lia’s friends? Someone a lot younger? He hadn’t been worried about it until that moment. Even when he’d invited Jess, it hadn’t caused him any conflict, but after the night before, the idea of bringing her home terrified him slightly. Not enough not to do it, though.
“Is it Shirley from the tourism office?” she asked.
Shirley from the tourism office was fifty-five years old. He better tell her before his self-esteem took a hit as she guessed all the newly divorced cougars in town. “No. It’s Jessica.”
His mother frowned. “Jessica who?”
“Connolly.”
Still no recognition.
“Delicious Delicacies Jessica Connolly. The woman who is making all the desserts for early Christmas dinner?” She was so much more than that to him that he almost felt guilty describing her that way.
His mother’s eyes couldn’t possibly get any wider. “You’re dating little Jess?”
She wasn’t exactly “little Jess” anymore. “The last few weeks we’ve been hanging out.” Okay that sounded even worse than lady friend. “We’ve been seeing each other. Just casually,” he said quickly before she envisioned him settling down.
Her beaming smile was brighter than all the holiday decor in the store. “Darling, that’s fantastic.”
“You think so?” Relief flowed through him. That wasn’t as tough as he’d thought it would be. Of course his mom would be okay with it. She’d been pushing him to “find a nice girl,” “settle down,” “start a family” for years. Not that any of that was happening, but obviously she saw it as a step in that direction and she wasn’t opposed.
“Absolutely, I do,” she said, taking his arm as they made their way through the store. “Of course, your sister’s going to kill you.”
Right, there was still that.
Chapter Fifteen
She could totally do this. Spend an evening with her friends at the inn that night, including Mitch’s sister, while he was there somewhere and keep pretending like they weren’t seeing each other, that the day and night before they hadn’t taken things to the next level. They could be in the same place together without Lia suspecting something. She hoped.
Maybe he’d go out that evening, since he knew she’d be there. They’d both been disappointed that she had alternate plans that night, but this was good. She couldn’t avoid spending time with her friends because she was completely wrapped up in a guy.
He’d invited her to his family’s early Christmas, so they wouldn’t be able to hide this for much longer, but Jessica knew Lia was going to freak out once she did find out, and she hoped that wouldn’t be this evening. She really liked Lia, but the way her feelings were growing for Mitch, she never wanted to be in a position to have to choose between them.
