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Holden had been returning his phone to the pocket attached to the seat in front of him, but her words seemed to give him reason for pause. He sat back, his blanket now having fallen to his lap.
“If you’re newly engaged, I imagine that will be the biggest news at Christmas,” he said. “You probably should just get it all out in the open from the start. Then everyone can forget about it.”
Yeah, that sounded easy enough, but he didn’t know her family. Her overachieving, super successful family.
“My dad’s the town dentist,” she said. “Everyone loves him. My younger sister Ana is a model and TV host.”
“Fix It Up,” he said. “They were shooting an episode of her show in town just last week.”
At those words, Faith’s jaw dropped. Nobody had told her that, either. Just how out of touch had she been?
She had to stay on track here. “Charity, the sister dating Nic, was a straight-A student all through school. Popular, homecoming queen…you name it. Now, she runs a successful interior design business.”
Holden wasn’t wowed by any of that. It shouldn’t surprise her, though. The man was obviously a success in his own right. But he didn’t know the history. He wasn’t the one who’d grown up feeling invisible in a town where everyone knew everyone else’s business.
“For a while, it was looking like I had my own exciting story,” Faith said.
Closing her eyes, she leaned back. It was easier to open up this way. Even though he wasn’t looking at her right now, she felt his attention on her.
“I was the sister who moved to Europe, ran my own shop, and got engaged to an Englishman. It all sounded so exotic.”
“To whom?” he asked.
She couldn’t help but notice his use of the word “whom” instead of “who.” The guy was educated. It was what she’d admired so much about her ex. He was smart. Intelligent men made her feel secure.
“To the town,” she said. “People gossip in Misty Mountain. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shrug. “I’m sure they do. I’ve got a lot going on. I don’t really have time to worry what people are saying about me.”
Now she looked at him, seeing him through the eyes of the people she’d grown up with. In that small town, a guy with apparent money and success who was also just about the best-looking guy Faith had seen… Yeah, she could only imagine how people like Josephine Strongblossom and Judi Trapp had reacted to having a guy like him in town. No doubt they were watching his every move.
“Sometimes I think it’d be fun to give them something to talk about.” He laughed. “Something scandalous. There are no single women in town, really. It might be fun to hang out with a woman and get everyone really riled up. But I have my daughter to consider.”
“Your daughter could be in on it. She’d probably get a kick out of watching everyone gossip about nothing.”
Was it wrong to suggest he loop his daughter in on a deception? To be honest, though, the town gossips deserved it. In elementary school, Faith was friends with a girl whose parents divorced because both of them were having affairs with other parents in town. Eventually, that friend moved away because the gossips were so brutal toward her mom. Not her dad, who’d also been having an affair, and not the man who’d been having an affair with her mom. Just the women involved.
For that reason, Faith would love to see some of those people taken down a peg or two. But that wouldn’t happen. Instead, she’d be the one they’d gossip about. The woman who’d been sent to England on a six-month contract with her job, and while there, had fallen in love with the guy she’d met at the coffee shop next to his parents’ store. As far as locals knew, she’d just gotten engaged and was well on her way to planning her wedding.
Yeah, she’d definitely be feeding the gossips this Christmas.
“Honestly, I could use a wife right now.” Holden’s words snapped her attention right back over to him. “I’m trying to start a new venture. That’s why I was in England, meeting with investors. Would you believe they asked me if I was married?”
Faith frowned at him. “Isn’t that illegal?”
“In job interviews, maybe, but when someone’s giving you a bunch of money, all bets are off.” He sighed. “I told them I have a daughter and that my wife died.”
Faith gasped. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
Here she’d been, talking about her own problems, when this guy was a single dad to a girl who’d lost her mom. And he’d lost his wife. She felt like the most selfish person ever to walk the Earth.
“It’s been a while,” he said. “My daughter is eight, and we were divorced before her mom died. It just didn’t work out. I can’t believe I’m telling you this.”
Her eyes went wide, but he still wasn’t looking at her. He stared straight ahead. Maybe it was easier for him to talk about it if she wasn’t looking at him. She shifted to stare straight ahead too.
“I usually don’t tell people that,” he said. “It’s just too complicated. I say her mother’s gone, and I have a nanny to help out, but finding a nanny has gotten a lot more difficult too. Moving to your small town…”
Hersmall town. Yeah, it still felt that way, even though she’d been gone for a couple of years. Funny how that worked.
