AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Celebrating the holidays.
Eating at the same table.
Being friendly and making nice.
Until I strangled that douche canoe on national television…
Fuck my life.
My agent had already contacted Marissa. She was the only logical woman for me to bring along. She’d been my fake girlfriend before and the leap to her and I getting back together would be more believable than bringing in someone new.
So, yeah.
Fuck my life.
So far, Marissa had been kind and understanding. She’d asked if something was really up between me and Jillian.
My only answer had been, “She’s engaged.” At that, Marissa had nodded.
Don’t get me wrong, Marissa was a great woman. She just wasn’t the woman I was in love with.
Even still, she was fun to be around. And any awkwardness I’d been afraid of wasn’t there at all. At least she didn’t seem to give off any of those vibes.
Which told me she hadn’t taken my refusal to heart. She’d accepted the fact that I hadn’t wanted to upgrade our fake relationship to a real relationship all those years ago. I wasn’t sure until we’d seen each other at the airport.
She’d smiled at me and run into my arms. I hugged her and did the obligatory lip touch for the cameras.
“Hi, friend. I missed you,” she whispered in my ear. It made me smile, and I was glad that she wasn’t pissed at me. A lot of women might have held a grudge. But Marissa appeared to be over it.
We talked and laughed the whole drive up to Wes’ place. And it warmed my heart to know I hadn’t hurt her.
Anyway, now was now.
And we’d just arrived at Lexi’s parents’ place. The one and only Wes Hunter was the first to greet us. We’d met a few times before at various events.
Back in the day, he’d been one of the top hockey gods around. His wrist shot—which he’d also passed on to his daughter—was still legendary and talked about often.
“Come on in, folks,” he said as he opened the door. Wes leaned on a cane in his right hand.
“Thanks, Wes.” I introduced him to Marissa.
“Nice to meet you, Marissa. I’m glad you were able to join us,” Wes said with a smile as he shook her hand.
Marissa smiled right back. “Thanks for the invite, Wes. I haven’t been to Canada in a while.” They talked for a bit about where in Canada Marissa had traveled. But to tell you the truth—I didn’t really care. All I was concerned about was getting these next two days over with.
And avoiding the douche canoe.
I jerked my chin and looked down at his brand-new knee. “How’s the knee?”
He smiled from ear to ear. “Good, man. Got rid of the walker two weeks ago. Hopefully, I can burn this stupid cane soon, too.”
We shot the shit for a few more minutes before his wife came in. She was drying her hands off on a green and red dishtowel. “Wes, are you hogging our guests all to yourself?” Marianne Turner—or I suppose now it was Hunter. I wasn’t sure if she’d taken Wes’ name or not. She introduced herself to us and welcomed us to their new home.
“Marissa, come hang out with us girls in the kitchen.” Marianne grabbed my fake girlfriend, and they wandered off.
I followed Wes around as he showed me the house—his idea, not mine. He said it was better if he moved around than sat.
The entire house was decorated for the season. Not one room was spared some kind of festive touch. I lost count of how many Christmas trees we passed by.
