Page 9 of Real Tree / Fake Boyfriend

Between work and finishing up the semester, Tyler barely had enough time to think about anything else. But his classes were officially finished, and he had boxes upon boxes of gifts for his family and clothes for Julien, which had yet to be unpacked.

They were leaving in two days, and that wasn’t enough time. Ty hadn’t talked to Julien, aside from a few texts to tell him to come over so they could go over some last-minute details. Plus, he hadn’t told his family he was bringing anyone yet.

Once he had packed up his stuff, he finally sat and mustered up the courage to call his mother and lie directly to her ear. He had lied to her a thousand times, but this felt massive. It was too late to turn back now. He’d committed to this deception.

“Hey, Mom,” he said in a light, casual tone when she picked up. He hoped he didn’t sound like a liar already.

“Hi, Honey, how did your exams go?”Her question was superficial, as always. A typical mom, she always kept tabs on how his classes went, how his work was, and whatever he had scheduled. She wanted the best for Tyler, but that meant he had tobethe best.

“Really good.” Tyler had been a bit dubious about one of his tests, but the rest had been solid. “I, uh, just wanted to ask you something.”

There was some shuffling of papers on the other line before his mother spoke again. She was a psychologist and worked from her home office most of the time. Tyler could practically hear her moving her client files away to give him her full attention. “Do you need money? Is everything okay? What is it?”Concern laced her words.

Tyler groaned. He didn’t know why Mom always thought he called because he needed or wanted something. He had an allowance from his parents and made more than enough money alone. Mom seemed to expect him to mess up, so he tried to be extra careful and responsible.

“No,Mom. God. It’s all fine. I just wanted to ask if it was alright if my boyfriend came to spend Christmas with us?” He pinched the bridge of his nose as he waited for her response.Here we go.

There was silence on the other line. A long stretch of silence, and Tyler wasn’t even sure if she had heard him. He pulled the phone back to check the call hadn’t ended.

“Mom? You there?”

“I am. I hadn’t realized you were seeing someone,” Mom said in a voice a touch more high-pitched than usual. “You never said.”

“I know. I-it’s still new, but we’re getting more serious. I thought it would be great to have him come to meet you guys. His family is going abroad for Christmas this year. He doesn’t have anything to do, so…” Tyler trailed off and leaned over to the laptop to type outfamily abroad for Christmasin the notes so he’d remember to tell Julien later.

“I don’t see why not. I know we would all love to meet him,” Mom said. “What is his name? What does he do?”

“His name is Julien Kosta,” Tyler recited. “And his family owns a car dealership. He runs it with his dad.” Tyler was sure that sounded convincing. As long as Julien could sell it, he could sell it.

“Julien. Hm. I’ll make sure Hailey knows there will be one more for dinner, but she always makes too much food anyway. I don’t think there will be any problems.”

Hailey always cooked dinner for them on Christmas. She was by far the best chef in the family, thanks to her culinary arts degree, and she liked to make something different every year. Tyler had no idea what they would eat until the day of because she wanted to keep it a secret.

His phone buzzed, and he figured it was Julien saying he was on his way. “I need to go, Mom, but I can’t wait to see you guys. Thanks for letting me bring him.”

“Of course, Honey. Let me know when you get to the airport.”

He told her he loved her and hung up to check his texts. Instead of being from Julien, his sisters texted him in their siblinggroup chat.

Boyfriend?

Hailey had sent it over along with a string of screaming face emojis. Tyler had no idea how his mother had gotten this news to her before they even got off the phone.

Cece texted:

I can’t wait to meet him!

A second text from her said:

Mom says he owns a car dealership. Brad and I were talking about buying something bigger. Maybe he can help us.

Tyler sighed and sent a quick reply to them about how word traveled fast before he got off the couch to make himself some hot chocolate.

It was too late to change the lie about the car dealership. But if Tyler could redirect questions about that, they could avoid Cece figuring out Julien was a fraud.

Tyler was heating the milk up when someone knocked on his door. He nearly skidded on the floor as he rushed to open it.

Julien wore less greasy pants than he had on their previous meeting and a tight gray T-shirt under his leather jacket. Tyler stared at him for a moment before opening the door wider. Somehow, he forgot how hot Jules was. Big, scruffy, and a little intimidating, which wasnotTyler’s type. Or it shouldn’t be.

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