Page 34 of Unromance

He shook his head to clear it, focusing on the conversation at hand and trying to steer it into less murky waters. “Knowing she has zero interest in a relationship upfront makes it pretty easy to notaccidentally get the wrong idea. We’re doing ‘romantic shit,’ yeah, but hanging out with Sawyer doesn’t feel like dating. It just feels like hanging out with my friend.” He’d almost called her his best friend, a term he’d bestowed on very few people in his life. People he’d known for years, not mere weeks. Yet, he couldn’t shake the rightness. Best friend.

The corners of Luis’s mouth turned down, considering. “Alright. Well, good luck, I guess. How many things do you have left to ruin?”

He shrugged. “We made a list, but it’s kind of open-ended.”

Luis frowned but, for once, said nothing.

Whendidit end? Their last “date” was his New Year’s Eve party, one week from now. Was that it? Panic gripped his insides. They hadn’t discussed it, but the idea that they would go their separate ways once the list was done seemed implied. The thought of never seeing Sawyer again after that didn’t sit right with him. He didn’t want to think too hard about why he was suddenly contemplating rom-com physics and how to get them stuck in a time loop together.

He forced himself to turn away from the wall of mugs and the person he’d subconsciously been picking one out for, only to turn around and come face-to-face with said person.

“Sawyer!” he said in surprise. Beside him, Luis perked up like a puppy who just heard the wordtreat.

“Álvarez-West,” she drawled. She reached past him to grab a mug with a seventies-style mushroom pattern from the shelf. The smell of coconut drowned his senses, and he felt himself relax.

“And I’m Luis,” his friend interjected, seizing the opening. “Wanted to introduce myself this time before you could bolt.”

Sawyer frowned in faux concentration. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Luis sucked on his teeth and shook his head, smiling.

A redhead appeared at Sawyer’s side. “Are we doing the introductions thing? I’m the best friend, Lily.”

As Luis and Lily shook hands, Mason locked eyes with Sawyer, biting his lip to keep from grinning. They hadn’t discussed whether or not to keep their mission a secret, to keep family and friends out of it, but oh well. Too late now. Luis and Lily were swapping holiday plans like old friends, not two people who’d met five seconds ago.

Can you believe them?Sawyer’s dancing green eyes seemed to say.

“You should come!” Lily exclaimed.

Mason tore his gaze from Sawyer’s, tuning back into the conversation. “Sorry, what?”

Lily smiled at him knowingly. How long had he and Sawyer been staring at each other? “New Year’s Day! We’re doing a hangover brunch. I couldn’t convince this one to spend New Year’s Eve with me—”

“It’s you and Beau’s first anniversary!” Sawyer protested. “I’m not third-wheeling that!”

Lily waved away her words like she’d heard it a million times. She probably had. “Oh? And what’s your excuse for Christmas, then?”

“It’s your first Christmas together,” Sawyer said emphatically.

“Ohmigod,” Lily moaned. “We’ve spent the last two Christmases together.”

“Wait,” Mason interjected. He got the impression that Sawyer and her parents didn’t speak, so if she wasn’t spending the holidays with them or Lily… “Whatareyou doing for Christmas?”

Sawyer hesitated, her gaze bouncing around their little circle nervously. “Reading, relaxing, the usual.”

“Nonsense,” Luis declared. “You’re spending it with us. No anniversaries here, so you can’t say no—and you don’t want to, because my Christmas dinner is better than anything you could cater.”

“You can say no,” Mason offered softly. Spending Christmas together was leagues deeper than their agreed-upon surface-level rule, but the idea of Sawyer alone on Christmas, eating shredded cheese straight out of the bag… Yeah, no. She was coming to dinner. “But I’d love for you to come.”

“She’dloveto come,” Lily declared for her. Before Mason could decipher whether that heavy-handed innuendo was intentional or not, she plowed on. “And if Luis gets you for Christmas, then I get you for New Year’s Day.”

Sawyer straightened. “I’m sorry, are you two our divorced parents, divvying up the holidays?”

“Yes,” Luis and Lily said at the same time.

“What are you doing two weeks after New Year’s?” Luis asked Lily, like they were entering business negotiations.

Mason shot him a warning look. That was the tamale party—with the entire extended Álvarez family. The only people more hopelessly romantic than Mason were his aunties. If he brought Sawyer to that, he’d never hear the end of it. For the rest of his life, they’d ask him about the spicy blonde he brought over that one time, why he’d let her get away—and he’d never have a satisfactory answer.

---