Page 61 of Welcome Home for Christmas
He looked at her, but then Uncle Matt started talking to him again.
“How did you and Allison meet?” he asked.
Everyone else at the table nodded their heads, wanting to know the happy couple’s story.
Troy turned to Allison, whose mouth was open. Her eyes were wide. They’d gone over all of the details of each other’s lives, but they hadn’t gone over this one. How had they met? He couldn’t tell the family that she’d purchased him at an auction. That all of this had started as a pretend relationship to fool her family into believing she was happily in a relationship. Which was now pretty much the truth.
“W-Well,” he stuttered.
“Mistletoe!” Allison shouted out.
Troy stopped talking at the uttering of their code word.
“We met under the mistletoe,” she explained, moving a hand on his thigh under the table. “Funny story, really.”
“Well, tell us,” Allison’s aunt said, leaning forward. “I just love romantic stories.”
Troy felt a little sorry for Allison. She looked like she might fall to pieces, and he guessed she wasn’t practiced in coming up with a believable lie. It’d taken two weeks to prepare her to pull off this one.
He reached into her pocket under the table and pulled out the piece of mistletoe he’d handed her in the truck. “You see, I was carrying this around with me, hoping I might find a pretty girl to make my day,” he said. “Then I saw Allison and knew I had to meet her. So I held this over her head and prayed she wouldn’t slap me,” he said, looking around the table.
“Did she?” Allison’s cousin asked.
“She thought about it,” he said. “I could see that in her beautiful green eyes. And I would’ve deserved it, too. But something changed her mind.”
“And she kissed you?” Allison’s aunt asked.
Troy looked at Allison. “She saw something in me, I guess. I might never know what.”
A smile lifted on Allison’s mouth.
“That’s a great story,” someone said. Troy had lost track of who was talking now, since he was looking and thinking only of the redhead next to him. She’d stolen his attention and was quickly stealing away his heart, too.
“And then he installed an alarm system in your home,” Allison’s mother interjected.
Troy turned to his host. “There was a burglar in the neighborhood.”
“Was?” Allison’s stepfather asked.
“Troy caught him in the act,” Allison told them. And if Troy wasn’t mistaken, there was a little pride in her voice.
“You don’t work in Seaside, though,” Dr. Pierce said.
“No. It was kind of a citizen’s arrest.”
“You really are quite the adrenaline seeker,” Dr. Pierce said, one eyebrow arched. “Good for you. Thank you for keeping my daughter safe.”
He nodded. “My pleasure.”
After dinner, there were presents and carols sung around the home’s piano.
“Allison, come sing for us the way you used to,” Aunt Darla piped up, swaying on her feet from too much eggnog.
Allison shook her head. “No, I don’t do that anymore.”
“Oh, phooey. Please. I love to hear your voice.” Aunt Darla leaned into Allison and stumbled against her.
Troy reflexively caught her and helped her stand upright again.
