Page 59 of All's Fair in Love and Christmas
He walked to the front of the house and opened the door. Lincoln, Jill, and Alejandro stood on his porch.
“This is eerily like déjà-vu,” he said. “I feel like I should ask why you’re here before letting you in so I don’t get blindsided or blackmailed again.”
Lincoln pushed his way past Jeremy to enter the house. “Bro, you should be thanking us. And we didn’t blackmail you. We gave you an incentive to make a deal.”
“Same thing,” Jeremy called over his shoulder. “I guess you guys can come in too.” He stepped back to let Jill and Alejandro enter.
“Such a warm welcome,” Jill teased.
“I do what I can.”
Alejandro shrugged out of his coat and hung it on the coat rack while Jill kept hers on. Jeremy wasn’t sure she ever took her jacket off for the months spanning October to April.
“Uncle Jeremy, can I go play Xbox in my room since I can’t study anymore with your friends here?”
“Sure.”
If Nate got a bad grade on his test, that was just a natural consequence, right? At some point he’d have to start taking responsibility for his studies anyway. Although more than likely, Jeremy would spend the morning while the kids ate breakfast and got dressed for school quizzing them both again.
Nathan’s feet pounded up the stairs as he bolted for his room and his controller. Natalie followed, yelling that it was her turn to be a zombie instead of a plant.
“So?” Jill barely waited until the door slammed upstairs before she launched in. “How did it go last night? Have you called her today? When are you two going out again?”
Jeremy stared at her, not sure what to answer first. Actually, hehad a question of his own. He turned to Alejandro. The inquiry must have been written on his face, because Alejandro answered without Jeremy saying anything.
“I got a text from Keri this morning,” he said. “Mackenzie’s mom is awake and responding well to the medication. She even had a long duration of lucidity in which she made a big fuss about your ceramic tree.” He paused. “Oh, and I’m supposed to tell you that Keri says you’re Luke Macfarlane to Mackenzie’s Lacey Chabert. Whatever that means.”
Jeremy shrugged and shook his head as Alejandro waited for him to decipher the message. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
Jill groaned. “You guys are hopeless.” She tapped Lincoln on the arm with the back of her hand. “Tell them, sweetie.”
Lincoln scratched the back of his head. “I’d rather not.”
Jill clucked her tongue. “Luke Macfarlane and Lacey Chabert are made-for-TV movie royalty. Luke usually plays characters who are sensible, responsible, and even-tempered, while Lacey specializes in sweet but highly stressed heroines looking to find their voice in the world. They’ve portrayed falling in love at Christmas at least a dozen times.”
“So she’s saying they’re a predictable cliché?” Alejandro dodged Jill’s swatting hand.
“No,” she stated emphatically. “She’s saying they’re what millions of people all over the world are looking for—someone to fall in love with.”
Jeremy rocked backward. “No one said anything about love.”
“Not yet anyway.” Jill’s eyes gleamed.
“Not ever.” Jeremy needed his friends, especially Jill, to drop the idea that he should advance directly to GO and collect $200—or a wife, in this case. He still had to travel all the way around the board—see Nate and Nat graduate—before he’d be at that stage in the game.
“You can’t say not ever,” Jill argued.
“I just did.”
Her lips thinned.
Lincoln leaned toward Jeremy. “Abort. Abort,” he whispered out of the side of his mouth.
“Why are you being so stubborn about this?” She folded her arms over her chest.
“About my own personal life?” Jeremy gave her a patient look. It washislife. The only people his decision affected were himself and the twins, and he’d been thinking of Nate and Nat when he devised his dating timeline to begin with.
“Love, specifically,” she pressed, ignoring his subtle jab that she should stay out of his business. “I’ve seen you adjust your life plans before, but when it comes to being open to the possibility of love, you’re a steel door.”
