Page 14 of Merry Mayhem
She gives me a wink. “I give it three days. Tops.”
I have to remind myself that the Landry family is very into love. And falling fast doesn’t faze a single one of them.
“Well, thank you for the confidence. But…”
I feel the need to confess the whole story tosomeoneand have them tell me not to go to Rebel.
Or that it’s okay.
Ellie is my choice.
Even before I knew this was her family in Rebel. Now she’s even more qualified to tell me if what I’m going to do is crazy.
“But what, darlin’?” Ellie asks.
“Before her accident, when we set up the date, it was for me to pretend to be her boyfriend,” I blurt out. “She had another guy who had agreed to do it, but he backed out. She wants a boyfriend for the holidays because her ex will be in town.”
Ellie nods. “Ah.”
“And I agreed because it sounded fun and harmless. But now she’s unconscious, and her family thinks I’m this new guy in her life and… I don’t know if I should go ahead with this.”
“Of course you should.”
I blink. She didn’t even think about it. “Yeah?”
“Yes. My brother called to tell me about the accident. They were so scared.”
“She’s going to be okay,” I say.
“I know. They know. But it was still hard to see her like that. And she’s been having a tough time since the break-up. She and Sam were together for a long time. Everyone expected them to get married. The break-up was a shock. So, this is giving them some hope and happiness.”
“But…it’s not real.”
She gives me a soft smile. “You’re very real.”
“But Violet and I aren’t together.”
“Listen, you didn’t make this up on your own. You and Violet agreed to do this. Just play along. Especially while she can’t be part of deciding to change it.”
“But they seem great,” I say. “I don’t want to lie to them.”
“So don’t lie,” she says simply. “Let them get to know the real you.”
Yeah, they don’t know Chad. He and Violet were not ‘dating’ for long. I can just play this as myself. And hope that Violet is cool with that when she wakes up.
“They’re going to love you,” Ellie says. “You’re going to make this holiday really wonderful for that family. I appreciate that. I love them a lot.”
I smile. Ellie is a firecracker, but underneath that crispy outer layer, she’s mushy and sweet. Like a toasted marshmallow. “Thanks, Ellie.”
She waves that away. “I have something for you to take with you.” She disappears through the swinging doors that lead into the kitchen.
“JD!” someone from the Landry family table calls out to me.
I turn in the general direction.I’m JD to everyone in Autre because there was already a Josh in the family, and they decided it was too confusing to have two. They’d suggested Hot Shot, Hot Stuff, Not The Chief, which they were going to shorten to NTC, and Chief Junior, which we all know they would have shortened to Junior. I vetoed all of them. Of course, that didn’t matter, but thankfully, some of the women had been on my side. Finally, Ellie asked for my middle name, and just like that, Joshua Daniel turned into JD when I’m in the city limits of Autre.
“Get over here, we’re saving you a seat.”
And they are indeed. The family is so large that they have their gatherings— pretty much dinner every night—at Ellie’s bar. And yes, they always save me a seat. Right in the midst of them. Which is awesome. I always feel included and cared for. But I’ll be honest, I’m kind of excited about having something else to do tonight.
