Page 20 of Promise Yule Be Mine (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

20

NOVA

O f course.

Figures there wouldn’t be any flights out of this hell hole when I needed it.

I planted my ass at the lounge and hugged myself tighter, bracing for the cold night I was about to spend at the Christmas Falls airport, Reindeer Runway.

But it was fine. Anything was better than going back to that town, back to that house, the place where I’d betrayed my best friend all in the name of a kiss.

I pulled my phone out to call Rhett when I spotted someone entering the airport. It wasn’t that hard seeing as she was the only other person around.

Jenna saw me just as quickly and I wished the earth would open up and swallow me right there and then.

I tried to hide behind my jacket but it wouldn’t do.

He’d told her, hadn’t he? Why else would she be here looking as if she was ready to rain hell on me?

“There you are!” she said and stood in front of me.

“Listen, Jenna, before you say anything, I’m really, really sorry. I didn’t mean to?—”

“What?” she raised an eyebrow. “Kiss my fiancé? Was it an accident?”

I closed my eyes and braced myself for a slap, a scream, anything.

The last thing I expected was a laugh.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked, only opening one eye.

“Because. You’re such a drama queen.”

“I’m confused.”

Jenna sat down next to me. “I’m not angry.”

“Why? You should be.”

She rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand. “It’s time I told you the truth about me and Kody.”

I frowned and turned to face her. “What truth? Oh God, are you guys in a cult? You’re in a cult, aren’t you?”

Shut up, Nova. Now is not the time for jokes.

“No, definitely not a cult. Can you imagine me in a black robe chanting nonsense in Latin? That’s so not my vibe.”

“Jenna! Focus, please. What are you talking about?”

Jenna took a deep breath and looked around.

“Well, the truth is Kody and I are best friends. We’ve been best friends since high school. Since I moved here.”

“Great. I love that for you. Are you trying to dump me as your best friend, because I won’t blame you. I did kiss your fiancé and we did go fifteen years without talking to each other.”

She rolled her eyes and snorted. “Will you shut up and listen, doofus?” I pursed my lips pointedly and raised an eyebrow. “Great. Thanks. So. Kody and I are best friends. We’ve always been best friends but that’s it. We’ve always just been friends. Except for those two months eons ago but we both are trying so hard to forget about that.”

I didn’t know what she was saying. I was more confused than ever.

“See, I’m hopeless when it comes to dating. And Kody is…well, Kody is different. Which also makes him unlucky in love. So after another breakup and one too many bottles of wine I had this wild idea. I thought Kody and I could get married, get over that part of our lives neither of us had any luck with and we could jump straight into having a family.”

“Are you saying you’re each other’s backup?”

“Yes,” she said. “No. Actually. A backup husband would still sleep with his wife. Well, trust me when I say neither of us have any interest in sleeping with each other.”

“So…how were you going to have a family?”

She shrugged. “IVF? Turkey baster? I don’t know. Definitely not by getting intimate.”

“So a marriage blanc,” I said.

“Yes, exactly. If that means marriage without sex, that’s exactly what it was.”

“I see.”

And I really could see.

So they weren’t in love. They weren’t even in a relationship. They were just two friends with an agreement.

“I knew you two didn’t look very lovey-dovey.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Jenna said. “I love Kody. He’s literally the perfect guy. But he’s just a friend. And my friend is in love with you.”

In love?

God.

How had I gone from feeling like I’d completely betrayed my best friend to talking about love?

And why did my heart skip a beat at her words?

“I…I think I’m in love with him too, but…I don’t know. I don’t want to be with a married guy even if said marriage is just a front.”

“Good!” she said. “Not that there is anything wrong with open marriages and everything, and just to show you how perfect he is he was willing to let me have that just so I could be happy. But no. I don’t want to marry him. I…I changed my mind. Like a long time ago. I was just too scared to admit it.”

“Oh,” I said.

“Yeah. You know that urgent work trip I took last week?”

“How could I forget? You were stuck abroad for a whole week!”

“Well, that’s just it. I wasn’t.”

“Huh?”

“I wasn’t stuck. I was in Chicago. Just taking a little R&R.”

I gasped. “What? Why?”

“Because. I saw how you two looked at each other. There were instant sparks. And I thought maybe if I was out of the way you’d realize you were meant for each other.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?”

I frowned. “Yeah, lucky for you.”

She raised an eyebrow and patted my hand. “Trust me honey. It was way more than luck.”

“What?”

“Did you think making you do the invitations, the tux shopping and all that stuff was a coincidence?”

My jaw dropped. “You orchestrated it all?”

She grinned. “Yes. I mean it was lucky we hadn’t done much for the wedding because I’d changed my mind, but when I saw you two together I quickly came up with a plan.”

“You’re devious. Evil, even.”

And at this moment, I didn’t think I could love her any more.

“Oh, I know.”

I was about to say something when it hit me. “You canceled the baker in Springfield, didn’t you?”

She cackled like an evil witch and I wasted no time. I grabbed her and hugged her tight. “You don't know how relieved I am.”

“Good. Why?”

“Because! I didn’t betray you.”

“Oh. Of course you didn’t, silly. Now, what are you going to do with the truth? Are you going to get your man?”

Was I?

She’d just handed me my dream man on a platter after months of obsession and turmoil.

“I’d be an idiot not to.”

“Great. Let’s go because I’m freezing my butt in here. I need to have a word with Gray about turning the heating off in the evenings.”

“It’s midnight.”

She rolled her eyes and looped her hand around mine. “Were you really going to leave without your bags?” she asked after looking around me.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was guilty and confused.”

“Well, good thing I came here then.”

“How did you find me, by the way?”

She stopped and stared with a way too smug look for her own good.

“Do you really have to ask after all I’ve orchestrated to get you and Kody to look beyond your noses?”

Fair point.

Fair point indeed.

Jenna was a superwoman.

And apparently a pretty decent matchmaker, one I’d say rivaled Christmas Falls’ local matchmaker I’d heard people rave about during my short time here. Nick, I believed his name was.

“I might be happy but I’m still annoyed with you. You had me questioning my wedding planning skills.”

“Ah, you’ll live.”

I glared at her but truthfully, I couldn’t stay annoyed. Not after everything she’d said and all she’d done on instinct alone.

“Oh, one more thing. Do you like Kody?”

“Why do you think I ran away?”

She put her hands up and brushed me off. “Hey, Kody asked me to make sure. I’m just making sure.”

“Well, I more than like him. I may be falling in love with him,” I admitted and boy did it feel liberating to say.

“Please, honeybun. You’re not falling. You fell already. Hard. You’re at the pit of this mine called love. Now let’s go throw Kody in with you.”