“You don’t like gingerbread houses?”
“It sounds horrible and tedious. I can count on exactly zero fingers how many times I’ve done one before. I’ll let you take the lead on that.”
I grinned at him. “All of a sudden, I’m super pumped to make a gingerbread house with you. Now, I’m just trying to decide if I should make you add the sprinkles one at a time, or if I should put you in charge of frosting each individual piece all by yourself.”
He groaned, and I loved seeing him uncomfortable for a change. I picked up the bingo card again. “Fudge-making competition? Learning to roast a chestnut? These sound right up my alley.”
“The lodge is doing a lot of that kind of stuff tomorrow afternoon, so we can cross a few things off the list easily.” He flicked the card out of my hand. “How about milking a cow and drinking fresh chocolate milk in the barn?”
I shuddered. “The wordfreshin that context terrifies me.”
“You two lovebirds going for the blackout, or whatever it’s called?”
We both looked over to see that Glenn had plopped himself down across from us. Amid all the strange revelations with Miles yesterday, I had almost forgotten about the entire reason I had gotten myself into this mess.
“That’s the plan,” Miles said easily, taking a swig of his water bottle. “How about you?”
He waited for a beat before smiling tightly. “No. If I want to go on vacation, I’ll just buy my own tickets.”
Even though I had originally had the exact same thought myself, hearing it from Glenn’s smug lips felt like a mortal insult upon both Miles and his whole family’s idea to bring the magic of Christmas back into people’s lives.
“It’ll be fun. The last thing I’d want to do is let myself be too stuffy to have a little fun now and then.” I was very aware of Miles turning his eyes on me just then, but I ignored him and smiled sweetly at Glenn instead.
“Isn’t it…kind of strange that your mom didn’t know you were dating anybody until yesterday morning?” He looked at us both again, a patronizing look on his face like he knew we were pulling a fast one.
I shrugged nonchalantly, like we got this question all the time, even though, inside, I was wondering how bad our acting skills really were if Glenn was suspicious. I snuggled as close to Miles’s side as my conscience would allow. “We wanted to keep it quiet for a bit, that’s all.”
“I see.” He nodded as though considering this deeply before looking up at Miles. “Was there some reason for the secrecy, though?”
Miles smiled, his hand dropping to my knee for a second before it moved a tiny bit higher—my lower thigh, to be exact, if the trail of smoldering heat and fire was accurate. His thumb made a soft back-and-forth motion that caused my breath to catch. “If there was, I guess that would be our secret, then.”
Glenn laughed and held out his hands like he had been joking. “Hey, I don’t care either way. You guys do you. I just thought it was strange, that’s all.”
I couldn’t help but feel grateful as my mom settled in beside me just then, with Russ next to her and Glenn’s parents across from us. Glenn would act much different now. The three of us eased more into the background as the group of four neighbors and friends talked and teased about the actual game of bingo they had just finished playing together in a back room of the lodge.
Miles removed his hand from my knee to eat his sandwich. And…thank goodness. I didn’t miss his hand. Not at all. But I couldn’t deny a feeling of emptiness his hand had left. It was probably just the warmth that I missed from his touch. As if his thoughts mirrored my own, Miles’s thigh suddenly brushed against mine and stayed there, bringing with it another tingling heat wave. I forced my mind to focus in on the conversation around us.
“I’m trying to get Elaine to be more adventurous,” Russ was saying. “She’s scared to death to do anything fun.”
My mom balked, slapping his arm gently, a flush rising to her cheeks.
Miles broke in, nodding toward me. “Must be a family trait.” He nudged me gently, almost as if to tell me he was only teasing. “It’s been like pulling teeth trying to convince her to do the polar bear plunge.”
Every eye at the table was suddenly upon me. I wasn’t sure how to handle this level of attention, so I forced my gaze back down to my plate.
“I even told her I’d take my shirt off,” Miles said, “but no dice.” I cringed as Russ snorted appreciatively.
I had my snarky reply primed and ready until I remembered we were a couple in love—or at least boyfriend and girlfriend in serious like. So then I sat for a few seconds, pondering another type of reply that would match that storyline, and I remained stumped.
My mom spoke first, her mouth slightly agape. “You’re doing the polar bear plunge?”
“Maybe,” I told my mom at the same time Miles said, “Yes.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Good for you.” Looking at Miles, she added, “And good luck to you.”
He laughed. “It’ll be good to get her out from behind her books for a bit this week.”
His hand now brushed my back, rubbing lightly.