by Lizzie Shane
“Home sweet home,” she muttered darkly.
Had he completely misjudged the situation? He’d thought Andi would be excited to be home with her family. He’d thought in her holiday bliss she would cheerfully run interference for him with Jade. He hadn’t anticipated the frown she directed at the house.
“Are you okay?” Ty asked.
Andi snapped out of her glower as soon as he spoke, slapping on a toothy, less-than-reassuring smile as she double parked in front of the house. “Here we are,” she announced with forced cheer. “I’ll just—” Ty’s seatbelt clicked loudly as he unfastened it and Andi broke off, frowning. “What are you doing?”
“Coming inside?”
Andi was shaking her head. “I thought you two could stay in the car. We’re less likely to get sucked in if it’s just me. I’ll just run in and then we can get to the cabin—”
“Is there a bathroom?” Jade asked from the back seat.
Andi breathed something that might have been a curse under her breath, but Ty couldn’t quite pick it out. She looked up at the rabidly festive house like there was a guillotine waiting inside for her. Now that the car’s engine was quieter, they could hear music and laughter trickling out into the night.
“Andi?” Ty asked, studying her face for some clue what was wrong.
“Okay. We’re gonna be quick. In and out,” she said, the words as rapid-fire as one of the characters on Task Force One laying out the plan for a raid. “Jade uses the bathroom, I make an appearance, and we keep it low key. Got it?”
“Got it,” Jade and Ty agreed.
* * * * *
She was walking into the Christmas gathering over an hour late with a movie star and his illegitimate daughter in tow. She should have known they were going to make an entrance whether she wanted to or not. By himself, Ty Walker always caused a stir. She should have known that the first time she returned to Clement in three years, with Ty and Jade at her back, it wouldn’t be as simple as a casual “Welcome back.”
They entered the foyer, which thankfully wasn’t visible from the great room and kitchen where most of the family tended to gather. One of her younger cousins, darting through the foyer at top speed, skidded on stocking feet across the hardwood when she spotted them, her face lighting up. “Andi! You came!”
Thankfully the noise in the other rooms kept everyone else from hearing her exclamation. Kendall changed course abruptly, flinging herself at Andi with her usual enthusiasm. Andi’s charm bracelet jingled with the force of the hug and she felt some of her tension loosen a notch. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. “Hi, Kendall. It’s good to see you. When did you get so tall?”
“I know, right?” Kendall bounced back, her sandy brown ponytail swinging. “I’m almost as tall as Mom now.”
Andi’s throat closed at the reminder that she hadn’t just avoided the bad memories when she’d stayed away for so long. She’d missed seeing Kendall grow up. She must be… what? Nearly thirteen? Close to Jade’s age, even though Kendall had a good six inches on her. Andi gestured to Jade. “Kendall, my cousin, meet Jade, my…friend. Do you think you could show her to the upstairs bathroom?” The downstairs bathroom would require walking right through the center of the party and Andi was determined to stick to the In-and-Out plan.
“Sure!” Kendall beamed at Jade, her eyes lighting on her striped scarf. “Is that a Ravenclaw scarf? I’m totally Gryffindor, right? Come on. Did you read the Cursed Child yet? My mom almost didn’t get it for me because it was a play, but I was all, Mom, it’s Harry Potter, right?” Kendall latched onto Jade and the two of them clambered up the stairs. “Do you have a wand? I keep asking and asking to go to Harry Potter World, but my parents are all do you think we’re made of money, Kendall? And I’m all, yeah, obviously! Which they don’t think is funny. No one understands my comic genius.”
Andi snorted at Kendall’s “comic genius” and watched them go, confident Jade was in good hands. Then she turned and braced herself for entry into the lion’s den—i.e. the great room. Find her parents. Hug her brother, congratulate him, and get out. Stick to the plan.
She’d taken only one step toward the family gathering when her eye caught on her parents’ annual Christmas card display in the front hall and she froze.
Every year they hung a giant corkboard there, adding each new Christmas card as it arrived until it was one massive collage of Christmas greetings from all their friends and family. With only a few days left until Christmas, the board was full to overflowing, the cards now layered with their edges overlapping—but one stood out, unobstructed, right in the middle like it had been given a place of honor.
Andi stared at it, feeling her jaw fall open.
Mark.
Mark and his new wife.
Mark and his new wife and their two perfect children.
Holiday Greetings from the Nilsson Family!
She was going to be sick.
Her mother chose that moment to pop around the corner on her way to the kitchen. “Andi! You made it!” she exclaimed, but Andi barely heard her.
She couldn’t find the words to greet her mother. One sentence kept repeating in her mind and that was what came out of her mouth, uninvited.
“You put my ex-husband’s new family on your Christmas card display?”
* * * * *
Whoa. Ty hadn’t even known she’d been married.
At Andi’s words, he tried to read her face, but from his angle all he could see was the line of her profile.
“Don’t make it something it isn’t, Andi,” the older woman who’d entered scolded. “Deb and George gave us the card—they’re so pleased to be grandparents—” Andi flinched, but the woman plowed onward. “They’ll be over for the party on Christmas Eve-Eve and they’d be offended if we didn’t display it. You know it’s our tradition—”
“Are you kidding me?” Andi yelped. “After everything that happened—”
“Mark is still friends with your brothers. We understand that you two couldn’t work things out, but we don’t divorce our friends.”
“Couldn’t work things out?” Andi asked incredulously. “Don’t you think you’re rewriting history a little bit, Mom?”
From the sound of her voice, Ty had a feeling this Mark guy was a real shit. Had he cheated on her? Hit her? Something had happened, because he’d never heard Andi sound so betrayed.
“It’s Christmas, Andrea.” Andi’s mother pronounced the name in a way he hadn’t heard before. On-dray-uh. “Let’s all be a little more forgiving.” Andi gaped at her mother until the woman transferred her attention over Andi’s shoulder to where Ty waited a few feet away. “Who have we here?”
Andi’s head snapped around and when her eyes meet his he realized she’d completely forgotten his existence until that moment—another new experience for him.
“This is Ty Walker,” she said to her mother, her eyes never leaving his. “My boyfriend.”
Chapter Seven
She hadn’t meant to say it. In fact, she’d very distinctly meant not to say anything remotely implying that she and Ty had ever had or would ever have a non-professional relationship. She didn’t want her family getting those kinds of ideas where he was concerned.
But then she’d seen the card and her mother had gushed about Mark’s children and Andi’s brain had exploded. She’d lost all capacity for rational thought and blurted out the last thing in the world she should have said.
My boyfriend.
Once it was out there, it took on a life of its own.
Her mother gasped with delight and welcomed Ty effusively, hugging him, tugging him toward the great room by his arm, sneaking a glance at Andi over his shoulder and widening her eyes dramatically in a familiar what-a-catch gesture that made Andi’s stomach roil nauseously.
Then her mother was dragging him in front of the entire family, introducing him as Andi’s Ty, and Andi could only watch in horror as Ty played the part wit
hout blinking—he’d offered to play it, hadn’t he? He smiled. He shook hands. He accepted introduction after introduction—and then someone recognized him and the real frenzy began.
She couldn’t be sick. If she threw up, there would be no end to the pregnancy rumors and she could not handle that. This was nightmare enough as it was.
“Andi!” Her father appeared in front of her, his smile a little too broad. “I’m so glad you brought someone!” The enthusiasm was too heavy, tinged with pity and unspoken words. You’re finally moving on! You aren’t a lonely bitter divorcee anymore!
“Thanks, Dad,” Andi said awkwardly, more than happy to move on to hugging other family members as they all crowded around to greet her.
Jade and Kendall returned from their bathroom pilgrimage and introductions began anew. Family members she hadn’t seen in years hugged her until she felt like she was being passed around the room on an affection tour. It should have been welcoming, but there was a buzzing in her brain and she couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. Everything was spinning out of control.
“I can’t do this.”
At her whispered words, the cousin who had been gushing over Andi landing such a stud broke off and frowned. “Excuse me,” Andi said, moving the few steps that took her to Ty’s side and latching onto his arm like a lifeline. “Can I have a word with you?”
“Of course, sweetheart.” He smiled down at her, that smarmy, melting smile that made his fans go wild—and made her stomach churn.
After a quick visual check to make sure Jade was okay, surrounded by the younger cousins watching something on one of their phones, Andi dragged Ty through the kitchen and into the one room she knew would be off-limits during the party—her mother’s sewing room. Every surface was cluttered, but Andi didn’t need to be able to sit as she rounded on Ty. “Don’t call me sweetheart.”
“Maybe you should give me a list of the endearments I’m not supposed to call you since we’re dating now.” His eyes sparkled—as if the idea of them dating was a fabulous game.
She groaned. “I didn’t mean to say that. It just came out.”
“Do you want to go out there and take it back?”
Did she? She hadn’t wanted Ty to pretend to be her boyfriend, but now the idea of changing the story made her feel even more nauseated. Seeing that card of Mark and his perfect new family had rattled her. She liked her life in LA, but ever since the divorce whenever she came home she felt like she was constantly being reminded that she wasn’t good enough. Mark had divorced her when she proved to be defective and found a wife who could give him what he wanted—and the entire freaking town still celebrated him as their favorite son.
Including her parents, apparently.
Did she want to undo the lie? “Not really,” she admitted.
“Okay.”
His calm, accepting tone unlocked her verbal filter and she began to babble. “You have to understand, Mark and I… I knew I was going to have to see him—I mean, he’s coming to the wedding—but I didn’t think my parents—”
“Your ex is coming to your brother’s wedding?”
“Small town,” she explained. “Everyone knows everyone. Our parents are still best friends and his younger brother is the best man.” There was no escaping Mark in this town. “We grew up together. Dated all through high school.” The memories were thick in the air, but she rattled off what he needed to know quickly. Just get through it. “He was the golden boy and I felt like I’d won the lottery because I was the girl he picked. Prom king. Varsity everything. We got married right after graduation. Went to college together.” But then things had changed. Their perfect life that had always rolled along on its perfect course had hit a speed bump. Once they graduated, he got a job and she was supposed to start having kids. That was the plan. But life had stopped going according to plan.
“When we got divorced,” she went on, glossing over the reason—she couldn’t tell him why. Thankfully, he didn’t ask. “I moved to LA, but coming home always stirs things up, you know? Even when I think I’m fine, when I come here I feel like I’m right back to being who I was.”
“That must be rough.”
She blinked, more surprised than she should have been at the empathy in his voice.
“I can see why you moved to LA,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, this is a cute town and your family seems great, but it must be hard when you need a change and everyone who has known you your whole life keeps seeing what they’ve always seen when they look at you because they all have this fixed idea of who you are.”
Mark’s girl. She was always Mark’s girl here—even though he had a new girl now.
Andi blinked, shocked by his insight. She had a tendency to forget Ty had a brain behind that pretty face—and a surprisingly high EQ. But then, he’d know all about people putting him in a box.
“I should have known you’d get it. You know better than anyone about that.”
He frowned, confused. “About what?”
“Type-casting. People pigeon-holing you. Making assumptions about you.”
He laughed, reverting back to that easy, shallow place. “Yeah, but when they make assumptions about me, they’re right.”
Andi frowned, irritated. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend like you’re nothing more than a pretty face. You can be real with me.”
“What if I am just a pretty face?”
She studied his blue eyes. Clear as freaking pools. “I think you’re more than that.”
* * * * *
Ty felt something strange shift in his chest at her words. He felt… honored. Pleased that she saw more in him than his eight-pack, but also pressured by the weight of what she thought he could be. He wasn’t that guy.
So he flashed her an exaggeratedly smarmy smile. “I’m happy to show you exactly how much more I can be. Just name the place, beautiful.”
She rolled her eyes, releasing him from the weight of expectations in her eyes. “Stop it. Just stop playing the sex object for two seconds, okay?”
“It’s what I’m good at. You’re always telling me to play to my strengths.” He grinned. “Besides, I like playing the sex object. I always know what people want from me when they want Sexy Ty Walker. You’re tougher. I never know what you want from me.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I want you to be real.”
And what if he didn’t know how to do that?
“Andi?” A voice called through the door and Andi jumped.
“Crap.” Then louder, half turned toward the door, “Just a minute!” She whirled back to Ty. “Are we doing this? Pretending to be a couple?”
“I’m game if you are.” He certainly owed her.
“We have to get our stories straight,” she said in a rush, keeping her voice low. “How long have we been dating? How did we meet?”
“We need to keep it close to the truth,” he insisted. “When the show wanted me to have that publicity relationship with May Baker two years ago, the more we made up the more we got tripped up. You’re my assistant. We bickered all the time—resisting our sexual chemistry. Then one day I kissed you in the middle of an argument and we’ve been together ever since.”
“I would smack you if you tried to kiss me during an argument. And that scenario makes you look like you hit on your employees and kiss women to shut them up when they disagree with you.”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, how did we get together?”
“I saw the way you were with your costars in this latest film—the one with the kids—and realized you were more than just a man-whore—”
“Hey.”
“So I made a pass at you, figuring I wasn’t even risking my job because even if you turned me down you already think all women want you so how could you be offended by your assistant coming on to you?”
He arched a brow. “But I take it I didn’t turn you down.”
“Ex
actly. How long have we been dating? It can’t be long or I would have RSVP’d with a plus one for my brother’s wedding.”
He shrugged. “A few weeks? That way it isn’t weird if we still don’t know everything about one another. We’re trying it out.”
She nodded, her eyes distant as she considered all the angles. “Like an audition. To see if you can give up your man-whore ways.”
“Hey. Just because women like me—”
“Not this week. No seducing anyone as long as we’re pretending to be together.”
His jaw locked. “I’m not a cheater.” He was a lot of things, but he didn’t screw around with people’s affections. His mother had been the other woman to his father. He knew how destructive that shit could be to all parties involved.
“I know you would never cheat,” Andi said, with a conviction that surprised him. “But you’re a flirt and some people up here might think the Sexy Ty act is a little much for someone who’s taken. So dial it back, okay? Just be real.”
She said that as if it wasn’t harder than the so-called Sexy Ty act. But he owed her big. “Deal.”
Chapter Eight
“I thought you hated him.”
Andi flinched and turned to face her brother. She’d been expecting something like this and was a little surprised Alex was the first one to mention her legendary animosity toward her employer. She may not have been home in years, but that didn’t mean she’d cut all ties with the family. Alex especially had heard her bitch about Ty more times than she could count.
“I don’t hate him. You know how it is. Sometimes the people who make you the most nuts are the hardest to resist. Look at The Taming of the Shrew.”
Alex, though not closest to her in age, was the one of her brothers she was most like. Aaron was the athlete, Adam the adventurer, but Alex was the academic. He’d studied English literature—just like she had—and then come back to Clement to put his degree to use as a high school teacher.
“You hate The Taming of the Shrew,” he reminded her. “You always said it promotes the idea that all a woman needs is a good spanking to become the perfect wife.”