by Noelle Adams
Then, much to her surprise, Cam stepped forward and took the mistletoe from his mother and then winked at Lily. “C’mon,” he said, moving across the room to take Lily by the hand. “You know the drill. The mistletoe goes right in this doorway.” The archway was ten feet tall and normally one of the men stood on a ladder to hang it. Lily let out a screech when Cam lifted her up and balanced her on his shoulder before handing her what she needed to hang it.
“Cam, let me down,” she giggled as the whole family formed a crowd behind them.
“Nuh-uh; not until you hang the mistletoe,” he said teasingly; loving the happiness he heard in her voice again.
“I can’t believe you are making me do this,” she said but reached up and put the decoration in its proper place. “There. All done.”
Cam maneuvered her so that on her way down, she was facing him as he slowly slid her body down the front of his. He was torturing himself and so he figured in for a penny, in for a pound. “You know what they’re waiting for,” he whispered with a wicked grin.
Without a word, Lily looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for the kiss she had been missing all day. This was no kiss between friends; this had the intimacy of lovers and soon there were hoots and hollers behind them and a whistle or two. She smiled against his lips as she reluctantly pulled away. She hugged him as they faced their audience. “I guess he’s getting over his aversion to PDA’s,” she said with a laugh and everyone joined in.
The remainder of the night was uneventful and when it was time to say goodnight with the promise to do it all again on Sunday, Cam walked Lily out to her car. “Do you think they’ll think it’s weird that we didn’t drive here together?” he asked, searching for something to say to take his mind off of the kiss they had shared.
Lily shook her head. “We’re dating, Cam; that doesn’t mean we’re joined at the hip. They know that we still have our own lives.”
“I guess.” They reached Lily’s car and he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. She turned to face him and then looked behind him and chuckled. “What? What’s so funny?”
“I don’t mean to put any pressure on you, but clearly we are still this evening’s entertainment.”
“What do you mean?” He made to turn around but Lily stopped him. “What? What’s going on?”
She giggled. “They’re trying very hard to be discreet but I can see them all peeping through the curtains to watch us say goodnight.”
“Why? What’s the big deal about us walking out to our cars?”
Men were so clueless, Lily thought to herself and sighed. “They aren’t used to you being so…affectionate. They’re hoping to catch you kissing me again.”
“Seriously?” The urge to look over his shoulder was so strong but he held back, not wanting anyone to think that he was doing this for show. Well, that was exactly why they were doing it but there was no reason to start giving them something to doubt already. Cam had seriously hoped to not have to be this…physical…again with Lily and especially not for an audience of their family but he had a feeling that this was only the beginning.
With his mind made up he decided that he might as well give the people what they want. Lily was digging in her purse for her car keys when he stepped in and cupped her face in his hands and bent his head and kissed as if his life depended on it.
And on some levels, it did.
***
Lily couldn’t sleep. She had been home for hours and yet her mind just wouldn’t shut down enough for her to relax. The events of the evening kept playing through her mind. The looks on everyone’s faces when they announced their relationship, the way that their moms were so excited and then the trip to the mountains for Christmas and New Year’s.
And the kissing.
Oh, the kissing.
She sighed and reached for her tablet and kicked up a game of Solitaire. The fake dating had seemed like such harmless fun in the beginning, but now? Now it was torturing her. Thinking back to that innocent first conversation when Lily thought how fun it would be to be able to touch Cam and flirt it had seemed like a good idea. Not so much now. No, now she wanted it to be real and the flirting and kissing for the crowd just made her feel empty because at the end of the night she was here alone.
Her cell phone rang and a glance at the clock showed that it was after one in the morning. She reached over and saw Cam’s face on the screen and smiled sadly. “H’lo,” she answered, trying to sound sleepy so that he didn’t know that thoughts of him were keeping her awake.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Did I wake you?”
“Not really.” It wasn’t a total lie.
“Are you winning?”
“What?”
“At Solitaire? Are you winning?”
She couldn’t help but laugh and look around her room. “How do you do that? Seriously, do you have a camera hidden in here somewhere?”
If only, he thought. “I just know you, Lil. So…are you?”
“No,” she said and relaxed back against the pillows more comfortably. She loved lying in bed listening to the sound of Cam’s voice. “Actually, I had just turned it on. What are you doing still awake?”
“I can’t sleep.”
His honest confession spurred her own. “Me too.” They were both silent for a long time. Lily turned off the game and simply lay in the dark waiting for him to speak. Finally, she broke the silence. “Cam?”
“Hmm?”
“Was it weird for you tonight?”
“What? With the family?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know. Was it weird for you?”
“A little,” she admitted shyly. “I guess I wasn’t expecting such a big reaction from everyone. They’re all so excited and already beginning to make plans and now I feel kind of bad lying to them.”
“I know what you mean. I wasn’t expecting all of that either.” He sighed wearily. “So what do we do?”
The easiest thing to do would be to just end it and force herself to go back to playing the part of his buddy and although it would be awkward with their families, she’d survive. Hell, most of the time that she spent with her family was awkward so why should this be any different. She was just about to suggest that to Cam when he spoke again.
“I think it will get easier as the weeks go on and soon the newness will wear off and they’ll get distracted by the actual holidays and we’ll be able to push them off a little. Honestly, they can’t carry this level of enthusiasm on forever. Once the parties get going there will be so many other people around who are bound to have bigger and more exciting news than you and me.”
Lily considered his words. “I guess you’re right. How much worse can it be?”
Seven
Famous last words.
Lily was sitting next to Cam in his car as they drove up to Blowing Rock for their first day of their vacation. The last month had been near exhausting and her nerves were on edge now every time she and Cam were near one another. After they had decided to continue with their farce of a relationship, things had indeed gotten worse.
It started with the decorating party at her parents’ house. Just like at the Cavanaugh’s, a little ceremony was made of the two of them hanging the mistletoe and kissing. They actually got a round of applause after that one.
Then there was the Christmas cookie baking party. How that ended up the way it did, Lily still didn’t know. It was normally just the women doing it but somehow, all of the men decided to join in and her mother had made a game out of all of the couples decorating batches of cookies and…surprise, surprise, her mother had found a way to incorporate mistletoe into that little venture and every time a cookie was done being decorated, she and Cam had to kiss.
Her lips had practically been numb by the end of the night and who knew that Cam had such a talent for cookie decorating?
The open house wasn’t any better because everyone that came in was greeted first with a cheery ‘Happy Holidays!’ and
then to a Reader’s Digest version of Cam and Lily’s newfound romance. And, you guessed it, they were positioned under the mistletoe.
She left that party with a migraine.
And so it went with the neighborhood get-together and then both of their father’s company Christmas parties. It was almost as if no one seemed to remember the reason for the season and was solely focused on the fact that Cameron Greene and Lily Cavanaugh were finally an item.
In the midst of all of the family party schedule, both Cam and Lily had social engagements of their own to contend with. Seemingly keeping with tradition, Cam had taken Lily to his company Christmas party – she had met some of his colleagues up in New York – and Lily had done the same with her small work party. Although at least those two events didn’t hold the same kind of pressure as the family ones.
Even though Lily knew she wouldn’t be home for Christmas, she had wanted a tree and so Cam had gone with her to pick one out and on a rare night off from celebrating – and she used that term loosely – they had shared a pizza and decorated her little tree. She had asked Cam if he was going to decorate this year and he had declined. The sensible part of him didn’t see the need to since he wasn’t going to be home and thanks to their loaded social calendar, he wasn’t home much to even enjoy it.
He had a point but Lily couldn’t imagine coming home during the month of December and not seeing a tree in her living room. It just wasn’t right and it wouldn’t seem like Christmas. It was silly since everywhere they went they were celebrating it but once she was tucked into her own place at night, Lily found a little peace sitting in front of her own tree and dreaming about a time in her future when she’d get to start having traditions of her own that weren’t dictated by somebody else’s schedule.
Now, as they drove to meet their families, she wasn’t sure what to expect. There was an awkward conversation with their parents one night when they approached the topic of the rental. “When we rented this place, well, we had no idea that the two of you were dating. So, there are six bedrooms and we are a party of twelve but…,” Jack Cavanaugh said and then looked to his wife to continue.
“We just figured, Cam, that you’d sleep on one of the sleeper sofas,” Angela finished.
“That’s fine,” Cam said, wondering what the big deal was.
Angela blushed a little. “What we’re saying is that we’re not going to be…prudes, about this. You and Lily can share her room. We don’t mind and we completely understand that you’ll want some…private time to be alone.”
Cam and Lily had looked at one another and did their best to not look horrified at the topic of conversation. Lily didn’t think that they pulled that off. “Um…do we really need to talk about…this?” she had said, feeling uncomfortable and queasy all at the same time.
“We’re just letting you know that we respect your relationship,” Mary Cavanaugh added. “We’re just so thrilled that the two of you are together and we know that ten days is a long time and we want the two of you to be comfortable enough to want to stay rather than find some excuse to leave and head home so that you can have some privacy.”
It was quite possibly the most awkward conversation of Lily’s life and that included the infamous birds and the bees talk she had gotten when she was twelve. “Well…um…thank you,” Lily said on both hers and Cam’s behalf. “We appreciate the fact that you’re all being so…cool…with all of this. We certainly don’t want anyone being uncomfortable.” Especially us. “We were going to be completely fine no matter what the sleeping arrangements were. Normally in these big houses you end up with some twin beds or bunk beds so really, you don’t need to make any special arrangements on our account.”
“Nonsense,” Jack added. “We were all young once too.” He winked at them before standing and getting himself and drink and Lily thought that she was never going to want to have sex again after this conversation.
Brought back to the present, Lily noticed their exit and listened as the GPS instructed them on where to go next. “I don’t know if I mentioned this but I don’t have to go into work until after New Year’s,” Cam said blandly, clearly not excited by that prospect at all.
“Oh,” she said just as dejectedly. “That’s good.”
Before she knew what was happening, Cam pulled over into the first parking lot that they came to and turned the car off. “Okay, spill. What’s going on?”
Lily looked at him with pure confusion. “Spill what?”
“Clearly you’re not happy and if I can tell, then they’re all going to be able to as well. So what’s going on? Let’s clear the air before we get to the house and have to get into happy-fun mode.”
“That!” she cried, pointing a finger at him. “That is the problem. I’m sick and tired of happy-fun mode! It’s exhausting! I can’t walk around like I’m freaking ecstatic over everything when I’m not!” She banged her head back against the seat and sighed with frustration. “This wasn’t supposed to be this much work!”
Cam mirrored her position. “I know, I know,” he said wearily. “Who knew that we would be the biggest news of the season? Why isn’t anyone getting married or divorced or having an affair?” That was the normal gossip around the holidays and it really stunk that there was none of it this year to take the spotlight off of them.
Lily turned her head and looked at him sadly. “Ten days. We have ten-solid-days to be picture of the happy and in love couple and you know what? I don’t know if I can do it.” Tears sprang to her eyes and this time she did her best to wipe them away.
Reaching over, Cam did his best to pull her into his embrace with a console between them. “I’m sorry; this is all my fault.”
Lily pulled back and looked at his with surprise. “Your fault? How is this your fault? If anything, our crazy parents are to blame! If they had just left us alone we wouldn’t have had to concoct this stupid act that has caused every person we know to throw mistletoe at us at every turn!” She growled with frustration. “Or, even if we did have to go this route with this farce if they had just reacted like normal people and not carried on like ‘Oh, thank goodness our two misfit children finally found people to love them’ and turned it into a spectator sport, it wouldn’t be so bad. But it’s exhausting. And that whole private time conversation? What was that?”
“Oh, I know. I had nightmares for a week after that. I feel like every time we leave a room while we’re there they’re all going to be smirking.”
“Exactly,” she said. “So what do we do?”
“Well, I don’t see that we have a choice.” Cam thought for a minute and then a wicked glint in his eyes told Lily that he had come up with the perfect solution. “What if we turned the tables on them and used all of their enthusiasm against them?”
“Cam, you’re starting to scare me. You used to be so mild-mannered and lately you’ve been walking a little too close to the dark side.”
“No, this will be perfect. Our original plan was to break up after New Year’s, right?” Lily nodded. “Well, our reason for the breakup is going to be because of all of the pressure that they put on us. We couldn’t handle it; we had no privacy. They pushed too much…blah, blah, blah. You see where I’m going with this?”
Lily gave him an equally wicked smile. “I do and you know what? I like it. I like it a lot.”
“We’re going to have to fight a bit in front of them. You know that I hate that because in all of our lives, we’ve never had a fight.”
“I know,” she said thoughtfully. “What’s wrong with us?”
Reaching out, he traced his fingers down the side of her soft cheek. Cam loved just touching her and soon there would be no reason to because they’d go back to being just friends. Well, if he was honest he’d acknowledge that they didn’t have an audience now and that there wasn’t a reason to touch her but he couldn’t seem to help himself. “There’s nothing wrong with us,” he said softly. “There was just never a reason to fight.”
Lily sighed and res
ted her cheek into his palm and simply enjoyed the feel of the skin on skin contact. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it, Cam,” she said honestly. “I’ll want to argue with them, not with you.”
Cam leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Don’t worry. We’ll work something out.”
***
The house was magnificent. There was no other way to describe it. As they drove onto the property Lily marveled at the scenery. “Dad said the property was big but it just seems to go on and on and on,” she said.
“I think it’s over one hundred acres,” Cam commented, equally in awe of their surroundings. “There’s supposed to be a private lake where we can go fishing but it’s simply catch and release because it’s stocked by the North Caroline Fish and Wildlife people.” Lily nodded and Cam remembered that fishing was not something that she was interested in.
When the house finally came in to view Lily gasped. “Oh my goodness! Look at that, Cam. I can’t believe that we’re staying here for Christmas!” It was designed to look like a log cabin but to Lily it was like a luxury log cabin on steroids. There were tons of windows and decking that wrapped around the exterior and no matter where you stood outside, you had a magnificent view. Even if she hadn’t gotten the week off from work, she would have called in sick because the house was too amazing to leave. And she hadn’t even seen the inside yet!
Both sets of parents were waiting on the front porch when they pulled up and with a quick look around, Lily guessed that they were the first of the siblings to arrive. “Oh, Cam,” she sighed in awe as they got out of the car. “I’m just blown away.”
When she turned and smiled at him, Cam knew exactly what she meant. While yes, the house and property were amazing, it was her and her smile and her enthusiasm that never ceased to blow him away.
“We can get the luggage later,” Lily said as she walked over and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go pick out our room!” She fairly dragged him up the front steps and they stopped to hug their parents. “This place is amazing,” she gushed to them. “It’s so much bigger than I even imagined.” Bouncing on her heels, her hand still firmly gripping Cam’s she asked, “Can we go in? Can we go in?”