by Cara Colter
“You have to stop being a frog now, or I won’t be able to keep a straight face while we do the paperwork. I would imagine a straight face is required.”
They went up the steps, and he opened the front door of the town hall for her. He leaned in close to her ear.
“Ribbit,” he croaked.
“Stop it!”
“There’s only one way to turn a frog into a prince,” he reminded her.
“Never mind being a prince.” She did not want to think about kissing him. “You can be a knight to my princess.”
“As long as you don’t expect shining armor,” he told her.
“Tarnished will do.”
He grinned. He opened the door to the inner office for her. “Milady,” he murmured as she went through.
He seemed to Krissy’s great relief to be back to his normal self. They found themselves standing in a dusty and poorly lit town office. The laughter must have still been shining between them, because the clerk, her gray hair in tight curls, looked faintly disapproving as she slapped the paperwork down in front of them and checked their identification.
She was immune to Jonas’s rather substantial charm.
“You can’t use it for twenty-four hours,” the clerk told them sternly. “And you have to use it within sixty days or it’s void.”
See? Jonas mouthed to Krissy, Void.
“It’s forty dollars,” the clerk told them, as if that was a great deal of money, and they should have thought more carefully before spending it, “but that includes the issuance of the certificate of marriage. The officiant—the person who performs your ceremony—can send it to me—the address is here—and then the record of your marriage will be on file.”
“That may have been the best forty dollars I ever spent,” Jonas said, standing at the top of the town hall steps.
They both stared at the document for a moment before he folded it and put it in his pocket.
“What do you think? Something to eat and a hike?”
Marriage license, check. Time to think of food. Such a man thing! So delightful!
She thought, if she was sensible, she should just go home.
But somehow it seemed a little late to be applying good sense to this situation. Besides, Jonas was taking the whole thing lightly, treating it like a lark. He had regained his equilibrium; in fact, he was practically clicking his heels as they left the town hall.
Why be the stick-in-the-mud? Why let on that there was something terribly unsettling about playing with these sacred institutions? Something terribly unsettling about the fact they had shared such powerful intimacies, already, and no doubt would again, before this was over.
Over.
In a little more than a week—after next weekend—the game would be over. She’d probably never see him again. No sense paying any attention to the downward swish in her stomach at that thought. Wasn’t there at least a chance that it didn’t have to end?
Last night had been incredible. If Jonas didn’t like where it was going, wouldn’t he have hightailed it and run today?
No, he had made a choice to ignore the complications. It could even be argued he had complicated things further by buying those rings.
The marriage license, their names joined together on a single piece of paper, complicated things even more. Though they had thought they could escape the implications of such a solemn piece of paper, the very process of applying for it, the fact it was nestled in his pocket, created connection between them.
Obviously, they had incredible chemistry. Obviously, they shared a sense of humor. Obviously, they had fun together. Plus, they both loved the dog!
Was there going to be an awful price for accepting the invitation in his laughing eyes? To let go? To have fun? To embrace the joy life offered?
Krissy faced an awful truth. There was a terrible chance of falling in love with her fake fiancé. She was pretty sure she was halfway there already.
And as powerless to stop it as she had ever been over anything in her entire life.
She surrendered to it.
He did, too.
The rest of the day, they acted as if there were no complications between them at all.
They acted as if they were exactly what they were: fresh young lovers in the throes of discovery. They ate crunchy croissants at a dog-friendly patio outside a bakery not far from the town hall.
When they got back in the vehicle, an ecstatic Chance was somehow on her lap instead of in the back. His huge head was out the window, his tongue lolling happily as they drove through the beautiful countryside, the spring air flowing through her window—the utter happiness of these moments—felt like she was breathing in wine.
Jonas parked in the lot at the head of the trail that he had obviously hiked many times. They held hands as they hiked a winding trail that went up a mountain. He was not dressed for hiking, and his shoes were terrible for it.
The trail was steep and challenging in places. Jonas pulled her over slippery rocks and piggybacked her across a rushing creek, probably wrecking the shoes completely. The trail ended at a waterfall and a turquoise pool. The water was frigid, but they splashed each other, took off their shoes and chased barefoot through the mud. They threw sticks for Chance, who would bring them back and shake all over them.
Between Chance and the mist from the falls, they were soon soaked, their clothes clinging to them, a reminder of how things had gotten out of hand last night.
But it didn’t feel out of hand as their lips met. It felt as if life had conspired to give them each other. In the rainbow hues of its mist, they kissed until they were breathless with it.
Jonas picked the tiny yellow wildflowers that grew in abundance on the banks of the pool, and he decorated the dog’s collar and then he threaded them through her hair. And then she picked wildflowers and added them to the dog’s collar and threaded them through Jonas’s hair.
They laughed until she felt as if she couldn’t breathe.
They’d stopped for dinner at a little roadside hot dog stand, that Jonas claimed had the best hot dogs ever. He still had a flower in his hair, and she didn’t tell him.
The stand featured more varieties of hot dogs than Krissy had known existed. She ordered a chili dog, Jonas ordered the hot dog version of a Triple Chocolate Volcano Sunday. Chance had two plain dogs, no bun.
Halfway through she traded hot dogs with Jonas.
Funny how wonderful it felt, just one of those little intimacies that couples shared. They lingered over refills of sodas until the sun went down, laughing, chatting, teasing.
Krissy never wanted this day to end. And then it didn’t.
Because when they got back to her house, Jonas walked her to the door and leaned into her.
She thought he was going to kiss her. Again. She ached for the taste of his lips. Even though they had been kissing all day, she felt she could not get enough.
His lips had become her drug.
But it was even better than a good-night kiss.
His voice raw with need, he said, “Can I come in, Krissy?”
* * *
Jonas woke up the next morning to his feet asleep under the weight of the dog, and Krissy nestled into his arm.
He was aware of the sound of rain hammering the roof of her little cottage, and contentment unfolded in him like a cat getting up from in front of the fire to stretch.
He slipped out of bed before her, found her washing machine and tossed his clothes in. With a towel tucked around his waist, he made coffee and brought it to her.
She blinked at his towel. “Is that what you’re wearing today?”
“I certainly hope not,” he said, and let the towel slip.
After that, they drank coffee gone cold, and they shared a real newspaper in her bed. Jonas usually read his on his tablet, so reading the paper like t
his felt old-fashioned and delightful. But as they read snippets of articles to each other, he wondered what didn’t feel delightful with her.
They had cereal for breakfast and put his clothes in the dryer. She walloped him at Scrabble. They finally got dressed. They squeezed under one umbrella and took the dog for a walk. Being wet again had the same predictable effect on them.
They showered the chill away; they ate macaroni and cheese for lunch and then baked cookies and ate them in bed, warm chocolate from melted chips dripping down their lips and inviting the most delightful cleanup.
Jonas was a man whose life had taken him in many unexpected directions and given him many surprising adventures. The nature of his work led him to experiences most people would never have, perfect tens on the scale of excitement.
He had traveled the globe, to some of the most exotic places in the world.
He had helicopter skied in the Rocky Mountains and been on beaches in Saint-Tropez. He had zip-lined and been on a photo safari.
He had been a guest at castles and estates and ranches.
He had hobnobbed with royalty and some of the world’s most celebrated stars and athletes, been to their galas and games and award shows.
And all of that—every single bit of it—paled in comparison to a rainy afternoon, with the dog smelling damp and Krissy in her robe, sprawled across the bed reading him the funnies from the Sunday morning paper and sharing a chocolate chip cookie with him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“WHAT THE HECK is that?”
It was Monday morning, and Krissy was in the school staff room. It was the last week of school and there was a certain giddiness in the air.
And a giddiness inside of her, unlike anything she had ever felt. Jonas had left late yesterday afternoon.
And so far, she had received half a dozen texts from him and a video of him doing an impression of Kermit and making frog sounds. In the video, which Krissy had watched more times than she could count, she caught glimpses of the sumptuous apartment he lived in.
Fellow teacher Artie Calhoun grabbed her hand and hooted. “Engaged! Look guys, Krissy is engaged!”
Shocked, she realized she had not taken off her ring. Shocked, she realized the ring already felt like part of her. She had not even considered removing it this morning. But now she was swarmed by her fellow teachers, congratulating her, asking questions, excited for her.
“I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend!” Martha Montrose crowed. “Who is it? What’s his name?”
Krissy wasn’t sure of the wisdom of making any of this public. It would have been such a simple thing to take off that ring! In September she’d come back to school. She’d still own the ring, but would she still wear it? Explanations would be needed.
On the other hand, was it possible she and Jonas would still be going out as summer wound down?
After the weekend together it seemed impossible that they wouldn’t be! It felt as if her life could no longer be complete without him, and from the nature of his texts, he was feeling the very same way.
“Jonas,” she said. “Jonas Boyden.”
Martha’s phone came out of her purse, and she plucked at it furiously. She squealed. “Krissy, he’s gorgeous! Look at this,” she called to the other staff members. “Krissy’s guy is a multimillionaire. He owns a company called Last Resort. Good grief, he is part owner of Yummy Mommy.”
Thankfully, the bell rang, and Krissy was able to get away from the awed well-wishers all around her.
Excitement was high in the classroom, and she found herself relaxing into it, instead of trying to control it. She giggled with the kids. She played games with them. They sang songs together.
At the end of the day, Georgie came and regarded her thoughtfully. “You’re so happy,” he declared.
After he and the other children had gone, she contemplated that her happiness was so obvious that even a child could see it.
And what did that mean about the way she had been before? She hadn’t felt unhappy.
But she hadn’t felt like this, either.
Caring about someone just made everything better! The flowers looked brighter, and the air smelled fresher, and the world seemed funnier and friendlier. The week passed in a flurry of texts and phone calls between her and Jonas, but both their schedules precluded meeting. The last week of school was always crammed with activities and responsibilities. Normally, after that final Friday afternoon of tears and hugs and kisses from all her kindergarten students, Krissy would go home and feel bereft for days, summer looming large and empty.
But this year, all she felt was excited. Jonas was coming tonight, and tomorrow they were going to his reunion. She was meeting his family.
It was crazy to be so excited.
It was crazy for her heart to beat so hard every time the phone rang, every time a text pinged.
When she opened the door to him that night and looked into Jonas’s face, saw the hunger in his eyes and the tender smile on his lips, the truth hit her.
The truth was Krissy was crazy in love.
With her fake fiancé.
But when he reached for her, when he pulled her into him, when his lips claimed hers and lit that now-familiar fire within her, it was the most real thing Krissy had ever felt.
The weather was glorious the next day as they made an early start to the Catskills, but the feeling inside of her put the sun to shame.
She loved his family resort from her first glance of the log arch over the road. A sign swung from it: Boy’s Den. Underneath that hung a smaller sign that promised Dog-Gone Fun. Because Jonas had told her the story of the rebirth of the resort, when Krissy recognized the motto she already felt connected to it in some way.
“I told my sister to change the name from Boy’s Den, but she wouldn’t. My dad named it, and he thought it was such a clever play on the family name. None of us had the heart to tell him it was a terrible name, that it sounded like a Boy Scout camp or worse, a den of ill repute.”
“I love it,” Krissy said firmly, and what’s more, she already loved his sister for keeping it.
They drove down a curving driveway, shaded on both sides by enormous sugar maples, into a clearing where a small river crashed over rocks into a large body of water that was not quite a lake, but too big to be a pond. There was a sandy beach and a raft bobbed up and down out on the water. Though it was before lunch, the day promised to be hot, and there was already a group of teenagers on the raft, boys showing off for girls by pitching each other in the water.
“How many people come to your family reunion?” Krissy asked. There were people everywhere.
“It varies. More than a hundred. Less than two.”
“A hundred people in a family?”
He laughed. “That’s how many come. My dad was from a huge family—six brothers and two sisters. My mom was like you, an only child, and I bet she had that same look on her face when she was introduced to this mob.”
Jonas stopped the vehicle in front of a rustic log building that must have been the main lodge, and a woman Krissy knew instantly was his sister came off a large covered veranda to meet them as they got out of the car. Two little boys tumbled down the steps behind her, and Jonas swept one up in each arm.
“Simon. Gar!” His arms full of children, he leaned over and kissed his sister on the cheek.
The boys squealed their delight, insisted their names were Harry and Danny, but Jonas acted baffled and told them they were mistaken, and that he had a long-standing relationship with Simon and Gar and knew who they were. He bantered with them until the laughter of the boys filled the air.
Krissy could not take her eyes off the three of them, a light of love and joy shining from them. She was totally aware this was the kind of daddy Jonas would be. Strong, engaged, fun-filled. It filled her with the most exquisite tenderness she had ever fe
lt.
She was aware of his sister watching her. “He’s great with kids,” she offered. “Do you think you’ll be having any?”
“Hey!” Jonas said, giving his sister a warning look and putting down the boys. “You haven’t even been introduced yet.”
Danny and Harry switched their rambunctious affection to the dog, who was thrilled.
Jonas introduced them and Theresa greeted Krissy as if she had known her all her life. She was warm and unpretentious, and Krissy’s feeling of loving his sister was already deepened.
“Now how did Jonas keep you secret?” she asked, folding Krissy into a firm hug. “Oh, look at that ring! Mike and I thought he was toying with us when he called and told us he was engaged, but he’s not, is he?”
Thankfully, before Krissy answered, the boys started fighting over who the dog liked best, and Theresa calmly pulled them apart.
“And look at you!” Theresa said. She got down in front of Chance and took his face in her hands, kissed him right on his ugly snout. “I can tell he’s got a great soul.”
Krissy’s feeling of homecoming intensified.
“Do you want a tour of the place?” she asked when she got back up. “Jonas, take the boys and find Mike. He’s building a mud pit. We thought we’d add a tug-of-war to the water fight this year.”
“Do you think we could unpack first before you put me to work?” Jonas groused, but shrugged ruefully at Krissy, called his nephews, and they headed off. “Do not interrogate her,” he warned his sister.
Chance looked momentarily torn before giving Krissy a guilty look and taking off after Jonas and the boys.
Theresa laughed. “Dogs always love him. Of course I’m going to interrogate you,” she said. “I want to know everything about the woman my brother has fallen for.”
But as it turned out, the interrogation, thankfully, had to wait. The resort was a cluster of about a dozen adorable weathered gray log cabins. They were on a slight hill behind the lodge and were in a wide horseshoe that faced the lake. The cabins were also called dens, each named after a wild animal. Bear, Rabbit, Deer, Beaver, Skunk and so on.