The Great Charade, page 7
Nic’s mouth twitched in a smile, and Abby laughed. “A landscape artist, huh? I love it.”
“Okay. So, I’ll tell the truth then. But is that something they’ll question?”
“What do you mean?”
“Who do you normally date? Will this be drastically different for you?”
“Oh.” She hadn’t thought of that. Yes, it was drastically different, all right. Had she ever dated anyone who wasn’t a professional of some sort? God, how snooty did that sound? But she waved it away. “It doesn’t matter. Maybe drastically different is what I need. I’ll tell my mother Holly drove me to it.”
“Drove you to the dark side? This could be fun.”
Abby smiled. “Yeah, it might be. It’ll drive Holly crazy, that’s for sure. She’s got this haughty attitude. She’ll probably go out of her way to prove her superiority and—”
“And try to get into your bed?”
“Judging by her text, isn’t that what you inferred?”
Nic nodded. “Yeah. But I think I’ve got dibs on your bed. Not her.”
Abby’s smile faded a little. Yes, Nic had dibs, didn’t she? Because they had an agreement. She pushed that thought aside as she leaned back against the seat, trying to relax. She pictured Holly’s face then. She could already see the scorn there. Holly would be perfectly dressed, as was her style. Since she’d been dating Aaron, she wore more makeup than when Abby had first met her. More makeup, longer nails, and higher heels. And while Holly would no doubt think that Nic was attractive, she would make it be known that Nic’s social standing was several rungs below hers. That, she could count on.
Abby turned and stared out the window, absently watching cars and concrete speed past as Nic maneuvered them along I-40. Was she any better than Holly? Or was she just as shallow? So Nic worked in the dirt. So she didn’t have a glamorous office job, as she called it. Abby would never call her mundane eight-to-five job on the sixth floor of Las Colinas Towers glamorous. It was just a job. It was her chosen career, she was good at it, she was comfortable there…but it was just a job.
She turned to Nic then. “I need to apologize.”
“For what?”
“You had dirty knees.”
Nic arched an eyebrow. “Yeah. That goes along with dirty hands. I usually start out with gloves on, but that doesn’t last.”
Abby motioned up ahead. “Take Highway 287 to the north, toward Dalhart.”
“Got it.”
Abby nodded. “Sorry. I guess you can see that on the navigation screen. I know my way there blindfolded, but I always like to have the map up.”
“So what about my dirty knees?”
Abby sighed. “Sharon and I were talking about my dilemma of not being able to find a date and she pointed you out. And I’d seen you before. Anyway, you were having lunch like we were. And…”
“And I had dirty knees?”
“Yes. And I basically dismissed you for that reason alone. And now I feel terrible about it.”
Nic didn’t seem upset by her confession. No, she smiled at her instead. “I knew you’d been checking me out. I told you I’d seen you.”
“I was not checking you out!”
“No? Well, I guess I shouldn’t have been mingling there with you all anyway. Probably should have stayed in my truck until after the lunch crowd.”
She didn’t know Nic well enough at all to try to read her, but the tone of her voice—while sounding the same—had a wounded feel to it. It was as if Nic was saying she should have stayed in her truck where she belonged. She likened it to her schoolyard days where everyone would be playing and there, on the fringes, stood Kara Butka—the “butt” of all their jokes—alone and unwelcome, never invited to join in. It simply tugged at her heart, and she reached across the console and touched Nic’s arm.
“Please forgive me for being so…well, so shallow,” she said, thinking of her earlier word. “I’d like to say that’s not who I am, but…”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ll try not to embarrass you with my lowly standing.”
She released her arm, not knowing if Nic was teasing or not. “You won’t embarrass me. I think it’ll be fun. It’ll certainly confuse them all, that’s for sure.”
“I’m the opposite of Holly, in other words.”
“The complete opposite.” She smiled at her then. “And that’s a good thing, I think.”
The truth was, last year at Christmas, she wasn’t really over Holly. Oh, she said she was, and she pretended that she was, but once she was around her again, Holly had turned on the charm and Abby had found herself responding to her once again. She’d pushed aside the fact that Holly was sleeping with her brother. She’d purposefully shoved the memory of the breakup scene to the back of her mind. Because Holly was attractive and dynamic, and she was flirting with her. And when Holly made it clear that she wanted to sleep with her, Abby only half-heartedly fought it. Oh, hell, that’s a lie. She didn’t fight it at all.
She knew then that Holly was only using her, yet she wasn’t strong enough to deny her. She’d been disgusted by it all the next morning. Holly had slithered back into her brother’s bed, and Abby had felt dirty and emotionally abused. She remembered sitting at the edge of the bed, wondering what had ever drawn her to Holly in the first place. She had a conceited air about her—condescending, really. How had she ever been attracted to that?
She turned to glance at Nic. She’d thought her conceited, too, hadn’t she? In a totally different way than Holly. Nic seemed sure of herself, comfortable with who she was. She certainly didn’t put on airs. She was quite the opposite of Holly in that regard. Shocking, really, but Nic had turned out to be a nice, normal, and unassuming person.
Well, if she ignored this little charade they were playing, that is. That, and the compensation she was expected to dole out as payment for Nic’s participation in this game. That thought made her close her eyes with a sigh. Oh, she could get into some predicaments, couldn’t she?
Chapter Fifteen
“Do you have a pet?”
Nic shook her head. “No. You?”
“No. Do you like pets?”
“I’ve never had one,” she lied.
Abby glanced over at her. “No pets growing up?”
She shook her head but didn’t elaborate. Yeah, there had been a cat. A stray that had hung around long enough for her to tame. She’d snuck food out to it in the back corner of the yard. She hadn’t worried that her mother would find out. Her mother never set foot out there. It was a big orange tabby, and she named her Sally. Every day when she came home from school, she’d go out there and Sally would be waiting. She’d sit and the cat would crawl into her lap, purring constantly. Then Sally started getting fat. Really fat. There would be babies soon. Then one day Sally wasn’t waiting for her anymore, no.
“We had a dog,” Abby said, interrupting her thoughts. “He was a Boston Terrier and he used to sleep with me. Buster.”
Nic could hear the smile in Abby’s voice, and she tried to picture the dog sleeping at the foot of a young Abby’s bed. She didn’t know what a Boston Terrier looked like, though.
“He died when I was a senior in high school. It was traumatic for us all and my mother couldn’t bring herself to replace him. She still has pictures of him displayed.” She laughed lightly. “There’ll be one on the mantel. He’s got a red Christmas bandana on and an elf hat. I remember the Christmas she took that picture. It was the year I got my first ‘big kids’ bike.”
“What was that?”
“Before, I had the cutesy little pink girl’s bike with those frilly things hanging from the handlebars. This was a real road bike with lots of gears and I thought I was hot shit when I took it for a spin around the neighborhood.” Abby laughed again. “And then I fell and scraped my knee pretty bad.” Her smiled faltered a little. “Aaron saw me. He carried me back home.”
“So, you used to be closer?”
“He’s four years older than me. We were closer when we were kids, I think. As we got older, we seemed to drift apart. Not sure why, really. He was already in college when I got into high school, and he didn’t come home all that much. He worked in Houston while I was in college, so we rarely saw each other except for holidays.” She waved her hand. “And then the whole Holly thing.”
“Is she your age?”
“No, she’s three years older. And we were only together for about six months. I had known her several months before we went on our first real date.” Abby glanced at her. “She’s very attractive and charming. Or she was. After a couple of months, she announced that we were officially a couple, which was fine by me. I’d told myself I was falling in love with her, so it all seemed perfect to me.”
“Yet months later—”
“She’s sleeping with my brother. But they’ve been together for two years now, so I guess it’s the real thing. I should be happy for them.”
“How real can it be if she slept with you last Christmas?”
“You’re right. Truth is, I don’t feel happy for them. Mostly, I feel sorry for my brother. I know how she is, and I also know she was most likely the one who initiated things between them. And it speaks volumes as to mine and Aaron’s relationship that he would sleep with her.” Abby waved a hand in the air once again. “And I know how that sounds considering I slept with her last year.” She glanced over at her. “It’s a complicated mess and I’m almost sorry you’re being brought into it.”
“Oh, it’ll be fun to mess with her.”
Maybe fun wasn’t the right word, but she certainly wouldn’t feel any stress by being there. She wouldn’t ever see these people again. Whether she made a good impression on them or not was beside the point.
Abby glanced over at her. “You know, I think it will be kinda fun. Even though you and I don’t know each other, I’m really glad you’re with me. And if Holly wants to play games, we can play them too. You seem like the type not to take any shit from her.”
She laughed. “I can hold my own, I think.”
“I’m looking forward to having a normal Christmas again. Last year was anything but that. And it’ll be fun to show you around. If you want to, that is. I know you weren’t really all that keen on the cold and snow.”
“And skiing,” she added. “But yeah, I’d like for you to show me around. My first time in the snow, my first—and probably only—white Christmas. Something different for me. I’m trying to keep an open mind about the whole holiday and all.”
Chapter Sixteen
Abby smiled, watching Nic as she stared around them, the white landscape nearly blinding in the bright sunshine. They’d first seen patches of snow when they’d entered Cimarron Canyon. Most of the canyon was part of the state park and she’d pulled into a picnic area. Nic had been out before she’d even stopped her Explorer. She’d walked into a snowbank, bending over to scoop up a handful of snow with childlike laughter. Abby had been completely charmed by her antics, something she would have never thought possible with Nic Bennett.
Now, though, as they were crossing Cimarron Pass, the snow was more widespread and the higher peaks around them were covered. Nic seemed to be in awe of it all.
“Is this what it’ll be like in Red River?”
“Around the ski area for sure. The town itself is in a valley, but it’s still over eight thousand feet. Most years there’s snow on the ground from December through March. My parents’ place is west of town, in the foothills. My mother said they had over five inches the other day.”
“Do you think it’ll snow while we’re here?”
“I’m sure it will. I don’t remember a time when it didn’t snow at least once during the holidays. December and January are the snowiest months here. Late February and early March get a lot of snow too. I’ve come up here in March a couple of times for spring skiing. It’s not quite so cold then.”
Nic touched the window with the back of her hand and nodded. “Yeah, it feels really cold.”
Abby glanced at the touchscreen. “It’s twenty-eight. But with no wind and lots of sunshine, it’s not too bad.”
“You probably think it’s silly—a grown woman like I am getting excited about the snow.”
Abby laughed. “Not silly, no. I’m excited too and I’ve been here dozens of times in the winter. But I would think you’d be nervous.”
“Yeah, speaking of that, you’re not going to leave me alone with your mother, right?”
“Not for a second, no. She’s really very nice, though. Just nosy. And I think you’ll love my grandparents. As you’ll see when you meet them, my mother takes after hers.”
“What about your father?”
“My dad? Oh, he’s always got to be doing something, so you won’t find him sitting idly at the breakfast table drinking coffee or anything. When they quit the real estate business and moved up here, Mom thought they’d travel and see the western states. I think they were barely here six months when he applied for a job at the ski resort,” she said with a smile, remembering that argument between her parents.
“Winter job?”
“No, the resort is open all year. They have lots of summer activities too. Actually, they’re busier in the summer than winter. There’s competition for skiing in the area. There’s a resort in Angel Fire too and it’s only thirty miles from Red River. Taos has skiing too.”
“And I guess this area isn’t exactly on a main route either.”
“Right. If you’re on this road like we are, you’re either going to Red River, Angel Fire, or Taos.” She pointed up ahead. “We’re coming up on the intersection. Left will take you to Angel Fire. I’m, of course, partial to Red River because that’s where I grew up skiing, but I’ve done Angel Fire too. They’re similar but Angel Fire is better suited to beginners,” she said, glancing at Nic. “It also has some nice alpine skiing. If you find Red River too challenging, I won’t mind taking you over to Angel Fire. And if you don’t want to ski at all, that’s perfectly fine too.”
“Oh, we’ll see. If we need an escape, maybe you can take me out and show me around.”
She slowed when they got into Eagle Nest, which was a tiny village that catered strictly to tourists. At the intersection, she stopped.
“Eagle Nest. Not much to it. The lake over there,” she said, pointing to their left, “is great for seeing elk in early evenings. We can take a drive over one day if you’re interested.”
“Sure.”
She turned right, heading to Red River—and her mother. Even if Nic wasn’t nervous, she certainly was. Because the only thing worse than being here alone—having to endure Holly and Aaron together—would be for them all to find out that Nic was only her fake girlfriend. How humiliating would that be?
“What’s wrong?”
Abby glanced at Nic, then back at the road. “Nothing.”
“You have a death grip on the wheel.”
Abby smiled and made herself relax. “So, you’re not nervous. But I am.”
“I think we’ll be fine. And if your mother asks questions that we’re not prepared for, we’ll just make something up and go with it. It’ll be okay.”
“Well, you certainly sound confident.” She took a deep breath. “I just need to relax. I’m sure after the initial introductions, I’ll be fine.”
They rode on in silence, Nic still looking around at the surrounding forest, the snow now more widespread as they approached Red River. She slowed as they came to the old mining town. A resort town with less than five hundred full-time residents, it swelled with tourists during the summer months and during ski season. It was bustling with activity today as cars and Jeeps crowded Main Street, the road that housed most of the pubs and shops in town.
“During the summers, all of these restaurants and bars have outdoor patios open. The brewery over there has a second-floor patio too that’s quite fun.” Abby smiled at her. “That may be an escape for us one day. They also have killer burgers.”
“Sounds like fun. I don’t really go out to places like that much.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mostly hang out with Eric and Addison, my best friends. College buddies, like I said. I’m usually at their place twice a week for dinner.”
“Twice-a-week dinner date? Must be nice to have close friends like that.”
“Yeah, he and Addison are the best. She’s pregnant, so I’ll get to be Aunt Nicky pretty soon. What about you? Any close friends I should know about?”
“Beth and Jenna are my best buds, I guess. We don’t have standing dinner dates, but we get together two or three times a month. I have a group of single friends that I mostly go out with on Saturday nights. Used to, I should say. I haven’t made one of those outings in a month or more.”
“That’s right. You met Holly at one of those nightclubs.”
“Do you ever go?”
“Oh, sure, when I go out, that’s where I go. To be honest, I much prefer hanging out with Eric and Addison than that scene. Much less stressful.”
“Are you going to tell me why you don’t date? Other than you’re not interested in a relationship.” She heard Nic take a deep breath before answering.
“Love is not for me. I’ve been quite skeptical that it even exists, but Eric and Addison have proven me wrong. But it’s not me. I don’t have that burning desire to settle down with someone.”
“Bad experience?”
“You could say that.”
“I don’t think being ready to settle down or not has a bearing on with whom and when you fall in love. But I suppose you have to be receptive to it. If you’re not ready to settle down, you probably aren’t looking for love. Therefore, you won’t find it. Is that your goal?”
“And you’re receptive?”
