Dear Santa: A Fake Relationship Holiday Novella by Kristen Granata

Author:Kristen Granata [Granata, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

I change into my pajamas, and fling myself onto my back in the middle of my bed.

I’m too tired from the events of the day to acknowledge the fact that my own mother stole the gorgeous scarf I had my sights set on. It’s what she does. She sees a flash of happiness in my eyes, and then she puts it out.

I’ll never understand her, and I’ve spent years trying to.

I stare up at the ceiling, waiting for Jake to return. I’ll feel better when he’s here. There’s something about him that puts me at ease. That comforts me.

I’m not pretending. His words bounce off the walls in my mind.

What did he mean?

Why would he say that?

Of course, we’re pretending. This whole thing we’re doing is a plan I hatched. It’s nothing more than a fake relationship.

Then why does it feel so real?

The bedroom door cracks open, and I can make out Jake’s large shadow entering the room. He lowers himself onto the edge of the bed, and trails his fingers along my cheekbone. “Hi.”

I smile, and scoot up against the headboard. “Hi.”

He flicks on the lamp on my bedside table. “You okay?”

I blow out a long exhale through my lips. “It’s been a long day.”

“Maybe this will make you feel better.” He sets a gift bag in my lap, with sparkly gold tissue paper poking out of the top.

My eyebrows dip down. “Isn’t this ...”

“Open it.”

I pull out the pretty silk scarf I almost won in the White Elephant exchange earlier. “I don’t understand.”

“I confronted your mom. I told her that what she did was wrong, and that she should reconsider giving you the scarf.”

My mouth falls open. “Why did you do that? W-what did she say?”

“Because you deserved it.” His gaze skates over my face. “She told me I had nerve talking to her that way. And I told her she had nerve taking her daughter’s happiness. But I know that it’s about what the scarf represents. Your individuality. Your light. The thing that makes you extraordinary. She shouldn’t try to extinguish what she doesn’t understand.”

My voice wobbles. “What did she say?”

“Nothing.” He shrugs. “She handed me the bag, and walked out of the room.”

Tears threaten to spill over my lids. I glance down at the bright-colored butterflies on the silk fabric. “No one’s ever stuck up for me like that before.”

“Maybe it’s time you started sticking up for yourself.”

I can’t put into words what this gesture means to me, and I’m scared to try, for fear of what my heart will reveal for this man I barely know.

But it feels like I do know him.

And what’s more, it feels like he knows me.

I’ve spent years as the black sheep of my family. Years dating someone who treated me as if I was something to be ashamed of. Yet here I sit, in the lap of a man who wants to see every color of my rainbow.

He pulls my legs onto his lap, and pulls off my fuzzy Santa socks.

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