Faking Christmas(26)

Virginia smiled tightly, sending one more curious glance toward Miles before saying, “Yes, I can’t wait to catch up. We’ll go in and say hi to your mom and Russ now.”

Lyle and Virginia moved toward the main room, leaving only Glenn standing in front of us.

He stared at us both for a long moment, then finally gave a slightly patronizing smile and stuck his hand out toward Miles. “Glenn Foster.”

Miles shook his hand, dropping his left arm to fit snugly around my waist. Even though I knew it was Miles and we shouldn’t have been touching like this, I couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit more at ease with him next to me. I wasn’t alone with Glenn, and I wouldn’t have to be.

“Miles Taylor. Nice to meet you.”

A glint hit Glenn’s eyes as he took Miles’s measure. “And what do you do?”

“I teach English with Olive.”

He stepped back, looking between us both before he started laughing. “Both of you? Oh geez. I’ll bet you have some crazy Friday nights, busting out Shakespeare or whatever those boring books were that Olive used to read all the time.”

Miles looked as though he found something amusing—not Glenn so much, but something. Looking down at me, he said, “Sometimes she writes me love notes.” I pinched his side, and he did the same to mine.

Glenn scoffed, shaking his head. “I can’t believe there are two of you.”

My foot twitched inside my boot. Something niggled. I could handle Glenn’s comments—the snide, underhanded rudeness covered by a charming smile. I knew to expect them, but it really rubbed me wrong that Glenn was doing the same to Miles. I mean, to me, Miles was the worst. But to everybody else, he was beloved. Just because he wasn’t my cup of tea didn't mean I wanted my ex-boyfriend to put him down. Although…it shouldn’t have mattered. I should have kept my mouth shut. It would only add fuel to Miles’s fire later on, but I couldn’t help it.

I folded my arms and tried to seem nonchalant with my praise, but my heart was pounding. “Miles is an author, actually. He was just picked up by a big publisher to finish out his series. He’s also quite the adventurer–rock climbing in the summer and skiing black diamonds in the winter. ” I should have stopped there, but all reason left me and I kept going. “And he still finds time to write me love notes.”

Glenn raised his eyebrows. “I thought you wrote him love notes.”

When I had the nerve to actually look at Miles, he had a grin on his face. “I help her find the right words, so they’re actually from both of us by the time we finish.” He pulled me closer and kissed me on the temple before I could blink.

I stiffened into a stone statue when warm lips from Miles Taylor touched my face.

Don’t think. Don’t react. Normal boyfriend behavior.

DON’T THINK.

Glenn stared at Miles, disbelievingly, for a long moment. “What do you write? Romance?”

Miles stared deeply into my eyes for a few too many long, agonizing moments. He seemed to enjoy working over his crowd and making everybody, including me, uncomfortable. The payback had already begun. “Maybe someday.”

Okay. We had to reel this in or else Glenn would know something was up. I gave Miles a warning look.

“He writes middle-grade adventure,” I said.

“Kid books?”

Miles cleared his throat, this time looking less amused. “What is it you do?”

Glenn smiled tightly. “I’m an acquisitions manager for a manufacturing company outside of Boston.”

“Sounds like a mouthful.”

Glenn smirked. “Pays the bills.”

By this point, both men were still smiling, but it felt more like rabid dogs bearing their teeth.

“Well, it’s been nice seeing you again, Glenn.” I smiled up at him, giving him a gracious hint that it was time to move on. My body was in a flurry of agitation. I needed Glenn gone, Miles to stop touching me, and this whole miserable night over before my pounding heart went into cardiac arrest.

“Yeah. I should go and sit by my parents for a bit. I hear we’re neighbors, though.” He gave me a pointed look. “Maybe I’ll swing by later tonight and throw some rocks at your window like old times. We have a lot to catch up on.”

He shot me a satisfied look before nodding toward Miles and moving past us into the main room. My body felt ten pounds lighter at his exit.

“He seems sweet,” Miles said.

I carefully stepped away from his arm. My gaze went to the floor, for some reason unable to meet his eye. This whole thing was nothing I had bargained or prepared for. Out of some psychotic burst of Tourette’s, I had said his name to my sister last night. He was never supposed to know. And yet, here he was. Almost as if I had ordered myself a boyfriend for the week. It was disconcerting, and I needed to end this now.

“Well, thanks for…that. I’m really sorry for this whole weird mess. I’ll figure out something to tell my family tonight.”

“What are you going to say?”

I shrugged, still finding the floor fascinating. “I’ll just tell everyone we broke up.”

He snorted. “No way.”

My eyes flitted up to his. “Why not?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re gonna let them think I broke up with my girlfriend a week before Christmas? No. I’m not gonna be that guy.”