The air was chilly, but the massive heaters that were erected around the dining table kept the real cold at bay. In front of all of us were nearly cleaned-off plates, the scraps of a five-star meal left behind. Around the table was a wall of twinkling lights, making it feel like we were in some kind of hybrid indoor-outdoor room, with a ceiling full of real blinking stars and walls made of lights that looked like snowfall. Nearby, the speakers were playing a jazzy Christmas album that added the shining star to the proverbial tree. It was an absolutely spectacular setting for a dinner, and it was all thanks to the magic that my mother worked. It was no wonder that Rose-Covington hotels were doing so much better now under her guidance than it had been for years before. She was always cutting-edge with her ideas, and she never failed to execute them all to the highest degree.

At the table sat the entire family, with me and Andrew claiming the two seats farthest away from Tyler and Veronica, who sat down the table from us. He looked so handsome in a deep red button-up and black jeans, all from designer stores he was begging me not to buy from. But what could I say? I really wanted to spoil my fake boyfriend. He tried Venmo-ing me the half of the total from our day out, but I made sure to send it right back to him. This was all my crazy idea, so the least I could do was buy him a new wardrobe.

We had been sitting and talking for the past couple of hours, all of us with full glasses of wine or champagne and our bellies equally full. Thankfully, the air was a little less tense than I was expecting it to be. I ignored Bill for the most part, who was doing a good job of ignoring me as well, and I avoided all eye contact with Veronica and Tyler. My aunt and uncle had arrived a few hours earlier along with my two cousins, and they were huge chatterboxes, so they kept conversations going without me having to put in much effort.

“Okay, so you two met how?” Judy, my overly curious fifteen-year-old cousin, asked Andrew. “Was it like on Instagram? Soo many of my friends found their boyfriends on there.”

“No, no,” Andrew chuckled. “We, uh, well, we…”

I realized he had forgotten the story we’d created on the drive here, or maybe he was just clamming up. “We were jogging around the same park,” I picked up the story, “and left at the same time, but his car wouldn’t start. I gave him a jump, and then he offered to thank me with some coffee. The rest is history.”

Andrew was smiling from ear to ear. He leaned toward me and whispered a quick “thank you” in my ear.

“That’s awesome!” Judy replied, happy with the answer.

Kieran, my other cousin, cut into the conversation. “You two make a good couple. I can see it.” He was older than his sister. At twenty years old, his bullshit meter was pretty well developed, and so a part of me was relieved that Andrew and I seemed to pass. The relief quickly morphed into an unrelenting sadness at the reminder that this wasn’t real, no matter how big a part of me wanted it to be.

Fuck. This isn’t supposed to be making me feel this shitty. I was supposed to come to this thing with a no-strings-attached rent-a-boyfriend for a week and that was it.

“I’ve gotta second your observation, Kieran,” my mom said. I saw her hovering on the border of our conversation and whatever Veronica and Tyler were talking about on the other side of the table. My grandparents and my aunt were sitting between us, so I had enough of a buffer to not really hear what they were saying. “You two make a great pair. I can see that right off the energy you guys are giving me. And you, Andrew, you seem like the sweetest guy Declan could have ever found. I can just tell in your eyes. You’re a really good guy. Probably have a great set of parents and an excellent credit score, I’m sure of it.” The last bit was my mom’s way of joking, and it got us laughing, but Andrew’s laughs seemed to cut shorter than the rest. I looked to my side and saw Andrew’s face turning a bright pink shade. He looked down at his lap, and to my mom I’m sure he seemed bashful, but I spotted something else there. It was very different from what I’d seen earlier at the mall, when Andrew and I were able to spend some time together without the interference of ex-girlfriends and terrible stepbrothers. He had been a ray of light, smiling and laughing and completely turning my mood around. I was feeling like total shit when I saw Veronica, but Andrew was able to pull me out of the hole I was digging, and he did it effortlessly.

But now, I saw something else in his eyes as he looked down. There was a sadness that I hadn’t seen before. Without thinking, I reached for his hand and held it. He seemed to have steeled up by the touch. He lifted his head, a smile on full display.

“I’ve got a student loan… or two.” That got my mom laughing harder.

“Well, you’ve come to the right family,” she said, raising her glass of pinot noir. “Cheers, to your future being debt-free.”

Andrew was shaking his head but still raised his glass. “I was joking!” he protested as the glasses clinked.

“What did I hear about STDs?” my grandma chimed in to our side of the table.

We all looked at her and cracked up some more. “Debt-free,” my mom clarified.

“Oh, thank the Lord,” Grandma Lucy said. “I was wondering what kind of turn this dinner was starting to take. Because honey,” she leaned across me and whispered toward Andrew, still loud enough for us to hear, “I have a few good cream recommendations if you need.”

“Jesus, Grandma!” I said, mortified. If I could float up into the night sky, I definitely would have.

“What? I’m just trying to help out.”

“Mom, they don’t need your help in that department, I’m sure.” My mom looked much less mortified and much more entertained. Bill sat next to her, his arms crossed against his chest. He always struck me as an odd match for my mom. She was a youthful spirit who was always on the go. She looked after herself, especially after working herself so hard, and she treated everyone the same—with a warm smile and a welcoming attitude. She could get tough when the time called for it, but I rarely ever saw her in aggro mode.

Bill, on the other hand, was more of a quiet and standoffish man who had the charisma of a rusty nail sporting a bad case of tetanus. He was a stockier guy, not bad-looking, and the gray hair worked well on him, but he didn’t make time for the gym like my mom did, and he treated himself to way more McDonald’s than I felt he was letting on. His dark black eyes matched the black shirt he was wearing, a small tear in the neckline.

Those black eyes set on me. “Just be careful who you let into this family.”

“Excuse me?” I said, wondering if now I was the one mishearing things. But I knew there had been no miscommunication.

“Bill,” my mom started, already sensing where this was headed.

“Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying. Not everyone out there with a charming smile is a good person.”

“You’re acting as if all I like about Andrew is his smile, but you have no idea what I see in him. I don’t think you could even understand what I see in him if I explain it to you in the most basic way I could. And that all happened from the second I met him, and it’s been growing stronger and stronger every single day.” I had tunnel vision, and Bill was at the end of it. “You should be the one who’s careful. My mom’s been telling me about her disappearing valuables, and I have a hard time believing that she’s been misplacing it.”

“Declan, you don’t have to go there,” my mom said. I could feel Andrew squeeze my hand in his. But I wasn’t backing down from this. He was insinuating Andrew was the bad one at this table, and that was the furthest thing from the truth. Maybe it was stupid of me to think that, to grab at the bait, but I felt it and that’s what mattered.

“Are you insinuating our father’s a crook?” Now Brooke was jumping into the fray. “Because that’s absolutely ridiculous.”

“Thank you, Brooke,” Bill said. He was pushing his chair back and standing.

“Bill.” My mom reached for his hand, but he snatched it back. Regret and second-guessing started to infiltrate my thoughts, but I had to remind myself that I had strong evidence pointing to the fact that Bill was in fact a crook. He left the table without another word and went out through the curtain of lights back toward the main house. My mom gave me a look and then shook her head. “I’m sorry. This isn’t how I envisioned tonight ending” She was mostly looking at Andrew as she spoke, “I’m going to go and try to diffuse things.”

Then it was her turn to disappear out through the lights.

“Great job,” Brooke said. She chugged what was left of her wine and wiped at her mouth.

“What just happened?” Tyler was asking. Grandma had gotten up and left without saying anything, so there was less of a buffer between us.

“Declan just called dad a thief,” Brooke said, summing it up pretty damn well.

“Are you kidding me?” He was leaning on the table so he could look at me directly, past my grandfather. “Are you acting out because I’m with your ex? She broke up with you a year ago, dude—get over it. You’ve moved on, right? Act like it.”

I was starting to see red, and it wasn’t from the candy canes that littered the table. Andrew must have sensed my rising blood pressure because he put a hand on my back and rubbed. I didn’t know how, or even if, he knew that my back was the spot to touch, but he did it either way and I instantly calmed down a notch.

“I’m sorry,” I said, not wanting this to escalate any further. I’d take up my issue privately with Bill; I shouldn’t have brought it up at the table. “I took it too far.”

“Yeah you did.” Brooke had slits for eyes. She got up, followed by her silent-as-the-night fiancé.

“We’re going to bed, too,” Tyler said, getting up with Veronica, his eyes working overtime to avoid mine. Veronica, on the other hand, looked directly at me. She gave me a disapproving look, made sharper by her pouty lips highlighted in a bright red lipstick.

Little did she know, I really couldn’t care less about what she thought. After the initial shock of seeing her wore off, I realized that there was absolutely zero emotional connection left between us. If anything, I was more upset at Tyler for it since he was supposed to be family, not to mention he’d waited until I saw her in person to spring it on me. That was what got me heated.

“Wow,” Judy said, looking around the table. “That was reality TV show levels of crazy.”

And just like that, some of the tension was released, like steam rising from a kettle.

Then, as if the kettle was screeching now, in walked Grandma Lucy, holding two bottles of red wine high in the air. “Ho, ho, ho, you sober, bitter, crazy bitches! Grandma Lucy’s got the answer to all your problems.”

The entire table cracked up in laughter. “Look at that,” my grandfather said as she came over with the bottles. “Mrs. Booze Claus is coming to save Christmas!”