Christmas came a few days later, and with it I got a little Christmas present of my own. My belly officially popped out and there was no hiding it anymore. It was big and round, and my shirts definitely didn't fit. I needed to go shopping.

But more importantly, I needed to go to my grandma's. Like, now.

"Can I go to Grandma Irene's house tomorrow?" I asked my mom as she pulled our traditional Christmas morning breakfast—a blueberry French toast casserole—out of the oven.

She set the hot dish on the stovetop to cool. "Why?"

I turned to the side so she could see for herself. Her eyes got big as she took in my stomach.

"I think it's time for me to go into hiding."

She nodded, her face still showing her shock as she removed her oven mitts and put them in a drawer. "I'll call Grandma Irene after breakfast."

As we ate, I tried to figure out exactly what I would tell Lexi. I had thought I'd have a couple more weeks to warn her about my leaving to help my grandma, telling Lexi that she was getting old and needed someone to take care of her until we could convince her to go to an old folks’ home.

But now that I looked how I did, I'd have to tell Lexi not in person but over the phone, after I was already in Buffalo, so she wouldn't see me looking like this.

Once Mom had finished eating, she went into her office down the hall to make the phone call, and I cleaned up breakfast as I waited. My grandma needed to say yes. If she didn't, it could ruin everything. My secret. My reputation. My mom's chances of getting re-elected.

This had to work.

I pushed start on the dishwasher, and my mom came in the kitchen with a frown on her face. The back of my neck felt sweaty.

"Well?" I asked, unable to take the suspense.

Her shoulders dropped. "Grandma Irene won't be able to take you until January fifth like originally planned."

"Why?" My voice came out louder than I'd expected as I felt panic creeping in.

Everyone would find out. I was going to be the town slut.

Easton was going to hate me all over again.

My mom touched my arm, sensing my anxiety. "It’ll be okay. We'll figure something out."

"But why can't I just go to Buffalo now?" I asked. Grandma Irene was super conservative. Was this her way of punishing me for being a naughty girl?

"Apparently, Grandma planned a cruise with her sisters. She's already in Florida staying at Great-aunt Christine's house. They board the cruise ship tomorrow."

"How long is the cruise?" I asked. Some cruises were for only like three days, right? Lexi wouldn't get home from her aunt's house until tomorrow. I could avoid Lexi for three days. That could work.

"She'll be flying back to New York on the fourth."

I walked into the living room, needing to sit for a moment.

Mom sat down beside me on the gray couch, resting her hand on my knee. "We'll figure this out, Juliette. I'm the mayor for goodness' sake, I should be able to come up with something."

I sighed, letting my head flop back against the back of the couch. "Should I just pretend like I already left?" I asked, peeking at my mom from the corner of my eye.

She seemed pensive. "How would you do that?"

I shrugged. "Well, I pretty much stayed home alone all last week, I could do that for another ten days."

Mom looked hopeful. "That could work."

I started formulating the whole plan in my head. I could tell Lexi that my grandma had an emergency, and that we had to go help her out. Then after a few days I could say that my grandma still wasn't doing great, and so I’d have to stay longer until she got better because my mom had to get back for work. It was an election year, and she couldn’t have the city thinking she wasn’t dedicated to her job.

I would start my online classes, and then figure out more excuses when the time came.

It wasn't honest at all and there was a huge chance that this would all blow up in my face, but desperate times called for desperate measures—and I was desperate right now.

"Your grandma is so lucky to have you," Lexi told me a few days later as we video-chatted. I’d been hiding out in my house for the past four days, not going outside unless it was in the backyard for a few minutes to watch my dog, Patches, play in the snow. I was going a little stir crazy, not used to spending so much time by myself. But I only had a week left before I could go to my grandma's and have freedom again, so I would soldier through.

"Yeah. I haven't spent this much time with her since before my dad died, but it's been kind of fun. I had no idea she was so funny," I lied.

I was just thankful that Lexi was buying my story. Over the past few days, Mom and I had been busy setting up a corner in the spare bedroom to look like it might belong in a grandma's house. My mom, desperate to keep our reputation intact as much as I was, had gone to Goodwill several times this week to buy a bunch of “old lady” decorations. There was now an overstuffed floral couch along the wall, with a super ugly lamp and end table next to it. She'd found a painting of a country cottage to hang on the wall behind me to complete the scheme.

To say we were all in on this scam of ours was an understatement. It was do or die around here.

"Will you be back in time for school next week?" Lexi asked, adjusting the frames of her glasses on her face.

I pushed a frown onto my lips. "I don't know. She's really confused right now. I'm kind of worried she's getting Alzheimer’s or something because she keeps asking me who I am."

It did run in the family. My great-grandma had it and so had her dad. It was likely that I would get it, too.

Instinctively, I placed my hand on my stomach. It was also likely this baby would get it and never know it was coming because he or she would be adopted.

What was I doing? How could I give a baby away without letting him or her know where they came from?

I shook my head. I couldn't think about things like that because it stressed me out, and stress wasn't good for the baby, either.

"Hey, I'll be right back. I need to go pee real quick," Lexi said before disappearing from the screen.

I scrolled through my photos from Paris while waiting. Lexi was famous for taking a long time in the bathroom.

I was just looking at a photo from one of the fashion shows I'd gone to when I heard Easton and Noah's voices through the speakers of my computer.

I clicked back to the video-chat screen, only to find the boys had walked into the kitchen at Lexi's house and were grabbing something to eat.

Not wanting them to see me on Lexi's computer screen, which she'd left unattended on her kitchen table, I scooted out of my webcam's view, leaving just the image of the old floral couch for them to see if they looked my way. Then I watched the screen from my hidden spot and went still.

Easton was wearing a teal blue t-shirt today—the one that really brought out the color of his eyes. He grabbed a container of leftovers from the fridge.

"I have to say, I'm surprised you and my sister have lasted this long," Easton said to Noah as he scooped some sort of casserole-looking thing onto a plate.

Noah sat at the bar with his back to the camera. "That's because she's your sister and you can't see how awesome she is."

Easton scrunched up his nose but didn't respond.

"Have you talked to Mercedes recently? How's that going?" Noah asked.

I craned my neck and turned the sound all the way up on my laptop, so I could hear Easton's response. What was the status of his relationship with her? I knew they were new, and he'd said once before that they weren't that serious, but he could have just been saying that so I wouldn’t feel bad.

Easton gave a non-committal shrug and scooped some casserole onto a second plate. "She's great."

"Great?" Noah repeated. "Why am I not convinced?"

Easton continued looking down at what he was doing. "I don't know. I guess..." He sighed.

When he didn't finish his sentence, Noah prodded him further. "You guess what?"

Easton shrugged. "I guess I keep comparing her to someone else."

My pulse pounded in my temples.

"Who?" Noah leaned over the counter.

I held my breath as I waited for Easton to answer.

Easton still didn't look up as he said, "Just someone else."

"Oh, so we're keeping secrets from each other now."

Thank you, Noah, for not just letting this slide.

Easton put one plate in the microwave. "It's just a girl I was kind of dating this summer."

I leaned closer to my computer, my heart racing even faster.

Noah was quiet for a moment, seemingly shocked about Easton's revelation. When he spoke again, his voice sounded confused. "You were dating someone? How come I never knew about this?"

"We kind of wanted to keep it a secret."

"You had a secret forbidden relationship?" Noah asked, awe apparent in his voice.

"You say it like that's the biggest surprise of your life."

Noah laughed. "You're just not the type to sneak around with a girl."

Easton smiled—a genuine smile—and I wondered if he was remembering all the good times we'd had together. "It was fun. I mean, you know all about that since you and Lexi snuck around behind my back."

"We told you we were dating."

"Yeah, except you said it was fake."

"And it was." Noah shrugged. "Well, you know, until it wasn't."

"Me and this girl..." Easton looked off into the distance. "It was real. More real than anything else in my life."

My stomach muscles tightened at his words because I knew exactly what he meant. It had been real. So real that I’d been willing to do anything to keep from losing him.

Easton switched out plates in the microwave and pushed the hot one to Noah. "I'm not sure Mercedes and I have the chance to get there, you know."

"Do you think you and this other girl have a chance at getting back together?"

Easton didn't answer immediately. The microwave beeped, and after he got his food, he sat at the end of the bar. He dug his fork in, studying it for a moment before finally saying, "No, I don't think we do."

And my heart, which had blossomed with hope over the past few minutes, sunk into my stomach.

Lexi appeared on the screen again, her chair screeching across the floor as she pulled it out to sit.

"Hey, sorry about that," she said. "My dad stopped me on my way back from the bathroom. What were we talking about again?"

When she didn't see me on the screen, she said, "Juliette? Are you still there?"

I sucked in a deep breath and scooted in front of my computer again. "Yeah, I'm here." My voice squeaked.

Easton's head shot up in the background and he looked at the screen with horror on his face. "Wait...Juliette was there on your computer this whole time?"

Lexi looked over her shoulder to her brother. "Yeah. We were chatting before I went to the bathroom."

Easton continued to appear shocked, so I did the only thing I could think of and waved at him through the screen. "Hi, Easton. Hi, Noah."

He cleared his throat. "Uh, hi."

Noah glanced at Easton, and then at me, as if putting two and two together. A second later he moved from his spot at the bar to the kitchen table, sliding a chair right next to Lexi.

He leaned closer to the computer. "I'm guessing you overheard our conversation."

I stared wide-eyed at him, not knowing what to do. Should I slap my computer shut and run? Or would that make things more obvious?

He continued, "Think you can help me figure out who Easton snuck around with this summer?"

Lexi's jaw dropped, and she turned to her brother. "You were sneaking around with someone?"

Easton's eyes went wide. "Maybe."

Noah got a knowing look on his face, and I had a feeling he was more perceptive than I'd ever given him credit for. "So you never answered my question, Juliette. Do you have any idea who the secret girl might be?"

My forehead beaded with sweat. "I, um, I don't know. Y-your guess is as good as mine."

Noah and Lexi's eyes both narrowed, but they said nothing.

I needed to disappear.

I moved one hand to the lid of my laptop. "Anyway, I better go. I think my grandma wants to eat dinner soon."

Lexi looked really confused about what was going on. With a frown, she said, "Okay, I guess I'll talk to you later?"

"Yes." Definitely later. "See you." Then I shut the computer screen before they could ask me anything else.

I just hoped they wouldn't corner Easton, since he wouldn’t be able to escape to his fake grandma's house like I had.