Her Pretend Christmas Date: A Lesbian Christmas Romance

Chapter 1

Laney

“I’m going to die a shrivelled up old woman before either of my children give me grandchildren.”

“Mom! I’m barely thirty. And Jason is thirty-two. We have lots of time yet.”

“Shrivelled! If I’m not, you will be soon enough. Thirty isn’t the new twenty. All these new age women, that’s who’s ruining it for the rest of the world! They’re the ones that make having a baby at forty or even fifty popular so that everyone wants to do it. What about their poor parents? They have absolutely no consideration for them! They’ll be dead before their children have offspring. You’re going to wind up an ancient old spinster just to spite me. I know it.”

“Mom!” Laney Sterling pushed away the pumpkin pie she’d been working on. Suddenly, she had no appetite, even though her mom’s pie was her favorite.

“What?” Helena huffed. She set her arms on the table and eyed Laney with a piercing mom look. The kind that could shrivel a person in their seat.

“This isn’t the eighteen hundreds,” Laney sighed. “Don’t you know that the word ‘spinster’ is seriously last century?”

“Last century or not, it’s fitting,” Laney’s mom replied, punctuating her words with little stabs of her fork in the air.

“It’s not fitting. I turned thirty just two months ago. Give me a break! I have a career. I’m happy with it. I don’t want a girlfriend, and I certainly don’t want children anytime soon.”

“A career!” Helena screeched. “That’s what everyone says now. You know that being a stay at home mother is a full-time job. Worse than a full-time job! No one ever gives mothers any credit.”

“I know. That’s why I don’t want to be one.” Laney grabbed her half-finished plate and raced towards the kitchen. Unfortunately, her mom followed like a braying hound from hell nipping at her heels.

“What would be so wrong with dating? You could have a career and date. You’re actually in the unique position that maybe your partner would want to stay home with your children while you worked. She could even have the babies.”

“Jesus, Mom. Nothing like using someone else’s ovaries and womb for your own purposes.”

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Helena snatched the plate out of Laney’s hand, scraped the leftover pie into the garbage, and rinsed both plates under the tap. “I just mean that maybe it’s the part about having them that you’re so afraid of. I know you don’t want to stop taking people’s pictures and all that, but maybe someone else could make you happy and would want children, and you’d love her enough to have them with her.”

“Mom! Please. I don’t just take people’s pictures. I have a good career. I make good money. I love what I do, and I worked crazy hard to get where I am. I got good breaks when I needed them. I made a name for myself, and I don’t want to just quit on that.”

“Like I said. She has the babies. She stays at home.”

“Can we please not talk about this anymore? Why don’t you ever harp at Jason to pop out a kid? He’s the one getting married in a week. You never once said a thing about him getting married at Christmas and how much extra stress that is for everyone. Look. You’re already baking pumpkin pies!”

Helena ignored the barb about the timing of Jason’s wedding. “Because Jason isn’t my daughter and Natasha would think I’m a crazy mother-in-law if I told her that she needed to start having babies before I wither up.”

“You are already completely gray…”

“And whose fault would that be? Hmm?”

Laney ignored that and leaned her hip on the kitchen counter next to the dishwasher, just so her mom couldn’t open it without telling her to move. She wasn’t exactly on point with the gray hair and neither was her mom. It certainly wasn’t Laney’s fault. Or Jason’s. Their mom had been completely gray before she even finished college.

“Can I point out what a seriously gross double standard you have?”

“I’ll give you seriously gross!” Helena charged past Laney with the dishes in hand. “Move your butt.”

Laney bit down on her lip and laughed inwardly. Outwardly, she didn’t make a sound. She scooched over a couple inches away from the dishwasher. She watched while her mom stacked the plates onto the bottom rack in precise rows. Everything she did was always so neat and tidy.

When she’d asked Laney to come over to discuss something about Jason’s wedding, she should have known she was walking into a trap. Helena had also promised pumpkin pie, and it wasn’t anywhere near Thanksgiving anymore. In fact, it was the middle of December.

Helena s

lapped the dishwasher closed and straightened. “Promise me you’ll bring a date to your brother’s wedding.”

“Sorry. Nope. I already marked down that I’m flying solo.”

“Someone else will cancel! It won’t matter. The dinner is a buffet style and they don’t have a seating plan. Just promise me that you’ll try. I’m worried about you. You haven’t dated anyone in years!”

“Career. Busy. Trying to make it in a super competitive industry. Remember?”

“Yes, I remember. How could I forget? Your photos are all over the place. Magazines. Billboards. Bus stops. Everyone knows who Laney Sterling is, but that’s not giving me grandkids any faster, is it?”

“Mom, I know what you’re getting at. You’re worried that I’m going to spend all my life working and miss out on the best years and my chance to find someone and be happy. You’re worried that I’m going to stay single until it’s too late and then I’ll have tons of regrets. It’s not too late. There is no such thing as too late.”

“Your ovaries say otherwise.”

“My ovaries are just fine. Anyway, I could always get a younger partner in my dotage and force the bearing and raising of children on her then, right?”

Helena ground her teeth. “You always have to mistake what I’m saying. Twist it.”

“No, Mom, come on…” Laney begged, seeing now that her mom wasn’t just joking anymore. She was upset. She hated to see her mom look exhausted. She hated to see the defeat in her eyes. Laney pivoted and took one of her mom’s hands in her own. “I know you’re worried about me, but I’m going to be fine. I promise. I’m happy being single. I don’t have time for a partner, even if she did want to have kids. But it’s coming. I’ll find someone and I’ll get married and have a family. I won’t be so busy that I have all these regrets at the end of everything. I swear to you.”

“I don’t have to worry about your brother. He’s been with Natasha for years. They’re getting married. They’re planning on starting a family soon. I know that he’s happy.”

“Mom, I know you were a stay at home mom. I loved that. I loved that you were always here. I loved that we had a snack after school and a hot supper every night. I loved that you made us eat breakfast in the morning. You were always there to help us with anything we needed. You played with us. You taught us so much. You were the best mom in the history of moms. I can’t imagine growing up any other way, I really mean that. But I also am serious about what I’m going to say next too. I’m not belittling the choices you made. I’m very, very grateful that you made them. I’m just saying that it’s not for everyone.”

“How can you say being a mother isn’t for everyone? You’re a woman!”