Our Totally, Ridiculous, Made-Up Christmas Relationship

“Let me drive,” I say, and he shakes his head.

“You stay here. Don’t worry about me.” He clears his throat and digs through his coat pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. “I’m fine.”

“No you’re not.”

Opening the pack, he curses, throwing the empty box. “Dammit!” He marches around, kicking invisible stones and yelling in frustration.

“Kayden…” He’s falling apart. He’s about to shatter, and he’s living alone in his mind, thinking about the worst possible outcome. Then he turns to me. Our eyes meet and his body stills.

“She’s my mom…” he whispers. The reverence in his voice touches my soul. “She’s my mom.”

I wrap my arms around him, and hold on tight, feeling if I let go that he would vanish. “Let me drive, please.”

We have been driving for three hours, and haven’t really said a word to one another. It’s all pretty sad. The fact that he had to be so far away when his mom landed in the hospital is my entire fault. I should never have tried to hire a made-up boyfriend.

“Thanks again for driving,” he says, tapping his fingers against the passenger window, breaking our silence.

“Of course.”

“I’m really sorry, too. About how things went down with your family.”

I shrug and wiggle against his leather car seat. “It was destined to happen anyway. But on a plus side, I think I hate Lisa.”

“And that’s a plus?” he chortles.

“Oh yeah. Before I fucking hated her. But now it’s just hate.”

“Well look at that. Progress!”

I smile at him, and he gives me that killer grin back. Holding my hand out toward him, I feel him take it and hold on tight. Every mile I drive, I can feel our fake relationship fading away. Stacey calls me twice during the drive, but I figure I’ll call her when I get home because I refuse to ruin my last few moments with Kayden. We don’t talk anymore until we arrive in front of the hospital. He looks toward the emergency room, and I can see his fear of the unknown.

“I’ll come in with you,” I say, pulling into the parking lot. He nods his head once, and we step out of the car. His fingers find mine again, and we walk inside. There’s a lot of commotion inside—people crying, people sitting and waiting to be seen. When Kayden spots his family, his hand drops mine and he rushes over to a girl and wraps his arms around her.

I have no clue who the person is, but he looks better, kissing the top of her head and allowing her to cry into him.

When they pull apart, I see the girl saying that his mom is all right. Next, another guy walks toward Kayden with puffy eyes; he hesitates before wrapping his arms around him. When they do embrace, they hold on tight.

I release the breath I’ve been holding, and I realize our short made-up world has come to an end. Whatever fairytale love story we have created over the past few days disappeared the moment I parked outside. He’s with his family now, and I need to allow that. I’m not part of this world, this story.

Moving toward the door, I exit the hospital and wipe the falling tears from my eyes. The winter chill mocks me as it pushes me around with its winds. My cell phone starts ringing and when I answer it, Stacey screams. “Where the hell have you been?! I’ve been trying to reach you for days!”

“Sorry, Stacey. Service up north sucks, Is everything okay?”

“Um, no…it’s not. You took an actor from the agency?”

“Yeah, so? I told you that. What’s the big deal?”

“What was his name, Jules?”

A knot ties up in my stomach, twisting my insides because the tone in Stacey’s voice isn’t promising. I turn toward the entrance of the hospital to see Kayden walking my way. “Kayden Reece.”

I hear Stacey’s heavy sigh through the cell phone as she plops herself down onto a piece of furniture. “Julie, Kayden Reece isn’t with the agency. I turned him down due to lack of experience… He must have stayed in the lobby and…”

Stacey keeps talking but my phone falls into my pocket.

“Sunshine,” I hear; and Kayden stands in front of me, concern showing in his eyes.

“Is your mom all right?” I ask.