Married and Bright

Truth is, I'd rather be her fake fiancé than nothing at all, because being here with her makes me happier than I thought possible.

CHAPTER 6

ANGEL

I love walking into my grandma's house. She has her tree up, which I know was probably way more work than she should have expended, considering she was in the hospital only a few weeks ago.

But I know how much Christmas means to her. She married my grandpa at Christmas, which is why this holiday is so sentimental to her in every single way. Beyond the Christmas tree, the house smells like Christmas too.

"What are you cooking?" I ask her. "It smells incredible in here."

"Oh, I made my favorite pumpkin waffles. I know how much you love them."

"With a spiced whipped cream topping?"

"Of course! I hope Andrew likes them too," she says, wrapping her arms around me and giving me a big kiss on the cheek. "Oh, sweetheart. Look at you. It's been too long."

I laugh. "It's only been three weeks," I say.

"Well, three weeks is too many weeks," she says. "Oh, and I'm so happy to meet you, Andrew. Any friend of Angel's is a friend of mine. I'm Grandma Sue. And I want to hear all about you. But first, tell me, doesn't your family want you home at Christmas?"

Andrew smiles. "First of all, thank you for letting me bring Angel home safely. And second, yes, my family does want me home for Christmas, but they're going to get me tomorrow. My family lives only 30 miles away. So it works out pretty good."

"Oh, well, look at that. I guess timing is everything. And you work together, you and Angel?"

Andrew nods, filling her in on his job as a photographer.

I'm wondering how long it's going to be before she notices the big honking ring on my finger, which is just ridiculously beautiful. It's taking my breath away. It's perfect in every conceivable way. Andrew seems to know everything I might like, not just playlists and ring sizes, but my style too. And the way he's talking to Grandma right now, he's charming the pants off of her.

In the kitchen, she pours us both cups of coffee. "You kids were being crazy driving all night. I was worried sick about you."

"We were fine," Andrew says, explaining how we took shifts. "I think Angel just really wanted to get home so she could tell you the news. Our news." Andrew wraps his arms around my shoulders and kisses my cheek.

Grandma's eyes widen. "News?” she says. "What is it? Angel, what aren't you telling me?"

I smile at Grandma. "Well, Andrew proposed and I guess your Christmas wish is coming true. I know you wanted me to be married and bright, and I guess it's happening!"

I show her the ring on my finger and Grandma's eyes glisten with tears. She wraps me in a big hug and then wraps Andrew in another. "Oh, Angel, Andrew, look at you. What a Christmas gift indeed. Oh, well, you can't let your fiancé go home for Christmas without you. You're going to go with him tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Oh, Grandma. I wasn't going to leave you at Christmas. We hadn't even thought that far. We just wanted to get here today and–"

"Oh, nonsense," Grandma says. "You can't leave Andrew to go home at Christmas. Have you even met his family yet? What a whirlwind romance this must have been. When did you even start dating? It must have just happened so suddenly. Oh, tell me everything!"

We sit down at the breakfast table where there's waffles and whipped cream and sausage and juice waiting for us. We begin to dig in, telling Grandma the story. As we do, I begin to realize just how stupid this plan was. I wanted to give Grandma something to smile about, but now I'm realizing we're digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a stupid lie that there's no way in hell I can get out of without breaking my grandmother's heart.

I'm wondering what Andrew is thinking, because as we're talking, his eyes seem to have a darkness to them that I haven't seen before. He takes my hand, clutching it, really. And I realize his palms are sweaty and he's not having an easy time lying either.

We gloss over our engagement quickly, moving back to Grandma, her health, her recovery, the ladies in her bible study and prayer group, asking about her Christmas decorations and the recipe for the waffles. Not wanting to say more about us, but she's having none of it. She wants wedding plans and details. I'm feeling like a big fat fraud, and I hate it. I know Andrew does too. And I'm realizing how stupid it was to put him in this position.

Andrew's a good guy, a solid guy. He sticks up for people. He got creepy Steve fired for being a freaking lunatic on the set. He stuck up for me in front of Allister and made me feel better. And now look at what I'm doing. I put him in a position to lie in front of my old grandmother who's been sick in the hospital. I'm feeling flustered in all sorts of ways.