“WHAT ARE WE thinking this year? A pine? Spruce? Our go-to fir?” I scanned the Christmas tree lot and picked up the one closest to me, a pretty greenish-blue spruce.
I glanced over my shoulder to where Serena stood, head tilted in thought as she looked over the tree.
“Well, that depends. Did you want something different?”
“Not necessarily.” I shook the branches, fluffing it out. “Just figured we should look at all our options.”
“Hah.” Serena’s lips twisted, amusement lighting her eyes. “You know you’re not going to buy that one.”
“Why would you say that? It’s nice, right? Good height.”
“Dad, please. Every year we go to a million different lots, we look at every tree they have, and you still walk away with a Douglas fir. Every. Time.”
I opened my mouth to deny that and then closed it when I realized she was right. I liked what I liked, even when I tried to be open-minded.
“Well, damn.” I laid the tree back down on top of the pile and threw my arm around her shoulders, tugging her into my side. “Since when did you get smarter than your old man?”
She laughed and wrapped her arm around my waist as we headed through the lot, past all the trees I wouldn’t be taking home. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Don’t make me ground you.”
“Hard to do when I don’t live with you anymore.” She grinned up at me, and I could only shake my head. It had been a few weeks since she’d decided to move in with her friends, leaving me all alone in a big brownstone that felt entirely too empty now. I knew it was the right move for her, but it didn’t mean I had to like it.
“Don’t remind me,” I grumbled, giving her a squeeze.
“Oh, come on, now you can actually bring your dates home instead of having to go to their place.”
My feet came to an abrupt halt and I blinked. “What?”
Serena rolled her eyes and tightened her hold on my waist, pulling me along with her as she began to move again. “Please don’t think I’ve turned into some sheltered halfwit. I’m well aware you have needs. The kind I don’t need to be around for.”
Thank fuck I wasn’t drinking anything, or I would’ve choked on it.
On second thought, I could use some alcohol right now if this was the conversation we were going to have.
When my mind continued to stutter instead of working out the ability to respond, she laughed.
“No way. Have I actually shocked you speechless?” A gloved hand went over her heart.
“Gonna take a lot more than that, Lovebug.”
“Oh, I can go there. What about that hot guy you went out with that wanted you to put your—”
I clapped my hand across her mouth before whatever crude thing my sweet, sweet child was about to say could roll off her tongue.
“It’s rude to listen to other people’s conversations,” I said.
“Well, your friends ask interesting questions,” came her muffled reply.
Great. That’s what I got for having a nosy child.
I dropped my hold on her when I thought I could trust her not to expand on that train of thought, but as we passed a display of tall pines, she couldn’t seem to help herself.
“They brought up a good point, though. So many men in this city and you haven’t found someone you want more than a third date with lately. That’s not because of me, right?”
I raised a brow. “Of course not. Why would you say that?”
“I mean, having a kid at home is kind of a cockblock.”
Where the hell was the spiced cider, for God’s sake?
“You’re not a… I mean, you’ve never been a…”
“Cockblock? You can say it.”
She wasn’t exactly quiet, and her word choice caught the attention of several people around us. I gave them a tight smile as we walked by, trying my best not to laugh.
“You never were, nor have you ever been, a cockblock,” I said, lowering my voice. “I’ve just been a little too busy for a relationship.”
“Oh, right. In a job where you’re the boss and then taking over the top spot at Elysium that you could’ve palmed off to someone else. Got it.”
I eyed her closely. “I didn’t realize you were so anxious for a stepfather.”
“I’m not. I mean, the extra presents I’d get with one couldn’t hurt.” She winked at me—but behind the teasing twinkle, I sensed something was a little off.
Preston’s words from the other night slammed into my brain. He’d said to ask Serena about their relationship. I hadn’t understood what he meant at the time, but maybe they’d broken up? God, I hoped it had nothing to do with me if that was the case.
No. There was no way.
“All right.” I moved off to the side and crossed my arms. “What’s going on with you? Is everything okay?”
“Uh uh. Don’t turn this around on me. I’m fine. Perfect, really.”
“No one’s perfect. Is it school? Classes going okay?”
“Yes.”
“You’re still liking your living situation?”
“Hell yeah. No curfew.”
That left the only other huge part of her life, which was Preston.
Shit, this was the last thing I wanted to talk to her about. But she was my daughter, and if she was hurting, I wanted her to feel like she could always talk to me.
“Is it you and Preston? You two aren’t having problems, are you?”
A strange look crossed her face, and then in a blink it was gone. “No, he’s great. We’re great.”
That didn’t sound convincing at all. “Serena, if something’s wrong or you’re upset about anything—even boy related—you can talk to me about it. You know that, right?”
Her burst of laughter caught me off guard, but I kept my eyes locked with hers, making sure I wasn’t missing anything.
“Why are you looking at me like I’m about to have a breakdown? Preston and I are fantastic, I promise. There’s nothing to worry about there.”
Relief made me relax my shoulders. I’d long since learned I could trust her to tell me the truth, and if she said everything was good, then it had to be.
So what had Preston been talking about? When I’d called him Serena’s boyfriend, he’d said, “Am I?” and to talk to her. Stupid me had thought he was talking about their not being together, but what if I’d gotten it wrong? What if he wasn’t her boyfriend, but her…fiancé?
Was that it? Things were ratcheting up between them in a different way, and I’d imagined the tension between us as something else?
Keeping my tone as casual as I could muster with my heart racing, I said, “Should I be expecting a talk with him about anything soon? Like maybe announcing something, even though no one asked for my blessing…?”
Serena’s eyes widened and her face went slightly pale as she swallowed. “Uh, no. I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
“I’m not worried. You’ve chosen a good guy, and he seems to make you happy.”
She nodded absently, stroking the needles of the pine beside us. “Yeah, he is. He does.”
“But?”
Snapping her attention back to me, she gave a small smile. “But nothing. We’re just too young to be thinking about marriage.”
“Your mom and I were your age when we had you,” I teased.
“And look how well that turned out.” She smirked. “Trust me, no engagement, and no babies either. Did you and Preston’s parents get together and come up with a plan of attack?”
“No. Why?”
Serena rolled her eyes and turned back to the tree. “You just sound a lot like them. The other night at dinner they were pressing us about weddings and babies too.”
“Hang on a second.” I took hold of her arm and turned her back to face me. “They want you to have a baby?”
“An Abernathy man can juggle,” she said in a low voice that I had to believe was a bad imitation of Preston’s father, the senator. “What Mr. Abernathy fails to realize is that I’m the one who’d be juggling school, babies, a household—”
“Wait, wait, wait. Stop right there with the crazy talk. You’re not pregnant, are you?”
“What?” Serena’s eyes grew to the size of saucers. “No. God no.” She let out a deep sigh and shook her head.
“Bug, could you please tell me what’s going on? You’re starting to worry me.”
I could see the way she pushed her shoulders back, like she was steeling herself, and I mentally prepared myself for the worst. Preston had been right. Something was happening that I didn’t know about, and I felt sick that I hadn’t noticed before now.
“Okay,” she said, and then sucked in another deep breath before letting it out slowly. “When I tell you this, I need you to promise not to freak out, okay? Because I’m fine. Preston’s fine. It’s a good thing. It’s just not what you or anyone would expect. And I’m telling you now because I hate keeping secrets from you, and I know you’ll understand. At least, I hope you will.”
I wanted to reassure her that whatever she said next, I would understand, but my throat had closed up in anticipation of the worst.
“Preston and I… We’re together. But we’re not really together. Not like we’ve let everyone think.”
It felt like the cold wind had smacked me across the face, because all I could do was blink at her.
“We made a pact years ago to help each other out, and it’s worked better than we planned—”
“Hold on,” I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “What do you mean, help each other out? With what?”
She arched a brow. “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten I’d started to make your life a living hell. You threatened to ship me off to an etiquette school if I didn’t get my shit together.”
“And clearly that worked,” I said drolly.
“Hey, at least I’m not out wreaking havoc on the city the way I was in my teens, and a lot of that has to do with Preston. Like you said, he’s a good guy, and he really helped me turn things around, especially my reputation. Because what could be better than dating a future senator?”
So he was helping her by being a good influence—but what was he getting out of the mix? Did I even want to know?
“So you’re not…” I didn’t know how to ask what was on the tip of my tongue, but luckily Serena knew where I was going with my train of thought.
Well, kind of.
“Gonna pop out a kid anytime soon? Not with Preston. Unless it’s immaculate conception. We’re best friends, which is why the arrangement works, nothing more.”
“And Preston is…okay with that?” I couldn’t imagine any guy his age being fine with a platonic relationship, especially with the crowd he ran with.
“He is,” she said carefully. “I’m not his…type.”
Just like that, everything I thought I knew was turned on its ass.
“Not his type?” I repeated. She couldn’t be implying what I thought, because that would mean I hadn’t imagined the electricity between us after all.
“No. Hard to believe, right? I’m pretty fabulous and all, just not enough to turn him straight.”
Holy…fuck. Even standing out here in the cold, I was burning up. How had I not seen any of this coming? I thought I knew my daughter—hell, I thought I knew Preston—but clearly not. They’d managed to have a huge secret, a fake relationship, right under my nose, and I’d been none the wiser. I supposed I could console myself with the fact that no one else had a clue either, but shit. Some father I was.
“Dad?” Her hand was on my arm, and her big brown eyes filled with concern. “Are you okay?”
Oh, how the tables had turned. I felt like I might pass out. My daughter was telling me she was a beard for Preston, their relationship a front, all because she wanted a clean slate and he was…gay?
“Yeah, I’m just trying to wrap my head around everything.” I pulled a little at the corner of my scarf as she hooked an arm through mine. “His parents think you’re—”
“I know. But that’s half the problem. His parents are…well, his parents. Can you imagine how Mr. Abernathy would react if he found out the truth?”
He’d have a coronary, that was what would happen. “The truth being that Preston—”
“Has his…needs met outside of our relationship, and so do I.”
Now I felt like I was about to have a coronary.
Here I’d thought we’d spend a nice afternoon together, picking out a Christmas tree, and instead I was learning way more about my daughter than I ever expected to know.
“That’s something I do not need to know about, thank you very much. But Serena, this is a lot. If the senator finds out—”
“He won’t, and Preston will tell him before then. But for now, it’s just easier this way.”
“Easier for who?”
“Both of us.”
“And what’s the long-term plan here? To cover for each other the rest of your lives?”
She scrunched her nose up. “No, of course not. Neither of us has met anyone we’d like to pursue more with, and until that happens, why rock the boat?”
So this was what Preston wanted me to know. That there were no romantic feelings between him and Serena, just friendship. What the hell was I supposed to do with that? He was twenty-one and deep in the closet, and I was his girlfriend’s father to the rest of the world. Even with this information, there was no way anything more could happen between us. It had already gone too far.
“Dad?” Serena said softly. “Do you want to go get a drink, maybe? Talk a little more about—”
“No. Thank you for telling me, but I think I’m done talking for now.” I wasn’t sure I could take any more confessions from her today. Not if they were along these lines. As it was, my brain was still trying to catch up.
“Okay. Did you just want to go home, then?”
My eyes caught on a small sign over the grouping of Douglas fir trees, and I shook my head before walking in that direction. “Not yet. We’ve got a tree to pick out.”
