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Chapter Text

The cold hit her the moment she stepped outside of the airport terminal. Of all the places Gina’s mom could possibly end up assigned for the winter, did it have to be Salt Lake City? Mountain wildfires were a far cry from the usual hurricane responses she oversaw on the Gulf coast. But her promotion meant a new field office, and here they were, in Utah for Christmas.

It was an even farther cry from southern California, where Gina had made her home for the last six years, trying to make it as a model and actress. She’d been grinding so hard, she hadn’t seen her mom for the last three Christmases. But she’d made it a point to travel this year, so her mom could meet her boyfriend, Ricky.

Who became her ex-boyfriend three days ago, a fact that she’d yet to tell her mom.

As she tried to figure out where to pick up her rideshare, someone jostled her shoulder from behind, hard.

“Hey!” she cried at the dark-haired back of whoever had run into her. “Watch where you’re going!”

The man didn’t even bother to turn around, just gave a half-hearted wave of apology over his shoulder. Gina recognized him from the gate back in LA. She’d made note of him because among the crowd of happy holiday travelers, he was the only one who looked just as miserable as she did to be coming to Utah. But any pang of sympathy she might have had was replaced with annoyance. 

She pulled out her phone to confirm the details for the Uber Pool driver she was looking for to take her to her AIrBnB up in Park City. She was grateful that she hadn’t taken her mom up on the offer to stay at her place, claiming that she didn’t want to make her mom uncomfortable by having a man she didn’t know sharing her bathroom. In reality, Gina knew that she would need some space to escape from her mother’s relentless questions and criticisms.

And now, it bought her just a little more time to figure out how to explain the whole Ricky situation. 

Her phone vibrated that her driver, Seb, was there, so she carefully crossed to the median, trailing her suitcase behind her. When she approached the mini-van, the driver called “Are you Gina?”

“That’s me,” she confirmed. The driver looked every inch what she expected in Utah, bright blonde hair and a perfect smile, like he’d just stepped out of an episode of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives . 

As he grabbed the handle of her bag, he asked “Coming home, or just visiting?”

“Visiting,” she said. “I’m from LA.”

“Oh, fun! So’s my other passenger,” he said, nodding towards the backseat. 

As Gina climbed in, she was confronted with the very same guy who’d just run into her outside the terminal. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Excuse me?” he said sourly, not even glancing up from his phone. 

“The guy who just tried to knock me over out there,” she shot back. 

“Sorry,” he said dismissively, not sounding sorry at all. But whatever, it was just an Uber Pool ride. She could tolerate his presence for a few minutes. 

She got in, settling into the second captain’s chair next to him in the center row of seats. A wave of fatigue passed over her as she let her head fall back. In the wake of her and Ricky calling it quits, she hadn’t been sleeping well, and it seemed it was finally catching up with her. She couldn’t wait to change out of her plane clothes and climb into the hot tub at the condo she had rented, splurging on something that was really more than she could afford to try and make this trip bearable. It was going to be even more of a stretch now that she wasn’t splitting the bill with Ricky, but that was January Gina’s problem. December Gina just wanted to relax for at least one night before she had to deal with navigating the holiday with her mother.  

As Seb climbed in, he began chattering away at his two somber passengers as they waited in the gridlock of airport traffic at 5 on a Friday. “You picked a great time to visit Utah. Christmas here is always pretty magical, especially compared to somewhere like LA. And after all the snow we’ve gotten, the mountains will have great conditions.”

“Conditions?” Gina asked, perplexed.

“You know, powder,” Seb offered. “Like for skiing?”

“Oh, I don’t ski,” she said quickly. “Just here to see family.”

“You should give it a try while you’re here!” Seb said cheerily. “How about you, Mr… EJ?” he asked, checking the name on the ride request.

“Unfortunately, also here to visit family.” Well, that explained the sour look on his face. Gina felt an unwelcome tug of camaraderie with this sullen stranger. “I grew up here,” he added. “But this is the first time I’ve been back in… a while.”

“I bet it’ll be great to see your families for the holidays,” Seb bounced along, clearly not picking up on the displeasure that both of his passengers expressed at being here. “My family is enormous, I’m one of seven. Mormons, you know? So Christmas is just absolute chaos. It’s fun, though! Do you come from big families?”

“Just me,” Gina said with a tight smile, wondering if Seb was going to keep this up the entire ride up to Park City, or if he’d get the hint that neither one of them was in the mood to chat. No way was she getting into the complications of her and her brother with these strangers.

“Same,” EJ said, his tone equally clipped. 

“Right, well… oh, looks like we’re ready to start moving. Gina, I’ll drop you off first, if that’s ok.”

“Please,” Gina nearly pleaded, needing to get as far away from both the overly friendly driver and overly annoying passenger as fast as she could.

“OK, so we’re off to…” Seb said as he poked at his screen. “Huh, that’s strange. EJ, the address for your drop off isn’t coming through.”

“Yes it is,” EJ said, swiping on his own screen. “I can see it in the app.”

“I can, too, but it’s a mistake, because it’s showing the same one as Gina’s drop off, it won’t change to yours.”

“Look,” EJ said, leaning forward to show Seb his phone screen. “18 Silver Spur Trail.”

“Wait, did you say 18 SIlver Spur?” Gina asked, alarmed. 

“Yes, why?” he said sharply.

“Can’t be, that’s where I’M staying.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I booked that place on AirBnB back in September.”

“Yeah, so did I,” she said.

They both began frantically scrolling on their phones. Gina pulled up her confirmation email, and with a look of triumph, showed the screen to EJ.

But her vindication was short lived, because EJ’s phone screen showed an identical confirmation message.

“Maybe there’s more than one unit?” Seb tried to helpfully suggest.

“Nope, the listings are identical,” Gina said, her eyes searching EJ’s screen. “Looks like it’s just double booked.”

She threw herself back against the seat with a groan. Not even thirty minutes in, this trip was a complete disaster.

Merry freaking Christmas. 

Chapter Text

“This has to be a mistake,” EJ said, an edge of something almost frantic in his voice. “I’m going to call the host right now.”

He put his phone to his ear while Gina scrolled through the rest of the listings on AirBnB in case she needed to book something else. Her heart sank when she saw nothing available, everything booked up for the holiday. A quick glance at hotels.com told a similar story. If it turned out that EJ had booked first, she was going to have no choice but to stay with her mother. 

EJ hung up his phone with a frustrated sigh. “The host isn’t picking up.”

“So what do you want to do?” Seb asked as the highway whizzed by outside the window. 

“Not much we can do until the host gets back to us,” EJ said as he turned to Gina.  “So I guess we should just head to Park City and see what happens?”

Gina’s stomach turned at the thought of paying for another Uber to her mom’s, but at this point, she had little other choice, so she gave a queasy nod. 

The car fell silent as the city disappeared, giving way to the winding mountain roads. If she hadn’t been in a state of semi-panic, Gina figured she would have had a much greater appreciation for the soaring beauty of the Rockies against the night sky. 

Just as they were entering Park City, EJ’s phone erupted with a ring. He quickly picked it up. “Hello?”

Gina could hear the voice loud and clear, even through the handset. “HI, this is Carlos, the AIrBnB host. I have, like, a million missed calls from this number?”

“Yes, hello. This is EJ Caswell, and I’m booked to stay at your Silver Spur condo this week?”

“You’re going to love it, the skiing is amazing. That’s why I missed your calls, I was out on the slopes myself. Just heading for the apres now, best part of the day!”

“Well, I hate to interrupt your little ski holiday,” EJ said, a sarcastic sneer in his tone. “But we have a big problem. I’m currently sharing an Uber with a woman who also has a booking for that property.”

“That can’t be. It’s a whole house rental.”

EJ sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his other hand. “Yes, I am aware of what I booked. But we both have confirmation emails for this week.”

“There must be some kind of misunderstanding, does one of you have the wrong month or something?”

“Listen, man, we looked at each other’s emails. They’re identical.”

“How far away are you?”

“Excuse me, how much further to the house?” EJ asked Seb.

“GPS says ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes.”

“Ok,” Carlos said through the phone. “I’ll meet you there then.”

EJ hung up with another sigh, but Gina just remained silent. There was another ten minutes of uncomfortable quiet until they pulled up in front of the house, waiting for Carlos to arrive. 

“I’ll cash out this ride and wait with you,” Seb offered. “In case, you know, one of you has to…” he trailed off. 

Gina couldn’t let herself think about having to have Seb take her to her mom’s unannounced. And alone. 

The minutes ticked by, and finally, twenty minutes later, a gorgeous Range Rover pulled up in front of the house. All three of them clambored out of the mini-van to figure out the situation.

“Guess double booking AirBnBs is good business,” Gina said, half under her breath as she took in Carlos’s luxury car. EJ shot her a look, and she immediately felt the tips of her ears heat up. She hadn’t realized it was loud enough for him to hear. 

But after a moment, a smirk quirked up the corners of his lips. It was the closest thing to a pleasant expression she’d seen on his face since they were at the gate back at LAX.

And as the headlights of the Range Rover allowed Gina to finally get a good look at him, she noticed that EJ was good-looking. Like, ridiculously so. Dark hair and an LA tanned face framed a pair of striking light eyes, though she couldn’t quite make out the color in the dim light. Almost startled by how good looking he was, she held his gaze for a bit longer than she intended.

Their moment of intense eye contact was broken up when a short man in an overpriced parka and with impeccable tawny skin got out of the SUV. “Are you my AirBnB guests?”

“We’re supposed to be, but there’s twice as many of us as there are condos, so…” EJ said. 

“I just don’t know how this happened,” Carlos said, shaking his head as he pulled out his iPhone. “I have five different properties across Park City, and it’s never double booked before.”

“Five?” Gina practically gaped. She could barely afford her rent back in LA, let alone a handful of investment properties. And she and Carlos looked to be about the same age. 

“Well, when I say I own them, I mean, you know… my papa,” Carlos said with a shrug. “Family business.”

Whatever light had come to EJ’s face at Gina’s last joke was replaced with a scowl the minute Carlos mentioned ‘family business’. Between that and his comments to Seb earlier, dude clearly had some kind of family issues. 

“Anyway, it looks like you do both, in fact, have reservations for the week here. But wait, there’s supposed to be someone else, too. The reservation under Porter, that one says two adults?”

It was Gina’s turn for a scowl to overtake her features. “Plans changed,” she said tightly, offering nothing else. 

EJ cast an almost curious glance her way, before quickly diverting his attention back to Carlos. “Well, then, what do you propose we do about this?”

“Normally, I’d just put you up at another one of my places, but it’s all full for the holiday. And I’m sure that hotels and other rentals around town are similarly scarce. Does either one of you have someone else you can stay with?”

“No,” they both chimed instantly in unison. 

Carlos looked flummoxed as to what to do next. “I suppose you could… I mean, it’s not ideal, obviously, but… the place has three bedrooms, two baths. You could always just… both stay here?”

“You want me to share an AirBnB with a total stranger?!” Gina exclaimed. She may have noticed he was hot, but as far as she was concerned that gave her even less reason to trust him. She’d learned plenty about handsome men traveling alone from true crime podcasts. “What if he’s a serial killer?”

“How do I know you’re not?” EJ asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Well, statistically speaking…” Seb chimed in, and Carlos seemed to notice the Uber driver for the first time.

“Seb, is that…. Is that you?”

“Hi, Carlos,” the blonde said shyly. 

“I can’t believe I ran into you like this, it’s been…”

“A long time,” Seb agreed.

Gina had no idea what was happening, but she was reaching the end of her patience. “Um, hi? Can we please figure this out?”

Carlos just shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Gina blew out a frustrated huff. EJ wheeled around to face her, and it was clear he’d also had enough. “Listen, I don’t like this any more than you do, but it will be a Utah December day in hell before I sleep under the same roof as my father, so I’m staying here tonight. What you decide is entirely up to you.”

Gina’s jaw dropped, uncertain how to respond to EJ’s outburst.

“I can offer you both a discount,” Carlos offered. “Half off the listing?”

“So you can still collect the full fee? I don’t think so,” EJ said, turning around to look at Carlos. “You’ll refund both of our stays in their entirety.”

“You want me to comp Christmas week in a ski town?” Carlos asked, incredulous. 

“Unless you want to be reported to AirBnB corporate and risk them shutting you down for the rest of ski season, I suggest you take this deal,” EJ said, hard nosed and serious.

Carlos bit his lip, before he finally nodded. “Fine. But only if the other guest agrees,” he said, nodding towards Gina. 

She was torn. On one hand, she couldn’t possibly share a house with a stranger. On the other, it solved the ‘this is so completely out of my budget’ problem, not to mention she didn’t feel bad about seeing this Carlos guy lose out on some cash, given the situation. “Are their locks on the bedroom doors?” she asked.

“And the bathrooms, plus security cameras,” Carlos said with a nod. “If he’s a serial killer, he’s not getting away with it here.”

“I think that’s the definition of cold comfort,” GIna grumbled, but it seemed like unless she was willing to go stay with her mom, this was the option, at least for the night. “Fine,” she agreed. 

“If the refunds aren’t posted within 24 hours, you’ll be hearing from me,” EJ warned. 

“What are you, some kind of lawyer?” Carlos scoffed. 

“Licensed to practice in three states, as a matter of fact,” EJ confirmed. “Including this one. You may recognize my last name, Caswell?”

Carlos’s eyes went a little wider as he audibly swallowed. “Consider it taken care of, then.”

Gina had no idea what was going on, but was so over this. “So can we head inside, then?”

“Be my guest,” Carlos said, gesturing towards the front door. “Code lock combos are in your check-in emails.”

Gina walked over to the back of the mini-van to grab her bag, where Seb was waiting to pull it out for her. “Hey, here,” he said, handing her a business card. “My cell number is on there, you can text me directly if you need a ride anywhere, or need anything, really. I’m happy to help while you’re in town.”

“Thanks so much,” she said gratefully, somehow more confident that Seb wasn’t a serial killer than she had been EJ. He had five stars on Uber, after all. 

She walked away without another word to Carlos or EJ, up to the door and let herself in. The luxury cabin was all done in exposed wood beaming, very on brand for a ski house. But she could barely take in the place with how tired she was, even though it was only a little before seven. Her hot tub plans abandoned for the evening, she decided on a long shower and DoorDash would have to suffice.

Just as she was about to go exploring the rooms, EJ also walked through the front door. His scowl had smoothed out into what she guessed was just his face, drawn and serious. 

“I know this whole situation is incredibly uncomfortable, and I’m sorry about that,” he said. “But if you knew the kind of thing I’m walking into being back here, you’d understand why…” He cut off abruptly, as if he suddenly realized he’d said more than he intended. “Anyway, the owner’s suite is on this level, feel free to take that one so you have an en suite bath. I’ll take the basement bedroom.” And without another word, he headed over to the stairs.

Gina let out another long sigh. What was that guy’s deal? She shook her head and went off in search of her bedroom, ready to forget he even existed on the floor below.

Chapter Text

Gina was up bright and early the next morning, determined to turn the page and get ready for this little visit. She was in the mountains and it was beautiful, so she was going to take advantage of it before she got summoned to her mother’s.

She got up and got dressed in running clothes, taking care to layer up for the cold. After she fitted her earbuds up under the headband she’d ordered on Amazon before she left, she took off on a run through tree-lined neighborhoods around the condo. It was a clear, cold morning, and she felt energized by the tingling in her limbs, feeling as if she could drink the air around her.

She wished she could enjoy it. Instead, she spent the whole time trying to figure out what she was going to say to her mother about why she was showing up alone. But no matter how she framed it, Gina knew her mother was going to express nothing but disappointment and disapproval.

Just like she always did. 

When she got back to the condo, there was a car in the driveway. Perplexed, she pulled out her earbuds as she made her way up to the door. She guessed since EJ was staying there, he had every right to invite someone over, but she still felt some kind of way about another random person in the house that was supposed to be her escape. 

When she walked through the front door, she saw a woman with long red hair seated at the kitchen counter, arguing with EJ.

“Come on, you HAVE TO,” she half-pleaded.

“No way, Ash. I came here to see Dad because I was summoned, I’m not dealing with the extended Caswell clan, too.”

“Compared to Cash, they’re harmless.”

“Except then he’ll use every single thing they ask me about against me. Why am I still in LA? Am I seeing anyone? When am I coming home for good? No thanks, not interested.”

Gina felt a wave of pitiful camaraderie pass over her as she eavesdropped on the conversation. It sounded like being home was as rife with complications for EJ as it was for her. Realizing that she had been listening in, she tried to slip in as quietly as possible to go unnoticed, but the front door crashed shut behind her. Both of them immediately looked her way, and Gina cringed. “Sorry.”

Ashlyn whipped her head back around to stare at EJ. “And who might this be?”

“Ash, it’s not…” EJ began, but all of a sudden, Gina had a flash of brilliance. One that might make this trip just a little more bearable for both her and EJ.

“Decided to keep me a surprise?” Gina said lightly, turning on all her rom-com charm for a million self-tapes she’d made. “Hi, I’m Gina.”

“Gina, huh?” Ashlyn said with a smirk, turning back to EJ, whose face had lit up with alarm. “And when exactly were you planning on telling me about her?”

“I wasn’t… this isn’t…” he sputtered as Gina made her way across the room, grabbing EJ’s elbow. 

“I’m sorry to be rude, but I just need to borrow him for a minute,” she said, before steering EJ into the bedroom suite. 

“What the hell was that?” he said in a sharp, hushed tone as soon as the door closed behind them.

“Look, I know we just met and don’t know each other at all, but…”

“But what?”

“Listen, you heard what Carlos said last night. My mother is expecting me to bring home my boyfriend for Christmas, but we broke up a few days ago. And it sounds like life would be a lot easier for you with your family if they thought you were coupled up, too.”

“Ok, so?”

“So since we’re stuck together here for the next week anyway, maybe we can do each other a favor.”

“What does that even mean?”

“If you pretend to be my boyfriend when I go see my mom, I’ll pretend to be your girlfriend in front of your family. It’s win-win, gets both of them off our backs.”

EJ just stared at her blankly. “Are you insane? This is insane.”

“Or is it just crazy enough to work?”

“Last night you were concerned I was going to kill you, and now you want to be my girlfriend?”

“Your fake girlfriend,” she clarified.

EJ started to back towards the bedroom door slowly, his eyes wide. “You’re crazy. I can’t believe I just spent the night in the same house as a crazy person.”

“I swear I’m not. Just go with me here!”

“I don’t just go with things. Especially not things this completely and totally insane!”

“You keep saying it’s insane, but not that it’s a bad idea,” Gina pressed. 

“I didn’t realize I had to specify.”

“You made it clear your family is going to be nosy about your love life when you were talking to… whoever it is out there.”

“That’s my cousin, Ashlyn. Also known as the only member of my family that I have any kind of functional relationship with. But she’s on my shit list for telling her parents I’m coming to their Christmas party tomorrow.”

“Perfect, give us a chance to work on our couple routine before you have to meet my mom.”

“There IS no couple routine, I haven’t agreed to this! You think just because you’re beautiful you can get whatever you want from a random man?”

Gina’s cheeks tinged pink at him calling her beautiful, and she hoped he would think it was just the chill from the run. “No, I really think this will be beneficial for both of us. And it’s better than just tripping over each other here all week, right?” She closed her eyes. “Look, I don’t really want to beg, but I will. I just can’t take another round of my mom’s criticism, not right now. I need this. Please?”

She opened her eyes, half expecting him to look at her like she was pathetic. But instead, she saw something a lot closer to understanding than she expected. 

“I would offer to pay you, but I’m kinda broke,” Gina said, averting her eyes.

“You don’t need to pay me,” EJ said with a sigh. “Money’s sort of the one thing I don’t worry about.”

“Must be nice.”

“Comes with tradeoffs, that’s for sure,” he said under his breath. “Look, I’m not saying yes, but IF I agree to this… how would we even pull this off? Are you some kind of professional con artist?”

“I’m an actress,” she explained.

“So, close enough,” he scoffed. 

Gina gave a frustrated huff, but needed him to agree to go along with this, so she didn’t press. “Seriously, it’ll be easy. I can come up with a whole backstory for us, I do it with characters all the time. Then you’ll just have to, you know, stick to the script and pretend to be in love with me.”

“That doesn’t exactly sound easy…”

“Haven’t you been in love before? Just pretend I’m, you know… her. Or him?” she said, not wanting to assume that that wasn’t the reason EJ was so reluctant to be home right now. 

“I’m straight,” he clarified. “And yes, I’ve been in love before… I mean, I guess.”

“Then just act with me like you would have acted with them. Simple!”

“I still think this is completely insane.”

A slow smile spread across Gina’s face. “But that wasn’t a no.”

EJ sighed, dropping his head down. “I hate that you’re right about this, but it will definitely make my life easier to have my family believe that I’m with someone, if that’s the reason that I’m not…” He did it again, cut off abruptly to avoid saying too much. Gina found she wanted to hear what he had to say next, but knew better than to push him. 

“See, we both want the same thing. It’s just going to take a little teamwork.”

EJ said nothing, just continued to stare at his hands in hesitation.

“So… does that mean you’re in?”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I’m in.”

“Thank you!” Gina cried happily. Without thinking, she went to throw her arms around him, but he visibly recoiled. “Sorry, got a little too excited there.”

“What’s the plan, then?”

“Well, we haven’t had time to get our stories straight, so we’re going to have to improv.” She hesitated. “Except I’m actually pretty terrible at improv.”

“This sounds like a great plan,” EJ said with a roll of his eyes. 

“Ok, you said you were a lawyer, right? How would a lawyer meet an actress?”

“Do you do anything on social media?”

“I have a decent following on TikTok, yeah.”

“I work for an entertainment law firm, one of our biggest things is drafting brand contracts for influencers.”

“Ok, perfect! What other details do we need?”

“Where do you live in LA?”

“WeHo, you?”

“Brentwood.”

“Holy shit,” she said half under her breath. Money clearly wasn’t an issue for this guy.

“So we’re basically a commuter couple.”

“West Hollywood is not that far!” 

“The freeway entrance over there sucks.”

Gina was about to get frustrated again, but realized they sounded exactly like every other LA couple she’d ever heard bicker about traffic. This was so going to work. 

“Oh, we’ve been together for six months, by the way.”

“We have?”

“That’s what I told my mom about me and my ex.”

“Isn’t she going to realize I’m not the same guy you’ve been talking about for months?”

Gina gave a sarcastic laugh. “That would mean she actually paid attention to anything I said.”

EJ gave her another sympathetic nod. “Ok, well, we need to get back out there and get rid of Ash. So… we’re doing this?”

Gina impulsively grabbed his hand. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

They walked out of the bedroom into the great room hand in hand. 

“Sorry about that,” Gina said, plastering on a smile. “We needed to get our stories… I mean schedules, straight.” Shit, she was bad at improv.

“Listen to this one,” EJ said with a roll of his eyes. “Talking like we’ve got something to hide.” Gina dug her nails ever so slightly into the back of his hand, not wanting him to give Ashlyn any ideas.

“I mean, you’ve been hiding her for… how long have you been together now?”

“Six months!” Gina chimed in, almost too eager to include a detail that they’d agreed upon and she didn’t have to try to improvise.

“Wow, it really has been that long, hasn’t it?” EJ said smoothly, before turning towards Gina and giving her a definite ‘Will you please calm down’ look. “Hard to believe you’ve put up with me for six whole months.”

Gina gave a light laugh, settling into their vibe a little more. “You’ve got your good qualities.”

“Like what?” Ashlyn scoffed.

Her eyes widened slightly, and EJ tried to jump in to save her. “I mean, I’m obviously incredibly good looking.”

“And extremely humble,” Gina shot back teasingly, before tipping her head to the side thoughtfully. “But I really appreciate that he’s there for me, you know? He’ll go along with anything I need him to.” At least that she could say honestly.

EJ gave her a surprised smile while Ashlyn agreed “Ok, you’ve got me there. He is sort of wildly supportive.”

“I try,” he said lightly. “Anyway, Ash, Gina’s excited about the party tomorrow, so fine, we’re in. But I’m not going to get trotted out for every single Caswell family fun time this week. We need to see Gina’s mom, and I don’t know, maybe actually enjoy at least a little bit of our trip?” He slipped his hand from hers to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her closer. And damnit if her heart didn’t speed up of its own accord as she felt his warmth against her, the feel of firm muscle underneath his crew neck sweater pressing into her side.

“Mmhmm, I know what that means,” Ashlyn said with an arched eyebrow.

“We didn’t get the place with a hot tub by accident,” EJ gave her right back. There was a rush of heat to Gina’s cheeks. Who WAS this guy?

“Anyway, I need to go pick up more stuff for tomorrow. Promise you’re not going to cancel at the last minute like last time?”

“Last time was… different,” EJ said evasively. “We’ll be there.”

“Gina it was nice to meet you, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

Too afraid that her speech would come out more like a squeak, Gina just have Ashlyn a wave as she banged back out the front door. The minute she was out of sight, EJ let Gina go, and she immediately felt cold in the absence of his body on hers. She shook her head slightly, trying to get back in control. She’d just broken up with Ricky three days ago, was she really that codependent and touch starved that a handsome man just had to touch her, even if it was obviously with fake affection, and she lost her goddamn mind? She decided to focus on the performance that had just unfolded instead. 

“How the hell did you do that?” Gina exclaimed.

“Do what?”

“Lie that smoothly.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” he mumbled.

“But I’m the one who’s supposed to be the actor.”

“Guess my theater kid skills have held up.”

Gina stopped in her tracks. “Wait, you were a theater kid?”

“Is that really so hard to believe?”

“I mean, it’s just… most of the guys in my high school drama club weren’t, well… you know…”

He gave her an amused smirk. “Weren’t what, exactly?”

“Straight and hot,” she blurted out.

“Did… did you just call me hot?”

“Oh come on, you called yourself ‘incredibly good looking’ like five minutes ago. Not like it’s a secret.”

“Still, it’s… different, coming from you.” 

She desperately wanted him to elaborate, but decided against it for fear of upsetting their brand new arrangement. “Anyway, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, should we actually plot some stuff out before the party tomorrow?”

“Oh, um… I mean, we should, yeah, but I actually… I’ve got a lot of work to do, didn’t get to it all yesterday with traveling. So maybe… maybe tomorrow morning?”

Gina couldn’t help it, she deflated a bit, but was determined not to let it show. “Yeah, sure, that absolutely works. We could go get breakfast?”

“Sure,” he agreed quickly. “Anywhere in particular you want to go?”

“I’ve actually never been to Utah before, so I’m relying on you for this one.”

“But you said you’re visiting your mom?”

“And she never stays in one place for long. She’s a FEMA site administrator, so she’s constantly following a chain of natural disasters.”

“Oh, the wildfires,” he said, nodding. “Ok, well, then, yeah, I’ll figure out where to go. For now, though, I should…” He awkwardly gestured towards the stairs. 

“Go ahead.” As he disappeared down into the lower level, Gina collapsed into a chair at the counter and sighed. She had to be careful not to get too over eager with him. EJ seemed like a scared wild animal, every time she got too close, he spooked and retreated. And that wouldn’t help their scheme. So she couldn’t let on just how lonely she was actually feeling,or how pathetic she felt that she was grasping at any bit of her reluctant roommate’s companionship to fill the void. 

Gina tapped her fingers against the counter, wondering how to fill her day. Her mother had tentatively said she might be free that afternoon, which Gina knew meant an inevitable cancellation when something ‘urgent’ came up at work. The trouble with her mom’s job was that Gina never felt that she could question the importance of something, because sometimes, it WAS a matter of life and death. Other times, it was a matter of bureaucratic paperwork. But Gina couldn’t shake the guilt about asking, just to find out she was being selfish in a real emergency. 

She pulled her cell phone out of the pocket on her running leggings, and saw the business card that Seb had handed her last night stuck in the card holder on the back of the phone. Before she could think the better of it, she shot a text to his number.

Hey Seb, its Gina from your Uber last night

Any chance you want to grab a drink tonight?

The typing indicator popped up and went off several times before a message finally landed.

I’m flattered but I’m gay

Gina couldn’t help it, she laughed out loud. That much had been obvious in the brief interaction between him and Carlos the night before.

Strictly platonic, I swear

Just need someone to hang out with now that I’m solo on this trip

Ur accidental roommate doesn’t really seem like the hang out type

It’s even more complicated than that

Spill the tea over some espresso martinis?

Yes please

U must know a good spot

Tell me when and where and I’ll meet you

Buoyed by having plans that evening, Gina got herself showered and ready to go about her day. She read through some casting notices, making note of some due dates for self-tapes, and sent yet another email to her agent asking if she should get new headshots. Something about her package and reel wasn’t connecting with casting, and she needed to figure out what, soon. 

After just a protein bar for lunch and the text from her mom cancelling arrived, she decided to order in something for dinner. Scrolling DoorDash, she picked a local place. What she wanted to order was the pepperoni pizza that got rave reviews. But she dutifully ordered a salad, ever conscious of her figure and what it meant for her career. 

The doorbell sounded with what must have been Gina’s food delivery. She’d left instructions for them to drop and go, so she was confused when she opened the door to find a bored looking Dasher holding a bag and a pizza box. 

“Oh, I don’t think that’s my order, I didn’t get a pizza.”

“I have two orders for this address from Fuego. One for Porter, one for Caswell. Is that even right?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess… I mean, we must have both ordered from there.”

“Maybe coordinate better next time?” he said, holding out the items for her to take. 

“Thanks,” she mumbled, closing the door as quickly as she could. She carried the items to the kitchen and yelled down the stairs. “EJ! Your delivery is here.”

She settled down onto one of the seats at the island, unenthusiastically popping open her salad container. EJ appeared at the top of the stairs, grabbed his pizza and turned to go back down to the lower level. But he seemed to hesitate, and after a moment, turned back towards her. “I don’t suppose you’d want to, you know, eat together?”

“Sure!” Gina said, too quickly and too cheerily. “I mean, if you want.”

He wordlessly walked past the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water that their host provided before sitting down next to her. He flipped open the lid of his pizza box, and inside was the same pepperoni with hot honey pizza Gina had been lusting over on the menu. It looked even better in real life. 

EJ caught her staring at his meal. “I know,” he said, almost sheepishly. “Not a great choice. But hey, it’s the holidays.” He paused for a moment. “I’m entitled to eat my feelings, right?”

She wasn’t sure if that was an opening, but determined not to spook him, she didn’t take it. “It looked amazing. Ordered from the same place, but I got this stupid salad.” She stabbed at the container more aggressively than she intended, taking it out on a poor hunk of arugula that hadn’t done anything other than not being pizza.

“Oh, well, I mean… do you want a piece?”

“I couldn’t take your food.”

“No, really, it’s doing me a favor. I shouldn’t eat this whole thing, and left on my own, probably would.”

Gina eyed his biceps peeking out of the edges of his worn t-shirt. He looked like he could handle a little damage, he was definitely cut. But she wasn’t about to let on that she’d noticed. “I mean, if you’re sure.”

“Do you want to… I mean, I could stand to eat some veggies. Should we just split both?”

Gina was a little surprised at his friendly overtures, but wasn’t about to turn them down. “Ok, sure.” She got up and grabbed some plates from the cabinets along with an extra set of cutlery, and they got to work splitting up the salad and grabbing slices of pizza. 

Gina bit into her slice of pizza. “Oh my God, this is the best thing I’ve put in my mouth.”

EJ let out a chuckle. “Don’t let your ex hear you say that.”

Gina realized what she said, and the entendre he’d made it, and flushed. “I didn’t mean…”

“I’m just kidding around. I’m allowed to do that with my fake girlfriend, right?”

“You haven’t really seemed the kidding around type,” she admitted, taking another bite of pizza.

“Sorry about that, being back in Salt Lake doesn’t really put me in the best mood,” he admitted. 

“I get that. But hopefully this little… arrangement will make it a little easier?”

“We’ll see,” was all he’d offer, before they lapsed into silence again.

Gina’s phone lit up with a text from Seb.

Gotta check out the No Name while ur in town

See you in 30!

“Oh, I guess I should get going,” she said. 

“Going? Did your mom…”

“Oh, uh, no, I’m going to get a drink with Seb. The Uber driver from last night? He offered to hang out while I was in town, decided to take him up on it."

EJ looked a little startled. “Oh, I didn’t realize…well, have a good time then, I guess?”

He seemed disappointed, maybe? Gina wasn’t sure. “Did you… do you want to come?”

“Oh, no, no thanks. I still, you know… work stuff.”

“You sure?” 

He shrugged. “Yeah, do your thing.”

“Ok,” Gina said skeptically, before she pushed herself back and got up to head to her room. After a moment, she turned back. “Thanks for sharing your pizza. It was great.”

He didn’t respond, just gave the same wave over his shoulder he’d given her at the airport. 

Once she was in her room, she gave a frustrated half-sigh. She had no idea how to get a read on EJ, but she better figure it out quickly. This entire scheme was depending on it.

Chapter Text

Fifteen minutes later, Gina hopped in a different Uber to head to Main Street in Park City. She didn’t really know what to expect, but was immediately enchanted with the quaint downtown. She prided herself on being pretty cool and level headed, not easily swayed by nostalgia or charm. But after six years of bland, green Christmases in LA, the snow-and-fairy-light-covered main drag looked like something out of a Hallmark movie, and tickled what little sense of romance Gina still possessed. 

Her driver let her off at the No Name Saloon, an old-fashioned looking bar with an adorable wooden sign hanging out front. The inside looked exactly like she thought it should, a mix of old-west warm wood and modern flatscreens. The place was packed on a Friday night, full of people who were kicking back after a long day out on the slopes. But it still seemed cozy and comfortable, not crowded like the average LA hotspot. 

Her phone vibrated in her back pocket. 

Snagged us a spot on the roof 

Come on up

The roof? It was literally 19 degrees out. But maybe this is how you do it in Utah. So she found the stairs and made her way up to the top level.

To her surprise, the roof felt as warm as indoors, heat lamps blazing and a heated floor beneath her feet. There was a gorgeous view of the mountains out past the lights of downtown Park City, and Gina was immediately enchanted with this little spot.

Maybe this trip wouldn’t be all bad after all.

“Gina!” Seb’s warm voice called from a table in the corner, two espresso martinis already on the table in front of him. “Over here!”

She smiled and wound her way across the roof to their table. Seb leaped to his feet to greet her, wrapping her in an unexpected hug. “I’m actually so happy you wanted to hang out tonight. I can’t take another night of board games on the farm with my nieces and nephews.”

“The farm?” Gina asked.

“Smith Family Farms,” Seb said with a smirk. “Been in the family five generations now.”

“I didn’t realize my Uber driver was also a farmer.”

“I’m not so much a farmer, that’s my dad. I manage our coffee shop here in Park City these days.”

“That explains why espresso martinis were the sweet spot to get you to agree to come out tonight,” she giggled, picking hers up to take a sip.

“We have to figure out something to diversify, no one makes it with just a family farm anymore. And I think that Dad wanted me to have my own thing, you know? Not just a glorified farmhand.”

“You don’t want to be a farmer?”

“I wanted to be a Broadway star, but… sometimes things don’t work out the way we hope they might.”

“Tell me about it,” Gina said with half a snort. “I’m supposed to be winning Emmys by now, not making self-tapes in the bathroom so I don’t annoy my roommate of the month.”

“Oooh, you’re an actress?”

“Theoretically? I haven’t booked a job in like a year, though. So right now I’m mostly a dance fitness instructor.”

“At least you’re still trying to make it happen. I came home my sophomore year of college after my dad had a heart attack and couldn’t handle the farm by himself anymore. I’m pretty much the only single one left of my siblings, so I’m the one who had to put it on hold, you know? But,” he said with a sigh. “That hold is starting to feel pretty permanent.” He took a long sip of his drink. “Wow, that sounded super depressing, sorry to like, trauma dump all that on you.”

“Well, if you’re in a spilling mood…” Gina said, raising an eyebrow. “WHAT was the deal with you and my AirBnB host?”

“Oh, no way,” Seb said, shaking his head. “We need at least another round of these before we get into that particular story.” He flagged down their waitress and indicated that they needed two more martinis. “And I believe you’re supposed to have some tea for me?”

Gina turned bright red. “Oh my God, I think I might have done something really foolish.”

“PLEASE tell me you hooked up with the guy you’re sharing the AirBnB with. That’s literal romcom gold.”

“Oh my God, no!”

“Why? He’s a hottie. AND he’s a Caswell.”

“Yeah, why does that name seem to mean something to everyone but me?”

“Oh, honey, EVERYONE here knows the Caswells. They’re one of the richest families in Salt Lake. They’ve got their name on half a dozen hospital wings and schools around town.”

Gina’s eyes grew wide. “Woah.”

“I’m actually not sure why EJ is staying in an AIrBnB. I would be shocked if his family didn’t already own ridiculous slope side real estate.”

Gina ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “It sounds like his relationship with his family is a little… complicated.”

“Oh?”

She nodded. “He made a big deal about not wanting to go to a thing tomorrow at his aunt and uncle’s place? But in the end, his cousin and I, well… we sort of convinced him to go.”

“YOU convinced him to go?”

“That’s the absolutely insane part. I kind of convinced EJ to… pretend that we’re together?”

Seb’s draw dropped open. “You what now?”

“I know! But remember I said I was supposed to be bringing my boyfriend here to meet my mom? Well, we broke up right before I came, and I couldn’t face my mom alone. When it sounded like maybe he could benefit from a little bit of a buffer, too, I suggested that we just, you know, fake being in a relationship.”

“I can’t believe he agreed to that.”

“I honestly practically begged. So yeah, that’s the tea… I’m apparently a millionaire’s fake girlfriend for the week.”

“Does a fake relationship come with any real benefits? Because I repeat: Hottie!”

Gina shook her head. “Honestly, I can’t get a read on him yet.” All of her confusion about EJ just came spilling out in one breath. “He said this scheme was insane but agreed anyway, and then he called me beautiful, but then he didn’t want to hang out at all today, even to work on getting our stories straight, and we had dinner together but he only said like, fifteen words and then he wouldn’t come out tonight. So I’m… confused.”She glanced at Seb’s face, and he looked completely overwhelmed. “Not the only one trauma dumping, I guess.”

“I mean, it’s definitely a move. That takes a lot of guts. But do you really think you can pull this off?”

“I’m an actress, right?” she shrugged. “Guess we’re about to find out if I’m actually a good one.”

The waitress came by with their drinks and set two fresh espresso martinis on the table. “Ok,” Gina said. “New round of drinks, your turn to spill. What’s the deal with you and Mr. AirBnB?”

Seb's cheeks flushed, completely obvious with his blonde hair and fair complexion. “Carlos was actually my high school boyfriend. The first guy I ever dated.”

“First love?”

“First everything. And everyone thought we were endgame. We even moved to New York together for college. He’s a dancer and choreographer. Well, he was anyway… now it looks like he’s living off his daddy’s money, which he swore he’d never do.”

“So what happened?”

“When my dad got sick, I knew I had to come home. He wanted to stay in New York. And it’s not like I blamed him for that, I wanted to stay in New York. But that he wouldn’t even think about it, that putting me and my family first was not even an option… it hurt. We fought about it and broke up, and that was that. We stopped speaking, and it was like I’d lost a part of myself.”

“Oh, Seb,” Gina said, reaching across to put her hand on his. 

“But I guess now he’s back in Utah and running short term ski rentals? Hard to believe he’d give up on life in New York after he gave US up for it, but…” He trailed off, taking a long sip from his drink.

“So do you want to see him again? You know, now that you know he’s back in town?”

“I… don’t know,” Seb admitted. 

“I’ve got his cell number from the booking if you decide you want it,” Gina said, raising her eyebrow. 

“I’ll think about it.” He drained the rest of his glass. “You know what? Screw complicated exes and aloof fake boyfriends. I think we should go dancing. They actually have a club downstairs. Do you want to…”

“Yes!” Gina said, quickly downing her own drink. Who knew what the rest of this trip was going to look like, she was going to have fun while she could. 

Seb linked his arm through hers. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

Gina had never wanted to chuck her iPhone out into three feet of snow more than she did that Sunday morning.

She and Seb had stayed out late, drinking martinis and flirting with men at the club until well past Gina’s usual bedtime. She’d Ubered home and collapsed into bed sometime around 2, and this 6am wakeup call was a rude awakening indeed.

But then she remembered that she and EJ were going out to breakfast, and she resolved to get her shit together so as not to derail this scheme. 

She got into her one set of cold weather running gear she’d worn the morning before and dragged herself into the living room. Just as she was heading for the door, EJ emerged from the basement, dressed in his own workout clothes.

“Oh, hi,” she said, a bit startled. “Were you heading out for a run, too?”

EJ nodded. “Fitting in a quick five miles.”

“Mind if I go with you?”

EJ gave a non-committal shrug, which was more enthusiastic than Gina expected. They went out into the frost-covered morning, EJ taking the lead along the street before they turned onto the path in the park in the center of the condo complex, and their footfalls fell into step next to each other. Gina felt the slight pounding in her head subside as she drank in the clear, cold air of the Utah morning. 

They both had their headphones in, Gina’s blasting Christmas music in an attempt to hold onto some of the Christmas cheer she’d started to uncover the night before. Seb was right, Park City was sort of magical at Christmas, blanketed in snow and twinkle lights. At 24, she might finally be getting the kind of greeting card Christmas atmosphere she’d always dreamed about. So she wasn’t going to waste it. 

But when she glanced at EJ as they wound through the park, he didn’t exactly look in the Christmas spirit. In fact, he looked utterly lost in his own head. 

They wordlessly finished their workout and retreated back to their separate bathrooms, Gina taking a long, hot shower to warm up after their frosty-in-more-ways-than-one run. She pulled on a black skirt with tights and boots and a cream sweater, tying up her curls. It seemed like the kind of conservative but cute thing you’d wear to meet your boyfriend’s family. A little light makeup and she was good to go.

EJ came upstairs not long after she was done getting ready, wearing jeans and a button up. “Ready for breakfast, then?” he asked, not meeting her eye. “Uber should be here in less than five.”

They rode in silence to The Eating Establishment on the other end of town, another place with the old West meets modern look that seemed to be the backbone of the Park City appeal. The place was crowded, but EJ had made a reservation so they were seated quickly. 

Still nursing the edge of a hangover, Gina glanced at EJ over the top of her menu. “You going to judge me if I order a mimosa?”

“Drinking early and often might be the only way to make it through the next week,” he deadpanned. “I just might join you.”

Once they’d ordered, Gina turned serious. “So what’s the plan for today?” 

EJ sighed. “Well, this is my aunt Debby and uncle Dennis’s big Christmas open house. People drop in and out all afternoon, so we might be able to get away with making a quick appearance and then getting the hell out of there.”

“You really don’t want to see your family, huh?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, exactly. It’s just… it’s complicated.”

“Well, shouldn’t your girlfriend understand some of the complications?” she asked pointedly. 

EJ huffed in frustration. “It’s just that my dad and I don’t really get along. We’ve had a rocky relationship for a long time now, and I don’t really see it getting better anytime soon. But he doesn’t want everyone to know it, so he demands I come home and play nice every now and then. The whole thing is just a sham.”

“So our little scheme fits right in then.”

For the first time, EJ did something that almost seemed like a smile. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“Will your dad be there today?”

“No, he’s out of state at the moment. Which is typical. Tells me to clear my calendar for a week to come home, and then isn’t even here. Not that I mind. We’ll save that bit of torture for closer to Christmas.”

“So who are we needing to convince so that word gets back to him?”

“That’d be Aunt Debbie. She’s great, but has a big mouth. She’ll tell Dennis who’ll tell Dad.”

“Got it,” Gina said, pulling out her phone to type in a quick memo.

“You’re taking notes?”

“You saw how bad my improv was last night, a little prep will help me be convincing in the role.”

“I didn’t realize it would be such a struggle to pretend you like me.”

Gina’s cheeks flushed. “It’s not that it’s hard to like you, you just… haven’t really given me much to work with.”

“Yeah, I get that. I’m just… I’m not the best at opening up to people,” he admitted. 

“And these are epically weird circumstances,” Gina agreed. “But since I’m prepping, tell me more about your life in LA.”

As they ate breakfast, they traded stories about the people and places they knew in the city, discovering that EJ’s firm did actually represent a couple of social media personalities that Gina knew, so it was a little easier to find common ground. Gina was feeling reasonably good about her ability to pull this off when EJ pulled his own phone from his pocket. He read the screen and let out an audible groan.

“What’s the problem?”

“Ash just let me know that apparently the party this afternoon is ugly sweater themed.”

Gina glance down at her plain cream sweater. “Well this certainly isnt going to work.”

“We don’t have to participate.”

“Yes we do,” she insisted. “I don’t want it to look like I’m some LA ice queen who didn’t want to go along with the holiday cheese. Besides, it could be fun!”

“Do you have an ugly sweater? Because I certainly don’t.”

“Nope, but Target does!” She picked up her phone and opened up the Uber app. “Let’s go!”

After they paid the check and the car arrived, they got in and headed to the Target on the outskirts of town. “Should we get matching ones? Or is that too much?”

“Got to admit, you’re a lot more into this than I expected given how you talked about being here for Christmas the other day. Didn’t take you for a holiday fan.”

Gina shrugged. “I’m not, usually. But maybe that’s because I’ve never really HAD a sort of stereotypical Christmas.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember I told you that my mom works for FEMA?”

“Yeah.”

“So that means I spent my childhood moving from disaster zone to disaster zone. Holidays aren’t exactly cheerful spending them in places where people have just lost everything.”

EJ nodded, a grave expression on his face. “I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense.”

“And it’s not even like I could complain about it, you know? What right did I have to be disappointed at the lack of lights and cheer when people’s lives had been devastated? It meant I never really got to experience the magic of Christmas. By the time I moved to LA, it was easier to just ignore it, since LA isn’t exactly your stereotypical Hallmark scene. But I don’t know… After I hung out with Seb last night, there IS something magical about Christmas here. The snow, downtown… it all just screams holiday charm. So I’m giving it a shot.”

Gina glanced over at EJ, expecting him to be irritated about her recent conversion to Christmas cheer. But instead, he had something almost like a smile on his face. 

"What’s that look for?”

“I don’t know, it’s kinda nice you’ll get to have a Utah kind of Christmas. It’s what I grew up with. The whole thing, Thanksgiving through Christmas. It was my favorite time of year.”

Gina couldn’t help herself. “So what changed that?”

EJ pressed his lips into a straight line, looking straight ahead. It seemed to Gina that he was almost trying not to cry. “My mom died.”

“Oh, EJ…” she said, a sense of both embarrassment and sympathy washing over her. Almost without thinking, she reached over and placed her hand on hers on the middle seat of the car. EJ met her eye, startled, and she almost withdrew her hand, but instead, he turned his over underneath, and curled his fingers around hers. 

“It’s just never been the same,” he said softly.

“How old…” she said, trailing off with the question. 

“Thirteen.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks.”

After that, there wasn’t much else left to say, but their hands stayed firmly wound together the rest of the ride. 

They got out at the store, and Gina was determined to turn EJ’s mood around before the party. “I’ll make you a deal. You pick out mine, I’ll pick out yours.”

“That sounds dangerous.”

“So is that a yes?”

EJ’s face melted back into that small smile. “Ok, you’ve got a deal.”

They hit the women’s section first, and EJ selected a fairly tame one, red with white and green Christmas trees all over it. “That’s it? You’re not going to put me the one with all the ornaments all over it?”

“It would be too hard to make you look bad better to not even try.”

And something that close to compliment made Gina’s cheeks flame. “Don’t think that means that I’m going easy on you, dude,” she said, desperate to distract from the butterflies his comment gave her. 

EJ laughed. “No, I’m counting on you finding something appropriately terrible.”

They threaded into the men’s section, where there was a disappointing lack of something truly ugly. Gina had to settle for a black one with giant snowflakes all over it, only available in a limited number of sizes. “Well, we’ve got a small or an extra large, what do you think?”

“The small is never going to work, the sleeves will be too short. Here, I’ll try the extra large.”

He pulled off his coat and handed it to Gina, and then pulled the sweater he was wearing up over his head. As he did, it pulled up the undershirt underneath with it, exposing a defined set of abs and a bit of a v cut dipping below the edge of his jeans.

And if Gina thought her cheeks went hot before…

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, he pulled the black one on quickly, and it looked comically baggy on his slim frame. “I mean, it’s giving wearing Dad’s clothes, but…” Gina said, before quickly wincing at the mention of a father. 

“Well, good enough, then,” EJ said, slipping it back off. “Should we pay and get to the thing?”

“Sure,” Gina nodded, and they headed up to the register to pay.

Chapter Text

After changing in the Target bathroom and a quick detour to the liquor store in the same plaza to grab a couple bottles of champagne as a hostess gift, they were ready to head to the party.

Gina did notice in passing that the wine that EJ selected cost more per bottle than she spent on groceries in a week, but didn’t make a big deal out of it. Guess Seb’s intel about the Caswell money situation was legit.

The Uber took them to the outskirts of Park City, pulling up to a jaw droppingly gorgeous rustic-yet-modern looking ski lodge, surrounded by acres of open land. “Woah,” Gina said softly under her breath. 

“It’s nice, right?” EJ said. “But I can’t figure out why they want to be all the way out here. My dad’s place up here is much closer to downtown.”

It took everything Gina had not to either laugh or cry. If she had the option to live somewhere this nice, she wouldn’t care where the hell it was located. But it sounded like this was just one piece of a pretty extensive real estate portfolio for EJ’s family. Which meant she couldn’t contain her curiosity. “So why are you staying in our little AirBnB if your family owns places like this?”

EJ glanced at her sideways. “The same reason you refused to stay with your mother.”

Guess he had her there.

EJ let out a long breath and picked up her hand. “You ready to do this?” he asked, lacing their fingers together.

“As I’ll ever be.”

They walked to the front door, Gina’s heart beating faster with every step. She had barely succeeded in faking it in front of his cousin for just a few minutes, what business did she have thinking they’d be able to pull this off for an entire afternoon?

But they were left with little choice when the grand front door flung open, and they were met with  smiling woman in a truly hideous Christmas sweater on the other side. “EJ! You made it!”

“Hi, Aunt Debbie,” he said, dropping Gina’s hand to step forward and give her a hug.

“And who might this be?” Debbie asked, nodding over EJ’s shoulder in Gina’s direction. 

“This is my girlfriend, Gina.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Gina said with a bright, hopefully not awkwardly nervous smile.

“You as well, dear. Come on in, both of you. Party’s just getting started.”

As they walked through the foyer into the main space, Gina had to will her jaw to stay closed. The place looked like it came straight from a design magazine, all sleek mountain charm. She was pretty sure a single piece of the furniture cost more than her rent, and she lived in LA, that wasn’t cheap. 

“Food is in the kitchen, drinks are there, or on the bar cart, or the bar, or the coolers on the patio… Well, drinks are pretty much everywhere! Enjoy!” Debbie said brightly before she bustled back to the door to let in more guests. 

They went to the kitchen where EJ deposited the bottles of champagne into a tub of ice on the counter. A moment later, his hand landed on Gina’s back and the sensation was enough to nearly make her jump.

“This isn’t going to look all that convincing if me touching you startles you,” EJ said, leaning into her ear.

“Sorry,” Gina whispered. “Your hands are cold.” She figured it was a good enough cover for her reaction.

“Come on. Time to make the rounds.”

The next hour was a whirlwind as EJ introduced Gina to various family members and friends, having the same ten minute conversation over and over again. What did she do for work? How did they meet? Was she enjoying Utah? Eventually, they’d move onto something else, talking about other kids or friends or business connections, leaving Gina to mostly stand there with a smile plastered on her face. And invariably, once the conversation turned to anything related to EJ’s father, he’d find a way to extricate them from the conversation as quickly as possible. Never impolite, but always swift.

Mostly to keep herself looking busy, Gina had downed at least three glasses of champagne and was starting to feel it a bit. She excused herself and sat down on the couch for a moment to check her phone and take a breather. Her hopes of a break were quickly dashed, though, when a familiar looking red-head settled down next to her. 

“So, Gina, are you enjoying the party?” Ashlyn asked her.

“Your parents have a lovely home,” Gina said with an insincere smile. 

“It’s not bad. I like that it has separate guest quarters where I can crash when I’m up here. Sort of funny that EJ didn’t ask my parents if he could stay there, though. Did he mention that they had a guest house?”

“Oh, uh, no. He really took care of the details since he’s so familiar with the area. I just went along with the plan.”

Ashlyn nodded, but Gina couldn’t help but feel there was an air of skepticism in her expression. “Meeting the family is a big step in a relationship.”

“Feels like the right one, though,” Gina shrugged. “Especially when we realized that we were both going to need to spend the holidays in Utah this year. Felt almost like… I don’t know, fate.”

“It’s a shame he’s never thought to mention you before you got here. I would have done more to make sure you felt welcome.”

“That’s very sweet, but really, I don’t need anything special. Just being here with him is enough.” She silently willed Ashlyn to drop it, but she continued with a dogged determination.

“It’s almost like you materialized from thin air, you know? Like EJ… I don’t know, concocted an entire relationship just for this trip home.”

Gina gave an uncomfortable laugh. “Why on earth would he want to do something like that?”

“I’m honestly not sure. But it would certainly change the conversation with Uncle Cash, right? About why he hasn’t moved home like they agreed to?”

So that was part of the conversation that EJ was dreading with his dad. “I really don’t feel right about saying what EJ’s told me in private conversations,” Gina said, her pulse once again quickening as she lied.

“And that makes you a good girlfriend… or something…” Ash said, before looking across the room. “Oh! My mom’s sister is here. If you’ll excuse me.” And with that, she got up, leaving Gina in a state of semi-panic on the couch.

She scanned the party for EJ, and spotted him standing by the fireplace, talking to someone she vaguely remembered being a distant cousin of some sort. She wove through the crowd to where he was standing.

“Eej, can I talk to you for a second, babe?” she said sweetly, but with an urgency.

“Uh, sure… babe,” he said with a face before they stepped into the hallway off the great room.

“What’s with the babe?” he asked, but Gina waved the comment away.

“We’ve got a problem. Ashlyn is on to us.”

“She’s what?”

“She was just asking me a whole bunch of questions, and hinted that she thinks this whole thing is fake.”

A flash of panic crossed EJ’s face. “She can’t tell her mom that. If she does, it’ll get back to my dad, and…”

“And you lose your excuse for not moving home?”

EJ’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly did Ash say to you?”

“We’ll get into that later. But right now, we need to figure out how we’re going to handle this.”

“Too late to turn back now, so we’re just going to have to up the ante.”

“Up the ante? What does that…”

“Quick, she’s coming this way.”

And before Gina had a second to process, EJ was kissing her. 

If she thought that his hand on her back was surprising, she nearly yelped against his lips as they made contact with hers. But after the initial moment of shock wore off, a different sort of surprise set in.

EJ was an excellent kisser.

He tasted vaguely of the whiskey he was sipping, but it wasn’t unpleasant at all. It felt almost deliciously masculine, the hint of smoke mingling with the scent of his clean, expensive cologne. 

Gina responded instinctively, closing her arms around the back of his neck and pressing her body into his. He moved a hand to the back of her neck to tip her head back and deepen the kiss as he pressed her back against the wall, and a dizzying rush washed over her. 

“God, Eej,” Ashlyn’s voice called from behind them. “Can’t keep your hands to yourself, can you?”

He broke away and shot Gina a smile. “Because even in that sweater, she’s still the most beautiful thing in the room.”

Gina’s cheeks flushed as she leaned into him with a giggle.

Ashlyn just shook her head. “Whatever.” She walked past them to the bathroom, leaving them alone once again.

“Think that helped our case?” EJ murmured into Gina’s ear. 

“Oh, uh… yeah,” she stammered, still a bit dazed from the kiss. “I think she bought it.”

“Good.” He took a slight step back, but kept his hand firmly anchored to her back. “Let’s get back to the party.”

Chapter Text

It was evening by the time they got back to the AirBnB, and Gina’s head was buzzing with expensive champagne and the feel of EJ’s touch on her body all afternoon. Once Ashlyn’s doubts were out there, EJ seemed to do everything he could to make their ruse look authentic. He’d left his hand on her back or around her waist the whole afternoon, casually leaning in to speak directly into her ear, the warmth of his breath against the skin of her neck causing a flush to bloom every time. Gina couldn’t even think about the way he’d gently tuck a curl back behind her ear without practically swooning. It was honestly a little pathetic. 

Once they were in the Uber, it was like a gulf opened up between them again. EJ sat on his side, Gina on hers, and silence once again settled between them. It felt a little different, though. Less laden, more exhausted. And Gina couldn’t help but feel like that was an improvement. 

Feeling like it might be best to put a bit of space between her and EJ, she went to her room and took a shower. When she came out, EJ was nowhere to be found, having retreated to his lower level hideaway. She bit her lip, wondering if it would be out of line to ask if he wanted to order in together that night, somehow crossing whatever weird lines had to exist in this fake dating arrangement. But she realized that outside of whatever scheme they were running, she also just liked his company. The conversation they’d had that morning felt sincere, and she just wanted to keep talking to him. 

She shot him a quick text message.

Should we make it easier on the DoorDash driver tonight and order together?

Where are you thinking?

Any decent sushi around here?

I mean not LA calibre but yeah I got you

Be up in just a couple minutes

Gina sat at the island and plugged in her phone to charge. EJ came up just a couple minutes later, laptop in hand. 

“Ok, we’ve got a couple options in town. The question is, how adventurous are you feeling?”

“I think the better question is, how adventurous should I be feeling about eating sushi in the landlocked state of Utah?”

EJ burst out laughing, and Gina was almost taken aback by the sound. His laugh bubbled up like something fizzy and refreshing, and she could hardly believe this stoic man she’d been spending the last few days had a laugh like that, or that she was the cause of it.

She immediately wanted to make him do that again.

“Park City is pretty damn bougie, blame Sundance. So I’m confident anything in town will be safe, if not spectacular. If you’re wanting classic, we should do Yuki Yama. If you’re down to try some interesting rolls, Flying Sumo is the way to go.”

“Let’s do something different, Flying Sumo it is!”

They scrolled through the menu together and picked out a bunch of items. EJ put in his credit card for delivery, while Gina reached for her phone. “What’s your Venmo, I’ll send you…” She trailed off when she saw the text messages from her mom on the screen.

EJ was still finishing the order and didn’t notice the look on Gina’s face. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I can pick up the…” He stopped short when he realized she wasn’t even listening. “Gina? Is everything ok?”

Almost every part of her wanted to say it was fine, put her phone down and forget about it. But when she met EJ’s eye, it gave her pause. Something led her to believe he was actually asking how she was feeling. That the concern in his green eyes meant that he really did want to know. 

“I got a message from my mom. She’s been called to do a site survey further north, she won’t be back in town until Christmas Eve.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Not like you were exactly looking forward to spending a ton of time with her.”

“No, I know, it’s just… look, this is going to sound stupid.”

“Not all, just talk to me.”

Gina gave a heavy sigh. “It’s like this ridiculous push-pull. I don’t really want to see her, but I want HER to want to see ME, you know? I haven’t seen her in person in almost three years, because work is always more important. Just like it always has been.”

“Makes sense to me,” EJ said with a shrug. “My dad and I aren’t close, probably never will be. But it will never not suck that he doesn’t try harder. Like, he’s the adult in the relationship, right? Why does he want me to put in more effort than he’s willing to, you know?”

Gina nodded. “Unfortunately, I do. It’s even worse because the whole purpose of coming out here was to have her get to know, you know, my boyfriend, and now we’re going to spend, what, a couple hours with her? What does she possibly think she can know about my life with a partner in that short an amount of time? But maybe that doesn’t matter to her either.”

“Is there a reason you didn’t tell her about the breakup?”

“Part of me didn’t want the judgment, she’s always convinced I’m doing something to screw up my life and my future. Not that she would have thought Ricky was a good idea anyway, but…”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened there? With your travel plans getting messed up last minute, it seems like it was pretty sudden.”

“It was and it wasn’t,” she admitted. “We really tried to make it work, but in the end, we wanted really different things.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ricky, my ex, is a musician. He’d come out to LA to try and land a record deal, but mostly landed session work instead. He worked with my brother, who’s a producer. That’s how we met.”

“Oh, Jamie Porter,” EJ said as it dawned on him. “We do some copyright and IP work for his label.”

“That’s him. And Ricky was great. IS great, honestly. It just… didn’t work out.”

“How so?”

Gina looked down at the counter, unable to meet EJ’s eye. “So I was up for this big sitcom part. It was down to me and two other girls. I really thought I had it this time. But last week I got the call… they went with one of the other girls. It’s been like that my whole career, a constant near miss, you know?”

“I’m sorry, the rejection must suck.”

“Well, what sucked even more was that Ricky was actually happy I didn’t book it.”

“Wait, what?”

“He was kind of all done with the LA life. He’d been grinding for five years, nothing coming of it. So he just wanted to move back to Chicago. And when I didn’t book the show, he thought I’d see it as the perfect chance to go with him. He really didn’t get that I’m determined to keep going. I’m nowhere near ready to give up on my dream. And maybe he can make music anywhere, but I kind of need to be in LA to make an acting career happen. So… that was that.”

“Wow, I’m really sorry he wasn’t more supportive.”

“Thanks. Don’t get me wrong, he was a great cheerleader. But that’s so different from someone who’s genuinely invested in your success.” 

“At least you’ve still got your brother out there.”

“Sort of. He’s ten years older than me, so we’ve never been super close. And I feel some kind of way about people thinking I”m trading on his name, you know? I want to be known for what I can do, not what he can do for me.”

EJ looked surprised. “Wow, that’s…”

“Stupid?” she said with half a laugh. 

But EJ shook his head. “No, admirable. Believe me, we get tons of nepo baby nightmares that come through my firm. So many of them have none of their parents' talent but plenty of their parents’ money. They’re the worst kind of clients.”

“It must be even more annoying for you, knowing that…” she stopped short.

“Knowing what?”

Gina fidgeted nervously. “Seb mentioned that your family is, you know… well known out here.”

EJ raised an eyebrow. “You mean rich.”

Gina’s cheeks burned. “Yeah, that. But you live a thousand miles away, doing your own thing. I have to guess it’s for similar reasons?”

“You’d be correct,” he said flatly, but didn’t elaborate and Gina didn’t press.

“So anyway, that’s my sob story,” she said lightly, trying to turn back to something that wouldn’t make EJ shut down. “And now I’m stuck here for no reason until Christmas.”

“Well, you could enjoy Park City.”

“Except I don’t ski, remember? It seems like all anyone does here is ski and drink.”

“That’s…fairly accurate. But if you wanted to… I mean, it’s not a big deal to say no, but…”

“But what, EJ?”

“I could teach you how to ski.”

“You could what now?”

“I grew up here, I’ve been skiing since I could walk. I’m sure I can handle showing you around the bunny slope.”

Gina was still hesitant, but then she really looked at EJ, and his face was as bright as she’d seen it since they arrived. Just like his laugh, she wanted to be the reason he looked that happy again. So she found herself agreeing. 

“I mean, I guess when in Rome, right? But uh, how much does a lift ticket and the rental and all that…”

“Don’t worry about it,” EJ said quickly. “I’ll take care of it.”

Gina fidgeted again. “I’m not sure I’m…”

“Please,” he cut in. “Just let me do this?”

And the sincerity in his eyes won her over yet again. “Ok, fine.” 

The Ring alert went off, their dinner had arrived. EJ jumped up to collect it from the driver while Gina mulled over the conversation they just had. There was something about EJ that had her opening up faster than she ever did, and she wasn’t quite sure why. But it did make her wish that he felt the same, that he didn’t tense up the moment the conversation veered a little too close to whatever was haunting him about being home. 

She resolved to figure out how to get him to talk to her. And not just because of their scheme. But because of the genuine affection she felt starting to grow for her co-conspirator.

Even though she’d never admit that part out loud.

Chapter Text

Gina had no idea what had possessed her to think this was a good idea.

A cold wind blew across the small slope she was currently at the bottom of, but it did nothing to keep her from sweating. They’d been in the rental shop for the last half an hour, teaching her how to step in and out of the bindings in the clunky, uncomfortable ski boots. In a baggy pair of snow pants she’d borrowed from EJ and rented skis, she felt about as awkward as she ever had in her life. The helmet EJ had insisted she wear didn’t make her feel any more confident, but at least she’d plaited her hair into pigtails so it fit underneath. 

EJ slid in next to her, looking a thousand times smoother and more confident than she felt. “You ready to do this?”

“How do you make something so unnatural look so easy?” she grumbled as he moved easily over the snow.

“I told you, I’ve been on skis since I could walk, it’s a Utah thing. I’m sure you’ll get it in no time.”

“What makes you so confident about that?”

“You mentioned you dance, right? You’re naturally graceful.”

A smirk came to Gina’s lips.

“What’s that look for?” he asked.

“I haven’t mentioned I dance at all.” She raised an eyebrow at him while he turned roughly the same shade of red as his high end ski parka. “EJ Caswell, did you stalk me on the internet?”

“I didn’t… I mean, when you say it like that it sounds… but it’s not like…” he sputtered, trying to cover his misstep.

“EJ, it’s fine,” she assured him. “Hell, I probably should have Googled you, that’s like, basic girl move 101.”

“I didn’t do it out of nowhere,” he protested. “You mentioned you had a TikTok following so I looked at your profile to see if you’d collabed with any of my clients.”

“Suuure,” Gina teased him. 

“I’m seriously so embarrassed,” he said, avoiding her eyes.

“Well, then, let’s go even the score, because I’m about to embarrass myself in front of all these people trying to figure out how to do this.”

EJ spent a few minutes showing her the basics of posture, how to bend her knees and position her body slightly forward to keep the momentum moving downhill. That part at least felt a bit natural, and the ski boots made more sense as she got a feel for the flexibility of the bindings when she leaned slightly right or left. 

Once she’d gotten the basics of body positioning down, they slowly slid over to a laughably tiny lift that EJ called a ‘people mover’. All Gina had to do was step onto it and it would take her up to the top of the bunny slope.

“Would now be a good time to mention I was afraid of escalators until I was like five?” Gina asked as they inched closer to the loading area. 

“Literally all you have to do is stand there, you’ll be fine, I promise.”

Gina was not, in fact, fine, as she wobbled her way onto the lift, but she was able to safely step on and off with at least as much agility as the five year old on the belt in front of her.

This was definitely humbling.

“Let’s get up a little higher, get you some more space,” EJ said as he stepped off behind her.

“Wait, higher? Skis are built for going down, not up.”

“That’s why you crab walk,” he explained, demonstrating how to side step up the incline.

Gina tested it out, and only got about two steps before she was sliding backwards. “Help!” she cried, and EJ grabbed her hand. 

Even through two bulky sets of ski gloves, it set her heart racing.

“Stay at an angle and keep moving,” he coached. “When you pause like that, gravity is going to do its thing.”

Gina took a few more side steps, less tentative than before, and managed to navigate further up the slope without further incident.”

“Ok,” EJ said as they got pointed down the mountain. “To start out, you’re going to want to point the tips of your skis towards each other.”

  “Huh? Like a triangle?” 

"Exactly,” he nodded. “Keeps you from getting going too fast.”

“But that’s not what everyone else is doing,” she said, gesturing to the parallel skis shushing down the mountain around them. 

“We’ll get there, Wonder Woman,” EJ teased. “But first, I need to make sure that you won’t go flying off the mountain.”

EJ patiently showed her how to position the tips of her skis to snow plough, going so far as to bend down on his own skis to physically position her feet the right way. As kind and as thorough a teacher that EJ was, it wasn’t inspiring a lot of confidence that Gina would be able to figure this out on her own. 

“Ok, you’re ready,” he said as he straightened up. “Now just push off gently and…”

Gina should have waited for the rest of his instructions, but she gave herself a push an began sliding down the mountain. Slowly at first, and EK encouragingly called “See, you’ve got it!” after her back heading down the hill. But she quickly forgot to keep her feet angled in towards each other and began picking up speed as her skis spread to straight.

“Gina, toes in!” EJ called, but Gina struggled with getting her ankles to turn in the clunky boots, immediately forgetting everything EJ had shown her about the right posture. Before long, she was going far faster than she was prepared for, and had no idea how to stop. Panic took over an she flailed her arms and poles, which slowed her down but also threw her off balance, and she went down. Her ass landed, hard, on the packed snow of the run.”

EJ came to a stop expertly next to her. “Are you ok?”

“I forgot how to slow down!”

“Obviously,” EJ said, stabbing his pole into the snow to hold out a hand and help her up.

“Nope,” she said from her spot on the ground.

“Gina, you’ve got to get up or you’re going to get run over.”

“I’m saying nope, I don’t want you to help me up,” she said, struggling to dig her own pole in. “I need to figure out how to do it myself.”

EJ crouched down next to her, infuriatingly stable despite the waxed planks attached to his feet. “Maybe don’t be a pain in the ass and let me help you?”

Gina huffed in frustration, but after two more attempts to dig in the edges of her skis to get to standing, she admitted defeat and grabbed his still outstretched hand. Once he’d helped her to her feet, they slid over to the bottom of the people mover life to try again.

While they waited, EJ slid his glance at her sideways. “You don’t like asking for help, huh?”

Gina shrugged. “I’ve always been really independent. It kinda bugged Ricky, honestly. He was a little on the codependent side, and I just never seemed to need him the same way he needed me, you know?”

“Or could admit you needed him,” EJ said in an almost offhand way. Gina didn’t love how uncomfortably accurate that statement was, so she decided to change the subject to focus on him.

“What about you? You don’t exactly seem like the type that likes to rely on other people, either.”

“Maybe that’s just what happens when you don’t have anyone to rely on,” he said quietly, busily adjusting his ski gloves.

“You’ve got your whole family, I met like a million Caswells the other day.”

“And none of them were exactly in a rush to back me up when my dad disowned me, so…”

Gina was shocked. “When your dad did what?”

“It’s a long, really boring story. But the short version is, my dad cut me off when I was eighteen and we didn’t speak for years. He had a health scare a few years back when I was in law school, and I guess the thought of leaving me an orphan, or at least all of his money, when we hadn’t talked for years didn’t sit right with him, and we’re kind of back in touch. But it’s still rocky at best, downright hostile at worst.”

“Wow, no matter how bad things have gotten with my mom, she never shut me out completely. How could she judge me then?”

“Oh, that’s never stopped him. I heard all about it from Ash. His big thing now is that I should be coming home to prepare to take over the company. Except it’s not going to happen.”

“No?”

“No way. My life and my practice are in LA. I have no intention to move home. He can liquidate for all I care, I don’t need to inherit anything. But I’m especially not interested in anything that comes with his unreasonable expectations.”

Gina was sure that those unreasonable expectations were likely the story behind their initial rift, but she knew better than to press about that now. They reached the front of the lift line and headed back up the mountain. 

“Ok,” she said. “Let’s see if I can make it to the bottom without landing on my ass.”

“Yeah, that’s unlikely until the end of the day. You usually spend most of the first day falling down.”

“You could have warned me of that BEFORE we got out here.”

“And miss the fun of watching you find out for yourself?” he said with a smirk. “Come on, let’s try again.”

They spent the rest of the day on the slopes except for a quick break for lunch at the snack bar. And Gina did, in fact, spend most of the day on her ass. She was looking forward to the hot tub back at the AirBnB to soothe her sore muscles. But by the end of the afternoon, she was able to glide and turn down the slope with reasonable efficiency, guided by EJ’s expert instruction. She wouldn’t tell him, but by the end, it was even starting to feel fun, the rush of the cold air by her face as she slid down the side of the mountain.

They got her rental gear turned back in and EJ’s into a locker. “Ok,” he said. “Are you  ready for the best part of a ski day?”

“What’s that?” she asked. 

“Après,” he grinned.

“Huh?”

“Après ski, hanging out in the lodge to get warm again. Now’s the time we drink spiked hot cocoa and people watch til dinner.”

“THAT sounds more my speed,” Gina said with a laugh.

“Ladies lockers are that way, I’ll meet you back out front.”

Gina went to change into the leggings and sweater she’d packed, trying to tame the flyaways back into her braids. She slicked on a coat of lipgloss and gave it up for good before heading out to meet EJ. 

He was already waiting for her, his back turned as he looked down at his phone.

“Ready Caswell?” she called.

He turned around, and just for a moment, Gina swore she saw something in his expression. The kind of look you give to something you find beautiful or rare, a bit of awe and a bit of desire. Which made zero sense since she looked half a mess after having her hair under that helmet all day, but there it was, all the same. 

He blinked rapidly a few times, and the expression was gone. “Sure, let’s make sure we get a spot near a fireplace.” He turned away from her as he placed his hand on her back, leaving Gina to wonder if she’d just imagined it after all. 

Chapter Text

They went into the Grand Summit Hotel, the lobby already packed with the people who’d come off the slopes to engage in Park City’s seeming other favorite pastime, drinking. There was a fire roaring in the elegant fireplace in the center of the lobby, and revelers sipped on champagne and spiked coffees all around them.

“This is wild for a Monday night,” Gina said into EJ’s ear as they navigated through the lobby. 

“Christmas week is always absurdly busy up here. Sometimes, it was a nice distraction from…” He sort of trailed off, and Gina didn’t have to guess what EJ had needed distraction from… that their holiday celebrations were forever missing one person who was supposed to be there. But she didn’t blame him for avoiding holidays back here one bit.

“So, should we find a spot and join the drinking?” Gina asked. 

EJ placed his hand on her back, ushering her over to a group of chairs tucked sort of behind the fireplace, out of the way. EJ went over to the lobby bar to grab them some drinks, Gina requesting an espresso martini. She was scrolling on her phone awaiting his return when she swore she heard a  different familiar voice called her name.

“Gina!” Seb repeated as she looked up, and saw Seb and Carlos weaving through the crowd to where she was sitting. “I didn’t expect to see you here, I thought you didn’t ski!”

“Oh, I, uh… I don’t. Well, I guess maybe I do a little now. I just learned today.”

“Did you take a lesson?” Seb asked eagerly. “Two of my nephews and a brother-in-law are instructors here.”

“No, I, uh… I actually went out today with…”

“Didn’t realize we had company,” EJ said as he set their drinks down on the table. “Seb, good to see you again. And it’s Carlos, right?”

Carlos’s eyes narrowed as his gaze darted between Gina and EJ. “Wait, what’s going on? You told me that you didn’t know each other the other night.”

“We don’t,” Gina said quickly. “Well, we didn’t, anyway. But EJ offered to show me how to ski when he heard I couldn’t enjoy Park City properly.”

“Interesting,” was all Carlos said. 

“Gina, can I steal you away for a second?” Seb asked. “Carlos, we’ll go get drinks.”

“Ok,” Gina said quizzically, not really understanding what was going on.

When they were out of earshot, Gina pounded. “Ok, so you and Carlos?”

“He called me yesterday, asked if I wanted to talk,” Seb said. “He apologized for the breakup, and for not letting me know he’s back in town.”

“Ok, and?”

“And what?”

“Does this mean you’re on a date? Are you going to get back together?”

“I honestly have no idea. We just decided to come grab a drink after a heavy conversation, and ended up here. So now I need to ask, what’s the deal with you and EJ?”

“What do you mean? You know about the scheme.”

“Yeah, spending the day hanging out without anyone isn’t a part of the scheme.”

“My mom got sent out of town, he’s just being nice.”

“You didn’t seem to think he was all that nice the other night.”

“Things are… a little different, I guess? I don’t know.”

“Well, be careful tonight. You don’t want Carlos thinking there’s something up with you two. He might think you’re trying to scam him with getting the rental refunded.”

“Like we double booked it on purpose or something?”

Seb shrugged. “Better not give him the wrong idea, right?”

“You’re right,” Gina said immediately. “I can’t afford to get banned from AirBnB, sometimes my mom gets sent places that don’t have hotels.”

“Then just… keep your distance.”

Gina nodded, and pulled out her phone to text EJ. 

Play down anything with us in front of Carlos

He might think we’re running a scam

We are

But not on him

U know what I mean

They got drinks from the bar and carried them back over to where Carlos and EJ were chatting, trying to figure out who they knew in common. The rich set in Salt Lake City couldn’t be that big, so it made sense that they would have run in similar circles.

Gina chose the chair furthest away from EJ, moving her drink over in front of her. Carlos still seemed a little suspicious, but it faded as his drink dwindled and they continued to chat. EJ excused himself to buy them another round, and Gina was telling Seb and Carlos about her favorite spots in LA when her phone buzzed with a text message. Now it was EJ’s turn.

Weve got a problem

Ash is here

Gina looked up with alarm, and sure enough, the redhead was chatting with EJ by the bar. 

“Excuse me just a moment,” she said, and quickly threaded her way through the crowd. “Hey, babe,” she said, coming up behind EJ and wrapping her arm around his waist. She nodded a hello to Ashlyn, a nervous smile plastered across her face. 

“Babe!” EJ exclaimed, his eyes darting back to where Carlos and Seb were sitting. “Ash was just asking us to join her.”

“Why doesn’t she…” before she could finish, EJ squeezed her hip lightly, giving an ever so slight shake of the head. Right, they couldn’t fake their relationship in front of Carlos. God, why did she have to suck at improv?

“Ash, why don’t you just find a nice spot, EJ and I will bring the drinks over in just a few,” she said, overly brightly but mostly covered by the noise in the bar. “I think I see some spots over there?” Gina pointed to the opposite side of the bar from where Seb and Carlos were waiting. 

Ashlyn gave a thumbs up and headed to the other side of the room while EJ half-shouted the orders at the bartender.

“What do we do now?” Gina nearly hissed at EJ.

“You get better at improv, fast,” EJ deadpanned. “You go make an excuse to Seb and Carlos.”

“But what if they…”

“We don’t have time for that right now!” EJ grabbed Carlos and Seb’s drinks and handed them to Gina. “Deliver these and meet me over with Ash.”

Gina exhaled sharply and wove over to where Seb and Carlos were sitting. “Hey, guys, sorry to break up the party, but EJ and I need to get going.” She raised an eyebrow at Seb. “We don’t want to crash your whole date night.”

Seb flushed, but Carlos had a bit of a smirk on his lips. “Text me if there’s anything you need at the house.”

“Thanks,” Gina said, and quickly retreated around the bar. Ashlyn had grabbed a spot in a secluded little nook with just two chairs. She and EJ were sitting opposite each other, so Gina made a split second decision and sauntered over to plop down onto EJ’s lap. “What did I miss?”

EJ looked surprised for a split second before he slipped his arm around her and tugged her even closer. “Ash is just trying to convince me to come over on Christmas night.”

“I think we’re planning to see my mom on Christmas morning, so that should work,” Gina shrugged. 

“My dad is going to be there.”

“Which is supposedly the entire reason that you came home in the first place,” Ashlyn pointed out. 

“Seeing my dad because he’s summoned me and being together at what’s supposed to be a party are two different things.”

“But you’ll have me there,” Gina chimed in, before she could even think.

EJ’s grip tightened on her waist, and Gina could tell she’d taken him by surprise again. “I will, I guess.”

She laid her hand on his knee and met his eye, hoping he could tell that she was being sincere, nothing to do with the scheme. “I want to be there for you for all of this.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Gina saw the edge of Ashlyn’s judgment start to melt while she and EJ shared a moment. 

After a long moment, EJ looked away. “Ok, fine, we’ll be there.”

“Yes!” Ashlyn cried. “Let’s celebrate! I’m getting shots.”

As she jumped up to spot the server circulating with trays of cinnamon whiskey shots, EJ turned back to Gina. “You’re getting better at improv.” Even as it seemed he was trying to convince himself that she was faking, his hand slipped from her waist to her hip, his fingers dancing over the smooth knit of her sweater as she inched in even closer, her skin prickling with want as her thigh felt the way EJ's body was responding to their closeness, too. 

“That wasn’t improv, Eej. You clearly need somebody to be in your corner. Let it be me.”

“Gina, I…” he started, but couldn’t get a thought out before Ashlyn reappeared, plunking the shot glasses down on the table. “To family reunions and the girlfriends that make em happen!” 

Gina picked hers up and downed it quickly. Just as she was setting the glass back down, she saw Carlos walking across the lobby to the bathroom. She quickly jumped off of EJ’s lap like it was a hot stove, earning a confused look from Ashlyn.

“I just realized that I, um… I dropped my credit card, back where we were sitting before. I’ll… be right back.”

She dashed off before Ashlyn could question anything, ducking into a small alcove right off the bathrooms. She carefully watched the men’s room door, waiting for Carlos to come back out. To her relief, after he exited, he went back over to Seb and scooped up their jackets, heading out into the winter night. She let out a long breath. They’d dodged being discovered.

After ducking into the ladies herself, she went back out to where they had been sitting, but EJ and Ashlyn were nowhere to be found, their seats now taken by a couple of guys about her age. As she pulled out her phone to check where EJ had gone off to, one of them approached her. “Oh hey, didn’t see you before.”

“Hi,” she said tightly, not wanting to add another layer of complication with this guy hitting on her.

“Can I get you a drink, or…?” he asked, looking her up and down. 

“Oh, thanks, but…”

She didn’t even have a chance to finish speaking before a now-familiar warmth and scent of cologne pressed into her back. “Hey babe.”

When Gina turned her head, all of a sudden, EJ’s mouth was on hers. Instinctively, she turned in his arms, and he pulled her into him, his hand wandering down to rest on her ass. This kiss was possessive and raw, about a million times hotter than the one at the party the other day. 

When he finally pulled back, Gina glanced over and the man who’d been hitting on her was gone. When she looked back at EJ, he seemed a bit shocked at what he’d done.

“Is Ashlyn watching?” Gina asked.

“Ashlyn left.”

And now Gina was shocked at what he’d done. 

EJ didn’t seem to know just what to say next. “We should… do you want to…”

Gina interrupted him. “Let’s get drunk.”

Chapter Text

Hours later, Gina found herself laughing uncontrollably as she and EJ tripped up the driveway to the front door. She wasn’t even sure what she found so funny, but five espresso martinis ensured that whatever it was, it was hilarious.

“You’re being so loud,” EJ admonished as he fumbled with the keys to unlock the front door. “Carlos is going to blackball us from staying here if we disturb the neighbors.”

“Speaking of Carlos’s balls, how do you think the rest of their date went?” Gina asked as EJ finally got the door open.

“I don’t ever want to hear you say the phrase ‘speaking of Carlos’s balls’ again, please,” EJ groaned.

“I mean, that’s fair,” Gina conceded. “But still, what do you think happened after they left?”

“Based on the heavy amount of flirting they were doing through the first round of drinks, I’m guessing they’re both having a very good night.”

“Does that really mean anything, though?” Gina asked.

“Generally it means the person’s interested in something more happening.”

“But you’ve been flirting with me all night and…” Gina stopped short, unable to make herself say that EJ didn’t want her.

He looked in her eyes for one, two, three long beats. “Yeah, my point stands.”

Gina felt her heart just about stop in her chest and a heat rushed to her cheeks. She desperately wanted to say that there was a reason that she was flirting with him, too. So she did what any reasonable person would do.

She immediately put as much space between them as possible, walking to the far side of the living room and collapsing to the couch with a groan. “Even five martinis wasn’t enough to quell the pain of landing on my ass so many times today. Skiing is hard!”

If EJ was bothered by her ignoring his implication, he didn’t let it show. “You were actually a lot better at it than most,” he commented as he came over to the living room himself. He rolled his neck to stretch it out. “I always forget how much of a full body workout it is, though. My shoulders feel really tight.”

“Probably from hauling my ass up so many times,” Gina joked.

“I lift heavier than you, trust me,” he said, the spark of something in his eyes that Gina wasn’t sure how much longer she could ignore.

“Well, even though I’m a fitness instructor, there are still muscles I used today that I’m not even sure I knew existed,” she sighed as she felt stiffness settling in. “I’m going to be feeling this tomorrow.”

“Well, I mean… we DO have a hot tub outside,” EJ said. “Might feel nice, help us both loosen up.”

“The drinks didn’t do enough of that?”

“Not based on my neck right now.”

Gina’s heart was pounding. There was no way that getting into her bikini and climbing into a hot tub with EJ right now was anything other than a terrible idea.

So of course she was ready to go for it.

“Do you know how to work it?”

EJ nodded. “There were instructions in what Carlos sent, and I’m sure it’s not that different from the ones at my family’s place.” He shoved himself up off the sectional. “You go change, I’ll get it set up.”

As EJ wandered out to the patio to pull the cover off and make sure it was working, Gina retreated to her room and pulled out her bathing suit. When she had originally been organizing her things for this trip, she was planning on making it with her boyfriend. So she’d selected one of her more revealing suits, a brown string bikini with barely-there bottoms and a ruffle along the top of the crossover bra cups, designed to call attention to her cleavage. Left with no other choice, she quickly donned the suit, grateful to remember that there was a robe in the closet of each room to take out to the hot tub. She slipped the thick white robe over her tiny suit and headed out to meet EJ.
The hot tub was open, lit up with blue lights and with towels hanging on the side. Steam billowed towards the sky as the hot water mingled with the freezing air. Gathering all her cold weather defiance, Gina ducked across the patio to the stairs, shedding her robe at the last second as she sunk beneath the water, so hot it stung her skin. But after a long day on the cold mountain, it was a pleasant sort of sting, the one that promised to finally thaw the last vestiges of frost that had settled into her bones.

Just as she was acclimating to the water, EJ appeared at the glass sliding door, carrying two glasses of champagne. He moved with much less urgency than Gina did, less bothered by the cold despite his current life in LA. He hadn’t even bothered to toss on the robe from his closet, and Gina’s eyes immediately fixed on his toned chest and torso, smooth and hairless except for the trail of dark hair that filled in the ridge of his lower abs, leading to…

Gina snapped her gaze away from where it was wandering to on EJ’s frame, determined not to let the alcohol she’d consumed make her throw her better judgment completely out the window.

EJ set the glasses on top of the filter cabinet before climbing in himself. He winced slightly as the hot water climbed up his body, relishing the same sensation that Gina had just encountered. Before he sat down, he grabbed one of the glasses to hand to her. “Nothing to make espresso martinis, but Carlos did leave a welcome bottle of champagne in the fridge. Figured we should get around to drinking it.”

Gina smiled, holding up the glass in a toast before gulping half of it down in one go. She wasn’t sure if more alcohol or less was the right move in this situation, but she decided the effect of steadying her nerves should override any concerns about her judgment.

They sat in companionable silence, watching the stars and listening to the hum of the jets massaging Gina’s sore muscles from the ski slope.

“You were right,” Gina said after a few minutes. “This was exactly what my body needed after today.”

EJ seemed to choke a little on his sip of champagne as Gina referenced what her body needed, but he tried to cover it up. “Yeah, but even with the aches and pains, it was still a really fun day. For me, anyway. Did you… did you have a good time?”

There was a sweet, soft hesitancy in his voice that nearly made Gina swoon. “Yeah, it actually was really fun to try something new. Sometimes I feel like LA is such a bubble, you know? Despite my mom being disappointing, it’s actually a fun change of pace. But I don’t understand how today was fun for you. Wouldn’t you rather have been tearing down double diamonds or whatever?”

“Eh, I can do that any time I come back here. This was my only chance to go with you.”

The question sat on the tip of Gina’s tongue, why did he want to go with her? But she couldn’t make herself ask it. Instead, she said “Doesn’t sound like you get back here much, though.”

EJ sighed. “True, but it’s not because I don’t want to. It’s just… a lot.”

Gina nodded, not pushing the subject. She sank a little deeper into the water, trying to get the right angle from one of the jets to work out the knot in her shoulder from how she had to shove herself up off the snow all day. But none of them were angled high enough to make it. She gave a frustrated sigh as she reached behind her shoulder to try and work the knot with her fingers.

“Need some help?” EJ asked.

A million thoughts flooded Gina’s brain. Yes, she did. No, she didn’t, at least not from her gorgeous half-naked reluctant roommate turned scheme partner. Except yes, she definitely did need that from him.

“I just have this knot that won’t go away.”

“So let me try.”

Gina hesitated for a moment, before she gave herself over to whatever was going to happen in that hot tub. She shifted so her back was facing EJ. “It’s across the top of my shoulder blade.”

EJ’s fingers, warmed from the water, skated lightly across her skin before digging in a bit deeper on the back of her shoulder, looking for the tightness. “Oh, yep, there it is.” He began stroking down on the area, his long, strong hands a much more capable tool than Gina’s were. And she didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the water or the feel of EJ’s hands on her body, but a heat pooled in Gina’s core. She tried to ignore it and let her eyes slip shut, feeling the muscle relax. As the knot released under EJ’s firm touch, something halfway between a groan of release and moan of pleasure passed her lips. EJ froze for just a moment, before he went back to stroking over her skin.

“I didn’t expect massage services to come with this fake dating arrangement,” Gina quipped, trying to break the tension and remind herself this WAS fake.

But to her surprise, EJ leaned in and spoke directly into her ear. “Fake or not, I’m actually really grateful that you’re here.”

And something inside Gina just snapped. She had to have him.

She turned abruptly, and crashed her mouth into EJ’s. Any doubts she might have had about whether or not he was interested in her evaporated completely as he kissed her back, putting their other fake kisses to shame. HIs hands found her waist under the water tugging her closer, and she moved to straddle his lap. His mouth broke away from hers to trace a line of kisses along her cleavage as she settled down onto him, and Gina wove her fingers into his hair before she tugged his face up to meet hers, and let their mouths meld again, this time deeper.

Gina wasn’t sure how long they stayed there making out, EJ’s hands wandering over all the flesh exposed by her tiny bathing suit. But eventually, his hands stilled on her hips, and he gently pushed her back. “Gina, we can’t…”

She thought her heart might crack a little. “What do you mean, I thought…”

“And you’re right,” he said quickly. “But we’ve had a lot to drink tonight, and I don’t want to feel like… I don’t want to you, you know… regret this tomorrow.”

Gina closed her eyes. She knew there was no way she could regret him. But she also appreciated so much that he was worried about that.

“Ok,” she whispered. “But tomorrow…”

“We’ll talk,” he promised. “And we’ll figure out if we’re, you know… what this is.”

She nodded before reluctantly getting off his lap.

“We should get some sleep,” EJ said, rising to stand. Steam rose of his sculpted form, and Gina was at least satisfied that what she thought was his arousal pressing against her was visually evident. It was taking some serious willpower for him to walk away right now.

And instead of breaking her heart, it kind of melted it.

He got out and grabbed two towels off the rack, wrapping one around his waist quickly while motioning for her to get out. “Come on.”

He stepped over to the stairs while she exited the hot tub, before ushering her back inside. Once they were safely inside the house, he rubbed up and down her arms briskly to chase away any chill that had set in across the ten feet of patio they traversed.

“I’ll get this closed up, you go to bed.” He paused for a moment, before pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Good night.”

Chapter Text

Despite the martinis and day of skiing, it still took Gina too long to fall asleep after what had just transpired in the hot tub. Was there a part of her that was disappointed EJ had put a stop to things, even if he’d obviously made a wise decision given the circumstances? Sure. Was most of her tingling with anticipation, waiting to feel his lips on hers again? Yes. And that sense of giddy hope bubbling up insider her like some lovestruck teenager made sleep come slowly.

She eventually dropped off, and didn’t wake up until later than usual the next morning. When she glanced at her phone, it was already after nine. When she caught her reflection in the mirror, she realized that she hadn’t put her bonnet on the night before and her pigtail plaits were a frizzy mess. She debated redoing her hair before she went out to locate coffee, but after debating it for longer than she was comfortable admitting, she didn’t want EJ to think she was trying too hard, so she smoothed it with her hands and headed out into the kitchen.

EJ was up and seated at the island. She wanted to come up behind him and wrap her arms around him, pressing into his back and hoping it meant they could pick up where they left off the evening before. But then she noticed that he was on the phone.

And that his face wore a stony expression that Gina immediately recognized from the times she’d worn an identical one, and she knew there was only one person who could be on the other end of the line.

His dad.

“Mmhmm,” EJ said, his lips pressed into a straight line as if he was trying to physically restrain something from spilling out of his mouth. Another period of stony silence. “Send me the address, then. Ok.” And he hung up without another word, no parting niceties. Just the sound of his phone landing on the counter with a thud.

Gina slipped onto the stool next to him and cautiously laid her hand over his. “Is everything ok?”

EJ squeezed his eyes shut and looked down, but didn’t move away from her touch. “That was my dad. We’re being asked to join him for lunch today.”

“And by asked you mean…”

“Forced. We’re being forced to go see him.”

“Did you tell him it’s a we thing, that you’re not coming alone?”

“Oh, that’s why he insisted it happen today,” EJ said with a grimace. “To make sure I’m not bringing around some ‘LA party girl nightmare’ who shouldn’t be within twenty feet of anything Caswell.”

A sense of offended indignation rose in Gina’s chest, the judgment in EJ’s words, even knowing that they weren’t his own.

“Well, then I better get dressed and all that,” she said, running a soothing hand over his shoulders as she passed him to grab a cup of coffee to sip while she got ready.

He reached up and grabbed her wrist. “Hey, I know we need to… you know, about last night…”

Gina shook her head as she faced him, tracing a gentle touch down his arm. “It’s ok. You’re not in any space to have a serious conversation right now. Let’s get through lunch with your dad, and then we have the whole rest of the evening to talk and figure out… you know, whatever we’re doing here.”

“Are you sure? I feel like…”

“Don’t worry about me. Let me worry about you for a bit, ok?”

Without warning, EJ pushed to his feet and pulled her into him. He kissed her deeply, the strength of his arms pressing her against his chest with an authority.

After a moment, he broke away. “In case that helps make things a little clearer…”

She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You need to get ready yourself.”

“Somehow, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for this,” he mumbled, but picked up his coffee to head down to his room in the basement.

Gina retreated to her bathroom, taking a shower and meticulously styling her hair. She raked several products through her curls to get them to pop and shine just right, before moving onto her makeup. Once she was satisfied, she went through her suitcase, trying to determine what her best options were for meeting her fake boyfriend’s dad.

Though the amount of care she was putting into getting ready showed just how very not fake this had become for her.

Eventually, she settled on the plaid turtleneck and black dress she’d been planning to wear to church Christmas Eve with her mother, both because it was the nicest thing she’d packed, and because she only half believed that her mother would make it back in time anyway. She pulled on a pair of black heeled ankle boots and went out to see if EJ was ready to go.

He was back in the spot at the island, now dressed in a cream sweater with his dark hair nearly styled. His shoulders and face were tense, but when he looked up at met her eye, all that melted away into a smile. “Gina, wow, you look…”

“Like an LA party girl nightmare?” she asked with a smirk.

“Hardly. You look beautiful.” His gaze raked up and down her frame. “I love your hair like that, it’s gorgeous.”

Gina bit her lip, a sort of shyness settling over her. It always hit her some kind of way when someone complimented her natural hair. Ricky had always preferred it straight, and Gina felt like she knew why when she saw photos of his ex, his first love from back in Chicago. “Thank you,” she said quietly, before she approached him to pluck a single hair from the cream colored shoulder of his sweater. “You look nice, too. That’s a good color on you, you look so tan.”

“I’m sure my dad will have something to say about that,” he said with a sigh, nervously running his hands over his pants to smooth the non-existent creases from sitting down. . “You know, too much time on the beach, not enough time in the office.”

“But you work for one of the most prestigious entertainment law firms in LA,” Gina said, shaking her head. “What more does he want from you?”

A smirk quirked up the corners of EJs mouth, and he looked up to meet her eye. “I never told you the name of the firm where I work. Now who’s playing internet detective?”

Now it was Gina’s turn to blush and sputter. “I mean, you stalked me online, it’s only fair that I, you know, take twenty second to Google you and make sure…”

“I’m totally kidding,” he assured her. “But you don’t need to look me up, ask me anything you want to know. I’ll tell you.”

The only question Gina wanted answered was what happened to cause the breakdown in his relationship with his dad. But this was quite obviously not the time for that question, not right before they were going to see the man himself. She picked a totally different topic. “Ok, tell me a secret.”

“A secret?” he asked, creasing his brow.

“Something no one knows about you, something you’re afraid to admit out loud.”

EJ stopped to think. “I’m afraid of sheep.”

Gina couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, you’re what?”

“Afraid of sheep,” he repeated. “I don’t like the noise they make, the whole baaahhhh sound thing. Freaks me out.”

“How do you even figure that out?”

“Grew up in Utah, remember? Plenty of farms around here. Petting zoos were torture.”

“I’m sorry,” Gina said, trying to get back in control. “I just… that’s not at all what I expected.”

“I’m full of surprises,” he said, raising his eyebrow flirtatiously. It made Gina’s heart soar, that she’d been able to get him to calm down a little and get out of his own head before they left to see his dad. How badly she wanted to help him took her by surprise, but felt right, too.

“Well, then, hopefully there’s no sheep at lunch.”

“Oh no, don’t worry, we’re going to the country club. Tradition for Dad to want to meet on his turf.” He checked his phone. “Car’s here.”

Gina pulled her coat on by the door, carefully bundling up but not crushing her curls. EJ followed suit, adding his dark navy wool peacoat over his outfit, a stark contrast to his bright red ski parka the day before.

“Hey,” he said, catching her hand as she pulled open the door. “I meant what I said last night, I really am glad you’re here.”

She smiled. “Me too.” She put her mittened hand in his bare one, and they walked out to face whatever this lunch would be, side by side.

Chapter Text

The car ride to the club was tense and silent, EJ staring out the window while Gina just clung to his hand. She wished she knew what to say to bring any sort of lightness, but the longer they drove, the more lost in his own head EJ became.

When she couldn’t take it anymore, Gina nudged him. “At least there won’t be sheep.”

EJ gave a thin smile. “Thank goodness for that.”

They pulled through the gates of an area labeled Promontory Park City. When EJ said they were going to a country club, she expected a golf course. But this was a huge planned community, with luxurious homes lining the road that their Uber pulled down and framed by the mountains and looking like something out of a Christmas movie.

“Does your dad live here?” Gina asked.

“This is his vacation home,” EJ explained. “He bought it not long after Mom died, I think mostly so he’d have somewhere to be that wasn’t there. I never liked it up here, though. I always preferred our house, where at least there were memories of her, you know?”

Gina clung to his hand even tighter. It sounded like both Caswell men were deeply wounded by his mom’s death, even if they couldn’t figure out how to talk about it. 

The car glided up in front of a large building styled to look like a modern mountain lodge, all wood and sleek glass. “This the right spot?” the driver asked. 

EJ nodded, and got out without another word. Gina scrambled out behind him, calling “Thank you!” to the driver as she slammed the door. She grabbed his hand again, willing him to slow down a bit as they headed into the posh club. 

Though EJ had said he didn’t spend much time here, he moved with authority through the building to a dining room at the back. “Reservation for Caswell,” he mumbled to the chic looking hostess dressed all in black. 

“Ah, yes, hello Mr. Caswell. Your father informed us you and your companion would be joining him,” she said, nodding in Gina’s direction. “If you’d like to give me your coats, I can…”

“No thanks,” EJ said quickly, pulling the collar of his coat with his free hand as if it were a suit of armor, or at least an escape hatch. Gina understood. If things went south, he didn’t want to stand there waiting for coat check. 

“Well then, if you’ll follow me, please.” She led them past the sleek bar, towards the massive windows. There were a few other parties scattered at the tables around the room, but overall, it was quiet for the middle of a Tuesday afternoon. Gina guessed that most of the local residents were out on the ski slopes rather than eating claustrophobic meals with semi-estranged family. 

As the hostess approached their table, there was already someone seated there. A serious looking man in a sweater and sportcoat was scanning the menu with a bored expression. When he heard they approach, he glanced up, and Gina immediately noticed that he had the exact same eyes as EJ.

“Mr. Caswell, your guests have arrived,” the hostess chirped brightly. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“More scotch,” his dad said without looking up.

“Right away, sir,” the hostess said, before leaving them to whatever this was.

“Dad, hi,” EJ said, stiff and haltingly. 

The man at the table finally looked up. “Elton, good to see you.” His tone indicated it was anything but, and he gave him just the sparest of nods, not even extending his hand to shake.

Gina bit down on the inside of her cheek, willing herself not to have a reaction to EJ’s full name. No wonder he went by EJ. 

“And who might this be?” he asked, inclining his head in Gina’s direction.

“Dad this is…” EJ began, but Gina cut him off, stepping forward and sticking out her hand. “Gina Porter, sir. Nice to meet you.”

He regarded her hand warily for a moment, before extending his own to shake. “I’m Cash Caswell. I would say it’s nice to meet you as well, but until the other day, I wasn’t even aware of your existence.”

Gina may not be able to do improv, but she didn’t need to in this case. She’d stood up to more than one guy like this before. “Wasn’t it kind of EJ to protect me from family politics for as long as possible? Discretion is a bit of a lost art, I fear.”

EJ cast a sideways glance at her, but said nothing as he pulled out Gina’s chair for her to have a seat. She gave Cash a smile laced with poison as she picked up her menu. 

“Well, Elton, we do have some business to attend to, but I suppose we should discuss this,” he gestured between EJ and Gina. “Before we get to that. 

Gina saw the muscles in EJ’s jaw tighten as he clenched his teeth. “This? You mean my relationship with Gina?”

“We’ll get to that, but first, Gina, tell me about yourself. You must live in LA now, but where are you from?”

“I’m not really from anywhere,” she said with a shrug. “My mother is a disaster response coordinator for FEMA so we relocated frequently. I grew up all over the south and midwest.”

“A government employee, eh? You’re welcome for all the taxes our business pays.” Cash picked up his glass and took a long drag. “And what brings you to LA now?”

“I’m an actor, that’s where the work is.”

“An actor? What would I have seen you in?”

Gina knew exactly what was happening, that Cash was trying to shame her and convince EJ that she was only dating him for the money. But unfortunately for Cash, Gina had been dealing with underhanded commentary from her mother about her career for years, so she wasn’t about to let him of all people get a rise out of her. Not when EJ needed her to be the steady one. “Most of my work has been on small, independent projects. Still looking for the real big break, you know? But I also model and have an extensive social media following, so I’m doing just fine.”

EJ’s hand crept over her leg under the table, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She tucked her fingers neatly over his and tightened her grip herself, so he’d know she had this. 

“And how exactly does a wannabe actress and pseudo-influencer meet a corporate lawyer?”

EJ gave half a sigh. “You know I don’t work in corporate law, Dad. I’m an entertainment attorney that specializes in copyright and IP.” 

Cash waved his hand dismissively. “The law’s the law, and you work for money. But to get back to the question at hand…”

“I needed a contract reviewed for a brand partner deal, and EJ’s firm came highly recommended,” Gina lied smoothly, finally getting a bit of improv right.

Cash snorted derisively. “Don’t tell me you were stupid enough to date a client.”

“Of course not,” Gina chimed in before EJ even felt the need to defend himself. “The attorney I worked with isn’t nearly as good looking.” She shot him a smirk, raising an eyebrow slightly. “We happened to share an elevator as I was leaving from the meeting, and well… the rest is history!”

“Went in for a consult, left with a wealthy man on the hook. You are quite the actress.” Cash raised his glass in a mock toast, and EJ looked like he was about to explode. 

“I’m not dating EJ because of his money,” Gina insisted. She looked over at EJ, hoping he’d fee her sincerity even in a lie. “He’s also the kindest, most authentic person I’ve met in six years in LA. I’M the one who would be stupid if I let that pass me by.”

Cash said nothing, but drained his glass. Their server immediately appeared, and they ordered drinks and lunch. Gina decided the best course of action was to just keep talking as if Cash wasn’t there, and let him participate in the conversation if he wanted. “So EJ, do you think we’ll have time to go skiing again before we head home?”

EJ gave her a bit of a look, but eventually played along. “I hope so. But if you want to get better, we should talk about what you need to work on.”

The two of them chatted back and forth through the meal while Cash watched in a careful, stony silence. As their plates were cleared away, Cash cleared his throat. “Well, if you two are done nattering, I suppose we should get to the purpose of this meeting.” He withdrew a white envelope from his breast pocket and placed it in front of EJ. “Merry Christmas, son.”

EJ picked the envelope up gingerly, as if he was afraid it was a bomb about to go off. He pulled out a sheet of paper and read it carefully. After several long moments of silence, he folded the paper back up and placed it back in the envelope. “No,” he said quietly as he placed it back on the table. 

“No?” Cash asked, incredulous. “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean I don’t accept.”

“That’s your letter confirming your appointment as partner in the company.”

“And respectfully, I’m not working for you. I’m not moving back here. I want nothing to do with Caswell Enterprises.”

“You’d think you’d be more grateful for a gift.”

“A gift is generally something someone has asked for,” EJ said, rising to his feet. “And for the last ten years, I’ve made it crystal clear that I’d rather set myself on fire than be subjected to working with you every day. And no amount of strong-arming me into it is going to change my mind.”

Cash’s eyes darted back and forth between Gina and EJ. “This is your fault,” he said, pointing at Gina. “He doesn’t want to leave LA because you’ve somehow enchanted him into believing you’re actually in love with him.”

“Gina has nothing to do…” EJ began, but Gina cut him off as she rose to her feet next to him.

“I will gladly accept the blame for EJ living his own life. But I’m not about to sit here and let you try to force him into anything by making him question our relationship. You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to even respect it. But I won’t listen to it while you do.” And she turned on her heel and headed for the door. 

She didn’t expect EJ to follow her, thinking he’d stay behind to keep hashing this out with his dad. But seconds later, his steps fell into place behind her, his hand against her back. 

They went outside as EJ tapped on his screen. “Uber is right around the corner.”

They were as silent on the way back as they were on the way there, but a different energy hummed between them. Gina had expected EJ to be sad, or angry. But by the way his hand crept further and further up her thigh as they rode, it seemed this fiasco was about to send their relationship careening in a whole different direction.

They’d barely made it back inside the AirBnB when Gina spun around and pressed EJ back against the door. “I don’t know what that was, but right now, I just want to make you forget.” And she crashed her mouth into his. 

EJ responded in kind, no hesitation. She pushed his coat off his shoulders and fumbled for the bottom of his sweater, eager to get her hands back on his smooth skin. He broke their kiss long enough to ask “Are you sure?”

She couldn’t form words, just nodded, before grabbing his wrist and turning to take him to her bedroom.

Chapter Text

Even though it was the middle of the afternoon, the overwhelm of everything that went down with EJ’s dad before they’d fallen into bed together meant they both dropped off for a nap once they’d finished. By the time Gina stirred, a couple hours had passed and darkness had set in outside the window, with a heavy blanket of snow falling through the inky sky. EJ was still in bed next to her, but he’d already woken up, his back facing Gina as his face was bathed in light from his phone.

In her still nap addled state, it took Gina a few moments to realize that EJ was crying.

He was trying to do it silently, so as not to wake her, she was sure. But she instantly recognized the suppressed shake of his shoulders, the subtle sniff he tried to conceal. She’d done it herself in every new bedroom she’d had as a child, mourning another move but too proud to let her mother see her struggle, even when she was young. She learned a long time ago that her feelings weren’t going to matter, so showing them was either a sign of dramatics or weakness, neither of which Gina knew Terri would find acceptable. So she put her pain away until her tears would be concealed by the cover of darkness, and learned to hide the other signs that would give it away.

Maybe all EJ wanted was to be left alone in his misery, but Gina couldn’t just lay there and pretend she didn’t see him hurting. She reached out a tentative hand and placed it on EJ’s shoulder. He froze for a moment, realizing he had heard her. But then it was like the dam broke, and his shoulders contracted in a sob. Gina quickly put her arms around him, pressing her body into his back so he’d feel the full weight of her support, that he was safe there.

For a few long minutes, Gina just held him and let him cry. Between his still half-choked sobs, he rasped out “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” she murmured softly.

“I didn’t want you to see this.”

“Do you let anyone see this?”

He shook his head as best he could while still down on the pillow.

“Then thank you.”

“Thank you?” he said, his tears finally slowing in his confusion.

“It takes a lot more strength to be vulnerable than it does to be fake.”

EJ shifted onto his back, looking up at her, now propped on her elbow next to him. “That’s not what my dad thinks.”

“And this may come as a shock, but I don’t give a flying fuck what your dad thinks.”

EJ gave a mirthless laugh. “You’d be the first. Because after all this time, I have no idea why, but I still do.”

“Because he’s your dad,” Gina said gently. “I think sons are always chasing the approval of their fathers, whether or not they want to admit it. Same with mothers and daughters, or at least me with mine.”

“I don’t have a mom’s approval to chase.”

Gina glanced down at EJ’s phone, the screen still illuminated. It contained a picture of a beautiful woman with long, dark hair. “Is that her?” she practically whispered.

EJ nodded, tipping the screen towards Gina further. “She was beautiful,” Gina said in awe. She lived in Hollywood and spent her days around gorgeous models and influencers, and this woman was in that kind of a league. The same sort of magnetically attractive looks that her son had inherited, even if he had his father’s eyes.

“She was the glue that held our family together, and once she was gone, we… we never recovered. Dad wouldn’t, maybe couldn’t, talk about it. He just kept pushing me and pushing me, saying that’s what Mom would have wanted. And for a long time, I believed him. She married him, right? That was obviously the kind of man Mom would have wanted me to be.” He sighed heavily. “Until I realized that the man he’d become wasn’t the person Mom would have wanted either.”

“What do you mean?” Gina asked gently.

“Dad’s goal for me was always to go to Duke just like he did, take over the business just like he did. And then I didn’t get into Duke. The Caswell legacy, shattered.”

Every wound Gina’s mother had ever inflicted with her barbed words about Gina’s career throbbed as EJ spoke. She knew exactly how he felt. “And that was it? That’s what blew everything up between the two of you?”

“I mean, first he bribed the admissions office and tried to strong-arm me into going just like he did today with the job offer, and when that didn’t work, he threatened to cut me off if I didn’t go to some boarding school in St. Louis for a year. I called his bluff, and he did it. That’s why we didn’t speak for years.”

Gina’s eyes went wide as she tried to process all this information. She believed every bit of it, based on the cold, calculating man she’d met at lunch that day, but to hear the details of it straight from EJ’s mouth was still overwhelming. “Wow, that’s… I’m so sorry, EJ. No one should have that happen to them, especially when…” She trailed off, her eyes once again falling on his phone.

“When I’d already lost one parent?” he filled in. He shook his head. “My whole life, my dad has wanted me to be just like him. And I’ve realized the only thing I want is to be just like her. Kind, a good listener, someone who… who builds up other people, you know?”

“You do,” Gina said in a hushed whisper. “You’ve been doing that for me since we met, and you had no reason at all to. You saw I needed you, and decided you were all in. That takes… that takes a special kind of person.”

“A schemer, you mean. Maybe I AM more like my dad than I care to admit.

But Gina shook her head. “No, that’s not what it is at all. You’re one of one, EJ Caswell. I’m absolutely certain of that.”

With his tears now dried on his cheeks, he actually cracked a smile. “You’re just saying that because I’m the only person you’ve ever met who’s afraid of sheep.”

Gina laughed. “I mean, that’s also true.”

“Thank you,” he whispered quietly.

She wrapped her arms around his torso and settled her head down onto his chest. “We should think about dinner at some point.”

“I know. But for right now, can we just…” He trailed off as he pulled her in tighter.

“Yeah,” she said. “We can.” And they settled into a comfortable silence, nothing but the sound of their breath cutting through the stillness.

Chapter Text

Wednesday morning, Gina was up with the sun. After the disaster with EJ’s father the day before, her anxiety was through the roof, because she really, really hoped that day would go better.

Tonight, EJ would meet her mom.

They still hadn’t talked about what this was, hadn’t defined their relationship or what they were to each other. Once EJ finally calmed down the evening before, Gina didn’t dare upset his fragile peace with any pointed questions. Instead, she’d decided to let their bodies do the talking, and they spent hours enjoying each other, no faking of any kind required for that. Afterwards, they fell asleep wrapped up together yet again. And now that the day was here, she didn’t want to risk things going south, because she couldn’t admit out loud how badly she needed EJ there tonight.

Their plans were pretty straightforward. A 4pm church service followed by dinner at Gina’s mother’s apartment. They had plans to stop by in the morning as well, but that was just for a quick goodbye before Terri had to head back out to her disaster response site to help coordinate a Christmas dinner for people living in a motel, displaced by the evacuation orders for the fire. It was how Gina had spent countless Christmases, in a high school gym still smelling vaguely of stale sweat or a drab church basement with a cheerless group of people going through tragedy at the holidays.

She felt guilty that she was grateful she never had to do that again.

Gina tossed and turned for a bit before she gave up, and slipped out of bed as quietly as she could. EJ was still asleep, clearly worn out from the emotion of the day before and needing to catch up on rest. Some time during the night, he’d tossed off the heavy down comforter that Gina had enjoyed curling up in every night and it pooled around his waist. His bare chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm, and before she went to go make coffee, she passed by his side of the bed to run her fingers lightly over his torso, almost to convince herself that he was really there.

As her coffee brewed, she scrolled on her phone to try and distract from the noise inside her head, the constant scroll of criticisms that she expected to hear from her mother and her possible rebuttals.

No, that audition hadn’t panned out.

Yes, her agent and manager still wanted to keep her as a client.

Yes, she could afford her rent with her gym job.

No, she didn’t want Jamie to make any calls for her. She could get there on her own.

Even if she wasn’t totally convinced of that herself.

She was sipping her second cup when EJ emerged, his boxers pulled back on and his eyes still hooded with sleep. “How late is it?”

Gina chuckled as she consulted her phone. “It’s literally not even eight yet, I don’t think that exactly qualifies as late.”

“Are you kidding? I’m at the gym by 530 pretty much every day back home. I’ve basically been a sloth on this trip.”

“Because sloths run miles in the cold and ski,” she deadpanned.

“Says the woman who literally works out for a living,” he countered.

“Yeah, I teach 6am spin three days a week, so I’m all about that early life, too.” There was a cryptic half a smile on EJ’s lips, one that she couldn’t quite read. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just… I’ve spent my whole adult life running from this place. Utah, I mean. So it’s a trip to realize I had to come back here to find the woman who was the thing my life in LA was missing.” Gina’s cheeks heated up as EJ leaned in to press a kiss to her temple before he poured himself a cup of coffee. That was the clearest indication he’d given that he intended for their relationship to endure past this trip, and that was good enough for her for now. “So should we get out for a run, then? Do we need to do some preemptive diet damage control?”

“Oh, Lord,” Gina said with a roll of her eyes. “My mom is originally from Alabama, and there’s two times a year she breaks out her Southern: Family reunion for fried chicken, and Christmas for all the rest. Ham, greens, sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese. It’s a stereotype, but in this case, it’s absolutely true.”

“So some extra miles this morning, then?”

“Good idea.”

They each downed a banana and got dressed in their running clothes and went for a long, looping run around town. The air was clear and cold, but somehow didn’t seem as biting. Gina wasn’t sure if it was actually warmer, or if she’d just slowly started to grow used to the cold.

Or maybe being in step with EJ made everything feel just a little warmer.

When they got back to the house, as they were shedding their outer layers, Gina watched the tech top that EJ was wearing ride up to expose his abs, one of the places she’d loved exploring the evening before. The thought thawed her out quickly, and she grabbed his hand. “We should save water and shower together.”

He smirked. “How environmentally responsible of you.”

“What can I say? Being around all this nature brings it out in me.”

“Brings something out in you,” EJ breathed, closing the distance between them, a trail of their clothes soon littering the floor on the way to the bathroom.

Was Gina using sex as a distraction? Absolutely. But when EJ was involved, it was a really, really good one.

When they’d finished up in the shower, EJ went to make them something light for lunch while GIna styled her hair. They had a few groceries delivered, and when Gina emerged from her bedroom, EJ was frying eggs to place on top of the avocado toast he’d made.

“These avocados are crap compared to what we can get back home,” he warned her. “I’m used to them practically melting onto the bread, I had to mash these pretty aggressively, they’re looking rough.”

“Still, this looks so good,” she assured him as she sat at the island and EJ slid a plate in front of her. The egg was a perfect sunny side up, the white completely set but not browned at all, even at the edges, and it was sprinkled with a flaky salt and fresh pepper, plus a little cayenne.

“Occupational hazard of being disowned, you have to learn how to cook for yourself,” he said, making half a joke out of the situation as he passed her a glass of water.

“I feel your pain,” Gina nodded. “With Mom working all the time, I had to learn how to fend for myself pretty early. Turns out you can learn pretty much anything with a tutorial on YouTube and enough time on your hands.”

“That sounds like it would have been really tough,” EJ commented as he sat down next to her with his own plate and glass.

“It was, I can admit that now. Never would have at the time, had to just… forge ahead wherever we landed, you know?”

“Not until I didn’t have any other choice, but yeah, now I do.” He paused. “What’s she like? Your mom, I mean. Is she like my dad?”

Gina gave a mirthless laugh. “No, not at all. And I don’t know if that’s better or worse. Because from the moment I laid eyes on him, I knew exactly what I was getting with Cash. My mom’s more… subtle.”

“How so?”

“She’s almost passive aggressive, I guess? Everything is cloaked in concern. I’m just looking out for you, I want to make sure that my daughter is, all of that. It’s like she justifies the way she critcizes every little thing is that she’s actually trying to help, and then gets offended when you call her on it.”

“Sounds pretty toxic.”

“It is. So I’ve basically given up trying to convince her that it’s hurtful and just try and, I don’t even know, absorb it?”

“Seems like it would be better to let it bounce off you.”

“And when you figure out how to do that, will you let me know?”

EJ gave a knowing nod.

“I wish it didn’t bother me,” she confessed quietly. “I wish I was as independent as she likes to think that she raised me to be. But like I told you last night, I’m still chasing her approval, even if I know I’ll never get it. Because it’s also the closest thing I think I’ll ever get to her affection.”

EJ placed his hand over hers on the counter, and Gina kept her gaze locked on her long, strong fingers.. “And you deserve that and so much more.”

“I’m not so sure of that.”

“I am.”

Gina looked over at EJ’s face, and those green eyes were full of sincerity.

“Whatever you need tonight, I’m there,” he reminded her.

And despite her entire history telling her not to, she believed him.

Chapter Text

It was freezing when they left for church, but Gina still insisted on having the Uber drop them off a block away and walking. Luckily, it was on the north side of the city so the ride down from Park City hadn’t taken too long, and now they could perfectly time their arrival.

“Why are we doing this, exactly?” EJ asked as he rearranged his scarf, trying to buffer his fae better from the eye-watering wind.

“Because we have to time our arrival for exactly three minutes before the service begins,” Gina explained, rambling nervously. “My mom will have gotten there early to save seats. She’ll be annoyed but won’t say anything because the service will be about to start. And we’ll avoid having to make conversation until afterwards.”

EJ slid her some side eye before taking her hand. “You’re in charge.”

The wind whipping made it too cold to really talk, so they walked in silence towards the low white building that housed Gina’s mom’s church. As they headed up the steps with the throngs of other Christmas worshippers, EJ slipped his gloves off to grab Gina’s hand. He leaned in and whispered in her ear “Would now be a good time to mention I’m Jewish?”

Gina whipped her head around to look at him, panic settling over her. There was no way that they were going to be able to pull this off if EJ…

He noticed the look on her face and quickly shook his head. “I’m just kidding. Ashlyn’s mom is Jewish, but the rest of my dad’s family is vaguely Christian. I can fake it well enough, anyway.”

“EJ, I really can’t take any surprises right now.”

“It was supposed to be a joke, to lighten the mood and maybe get you to calm down a little.”

Gina shook her head. There was very little that was going to ease her anxiety in this moment.

Gina spotted her mom near the middle of the sanctuary, checking the time on her watch with disapproval etched on her face even in profile. Terri Porter still wore a wristwatch every day, unable to rely on cell phones to actually be able to be charged and functional in some of the places she went. Watching someone check the time never failed to remind GIna of her mom, or her mom’s constant demands for timeliness.

She pulled EJ up the aisle and slipped into the pew. “Hi, Mom,” she said quietly, leaning in to give her a hug.

“There you are,” she said into Gina’s ear. “I’d just about given you up for lost.”

“We made it,” Gina said, a layer off faux cheer attempting to conceal the tightness in her voice. “We’ll talk more later, but, Mom, this is…”

“Hi, EJ Caswell,” EJ said smoothly, leaning across Gina to shake her mom’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m grateful things are stable enough with the fires up north that you were able to make it back down for the holiday.”

“Nice to meet you too, young man,” Terri said, looking slightly suspicious but also slightly impressed. Before she could say anything else, though, the music began.

They rose to their feet to sing some carols. Gina handed EJ a music book, not really expecting him to join in, but he quickly found the right page and began to sing along. Gina was almost taken aback when she heard him, a clear, warm baritone that was obviously well-developed. She had to conceal the surprise on her face, but she squeezed his hand tightly, and he gave her a smile between verses of ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’.

They sat down to listen to the Bible readings and hear the preacher speak, but Gina couldn’t focus on any of it through the hum of her anxiety. She subconsciously began to bounce her knee, a nervous habit she’d had since her dance competition days. Before she even noticed she was doing it, EJ placed his hand on her knee to still it, warm and grounding. She glanced over at him, and he gave her a single nod. He was here. It didn’t improve her ability to focus on the service, but did shift her focus from the hum in her head to the feel of his touch on her knee with just her tights in between. And the longer his hand lingered on her leg, the further from her mind wandered from her anxiety to the kind of thoughts she should definitely not be having in the middle of a church service.

After a few more carols and speakers, the service concluded. Most of the congregation staying milling around in the sanctuary, wishing each other merry Christmas and chattering before making their way home for their holiday meals. Gina’s mom took the opportunity to start her interrogation early. “How has your trip been so far?”

“Oh, you know, it’s been fine,” Gina said carefully. She was trying to skirt the line between having it sound like she didn’t miss the fact that her mom had skipped out on seeing her until now, but also didn’t want to sound needy. “We’ve spent a little time with EJ’s family, and he taught me how to ski.”

“Skiing? You’ve never been much for the cold,” Terri pointed out.

“Ah, don’t let her fool you, she did great out there,” EJ interjected with a smooth smile on his face. “She did at least as well as I did at handling the cold, and I’m a Utah native. But then again, living in LA for as long as I have probably doesn’t do me any favors there.”

“Gina didn’t mention you were from around here,” Terri said, glancing sideways at Gina.

“Oh, yeah, my whole family is from right here in Salt Lake.”

“You said your last name is Caswell?”

Gina’s stomach turned. Where was her mom going with this?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“We’ve been working with the hospital here in town who are treating some of the wildfire victims with smoke and burn injuries. Isn’t there a building there that’s called the Caswell something or other?”

Something changed on EJ’s face, a flash of pain before he gave a small, sad seeming smile. “The Caswell Cancer Center. It’s named in memory of my mom.”

Gina’s heart broke, realizing she’d never even asked what happened to EJ’s mom. She resolved to find out more about it from him later, whenever he was ready to go there.

“In memory?” Terri asked gently, or at least as gently as she got.

“She passed away almost fifteen years ago,” EJ explained. “The new building was dedicated about five years back. She was a major benefactor of the hospital, even before she needed treatment there.”

“I’m sorry, son,” Terri said, placing a soothing hand on his shoulder. Something unexpected flared in Gina’s gut, a sense of jealousy at seeing her mother be so kind to EJ that she’d known for a matter of minutes. It should have made her happy that her mom and her fake boyfriend were getting on, that it meant the scheme was working as intended. But it just left her feeling even more mixed up.

“Thank you,” he said quietly before seemingly deciding to change the subject. “And thank you for inviting me to join you tonight, it was a beautiful service.”

“You certainly seemed to enjoy singing along! You’ve got quite the voice. Gina, didn’t you say that he did something in music? You met through Jamie, right?”

Ugh, why is that the detail that her mom had retained about her talking about Ricky? How was she going to weasel out of this one?

“Oh, no, I’m not a musician. We DID meet because of Jamie, though. I’m an entertainment lawyer, and my firm does the copyright work for his label. He referred Gina to us when she needed a contract reviewed, and we met in the elevator.” EJ had clearly retained all the details from the story Gina had spun for his dad.

“Contract?” Terri said, turning to Gina. “Did you book a role? Wouldn’t your agent be handling that? You really shouldn’t try to do something outside of your scope.”

“Oh, no, this was a brand partner deal. That makeup company I’ve done some sponsored videos for?” That contract was so small Gina couldn’t have afforded to have the deal reviewed even if she wanted to, but her mom didn’t need to know that.

“And I have a feeling that one’s just the beginning,” EJ said, beaming as he wrapped his arm around her waist. “I’m really proud of how hard she works. So many people I meet in my line of work are superficial and just chasing cheap fame. She’s the real deal.”

Gina couldn’t help it, her heart almost burst. And she was just waiting for her mom to deflate the entire thing, by pointing out that she’d been working hard for years with no results.

But all Terri did was smile. “She’s always been a very hard worker.”

“And it’s clear where she gets it from,” EJ added. Gina was convinced her mom would see through it, a transparent attempt to charm her that she would never…

“Oh, you’re good,” Terri laughed, a blush rising to her cheeks. An actual blush.

What kind of sorcery was EJ working here?

They made their way outside, stopping to shake hands with the pastor before heading to Terri’s car. The longer she watched her mom and EJ interact, the more uneasy Gina became.

“We’ll meet you in the lot in a minute, Mom,” Gina said, grabbing EJ’s arm to pull him to the side.

“Sure thing,” Terri said with a nod. “I should call to check in with the shelter site anyway.”

As she walked away, Gina turned to EJ in almost a panic. “EJ, I don’t know what’s going on, but I promise you, she’s not usually like this.”

“Like what?” EJ asked.

“Like… this NICE,” Gina said, fumbling for the right words. “I swear I’m not exaggerating when I talk about how critical and cruel she can be. I think this is the first time that she’s said anything remotely nice about my career in years. I don’t want to think that I’m, I don’t know, some kind of hysterical crazy person about her.” Her breathing was heavy and her eyes felt wild,

“Hey, hey, hey,” EJ said soothingly. “I don’t think any of that.”

“It’s just… it was clear from the moment I laid eyes on your dad, he’s exactly who you said he was. And now my mom’s acting like some person I’ve never met before.”

“You think I don’t understand that people act differently in front of different people? Especially once they know how much money my family has?”

A sense of shame rose in Gina’s gut, that maybe this was who her mother was in front of donors and benefactors that they relied on to get disaster relief done.

“Besides,” EJ continued. “You saw my dad when he was on the warpath already. He can be plenty charming himself. You don’t make the kind of money he does by being an asshole all the time. I get that two-faced feeling.”

Gina looked at the ground, both relief and embarrassment washing over her. “I’m sorry, I should have…”

“Don’t worry. Let’s just go meet your mom and have dinner. We’re halfway there, we can do this.”

“Ok,” Gina said reluctantly before picking up EJ’s hand to walk to the car.

Chapter Text

Gina offered EJ the front seat of her mom’s car since he was taller than her, and she spent the ride to her mom’s apartment listening to them chat back and forth about Gina’s mom’s work, EJ’s job, the weather in Utah.

It was like Gina ceased to exist in the backseat.

She tried not to let it get to her, to focus on the fact that things were going well and there was someone there to deflect the heat that Gina usually felt from spending time with her mom. But that sting of jealousy reared its ugly head every time her mom paid EJ a compliment. Gina had never thought of herself as a jealous person, but tonight was proving otherwise.

They arrived at her mom’s building and headed up to her place on the second floor. Gina felt a wave of nauseous nostalgia pass over her as she walked in. It looked exactly like every other anonymous apartment they’d lived in over the years, with low pile beige carpeting and bland cream colored walls. Back when she was still living with Terri, Gina often tried to make the apartments feel more like home, putting up picture frames with sticky strips, careful to never leave permanent holes that would need to be patched before they moved out. But now that it was just Terri, it looked like she didn’t even do that much.

“Don’t mind the mess,” Terri said as they took off their coats. “As you know, I wasn’t expecting to be gone all week, and I didn’t have as much chance as I’d like to straighten up.”

As Terri bustled into the kitchen, EJ turned to Gina and mouthed What mess? The place was si barren, it was hard to think of any of it as messy. But out of the corner of her eye, Gina caught sight of a suitcase and duffle bag leaning against the wall in the living room. She gestured to it with a vague shrug, and EJ rolled his eyes. Gina had to suppress a giggle. Terri loaded items into the oven to heat at they went to sit on the couch.

“How do you like Salt Lake so far?” EJ asked Terri when she was finished.

“Well, I can imagine it’s a nicer place to spend some time when it’s not freezing and on fire,” Terri said. “But the people here have all been lovely. Very friendly. Reminds me of the south, where I grew up.”

“Gina mentioned you’re from Alabama. Do you miss it?”

“Goodness no. My family, sure. But there’s not a lot of space for women like me to be a success in rural Alabama. Once I got a scholarship to Spelman, that was the last Alabama saw of me.”

“Impressive,” EJ said, shooting a grin at Gina. EJ knew just how to charm and flatter Terri.

“Thank you, young man. I only wish that Gina had followed in my footsteps. Especially since the acting part of your acting career hasn’t seemed to take hold yet.”

There it was, the opening salvo. Now that the floodgates had opened, Gina knew exactly what to expect. “It can take time to get your name out there. But I’ve had some really promising auditions.”

“What about that TV series? The one you were reading for?”

Gina froze for a moment, but EJ jumped in. “They said they wouldn’t have an answer on that til after the new year, right, babe? Something about the money getting held up?”

“Oh, uh, yeah, that one. Sorry, I’ve been getting so many calls lately, it’s hard to keep them straight.”

“Anything concrete happening?”

“Oh, I mean, EJ mentioned the brand partner deal, that’s really the biggest thing that…”

“She’s being modest,” EJ said. “Come on, babe, that independent short you did? That’s going to get accepted to Sundance, I know it. Ms. Porter, do you think you’ll still be here during the festival? Utah becomes a whole different place.”

Gina wasn’t sure what EJ was talking about, they hadn’t gone over details of her career. But he discreetly pointed to his phone between them on the couch, her IMDB page open. He was good.

“We can never be quite sure how long we’ll be in one place. Gina can tell you, this kind of work takes a good deal of dedication.”

“I can imagine. Tell me more about what you do.”

Gina leaned back against the couch while EJ and Terri continued to talk about her work. It was a nice reprieve, but Gina still wasn’t feeling entirely comfortable.

“Isn’t that right,Gina?” Terri said suddenly, and Gina had to tune back into the conversation.

“Hmm, what was that, Mom?”

“Gina,” Terri chided. “Conversation doesn’t center on you for five minutes and you can’t pay attention? I do suppose you became an actor for a reason.”

Gina felt embarrassment climb up her spine. EJ just shook his head slightly to her, not to take the bait.

“Sorry about that,” she said. “What did you need?”

“Never mind. It is about time to eat, though.” Terri rose and went into the kitchen to serve dinner.

Gina helped her get the dishes of macaroni and cheese, potatoes and ham from the oven and laid on the table.

“Guests first,” Terri said, gesturing for EJ to serve himself.

“Thank you,” he said, and Terri watched with a careful eye as he sampled some of the macaroni and cheese. “This is delicious.”

“Thank you, young man. Does Gina cook for you much?”

Before he could answer, Gina jumped in. “EJ’s actually quite a good cook himself. He makes the best sunnyside up eggs.”

“So you’ve been having breakfasts together, then?” Terri asked, her implication, and disapproval, strong.

Her cheeks flamed, but before it could get worse, EJ piped up “I’ve never had sweet potato casserole before, are the marshmallows good?” He took a big bite, but as he chewed, a look of alarm came to his face. “Wait a minute, are there nuts in this?”

“There’s pecans, yes, why?” Terri asked.

“I’m allergic to nuts,” he said, jumping to his feet. “I have Benadryl and my epi pen in my coat.”

Terri looked horrified. “Gina, why on earth did you let me serve him something he’s allergic to?”

Gina didn’t answer, instead rushing over to EJ’s side. “Are you going to be ok?”

“I just need to get this in my system,” he said, opening the Benadryl. “Can you grab my water?”

“GINA!” Terri cried. “Why didn’t you tell me that he was allergic to nuts?”

As she handed EJ the water, Gina just snapped. “Because I didn’t KNOW he was, ok, Mom?”

“You never noticed his epi pen? How did you not know that your boyfriend…”

“Because he’s NOT my boyfriend, ok?”

EJ and Terri both just stared at her, their mouths open in shock, but for completely different reasons.

“My boyfriend dumped me last week, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell you that. So I convinced EJ to fake being with me to avoid embarrassment. Except now all I’ve done is make him sick, and I STILL can’t make you happy.”

“You lied to me?” Terri said, her voice low and practically trembling with anger.

“That’s really not the most important of my concerns right now, Mom,” Gina huffed, turning back to EJ. “I’m so sorry. Let’s get you to urgent care.”

“Gina, don’t you need to…” he began, but she shook her head.

“We need to make sure you’re going to be ok.” As she glanced at him, she noticed a bright red rash creeping up past the edge of his shirt. “Oh my God, EJ, your neck. Do you need to use the epi pen?”

“Probably.” He pulled from the injector from his pocket. “Can you…”

“I’ve got an Uber on the way,” Gina said as she entered the info in her phone.

As EJ sat down to administer the medication, Terri came to Gina and grabbed her elbow. “Young lady, we will…”

“Oh my God, Mom, EJ’s in trouble here. Can you not set aside your totally toxic expectations for a damn minute while I make sure he’s ok?”

“Some fake boyfriend means more to you than your mother?”

“He’s treated me with more kindness than you ever have, so that’s who I’m going to prioritize right now.” Her phone chimed. “Two minutes, Eej. Let’s get downstairs.”

And without another word to her mom, they exited the apartment.

Chapter Text

After their Uber arrived, Gina kept conversation to a minimum as they drove to a local urgent care center, but clung fiercely to EJ’s hand. His breathing seemed relatively normal, but the bright red welts were appearing on his skin and Gina became more and more concerned that they should be heading to the hospital instead. 

The waiting room was crowded with a bunch of other people who’s Christmas Eve had also been ruined, little kids crying with ear infections and people still in their fancy church clothes clutching ice packs to injuries. Gina thought they were in for a long wait, but once the woman at the desk took one look at EJ’s current condition, she immediately got up to find him a room so he could be seen ASAP. 

As they waited, Gina hesitated. “Do you… I mean, do you want me to wait out here, or come back with you?” She didn’t know if he blamed her for what happened, or if he even felt comfortable with her being in the room when they talked about his medical stuff. 

“Please come,” EJ said quietly, and Gina nodded.

The medical assistant reappeared, and Gina tried to ignore the way that those in the waiting room were staring daggers at them as they were ushered back to a treatment room. “There will be someone in to see you shortly,” she said, disappearing back into the chaos of the hallway.

Left alone again, Gina wasn’t sure what to say. Staring down at her hands, she finally mustered up “How are you feeling?”

“Uncomfortable,” EJ said, wincing as he shifted. “But it was just one bite, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“I’m so sorry,” Gina said, shaking her head. 

“It’s my own fault for not mentioning the allergy. I’ve had it since I was a kid, you think at this point I’d…”

“No, EJ,” Gina interjected. “Not just the allergic reaction thing. ALL of this.”

“What do you mean?”

“The lying, the scheming, making you do something you didn’t want to do. This was all such a huge mistake.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Of course I’m not kidding. This turned out to be a nightmare. You’re sick on Christmas Eve, and it’s all my fault. NONE of this would have happened if I could have just been a fucking adult and stood up to my mother’s criticisms. Instead, I’ve completely ruined your Christmas.”

EJ was looking at her like she was speaking gibberish. “Gina, you didn’t ruin my Christmas. You saved it.”

“Because covered in hives and afraid you’re about to stop breathing is how you wanted to spend tonight?”

“I want to spend it with you.” There was a kind of sincerity on his face that Gina simultaneously couldn’t ignore, but couldn't believe.

“You don’t have to fake this anymore, ok, EJ? If you want me to still go with you tomorrow to your family’s thing, that’s fine, but you’re officially off the hook.”

“Gina, if you would just listen…” But they were interrupted when the nurse came in, followed by the doctor a few minutes later. 

Gina vaguely listened to the conversation where EJ detailed the history of his reactions, what he’d taken so far, and what usually worked to get the hives under control, as she scrolled through texts from her mom. 

I’ve never been more disappointed in my life

That you would lie to your own mother about something so trivial

And bring a whole other person into it

What else are you lying about?

Shame burned in Gina’s gut. She was twenty-six years old, why couldn’t she just tell her mom not to speak to her like that? Why DID she feel like she had to lie? It was confusing and infuriating at the same time. 

Gina had to set that aside when the doctor turned to speak to her. “And you’ll be with EJ for the rest of the night? He really should be observed to make sure that he doesn’t have a secondary reaction when the medications wear off.”

EJ looked at her intently over the doctor’s shoulder, as if to ask the same question himself.

“Of course,” Gina assured both EJ and the doctor. 

“We’ll give you some prednisone here and then call in the script for the rest, plus the OTC meds we talked about. And we should be able to get you on your way.” The nurse and doctor left, leaving EJ and Gina alone again. 

“So you’re really going to stay with me tonight?”

“Of course, it’s my fault you’re sick, it would be really shitty of me to just…”

“I don’t want you to feel obligated, since you, know, you were just faking it.” 

Gina closed her eyes and exhaled. This was the do or die moment. “It’s not because I feel obligated.”

“Then why?”

“Because I… I care about you,” she admitted. “And somewhere along the line of faking it, it became something very real. Something I hate that I just ruined.”

“Gina,” EJ said, reaching out for her hand. “You didn’t ruin anything. You finally stood up to your mom, and you did it because you were worried about me. Do you have any idea what that means to me? I know how hard that was.”

“What other choice did I have, Eej? I wasn’t about to…”

“Of course you weren’t, because you’re a wonderful person. But I guess I just hope that maybe, a little bit of it, was because you cared about me the way that I care about you. That you… that you love me, the way I love you.”

Gina’s eyes went wide as she finally looked EJ in the face. “You can’t be serious. We’ve known each other less than a week! You can’t… this can’t be love.”

“Do you know that for the first time since my mom died, I’ve felt like I have someone who sees me for who I am, not who they want me to be? Someone I want to protect the same way that you want to protect me? It’s just the start of something, sure. But if this isn’t the first blush of love, I don’t know what is.”

Gina was silent, letting the words wash over her. Maybe it was too soon, maybe this would end up being a giant mistake. But for tonight, she was going to let it be true. “Then I love you, too.”

He leaned in, placing his free hand on her cheek and kissing her. It was all at once sweet and sure, simple and deep. Gina thought it might be the way that kissing was supposed to feel all along.

After a minute, EJ pulled back. “So now that we know I’m going to be fine and that we’re both done faking it, what do you say we get out of here and have a REAL Christmas together? The kind WE want, not the one we felt like we had to have?”

“What do you mean?”

He consulted his phone. “It’s only 6:30, Target’s open til 8 and we have to go pick up my meds anyway. Let’s grab some clearance decorations and snacks. I’m sure that by tomorrow afternoon, Seb and Carlos will be dying to get away from their families, too. We can ask them over and we can drink and eat cheese and forget that our insane families even exist.”

Gina laughed before growing serious. “But we promised your cousin that we’d show up at your family thing…”

EJ scoffed. “Please. She hates that shit as much as I do, that’s why she was so desperate for us to go. I’ll tell her to bail, too, and come hang out with us.”

“Are you really sure about this?”

“Gina, I don’t want to waste another Christmas with people I don’t care about just because we share the same last name. Let’s make a new tradition, right here right now. You and me.”

Gina thought about those messages in her phone, the way her mom wasted no time to cut her down rather than make sure EJ was ok. And that’s when she knew EJ was the family she needed, that she chose. 

“You and me…” Gina repeated. “I like the sound of that. Let’s do it.”

Chapter Text

Gina nearly dropped the shopping bags draped over her arm while she tried to help EJ maneuver the giant box containing an artificial Christmas tree into their AirBnB. “Why did we buy a nine foot tree again?”

“Because that’s what Target had left at 730 on Christmas Eve?” EJ said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s make it look like Christmas threw up in here.”

A half hour later, the tree was unpacked and lit, but listing dangerously to the left. “Think it’ll make it?” Gina asked. 

“If we put enough ornaments on the other side, maybe it’ll weigh it down?” EJ suggested with a shrug. “The other alternative is to just drink until it looks straight!”

Gina giggled. “Maybe we save the eggnog until after the tree is decorated, just in case?”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” EJ teased, before reaching into one of the shopping bags to pull out a box of ornaments. “Let’s get to trimming this thing.”

Gina grabbed her phone and put on a random Christmas playlist before they started loading up the branches with the cheap plastic baubles they’d gotten. The huge tree wasn’t nearly filled up with the items they’d grabbed, but the multicolor lights still looked festive. When they were satisfied with their handiwork, Gina did pour them both a glass of eggnog as EJ turned off all the other lights, letting them bask in the glow of their slightly rickety looking tree. 

As Gina snuggled up into EJ’s arms with a cozy blanket draped over them, she asked “How are you feeling?”

“Tired” he admitted. “The meds work great, but they kind of knock you on your ass. I’m probably going to sleep like a rock tonight.”

“We should get to bed, then,” Gina said, sitting up. “You need the rest.”

“I need this,” he said, pulling her close. “Just for a few more minutes.”

Gina settled back down onto his chest while Harry Connick Jr’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” played in the background. Before he’d crooned his last smooth note, Gina felt EJ’s breath grow steady underneath her, already dropping off to sleep. She knew she should rouse him and make him go to bed, but she didn’t want to break from the cocoon of warmth that they’d created. So after a few minutes, she drifted off as well. 

It was deep in the middle of the night when Gina woke up, the tree still glowing. In the perfect stillness, she looked up at EJ’s sleeping face, and smiled. “Eej,” she said softly. “We should go to bed.”

His arms tightened around her as he stirred. “Am I dreaming?” he mumbled.

She leaned up and kissed him. “I promise, I’m real. And you REALLY need to go to bed.”

“Fine,” he said, and let Gina pull him to his feet and lead him to her room. He shucked off his sweater and pants before climbing into bed, where he promptly fell asleep again. It gave Gina a moment to just watch him and appreciate how different the night had ended than it had began. And with that, she changed herself and snuggled in beside him. 

EJ was clearly feeling better by morning, because he shook Gina awake when light was just beginning to creep in around the edges of the blinds in their room. “Gina, it’s Christmas!”

She had to laugh at his exuberance. “But what the hell are you waking me up for? I thought we were doing Christmas our way, and I hoped that would include spending the morning in bed.”

“Who said I had any intention of leaving this bed?” he asked, dipping down to kiss her neck. 

Gina let out another giggle, but it quickly melted into something like a moan. “I think I like this kind of Christmas morning.”

After they’d thoroughly enjoyed their early wakeup together, Gina laid with her head on EJ’s chest. “Well, that makes up for the fact that we didn’t have time to get each other actual gifts.”

“Says who?” EJ said, getting up and pulling his boxers back on. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared out of the door of her bedroom, and came back with a small white box. 

“Eej, when the hell did you buy this? We’ve been together pretty much constantly since we got here.”

“Guess I didn’t buy it, then,” he said with a shrug. “Open it.”

Gina took the lid off the box, and inside was a house key. “I don’t…”

“It’s a key to my house in Brentwood,” he explained. “I keep an extra in the lining of my suitcase in case anything happens to my keys while I’m traveling. Seemed like the perfect thing to pass on.”

“You’re already giving me a key to your place? Will your landlord be ok with that?”

EJ let out a slight chuckle. “I own my house, Gina.”

Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, that it hadn’t occurred to her that EJ would own his own home.

“I’m serious about this, Gi,” he continued. “I don’t care that it’s only been a week, I see a future here for us. And I don’t want to waste any time second guessing it or playing games. I’m excited to have you in my life back in LA. If you’re in.”

Gina looked down at the key, and back at EJ. It would have been impossible for her to describe, what it meant to have someone invite them into a permanent home, a place of their own. This wasn’t a random apartment he’d move on from in a year. This was the place he’d put down his roots.

And he wanted to share that with her.

“Thank you,” she said quietly, placing the lid back on the box. “And yeah, I’m in.”

EJ smiled widely and pulled her into his arms. “That’s all I want for Christmas.” He kissed her, and Gina thought she could have done this forever, stayed wrapped in EJ’s embrace.

But they were interrupted when Gina’s phone pinged with an incoming text message. She broke their kiss to check it, wondering if her mother had come around and was asking to see them.

Instead, there was a message from Seb.

So. Many. Screaming. Children.

How soon exactly can we get to your place?

Gina laughed and tipped her screen to show it to EJ. “Looks like we’re not the only ones itching to escape our families.”

“No kidding,” he said, showing her his phone screen, his text chain with Ashlyn open. 

Can’t take another question about why i’m single

Pls tell me you have booze

Wtv, i’ll bring more

“Come on,” Gina said, tossing back the covers. “Let’s get ready to host some Christmas misfits.”

Chapter Text

A couple hours later, the bell rang. Gina practically skipped to the door to let in their guests, and flung it open to see a smiling Seb and a confused looking Carlos on the stoop. 

“Welcome! Come in! Take off your coats and family enforced guilt!” Gina said cheerily as they passed by her into the main living area.

“Excuse my language, but what the fuck is going on here?” Carlos asked as EJ joined them, holding a cluster of champagne glasses.

“Seb didn’t fill you in?” Gina asked as she carefully liberated a glass from EJ’s hands. 

“He just said that I had to meet him here, no other explanation.”

“I wasn’t sure what you were telling people at this point?” Seb said, trying to be careful about what he said, but clearly not a very good liar as his gaze shifted nervously to Carlos. “I’m actually not certain I even know what the truth is at this point.”

Gina giggled. “Don’t worry, we’ll explain as soon as Ashlyn gets here.”

“Ashlyn?” Carlos asked, before there was another knock at the door. “That’d be her,” EJ said, quickly passing off more glasses while he went to let his cousin in.”

“Oh my God, Eej, you had the right idea ditching the whole…” Ashlyn was rambling as she came into the house. But she stopped short when she spotted the others gathered there. “Oh my god, SEB AND CARLOS?”

“Ashlyn Caswell, I can’t believe I never put it together,” Seb said, smacking his forehead lightly with his hand not clutching his glass of champagne.

“Wait, do you know each other?” Gina asked.

“We went to high school together,” Ashlyn explained. 

“Did drama club together,” Carlos added. “God, Ash, it’s been…”

“WAY too long,” she said with a giggle before opening her arms to give them a hug. “I didn’t know you two were still together!” she said as they embraced.

Carlos and Seb both pulled back with guilty expressions on their face. “It’s, uh… it’s complicated,” was all Seb offered, and Ashlyn gave a good natured shrug as EJ passed her a glass of champagne as well.

“This worked out even better than I anticipated,” EJ said. “Old friends and new friends, all together for Christmas.”

“Can someone please explain what’s going on here?” Carlos said, exasperated.

“Well, you see, EJ and I were both less than thrilled to be in town for the holidays,” Gina explained. “We both have… family issues.”

“Who doesn’t?” Carlos scoffed. 

“Yeah, I’m noticing a trend here…” EJ agreed, glancing around at the five of them.

“So after the mix up with AirBnB…”

“What mix up?” Ashlyn interjected.

“Yeah, so here’s the thing.” EJ scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Gina actually wasn’t my girlfriend when we got here.”

“Wait, what?” Ashlyn said.

“Yeah, we met at the airport, and somehow ended up double booked here,” Gina shrugged. “We were absolutely telling the truth about that, Carlos.”

“But, once we realized it would be easier for both of us if we weren’t single, we decided to, you know, fake it.”

“I knew it!” Ashlyn cried. “I knew you were up to something the other day! But wait… didn’t I see you, like, making out?”

Gina flushed. “Yeah, you kinda did. And after, you know, all that…” She glanced at EJ.

“Somewhere along the line, we stopped faking it," he finished.

“So you’re like, actually together now?” Seb asked.

Gina nodded shyly. “And falling for him made me realize I don’t need my mom’s approval.”

“And that  I never wanted my dad’s, anyway,” EJ added. “So we decided fuck it, we’re doing today our way. And you’re the ones we wanted to share it with.”

“So Merry Christmas!” Gina said, holding her champagne glass aloft while EJ joined her.

Ashlyn glanced at Seb and Carlos, who shrugged. “Why not?” Seb said with a smile, clinking his glass into Gina’s, and Ashlyn happily followed suit.

“Does this mean I can charge you for the rental now, then?” Carlos asked before adding his to the group. “Like a finders fee or something?”

EJ laughed. “Charge me whatever you like, because I doubt Gina and I will be back in Salt Lake for a very long time. We’ve got everything we need in LA.”

“So… Christmas there next year, then?” Ashlyn asked.

Gina and EJ exchanged smiles. “It’s a deal,” EJ agreed. “But for now, hot tub anyone?”

It was a perfectly relaxing Christmas afternoon, drinking champagne in the hot tub before they watched Home Alone and ate enough popcorn for ten people, before laughing through board games until after the sun went down and the lights went on. It was exactly the kind of holiday Gina had always envisioned, and she finally didn’t care that it wasn’t happening with her family, but with these weirdly wonderful people who’d taken her in over the last week instead. 

When they’d waved good bye to their departing guests, EJ wrapped his arms around Gina’s waist. “That was quite possibly the best way we could have spent today.”

“Mmhmm,” Gina agreed, snuggling into his chest. “I haven’t even looked to see what my mom had to say all day.”

“Me neither.” He withdrew his phone from his pocket. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?”

Gina extracted herself from his arms to grab her phone from the counter. Text preview was off, but she saw that she had multiple messages from her mom. She unlocked it and handed it to EJ without reading it, and he did the same. 

“What did she say?”

EJ sighed. “Nothing you want to see.” He tapped out a message and hit send, before deleting the entire thread. 

“Uh, Eej, what did you…” she said, slightly alarmed. 

“I told her that we’ll let her know when we’re back in LA safe. And we’ll figure out what to do about it then.” He exhaled. “What’s mine say?”

Gina closed her eyes as she handed him back the phone. “Nothing at all.”

EJ shook his head. “I’d say I’m surprised, but…”

“I’m sorry,” Gina said. 

“You know what? I’m not. And for the first time, I think I really mean that.” EJ smiled at her. “And that’s because of you.”

“It still sucks that our parents are the way they are,” she insisted.

“Yup. But it also means that we get each other, in a way that I’m not sure anyone else has.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure I’m grateful for that just yet,” Gina said with a small laugh.

“Nope, and we don’t have to be. But I WILL choose to be grateful for you.”

“Same.”

EJ grabbed the last bottle of champagne off the counter and poured the dregs into their glasses. “One more toast? To white lies, and white Christmases. May we never have either ever again.”

Gina smiled. “I’ll drink to that.”

Chapter Text

One year later…

Walking out of Reid International Airport felt very different than the one in Salt Lake. Gina paused for a moment to take in a deep breath of dry, warm desert air before slipping on her sunglasses.

“Las Vegas isn't any warmer than back home,” EJ commented as he put on his own RayBans, the blinding sun glinting off the hotel towers on the Strip in the distance. 

“But definitely warmer than we were last Christmas,” Gina said with a smirk. 

“The number of ways I’m more excited about this Christmas than last year are innumerable,” EJ said dryly, before pulling Gina into him and kissing her deeply. 

“God, get a room,” Carlos’s voice called from behind them, and they broke apart, laughing. 

They turned to see Carlos, Seb and Ashlyn approaching, their flight from Salt Lake having just arrived as well. Gina quickly pulled her yoga top down over her hands before greeting them. 

“I was promised Christmas in LA,” Ashlyn reminded EJ as she leaned in to give him a hug. "What's with the last minute itinerary swap?" It was less than a week ago that EJ had dropped the bomb in the group chat that he'd booked them all a suite at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas to celebrate Christmas together there rather than their home in Brentwood. 

“Come on, what better place to run away from a wholesome Utah family Christmas than the city of sin?” EJ joked, his eyes sparkling at Gina over Ash’s shoulder as he held in the real reason for this trip.

"I don't know," Seb said, looking around at the holiday decorations swaying in the warm breeze, the exact opposite of a white Christmas. "There's something to be said for Christmas in the mountains."

"We'll have January in the mountains this year," Gina reminded him. 

“Hello Sundance!” Carlos said. “Don’t worry, I put you in a nicer condo than last year so when you’re entertaining celebs, you’ll look the part.”

“It’s not a big deal, guys,” Gina tried to demure, but she couldn’t help it, a proud smile threatened to burst across her face. An independent film she’d shot over a year ago had gotten accepted to the Sundance Film Festival, and had scored a prime screening slot, meaning  people were already buzzing about it. Between that role and a recurring part she’d booked on a streaming show, she was finally starting to feel like she had some traction.

It helped that EJ knew all the right people, and talked her up in every room he got in, too. She didn’t realize how much having the right partner could matter in this industry until she had it. 

“And there’s no looking the part, She IS the part,” EJ beamed proudly. 

“And that means this entourage better be up to snuff, so we are ALL going shopping while we’re here,” Carlos said. “I am ready to do some damage with my black card to make that man," he said, pointing at Seb, "An acceptable level of fabulous.”

“Good thing Uncle Cash didn’t block your trust fund getting turned over to you,” Ashlyn snorted as they made their way to the cab line. “This holiday could get expensive.”

EJ leaned into Gina’s ear. “They have no idea.” He straightened up and cleared his throat. “We definitely need help selecting some special occasion outfits.”

“Of course, independent, no budget, I’m happy to dress you,” Carlos said, but Gina shook her head.

“For something even more important.” She pulled back the cuff of her yoga top to reveal a huge diamond on her left hand. “We’re getting married!”

The other three just stood in shocked silence for a moment, before Seb broke into a wide smile. “Oh my God, congrats!!”

Once the spell was broken, there was all kinds of hugging and congratulating. Ashlyn especially clung to EJ for a moment, tears in her eyes, and Gina knew exactly what she was thinking. That his mom should have been here for this. 

“And you know better than anyone the kind of family drama we’re dealing with,” EJ said with a slight sigh. "So after I proposed last week, we decided fuck it, we're eloping. And we wanted you all to be here for it."

“Does your mom know?” Seb asked Gina. 

She shook her head. “We’re not going to tell her til it’s a done deal.” 

“Same with Dad, so don’t say a word,” EJ warned Ashlyn, who nodded and mimed zipping her lips shut.

“And wait.. You don’t have a dress yet?!” Carlos exclaimed.

Gina shook her head. “Ceremony’s tomorrow, so…”

“Christmas Eve, magical,” Seb sighed.

“Um, that means we need champagne and shopping, now,” Carlos said authoritatively as he got in the cab. “Meet us at the Forum shops.”

EJ gave him a thumbs up, and they got into the waiting cab behind them.

“This is going to be perfect,” Gina said with a sigh, putting her head down on EJ’s shoulder as her ring caught the sunlight streaming through the window of the cab.

EJ pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “It already is. Merry Christmas.”