pure adoration that came from Emilia, I had to admit, Mom might be right.
Plus, what harm could come from it? After all, these people voluntarily came to a place called Christmasland and are staying at a place called the North Pole. It wasn’t like they didn’t walk into this world with open eyes. Who was I to stop them from experiencing a cheesy holiday show?
“Fine,” I said as I slipped on my jacket. “Just keep me out of it.”
Mom narrowed her eyes. “But you’re the perfect character.”
“What?”
Mom waved her hand in front of me. “The Grinch-like hero who has come home from the big city. You’re like every girl’s dream.”
That was not a term I’d ever heard someone use to described me, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it coming from my mother. “What?” I asked again. Maybe my hearing was going. There was no way she was saying these words to me.
“You are the hero in every Hallmark movie.” She grabbed my arm and shook it a bit. “You are the perfect person to play the male lead.”
I’d had enough. There was no way I was going to stand here and listen to this. “I’m going out to get firewood for the rooms.” I let out a whistle, and Rudolph rose from his bed. He waddled over to me, and I pulled open the door to let him out.
“I really need your help,” she said as she moved to let me pass.
I paused right before I stepped outside. Then I shook my head and gave her a small smile. “I can’t. Find someone else.”
Fifteen minutes later, a car pulled into the driveway of the inn and parked in the back. I was in the middle of swinging the axe, so I waited until I split the log in half before I looked up. Porter opened the door and stepped out. He was dressed in a suit and tie. Not something I normally saw from my out-of-work cousin.
“Hey,” I called out as I set the axe by the wood-chopping stump and headed over to intercept him.
Porter looked on edge. His gaze ran up and down me as he waited for me to join him.
“Hey,” he said with an awkward head nod.
I studied him. “What are you doing here, and why are you dressed like that?” I motioned toward his suit.
Porter cleared his throat as he adjusted his tie. “Aunt Carol said she had a job for me.”
“A job?”
Porter nodded. “An acting job. Apparently she wants me to play some rich out-of-towner?”
Oh no.
“She what?”
Porter looked startled by my sudden outburst. “She said she had a job for me. I am, as you know, a trained actor. She wants me to play the part of a rich businessman from New York.” His expression turned serious as he met my gaze. He looked as if he were challenging me.
“Did she say for whom she wanted you to play the part?”
Porter paused and squinted as if he were trying to recall. “I think she said some out-of-town girls.” He hesitated and then shrugged. “I don’t know. She said ‘paying job,’ and I came.”
I parted my lips, but Porter didn’t wait for me to respond. Instead he clapped me on the shoulder and gave me a quick nod. “I’ll see you inside.”
My brain scrambled to say something, but he was gone before the shock wore off. This was taking things to a whole new level.
I needed to talk to Mom, and I needed to talk to her now. It wasn’t nice to manipulate these girls like this. After all, I knew what it was like to be lied to. To be used. The woman who’d done that took my heart and ripped it from my chest.
I wasn’t sure Beatrice and Emilia would have a similar reaction if they learned that their experiences here had been fabricated. They might even laugh about it and thank my mother for giving them an authentic holiday experience.
But that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. Beneath the surface, there was always a desire for things to be real. Even though I knew Scarlet wasn’t the one for me, that didn’t change my hope that she might be the woman I was meant to spend my life with.
And when that hope was taken away from me, I was left with a hemorrhaging heart and a broken self-esteem. It was not an experience anyone should have to go through.
So Mom may be determined to fabricate happiness for these