Christmasland - Anne-Marie Meyer Page 0,40

woman. Ethan looked frozen in place, so I reached my hand out.

“I’m Beatrice,” I said with a smile.

She flicked her gaze over to me and then down to my hand. I could tell that the last thing she wanted was to shake my hand. But I wasn’t going to be intimidated by her. I was, after all, the Christmasland bake-off grand prize winner.

She seemed to realize that I wasn’t going to drop my hand, so she took it gingerly with her leather-gloved hand. “Scarlet,” she said.

I should have known. A woman that pretentious obviously came with a pretentious-sounding name.

“Nice to meet you, Scarlet,” I said as I brought my hand back to hug the bouquet of flowers. “Is this your first time at Christmasland?”

She didn’t look as if she wanted to engage in conversation, but since Ethan was still frozen, she sighed and focused on me.

“Yes. It is.”

I nodded. “Me, too,” I said as I leaned in.

She gave me a smug smile and then focused back on Ethan.

“Are you visiting family?”

She sighed and glanced back at me. “No.”

“On vacation then?” Ethan needed to snap out of whatever stupor he was in. I could only keep this small chat going for so long.

“No.” Then her smile widened. “I’m here to see Ethan. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I’d like to talk to him in private.”

Ethan paled at her words, and the desire to help him rushed through me. I needed to step in, now.

“Nah,” I said before I could come up with a more eloquent response.

Her perfectly formed eyebrows rose. “Nah?”

My cheeks flushed. “I mean, I’m good. I’m staying.” I’d wanted to sound confident, but my voice just came out weak. Why wasn’t I a stronger person?

“You’re staying?”

I linked arms with Ethan. That seemed to wake him up. He glanced down at me and then to our linked arms.

“Yeah,” I said as I glanced up to meet Ethan’s gaze. He looked panicked, so I allowed the next few words to emerge before I gave them further thought. “That’s what a good girlfriend does.”

Ethan’s lips parted and his eyebrows went up. I could tell that he wanted to correct me, so I gave him a go with it look.

“Girlfriend?” Scarlet asked.

Ethan stared at me for a moment before he nodded and glanced up at her. “Yeah. Girlfriend.” Then he narrowed his eyes. I moved to lay my head on his shoulder. I wanted to say that my display of affection was forced, but the truth was, I was beginning to like Ethan.

Like, a lot.

“Wow. That was…fast.” Scarlet glanced around as she fidgeted. I could tell she felt uncomfortable, and I took that as a win.

“What are you doing here?” Ethan asked.

He seemed to have found his confidence, and I wanted to cheer when I heard the bite in his tone. Even though I didn’t know their history, I was beginning to piece things together.

Scarlet sighed. “I came to see you.”

I felt Ethan tense up, but I didn’t let him go. Whoever she was, I wasn’t going to let her manipulate him.

“Why would you do that?”

Scarlet took a step forward. I could tell she wanted to say something, but when her gaze met mine, she pinched her lips. After a moment, she said, “Can I speak with you tonight?” And then she added, “Alone?”

When Ethan didn’t respond right away, I glanced up at him. Was he seriously considering meeting with her? Didn’t he know how those kinds of meetings went? She was obviously his big-city ex-girlfriend who had followed him back to his hometown to beg for his forgiveness. I’d seen the movies. I knew how this played out.

She was here to get him back, and he seemed to be playing right into her hand.

“I can do that,” he said. His voice was low, and I could tell that he was struggling.

“Darling,” I said before I could stop myself. Ethan glanced down at me. I made sure my smile was wide as I stared up at him. “Don’t you remember? We’re going to Snowtop Lane tonight.” I reached up and patted his cheek. “Silly.”

Ethan’s eyebrows rose. “We are?”

I nodded. “Yes,” I said as I snuggled into his shoulder.

“It won’t take long. I swear.” Scarlet held up her hand. Her desperate look was starting to make me feel bad for attempting to come between them. If this was really their happily ever after, who was I to stop it? Even if I was starting to care for Ethan in a way I wasn’t ready