“Gosh, it’s freezing out there!” she says. “Oh, great, you made tea. Just what I need right now.” She kicks off her heels, drapes her coat on the back of the couch, and takes a stool at the kitchen bar.

I fill two mugs from the other side of the bar and hand her one. She wraps her fingers around it to warm them and studies me. “So, my favorite tea, huh? What’s going on?”

I’m ready to confess, when she continues, “But before you say anything, I spoke with Richard and we’ve decided we don’t have to push the moving in together thing. Definitely something we’ll think about in the new year. And I’m going to spend more nights home, I promise.”

“Err, actually…” I take a sip of tea. “I kind of need you to do the opposite.”

Blair’s eyes widen. “What? Why?”

“I’m having a house guest and I need your room.”

“Who?”

I plaster an innocent smile on my face. “This is the part where you keep an open mind…”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Nicola Addison Moore, what have you done?”

“I’ve hired someone.”

“Like a housekeeper?”

“More like a fake boyfriend.”

Blair chokes on the sip of tea she was drinking and sputters it all over the counter. She tries to ask questions but can only cough and spatter. I take advantage of her momentary inability to talk and say my piece. “And it might seem crazy, but I can’t go home single and pathetic this year. Paul is going to spend the holidays at our place because he’s family now, and I can’t survive a whole week under the same roof with them by myself. My mom wanted to give them my room, my bed…”

Blair’s face is still super red from the choking, and even if her eyes are still teary, I can tell she can speak now. Only she doesn’t seem sure what she wants to say. She shakes her head, drops the mug on the bar, and starts massaging her temples. “Okay, let’s pretend for a second I don’t find this whole idea completely absurd, and that I’m keeping an open mind.” She looks back up at me. “Who is this guy? Where did you find him? And you asked him to move in? In my room? Without even asking me?”

I lean back against the stove, keeping the bar between us in case she decides to throttle me. She’s right, I should’ve at least asked her first, but I was desperate, and that’s what I tell her. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what else to do…”

“But why do you need to live together?”

“We have to fool my family for a whole week, and it needs to be a good act… so we need to appear comfortable around each other.”

“But who is this person?”

“An actor. I hired him off the KCU’s database.”

“Have you worked with him before?”

“No.”

“So you’ve invited a complete stranger to live with you?”