“I, um . . .” I turned and looked back toward Simon, who was standing behind me. He stepped forward, handing me the engagement ring, then extended his hand to John.

“I’m Simon Hamilton,” he said.

“Ah. The fill-in boyfriend. John Bishop. Nice to meet you.”

“Fill-in fiancé, actually.” I slipped the ring on my finger and held up my hand. “Mom called this morning. She told Abuela we were already engaged, so we’re here to perpetuate her lie.”

John looked at my hand, then raised his eyebrows at Simon. “I’d like to see the ring you buy when it’s the real deal.”

I lowered my voice. “We’re going to return it after this weekend. It is gorgeous though, isn’t it?”

John shook his head, then looked at Simon. “I have no idea how you wound up in the middle of all this, but you are one good friend.”

I smacked John’s arm. “What are you even doing here? I thought for sure we wouldn’t see you until tomorrow.”

“I wanted to check on Abuela and make sure she’d handled her flight okay, so I came a day early. I just had lunch with a friend and happened to see you on my way back to the car.”

I put an arm around him, hugging him again. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You look good, Lane.” He looked at Simon. “It’s your brother, right? The real boyfriend? I hope he’s taking good care of her.”

“I don’t need to be taken care of.”

They both ignored me. “Jamie is a good man. I can promise you that,” Simon said.

John nodded. “Good.” He turned back to me. “Hey, guess who I ran into outside? You remember Emma? From church? She lived over in Hendersonville and played the violin?”

“Yeah. We hung out at girls camp every year. She got married over the summer, didn’t she? To the famous piano player?”

“Elliott Hart. I met him. They were together, heading up to the Chocolate Lounge. You might still catch them if you want to say hi.”

“We were headed there anyway. Come with us.” I led the way as we all filed out of the jewelry store and headed back toward the square. The living statues had relocated to a different corner, but a guy with a guitar, a harmonica, and a foot drum had taken their place. He sang Christmas songs, which made me unexpectedly happy. I pulled my coat a little tighter. “I love this time of year. If only it would snow, everything would be perfect.”

“We’ve got plenty of that in Chicago,” John said. “You should come see me.”

“Why? So I can hang out in your apartment alone while you live at the hospital?”

“It’s not all that bad. I slept at home . . . three times last week. That’s pretty good.”