The Peppermint Bark Proposal

By Nicki Greenwood

Wanted: Fake Boyfriend

Becca Barnes has just two problems: a cheating ex and a mother who’d love to see her married before age thirty. Heartsore and frustrated, Becca decides her family’s camp in Northern California is the perfect place to spend Christmas—alone.

Except she’s not.

The neighboring cabin owner, Jake Bannister, is charming. He has the cutest dog. And when Becca’s family arrives, outraged she’d spend the holidays by herself, Jake becomes the answer to her parental woes. She convinces him to pretend they’re dating so her mother won’t meddle in her love life. Jake’s even sweeter than she expected, a friend she didn’t know she needed. Everything is great.

Except it’s not.

Becca’s ex shows up, looking for another chance to ruin her life. Now, she’s torn between her ex’s threats and her growing feelings for Jake. Will this holiday house of cards topple, or can a fake romance lead to real Christmas magic?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nicki Greenwood
• Release date: Dec 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781736251935

Nicki Greenwood

Nicki Greenwood graduated SUNY Morrisville with a degree in Natural Resources, which of course has nothing to do with writing novels. She has also worked in a bakery, an insurance agency, a flower shop, and a doctor's office, which have nothing to do with writing, either. She did spend an awesome two years as an assistant editor for a publisher, and now does freelance editing on the side. Nicki still holds down a day job, which manages to get her out of the house once in a while. She's been writing since 2010 and loving it.Nicki lives in upstate New York with her husband, son, and assorted pets. If you can't find her at her computer, you can always try the local Renaissance Faire.

Book preview

Contents

Also by Nicki Greenwood

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

About the Author

Thank You

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events or incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events or locales is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2022 Nicki Greenwood

Published in the United States of America by

North Star Press, LLC

Liverpool, New York

Cover design by Nicki Greenwood

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used, reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or information retrieval system, without written prior permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For information regarding permissions, contact the author at [e-mail].

First ebook edition: December 2022

ISBN 978-1-7362519-3-5

Summary: Desperate to thwart her meddling mother, Becca Barnes convinces the handsome neighbor at her family camp to pose as her boyfriend during the Christmas holidays, only to find herself falling for him in earnest.

To Santa,

because maybe then

he’ll finally bring me that pony.

Chapter One

Another refill on your coffee?

The server’s voice was sweet. Friendly. None of this was really her fault, Becca knew.

Nope. The fifth refill was definitely Shane Kehoe’s fault. Becca stared across her table at the empty seat, listening to the clink of ceramic cups, the thrum of the coffee grinder, and the instrumental Christmas music on the café sound system…all of which only highlighted how not here Shane was.

Becca turned her attention to the server. The woman wore a tiny red bell with holly leaves, pinned under her name tag. It gave a muted chime as the server lifted her carafe with a smile.

Merry Breakup, Becca thought.

She mustered an answering smile and pushed the half-drained cup away. I’m all set, thanks. Just the check.

No problem. The server laid the check folder facedown on the table. You have a wonderful day.

Becca supposed it were possible to have a wonderful day, if one hadn’t just been ghosted after a last attempt to salvage a drifting relationship with one’s boyfriend. Shane had a menu worth of excuses. The appetizer: I’m going to be late. Work is making me do overtime. The main course: I’m heading out of town this weekend. My grandma needs work done on her porch floor. And the dessert: I have a dentist appointment that day. Whitening.

After about five servings of that selection in one month, Becca decided Shane’s teeth should have been visible from the moon.

She swept up the check and wondered where she should fit this latest excuse: ditching her after he’d borrowed two hundred bucks to pay off his phone bill.

Canapés. Definitely canapés.

She paid her bill then left the café. As she was getting into her car, her cell chirped.

She hit Speaker. Hello?

Becca, are you sitting down?

Becca recognized her younger sister’s voice at once. Maura called her an average of four times daily to gossip. What’s up?

Maybe I’d better come see you for this.

Hesitation? Unusual for Maura. Spit it out, Becca said.

Maura took a long breath. She paused for a few seconds, then blurted, I-just-saw-Shane-kissing-Iliana-Masterson-at-Julio’s-Restaurant.

Iliana Masterson.

The name almost didn’t register. Then it registered far too much. Becca sat back in her car seat like she’d taken a blow to the chest.

Why would Shane even be in the same social zip code as Iliana Masterson, a local celebrity and the darling of San Francisco’s network news?

Iliana Masterson. Perfect hair, perfect pantsuit, perfect curves Iliana Masterson. Even her name was perfect. Certainly no comparison to Rebecca absolutely-not-a-stunning-news-anchor Barnes.

A mental image of that kiss assaulted Becca before she could stop it, followed by a creeping sense of horror. Maybe that two hundred bucks was so Shane could afford dinner at Julio’s. Had she just paid for his four-star fling?

Becca? Maura’s voice broke into Becca’s cringey imaginings.

I’m here, she managed.

Are you home? I’m coming over with wine.

Forcing the quiver out of her voice, Becca said, Don’t bother. I’m not there. At least I know why he hasn’t wanted to see me in a week and a half.

Beck, I’m sorry. I should have told you in person.

It’s okay, Becca said. You know what? I’m taking the holiday off and going up north to the cabin.

What about dinner with Mom and Dad?

"And suffer another inquiry on why I’m not married yet? After this? Shane was my last hope for getting Mom off my back." Her throat closed up.

"Well, don’t worry. Now, she’ll be on my back, Maura said. After a second of silence, she added, I love you, big sis."

The dashboard blurred as Becca struggled under a rush of tears. I love you, too. Gotta go.

The instant she ended the call her tears poured forth, hot and fully resented, down her cheeks.

She checked her face in the visor mirror. Ugh, raccoon eyes, over a guy who so didn’t deserve the effort. She grabbed a tissue from her handbag, then dabbed at her smudging mascara. Tears aged you, or so said her meddling mother.

How Georgia Barnes knew that, Becca couldn’t tell. Her parents were still as crazy for each other as when they met more than thirty years ago. City girl Georgia and mountain man Anthony Barnes. They loved each other so much, Becca wondered if there were any love stories left available for the rest of society.

She sighed and closed the visor mirror. It wasn’t getting any easier to date at age twenty-six, not that she’d frequented the social scene even before Shane. They’d met at a college party she’d squeezed in between working on her master’s degree. She was now a school counselor…and apparently also a cheating-boyfriend financier.

She went home to pack a few days of clothes—warm enough for Northern California winters, but with some lighter-weight shirts suitable for fluctuating temperatures. She thought about driving further north to get a festive taste of snow, but a woman who’d just lost two hundred dollars to a big, big mistake was in no shape to book a hotel during the holidays.

Becca spent a long, unbearable night, falling asleep only a couple of hours before her alarm went off. She hurried through a bagel and coffee the next morning,