Chapter Seventeen

Star

“Hey, you’re up early.”

I glanced up and watched Mom walk into the kitchen, still in her pajamas with her hair in a messy bun. It was half past eight, a time I usually considered perfectly respectable to be awake in the morning. “It’s half past eight, Mom. It’s not that early.”

She grabbed a cup from the cabinet and poured herself some coffee. “Well, no, but I didn’t think you’d be up.” She slid into the chair across from me and gave me a once-over as if to make sure I was okay. “Everything okay?”

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my own coffee. “All good. Axel is in the shower, so I figured I would caffeinate.”

Mom raised an eyebrow. “How about that Axel, huh?” She set her coffee down with a soft clink and leaned back, her gaze narrowing playfully. “You two looked awfully cozy.”

I felt my cheeks heat up. “Um, yup.”

Mom smiled knowingly. “Did you have a good Christmas?” she asked, her voice soft but sincere. “Even with your naggy mom?”

I snorted at that and shook my head. “You’re not naggy, Mom. You’re just… concerned.”

She chuckled. “Pretty sure you told me all year I was nagging you about meeting Axel.” She took a sip of her coffee, and her eyes twinkled behind the steam. “And now look at you. Pretty sure you guys had a great time with us these past two days.”

I paused and considered her words. He had. I would have had to be blind not to see that Axel had enjoyed every second of Christmas with my family. From the moment we all sat down for dinner to the way he laughed at Davis’s corny jokes, Axel had fit in effortlessly. But still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that all of this—everything we were doing—was still a little too perfect.

Pretend.

“This was his first Christmas. Family Christmas,” I clarified and felt a little knot in my chest. “He grew up in foster care, Mom, so, family time for forty-eight hours was a lot for him.”

Mom raised an eyebrow, taking another sip of coffee. “Is there another way to do Christmas?” she joked lightly. Her expression softened, and she reached over to pat my hand. “But he had you to make sure it wasn’t too much.” She smiled warmly. “I watched the way you two looked at each other, Star. I haven’t seen a man that is in love since Jim asked me to marry him.”

My heart thudded in my chest at her words. She’d noticed that? The way Axel and I looked at each other?

I swallowed hard and was unsure of what to say. I opened my mouth, but the words felt trapped in my throat. I could barely keep up with my own emotions. One part of me wanted to believe her, wanted to say that maybe Mom was right. Axel had been so attentive, so kind, and so… there for me these past two days. But the other part of me—the one that was still so wrapped up in this idea that everything between Axel and me was just pretending—was still trying to figure out if it was real.

Mom squeezed my hand, and her voice dropped to a more serious tone. “Rickie and I were talking about it before bed last night. That man is completely head over heels in love with you, Star. I’ll be waiting for the phone call you tell me he’s popped the question.”

I stared at her, the words hanging in the air between us. Popped the question? Was she serious? I didn’t know what to say. The thought of Axel proposing to me—well, it didn’t seem real. It was impossible.

This was all pretend.

Well, at least it was supposed to be pretend.

“Maybe he’s in love with the idea of having a family, and not me,” I suggested, my voice barely above a whisper. My fingers gripped my coffee mug a little too tightly, and my nerves kicked in. “Maybe he just likes the idea of being a part of this, not me specifically.”

Mom scoffed and shook her head, a small smile tugging at her lips. “It’s you, sweetie. That man only sees you.” She squeezed my hand a little tighter. “And I am so glad you found that.”

Her words should’ve made me feel lighter, but instead, they pressed down on my chest. That man only sees you . It sounded so simple and so certain. But nothing in my life had ever felt certain, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to trust in that certainty now.

She shifted gears and started talking about how big Woods was getting. “He’s growing so fast, it’s crazy,” she said, her voice warm and filled with that motherly pride I recognized all too well. “I swear, I blink, and he’s a year older.”

I nodded and offered a smile as she continued about Woods.

I listened, but my mind was going a mile a minute as it bounced from thought to thought.

Axel…

Axel .

I had found him. But now, with my mom’s words still hanging in the air, I couldn’t help but wonder—would I be able to keep him once we got back home?