Page 35 of A Newport Christmess

QUINN

I stared at my phone. Eight hundred and seventy-two new followers from a single story? And it had only been six hours since Nikki had posted it. That was amazing. No. That was terrifying. These were Nikki’s followers—lovers of fashion, expensive vacations, celebrity friends. None of them would care about my silly baking posts. They’d followed me, but they would just as quickly unfollow when they realized I had nothing to offer but images of baked goods.

I dialed Ashlee and thanked the heavens she picked up. “I’m in a tailspin, Ashlee.”

“From what? Cody? Did you look at his profile?”

“No. Nikki tagged me in a picture, and I have almost nine hundred new followers.”

The line went silent for a minute. “Why am I inclined to think that’s a good thing?”

“A year ago, it might have been, but now ...” I sighed. “They added me because I’m friends with Nikki. I doubt many of them even looked at my page, and next time they see one of my posts in their feed, they’re going to unfollow me.”

“First, you don’t know that. And second, who cares if they do? Don’t you want people following you who actually want to see your posts?”

“I’m not sure I can handle a mass exodus right now.”

“You’re worrying for nothing. People love your posts, Quinn.”

“Then why is my engagement so low? It has to be my content. I need to make more reels or more elaborate—”

“What you need to do is stop stressing. How about we talk about something else? Try to get your mind off it?”

I released a pent-up breath. “That’s a good idea. How is training the new team going? Any fun stories to share?”

“I have one about a new nurse that tried to place an IV, but before I tell it, I want an update on Hot Guy.”

“Landon’s good,” I said, deciding how best to share my news. I didn’t need Ashlee getting the wrong idea about us. “Remember how I told you he asked me to be his date for Nikki’s wedding to prevent her from setting us up with other people? It turns out she saw right through that, so we decided to ... up our efforts.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“Just doing things that will make Nikki think we’re developing feelings for each other.”

“Wait. Let me get this straight. You and Hot Guy are fake dating?”

I groaned. I knew she’d take it wrong. “We’re not fake dating. We’re acting interested in each other.”

“Do you need me to pull out the dictionary again? Because I’m pretty sure that what you two are doing would firmly be categorized as fake dating.”

“Whatever it is, it’s fake.”

“All of it?” Ashlee asked, shining a light on the one reason I’d been hesitant to agree to his new plan. I had no interest in a relationship right now. None. And yet, sometimes, the way Landon looked at me made me forget that. To imagine him touching me ... The thought sent a shiver coursing through my body. How was I supposed to keep straight what was real and what wasn’t? Especially if he stopped his brooding? But the bottom line was, I trusted Landon. Or more like, I trusted he had an unyielding death grip on his bachelor status.

“It has to be. Neither of us are in a place for anything more.”

“If you say so. Have you already started?”

“Sort of. We flirted a little more than usual tonight at the harbor, but nothing too drastic. Landon was worried his sister would suspect what we were up to if we ramped it up too fast.”

“And what’s next?”

“I have a dress fitting tomorrow with a stylist friend of Nikki’s. Landon said he’ll show up at the end, and ... I don’t really know. I guess we’ll see from there.”

Ashlee laughed.

“What?”

“How is this your life right now—that you’re fake dating a GQ model?”