The Mistletoe Promise Read Free Page A

agreement, refer to each other as boyfriend or girlfriend or by any term of endearment including, but not limited to, sweetie, sweetheart, love, dear, babe, beautiful, cupcake, and any term found acceptable by both parties.
    I looked at him incredulously. “Really? Cupcake ?”
    “I wasn’t planning on using cupcake .”
    “Then why did you put it in the contract?”
    “In case you were. It’s just an example,” he said. “Granted a poor one. But I don’t know your preferences.”
    “I would rather not be called after any food or animal. Actually, avoid any noun.”
    “Consider all nouns, especially cupcake, stricken from my vocabulary. Does that include honey ?”
    I thought about it. “I guess honey is okay. It’s gone mainstream.”
    “ Honey, okay,” he said to himself.
    I went back to the contract.
    5. PLATONIC NATURE OF ARRANGEMENT. This agreement does not constitute, imply, or encourage, directly or indirectly, a physical relationship, otherthan what would be considered expected and appropriate public physical contact.
    “What does that mean? Expected physical contact.”
    “Nothing exciting,” he said. “Hand-holding in public, that sort of thing.” When I didn’t respond he added, “Things real couples do. For instance, we might hold hands at a company party, at least when walking into the party, but we wouldn’t be holding hands when we are alone, since that obviously wouldn’t be necessary to convince others.”
    “I get it,” I said.
    6. CONFIDENTIALITY. Lessor and her agents will not at any time or in any manner, either directly or indirectly, divulge, disclose, or communicate in any manner, any information that is proprietary to this agreement and agrees to protect such information and treat it as strictly confidential. This provision will continue to be effective until the termination of this Contract.
    7. BREACH OF CONTRACT. If any of the above stipulations are not met, Contract will be considered null and void. No recourse is available.
    ADDENDUMS
    1. No deep, probing personal questions.
    2. No drama.
    “Talk to me about these addendums.”
    “The first is self-explanatory. We do not ask each other any deep, probing personal questions. It’s irrelevant to our objective and will only cause problems. Do you really want me asking deep personal questions about your life and past?”
    I tried to hide the effect the question had on me. “Nope, I’m good.”
    “Exactly. This relationship should be so shallow there’s no possibility of drowning.”
    “Agreed,” I said. “And the second?”
    “No drama. Life’s too short.”
    “Agreed.”
    “Then all that’s left is your signature.”
    I looked at the signatory line. He had already signed the contract. “Why do I feel like I’m signing away my soul?”
    “It’s not an eternity. Just forty-nine days.”
    I breathed out. “All right. Do you have a pen?”
    “I’m a lawyer. That’s like asking me if I have a lung.”
    “As opposed to a heart,” I said.
    “Another fan of lawyers,” he said. He extracted a pen from his coat pocket. It was a nice one—a Montblanc. I knew this only because my ex judged a man by the pen he carried. I took the pen from Nicholas and signed the document.
    “There are two copies,” he said. “One for your own files. Please sign both.”
    “Now you’re really sounding like a lawyer.”
    “I am one.”
    “So you keep reminding me.” I folded the contract in half and put it in my purse.
    When I’d finished eating my salad I said, “I better get back to work.”
    “I’ll walk you to the elevator,” he said. As we waited for the elevator he said, “Don’t forget to bring your calendar tomorrow so we can work out our schedule.”
    “I’ll be ready.”
    As the elevator door opened he leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “Have a good day, dear.”
    “Thanks for lunch,” I said. “ Cupcake. ”
    He smiled. “This is going to be fun.”

CHAPTER
    Five
    Bad memories can attach