Chapter Five

"You okay?" Becca asked softly, pulling her pretend boyfriend from his thoughts.

After bowling, they'd gone back to his apartment to have a look at flights to Chicago. Her throws and scores had improved during their games and they'd had a lot fun. Luke had tried to help her a couple more times, making her giggle the second time. It certainly made them look like a new couple, falling in love.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry," Luke apologized, feeling a little guilty for not quite being there with her. After Kirsty had met Becca, they continued on playing and only really saw her every now and again from the other side of the alley. But he did have a quick chat with her towards the end; he'd been at the bar getting them a drink when she'd joined him.

"I'm surprised," Kirsty started, getting his attention as he waited for the bartender to take their drinks order. Luke looked at her, taken by surprise himself; he hadn't thought she'd talk to him again today.

"We just happened to pass and thought we'd come in to play," he'd answered, assuming that she was surprised to see him in her 'neck of the woods'.

"No, that you've got a new girlfriend," the blonde corrected him. After he'd proposed to her and she'd said no, ending their relationship, she hadn't thought he'd want to start dating any time soon. Not with how heartbroken he'd been to find out she'd gotten engaged to Xander within a few weeks of being back together. "She seems nice though, she suits ye," Kirsty surprised him again, her blue eyes showing she genuinely meant it.

"Thanks," Luke nodded, trying to look proud as he should, but not sure if he was pulling it off. Her sentiment had taken him by surprise and he wasn't sure what to make of it.

It was that conversation that was distracting him now, he was trying to figure out what to do next... without hurting Becca or himself in the process. "So... back to our trip..." Luke said, putting those thoughts away for now so he could concentrate on the moment.

"I'd like to be home with enough time before Christmas, so if I get a flight from Chicago to Milwaukee on the twenty-second? We can work back from there," Becca suggested, looking at the calendar on his computer.

"Great. So, our office party is on the sixteenth. Yours?" he asked her, making her turn to him in surprise. They hadn't decided yet that they would be going to her office party, as they originally said they would only do that if it would benefit either of them.

"The fifteenth, the Friday. Are we going to both then?" she asked him. He turned to look at her thoughtfully. If they went, it would be another night of pretending, of confusing what they really were. But, at the same time, it would be another night of spending time with her and he was really starting to enjoy her company.

"I think it could be a good idea. To be able to post about both, make it more real?" Luke suggested, presenting it to fit in with their original plan. He could see her nod, conceding that, according to their plan, it did make sense.

"Okay, so we go to both parties. That means the earliest we could leave would be the seventeenth or eighteenth," she said, going through her hair as she thought. That meant four or five days at his place. "Let's start looking at flights," she continued, figuring they could base it on prices.

"Let me pay for your flight to Chicago, it's the least I can do for making you have to go," Luke offered as he started entering the details to find suggested flights.

"You don't have to..." she started to object.

"Yes, I do. This whole thing was my idea to start with and my idea to visit my family," Luke stood firm, seeing her realize that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He set the start date for the eighteenth, set to be flexible so it would pick up cheaper flights before or after that day. The cheapest flights for Becca to fly to Milwaukee was the twenty-third, but she wanted to fly on the twenty-second and was willing to pay the extra $70. The cheapest day to fly for them from San Antonio to Chicago was the seventeenth. "It's up to you," he told her, sitting back to give her space. He was willing to pay more or less for both of them, but she had to be comfortable with the amount of time she would be spending with him and his family.

Becca sat back too, curling up a little into the corner of his sofa. She tried not to look at him as she thought through this plan of theirs. She knew he was feeling bad for making her go through that part of it, but she felt bad that he felt that he needed to go that far and potentially lie to his family. "Let's go the seventeenth," she decided on a whim.

"Sure?" Luke checked before he turned his attention back to the computer.

"Yeah, I'm sure if you're sure," she nodded, feeling her lips turn into a smile when she saw him smile gratefully. He took her hand to give it a squeeze.

"Thanks, Bexx," he said softly and started booking their flights, his left hand still holding hers.

After booking their flights to Chicago on Saturday, Becca spoke to her mother on Sunday to tell her she would be coming home for Christmas alone after all. She had the whole 'you're single again? Am I never going to have grandchildren?' speech that lasted for almost fifteen minutes. She had to remind Mrs. Swindell that she was only 26 years old and she had plenty of time to find someone she wanted to marry and have children with. She also hinted at having met someone but managed to hold her mother off on how serious it was or giving out too many details. She didn't want to give her false hope or create problems later when she and Luke 'broke up' once their agreement came to an end. 'My mom is doing my head in... what is it with mothers harping on about daughters becoming spinsters and not getting any grandchildren? x,' Becca ended up texting Luke, her phone on speaker while her mother launched into her interrogation about her 'new beau'.

It made him realize that he should probably talk to his mother too. 'No idea, but it's not just mothers to their daughters, just so you know. I've had similar conversations 😕 x,' he sent back.

'Not making me feel any better. She's on lecture 2, and about 20min in x,' was the response he got, making him chuckle softly. Luke wished her good luck before ending up phoning his mother as well, to give her the heads up that he wouldn't be coming home alone in two weeks. Mrs. Shelton immediately wanted to know if the girl he was bringing was his girlfriend and how serious it was, as he'd only ever brought Kirsty home before. She was very confused and very surprised to hear that she was just a friend and they had an arrangement. It didn't sound right to her and it especially made her wonder why he would agree to something like that if there wasn't more to it. But she would reserve judgment until she saw her son and his new friend.

'I got bored listening to my mother and started googling – fancy going Monster Mini Golf this week? They have glow-in-the-dark golf and laser tag x,' Becca sent him half an hour later. Her friends were due back this week, but she wasn't sure she wanted to face them just yet, plus she was really enjoying spending time with Luke.

'Sounds ace. Tuesday? x,' he replied, after having laughed at the first bit of her text.

'It's a date 😉 I'll make dinner x.'

"You must really like him," Janine commented, making her colleague look up with a confused look.

"What are you...?"

"Your new fella, the one that sent the flowers," she spelled out. "You've been doing an awful lot of texting recently," she added, explaining how she'd come to her conclusions.

"Oh..." Becca chuckled. "I'm not just texting him," she said. "My best friends are on holiday, so I've been texting them a lot as well. They've been sending me pictures of things they're doing," she explained, holding one of them up for her colleague to see: Clara and Moira in Rio de Janeiro.

"Looks like they're having fun," Janine nodded, hoping her colleague would let something else slip about her new beau or she'd find a picture of them together if she swiped left or right. But all she found was more pictures of her two friends.

"Yeah, they seem to be," Becca nodded now, bringing her phone back in and putting it away on her desk. She returned her attention back to the research she was doing, for local activities that had nothing or as little as possible to do with Christmas. It was hard, not only because most activities were festive in nature around this time of year of course but because she found herself finding things that she thought Luke might like to do. What had caught her eye this afternoon was the Holiday Lights on the River Walk and the Ford Fiesta de las Luminarias. The first were fairy lights all along the River Walk and the second were Mexican Christmas lanterns near the same place. As she'd always tended to go home for Christmas or was on holiday with Derek, she hadn't been before, and it sounded like the perfect romantic evening.

They actually hadn't stopped texting since the weekend, when they'd booked their flights. It was a lot of fun sharing random thoughts with each other and gaining new insights to the other's character, and so she didn't think twice before suggesting going to the River Walk either that evening or soon that week.

'I've never been before either. And it'll be a great way to celebrate the news that I'm in the running to make partner :) Let's go tonight! x,' Luke wrote back before putting his phone away to try concentrating on his paperwork again. Like her, he liked how easy it had been for them to start texting on a more regular and personal basis, even if it did on occasion distract him from his work. He smiled to himself when she sent back a smiley and 'congratulations! x'.

"Is that her?" Tris asked, noticing the gesture when she came in to drop off some new case files.

"Yeah, we're going to the River Walk tonight to see the lights and lanterns," Luke nodded, not looking up and therefore missing his secretary's look.

"Oh, that sounds like a nice date for this week," she agreed, having seen the agreement the two had put together.

"Oh, actually I think that might be the second this week. We had dinner at hers last night before we went to the Monster Mini Golf," he answered without thinking. "The mini golf was really cool glow-in-the-dark and we got the combo with laser tag. For someone who struggles with aiming, she was actually really good at the laser tag," he chuckled now. He'd tried helping her with the mini golf, like he'd done before with the bowling, but she'd only marginally improved. But she'd taken to the laser tag like a duck to water and actually come dangerously close to beating him.

"Sounds like there might be more..." his secretary started.

"There really isn't," Luke corrected, knowing what she was about to say as she'd raised it once or twice before now. Tris held her hands up innocently, taking the hint that he wasn't willing to talk about it, and left his office again with the paperwork she needed. He sent Becca a smiley back and went back to what he'd been doing.

"Luke..." he heard a voice after a few minutes that he really didn't want to hear. He looked up to see Derek stood into his office.

"Derek. How can I help?" he asked, putting his phone further to one side, as well as the paperwork he'd been reading. His colleague looked around the office, spotting the small Christmas tree in the corner. "Bexx got me that," he was only too happy to point out.

"Great," Derek nodded, straightening his face before he turned back to face his colleague, now seeing the candy cane on his desk that said he was up for partner as well. In that moment, he wasn't even sure what bugged him more: his colleague going out with his ex-girlfriend or the possibility that he might beat him at becoming partner. "So, what's your angle?" he asked.

"I'm just going to keep working hard, like I've been doing," Luke answered, having seen his look linger on the candy cane.

"Oh, no, I meant with Becca," Derek corrected him, clasping his hands behind his back.

"What?"

"What's your angle with Becca? I mean, obviously it can't be serious or anything," he continued.

"Not serious? Maybe not, but she's coming with me to Chicago before Christmas. We booked our flights at the weekend," his colleague dangled that piece of information now, trying not to look too smug as he did so.

"She's going to meet your family?" her ex-boyfriend asked, trying not to sound too shocked or too hurt. They'd gone out for two years and she hadn't met his parents until after they'd been going out for a year. Part of that was him and wanting to make sure first, but a big part of it was her not feeling ready to.

"Uh huh," Luke almost grinned now, seeing his colleague was trying not to seethe.

"Are you going to be warm enough?" Luke asked when he'd parked up and helped her out of the car. She was wearing her nicest pair of jeans, with her comfiest cowboy boots, a long-sleeved white blouse and a woolly poncho. It really suited her, but as they would be spending the evening out on the street and on the river, he wasn't sure that she was dressed appropriately.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. And I've got you, right?" Becca said now, with a teasing laugh as she bumped into him lightly.

He chuckled softly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, leading her towards the start of the River Walk. "Sure, of course," he nodded. "So, boat tour first or walk for a bit?" he asked, as he slowly pulled his arm back, so they could walk more comfortably. They were near the first docking bay, so it would be easy enough to start the tour here or further down and end back here. But just from where they were now he could tell that tonight was going to be magical. There were multi-colored lights hanging from pretty much every tree along the riverbank and they reflected beautifully in the water. The main tower blocks and government buildings you could see had green and red lights to illuminate them in the background.

"Oh, I don't know. Where are the luminaries?" she asked as she peered along the river on her tiptoes, feeling his hand hold onto hers a little tighter in case she lost her balance. She really wanted to see those above all.

"I think they're further down. How about we go on the boat tour first and then walk back?" Luke suggested, indicating the docking bay. When she nodded, he took hold of her hand in a more comfortable way and led the way down, helping her down onto the boat. The boat still had quite a few free spaces, so they had to wait for a few more minutes until it filled up a bit more. Becca hated to admit it but within those few minutes she was starting to feel a little chilly. She was trying not to be obvious as she hid her hands under her poncho to warm them up and leant against him a little as they talked. It didn't take him long to notice what she was doing. "Bexx, all you had to do was ask," he told her with a sigh, not being entirely as serious as his tone suggested, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer against him.

"Sorry," she said with a chuckle, too grateful for his body's warmth to be too ashamed. She glanced up at him and was taken aback by how handsome he looked in the warm glow from the decorative lights. "Maybe I should've brought a jacket," she slowly admitted he was right before, smiling when he turned to look at her as well.

"That's... okay," he smiled back as their eyes met. She looked beautiful surrounded by the lights, her chestnut brown hair almost glowing softly as it framed her face in gentle curls. She smiled faintly when she felt his hand on her hip hold her tighter.

"Luke, Becca, hi," a happy voice disrupted the moment. When Luke looked away to see who belonged to the voice, Becca felt herself take a deep breath as she pushed her hair from her face, her cheek feeling warm despite the cold. "What a coincidence," Kirsty smiled as Xander helped her down onto the boat as well.

"Hey Kirsty," she responded slowly, not sure if she wanted to spend tonight with his ex; tonight had started so well. But she did notice that Luke was responding differently to coming face-to-face with his ex-girlfriend and her new fiancé; last time, he'd felt nervous and a little unsure. She couldn't feel any of that now.

"Hey," Luke nodded too, his right arm still firmly around his pretend girlfriend. "Xander, right?" he said, awkwardly holding his free left hand out to shake the man's hand. The fiancé was probably the same height as him, but with scruffier, longer and lighter blond hair. He was dressed more casually, in a style that actually probably suited Kirsty much better than he'd done. The thought stumped him briefly, as he hadn't expected to reach that stage of acceptance any time soon.

"Yeah, nice to properly meet you," Xander nodded as he did. "And Becca?" he turned to the woman now sat opposite his fiancée, reaching out to shake her hand too. She did so with a smile. "You don't mind if we join you, do you?" he asked them now, and the two pretending lovebirds couldn't think of anything to say but 'of course not'.

It turned out to be a good decision. Kirsty had lived in San Antonio longer than they had and been here before for the lights, so she told them about the tradition. She also put in a real effort to get to know Becca better and, even though their relationship wasn't real, Luke really appreciated that from his ex. He also actually found that Xander was not the evil rogue he'd built him up to be in his mind, realizing that naturally he'd only based that on the fact that he'd felt betrayed by Kirsty and the whole situation.

Becca also found that she needed to amend the image she had of Kirsty, having previously thought she was a bit flaky and a hippie. And, while she was a little bit like that, she was also just quite nice. She even offered her ex's new girlfriend advice on dealing with some of his little habits, such as not putting the top of the tooth paste back on and leaving his socks on the floor at the foot of the bed. Luke of course denied he did either of those things, which made Becca laugh heartily. When she wouldn't stop, he started tickling her, convincing his ex even more that they were a good fit together.

Becca did take some pictures, especially on the section that had both the lights and the luminaries. She also tried a few selfies of them but couldn't get the angles right to include the background, so Kirsty offered to take some pictures for her. They also ended up with a few group pictures of the four of them, which did raise some questions for both of them. Kirsty and Xander were going to meet some friends for a few drinks, so they headed off in the opposite direction of Becca and Luke. She was still a little cold, so he kept his arm around her shoulder as they walked. "She's nicer than I imagined," Becca started the conversation honestly.

"Yeah... Xander's not as bad as I thought either," he admitted, his hand giving her shoulder a soft squeeze. He was happy to feel her arm slide around his waist.

"So... ehm, in terms of our agreement then..." she started carefully, only just daring to look up at him. She felt bad for even bringing it up.

"She's happy with Xander and she's happy for us, so I don't think we'll be able to get back at her," Luke came to the same conclusion with a nod, glancing down at her. Once again, he felt captured by her green eyes and he almost forgot what they were talking about.

"Bexx?" her ex's voice interrupted them now.

"Oh, for god's sake," she muttered under her breath at another interruption as she tore her eyes away from Luke's and looked ahead, to see Derek walking their way, holding Gina's hand. "Hi guys," Becca said as nicely as she could.

"I thought you'd be out celebrating," her ex said, aimed more at the man with his arm around her. "Being up for partner is a big deal and in no way a given," he added, making it more obvious that he was trying to be nasty about it. He was insinuating that Luke should enjoy it while it lasted, because he might not get partner or indeed be up for it again next time around.

"Right back at ya," Luke said now, not wanting to be petty but also not wanting to just let his colleague insult him.

"We are. We've just had dinner and are on our way to have Prosecco at this perfect cocktail bar along the river," Gina waded in with happy smile, not appearing to feel the tension in the air. "Would you like to join us?" she offered, giving her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend a particularly friendly smile, as if she was trying to apologize or make up for what had happened previously.

"No, they wouldn't want to," Derek said before they could answer, making it more apparent that he was the one who didn't really want them to join them.

"Yeah, we're fine," Becca said too, leaning into Luke a little more, as if to make it more obvious that they just wanted to be alone or that they would rather celebrate at home. She also didn't really want to play nice with Derek or Gina, as selfish as that sounded; she just wasn't quite there yet, like Kirsty and Luke seemed to be.

"Yeah, we're just going to walk back and head home, celebrate there. Don't drink too much," Luke advised them with a teasing wink, pulling his 'girlfriend' with him to get away from them.

"I'm sorry," the woman in his arms said as soon as they were out of earshot.

"Me too, I shouldn't rise to him," he apologized too.

"So... while I don't really want to see him more or whatever, how about I come by the office tomorrow, with lunch? Try to impress the powers-that-be?" Becca suggested now. "Forget about trying to get back at Kirsty but try to focus on you getting partner? I'm sure me going home with you for the holidays will help too," she added, making it clear that she was suggesting amending their agreement rather than cancelling. And she knew from Derek how much the firm valued settled families in their staff.

"That could work," he nodded slowly, pulling her in for more of a hug. "You're incredible, you know that?" he said softly. He was referring to the fact that she was willing to do what was best for him, but also that she wasn't trying to get out of going to Chicago with him now that the main aim of the trip no longer applied. Becca simply smiled as she hugged him back, thinking it was no big deal; of course, she wasn't trying to get out of anything.