Under The Mistletoe

1| Lie low

Chapter 1: Lie low (Hope's POV)

"Dad! I'm going out!" I called out. 

"With who?" he asked, showing up at my bedroom door. 

"With... Jonah." 

"The boy you've been hanging out with this month?" he asked. 

"You say that like I get a new guy home every month," I rolled my eyes. 

"You know what I mean," he said, coming inside and sitting beside me. 

"Dad, you met him. You said you liked him." 

"He's nice but... what happened to the prince and princess?" 

"What?" I laughed in confusion. 

"The Rivers' son." 

I froze, stopping in my spot as I was tying my laces. "Blake?" I asked. 

"Yeah, what happened to him?" 

I turned to him. "I left him. Two years ago. Without saying goodbye. I disappeared from his life. The prince doesn't always end up with the princess, dad. I gotta go." I stood up, grabbing my phone, shoving it into my purse. 

"I thought you were planning to lie low until school started after Christmas break. Honey, it's nowhere near that." 

"Christmas break is in a week. And I was lying low. I met him at the coffee shop, remember?" 

He shrugged, "Okay. Be back by midnight. Have fun." He kissed the side of my head before leaving. I followed him downstairs and then out the door where Jonah was waiting in my driveway. 

The deal is, I moved back home in November. I'll sum it up quickly for you guys. I left our hometown, St. Helena, California, two years ago when my mom passed away in a car accident. It took too much of a toll on me mentally and emotionally, so I got myself enrolled in a boarding school in New York, and I ran off without telling anyone but my dad. He had to stay here to keep working and it's not like I needed him there at a boarding school anyway. 

Now, after two years, he's asked me to come back. He never said it before but he gets lonely. And I feel kind of guilty, leaving him by himself after he lost his wife, but I needed an urgent escape route and that was the first one I saw. Call me selfish, but your brain doesn't really like comprehending that you just lost your mother. 

So, I got back in November, leaving the semester early, and joined a homeschool program until now. In two weeks, the public high school here will start their Christmas break. Once that break ends, I'll be joining the students at school. Let's come back to the present now, shall we? 

"Hey," he smiled, pecking my cheek. 

"Hi," I grinned. 

He opened the passenger side door for me and I climbed in, thanking him. He shut the door and climbed in beside me, starting up the car and driving us out. 

"Where are we going?" I asked. 

"Hope, how long have we known each other now?" he asked. 

"About... three, three, and a half weeks." 

"And where did we meet?" 

"At Serene Cafe," I chuckled. 

"In honor of making it three weeks, I'm taking you back to the cafe." I smiled, watching him drive with ease and he smiled at the road ahead of him. 

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. 

"I have a plan, but it's a secret, I can't tell you. I'll just have to show you," he grinned.