A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year Read online

  A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year

  Holidays with the Wongs, Book 3

  Jackie Lau

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, companies, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 Jackie Lau. All Rights Reserved.

  First edition: January 2020

  ISBN: 978-1-989610-08-4

  Editor: Latoya C. Smith, LCS Literary Services

  Cover Design: Flirtation Designs

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Meet Zach & Jo...

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Jackie Lau

  Meet Zach & Jo...

  After his family’s matchmaking extravaganza at Thanksgiving, high school teacher Zach Wong is terrified of what his parents might do for Chinese New Year. Surely they’ll try to set him up yet again, especially now that his older brothers are in relationships. Zach, however, has no interest in dating, not since his fiancée left him.

  The solution? Find a fake girlfriend to avoid his parents’ matchmaking.

  Jo MacGregor, the town dentist, is the obvious choice. They both live in Mosquito Bay and have been friends for years, ever since they bonded over broken engagements. A few kisses and dates around town, and everyone will believe they’re in a relationship. No problem.

  Except their fake relationship is starting to feel more and more real...

  Chapter 1

  Bouquet of flowers in hand, Zach Wong exited the grocery store and headed down Main Street. It was a crisp winter day in early January. The sun had shone brightly earlier, but now it was dusk and there was a cool wind off Lake Huron.

  He passed the doctor’s office, the dentist’s office, and the pottery shop, which inexplicably had survived for a decade despite the lack of tourism in the sleepy lakeside town called Mosquito Bay. Next, there was the elementary school, the diner, the bakery, and two units that had been vacant for nearly a year.

  A few people were coming out of the Tim Hortons as he walked by.

  “Zach! Haven’t seen you in a while.” Al, a bartender at Finn’s, slapped him on the back.

  Zach’s brothers didn’t want to live in Mosquito Bay, didn’t enjoy being in a community where everyone knew each other and there was only one bar, but Zach liked it here.

  “I guess it’s been longer than usual,” Zach said. “You weren’t working last Friday, right? How’s the family up in Owen Sound?”

  “They’re doing well. My old man broke his arm, though. Fell off a ladder when he was putting up Christmas lights.” Al nodded at the flowers. “Who’s the lucky lady?”

  Zach just smiled and shrugged.

  He talked to Al for a couple minutes, then walked onward, passing Wong’s Wok, the restaurant his grandparents had run for decades. A typical small-town Chinese-Canadian restaurant. The new owners weren’t named Wong, but they’d kept the name, not wanting to replace the sign. There was a sheet of paper in the window that said, “Now serving pad Thai.” That was new, too. There had been no pad Thai back in his grandparents’ day.

  Finn’s was next door. Like Wong’s Wok, there was no one named Finn there anymore, but the name had endured.

  Zach turned off Main Street and walked by Great Lakes Bed and Breakfast. It was another five minutes before he reached his destination. Though the front door was never locked, he rang the doorbell anyway. His mother answered.

  “For you,” he said, handing her the bouquet as he stepped inside.

  “How lovely!” Mom enveloped him in a hug. “Thanks, Zach.”

  “Where are my flowers?” Ah Ma, his grandmother, asked as she shuffled into the hall. “Ah, I see. They are mums for your mum. It is not fair that there are no flowers called ahmas. They would be a bestseller! The biggest tropical flowers. Bright pink.”

  “No, they’d be poisonous,” Ah Yeh said, coming up behind her. “Just like your cooking.”

  He stepped to the side as his wife attempted to swat him.

  “My cooking isn’t poisonous!” Ah Ma said.

  “You gave me food poisoning.”

  “One time, forty years ago. You are always holding that over my head.”

  She tried to swat Ah Yeh again, but he moved out of the way. They chased each other around the house, though it was hardly at a fast speed, as they were both close to ninety. It was more like watching two tortoises run a race.

  Zach chuckled. He enjoyed being able to see his family at least once a week. His brothers, Greg and Nick, lived in Toronto and he usually only saw them at holidays. Amber, his little sister, had moved to Stratford, which was an hour away. But Zach had stayed. Well, he’d gone away for university, but he’d come back after finishing teacher’s college.

  “Stop it!” Dad entered the front hall. He looked at his parents and shook his head. “One of you will fall and break a hip, and that’s the last thing we need.”

  “No, I am strong. Big muscles.” Ah Ma stopped chasing her husband and attempted to flex her arm.

  Dad snorted, as did Ah Yeh.

  “Dinner is almost ready,” Mom said. “How about you put the flowers in the vase and set the table, Zach?”

  Ten minutes later, he was digging into his roast chicken, potatoes, and green beans. Sunday night dinners with his family had become a tradition in the past few years. He and his grandparents would go to his parents’ house, and his mom and dad would cook. Occasionally Amber came, too.

  “So, what did you do for New Year’s?” Mom asked.

  “Did you kiss anyone at midnight?” Ah Ma made smooching noises. “Did you go to any big parties?”

  “I was at Finn’s,” Zach said. “Nothing exciting.”

  “You didn’t answer my first question,” Ah Ma complained.

  He laughed. “No, I didn’t kiss anyone.”

  Ah Ma shook her head. “Greg and Nick have girlfriends now. But you.” She pointed her finger at him as though accusing him of a heinous crime. “You have not dated since Marianne, right? I keep my ears open. Nobody has said anything about you dating. We set you up with Diana, and that did not go well, but we—I mean you—can try again!”

  Zach felt a ball of tension in his stomach as he recalled Thanksgiving. His family had decided that since Zach, Nick, Greg, and Amber were all single, it would be a great idea to set them all up on blind dates.

  Although Zach’s wasn’t exactly a blind date, was it? He’d known Diana since childhood. Their families were friends, and Zach had been particularly good friends with Diana’s older brother, Sebastian.

  Regardless, it had not gone well, though Nick had made out with Greg’s date and they were still together. At Christmas, Greg had convinced the family to help him make a snow fort for his high school girlfriend, and now they were a couple again, too.

  Zach was happy for his brothers. If that’s what they wanted, it was great.

  But Zach had been in love once, and it hadn’t ended well. In fact, it had ended with a diamond ring getting tossed in his face.

  So, no, thank you. He wasn’t interested in going through that again. Why keep doing something that brought you pain?

  He’d spent many long nights at the bar, not drinking hims
elf into oblivion, but simply because he wanted to be somewhere other than the house he’d rented with Marianne.

  The one bright spot in all those late nights at Finn’s?

  He’d become good friends with Jo.

  His engagement had ended more than four years ago, but Zach remembered exactly what it had been like. He didn’t need a repeat.

  His family, however, seemed keen on him being in a relationship. There had been Thanksgiving’s matchmaking extravaganza, and many comments since. Oh, do you know Lizzy, who works at Tim Hortons? She’s Magda’s daughter, and I thought we could set you up... Wasn’t Lizzy cute in her corn-cob costume at the harvest festival?

  And now, the mention of New Year’s reminded him of the next big family dinner.

  Chinese New Year.

  Would his family try to set him up with another woman? Unfortunately, the odds seemed good. True, there were no matchmaking efforts at Christmas for Zach, but he had a feeling they were biding their time and the next family holiday would involve unwanted matchmaking for him and possibly Amber.

  “What is going on, Zach?” Ah Ma asked. “You are deep in thought. It is not like you. You are acting like Greg.”

  “Oh, nothing,” he said. “Just trying to prepare myself for work tomorrow.”

  He shared pleasant conversation with his family and listened to Ah Yeh describe his latest finds on Amazon.

  But once dinner was over and he was walking home, he started thinking about Chinese New Year again. He couldn’t bear more matchmaking with his mother’s bridge partner’s cousin’s daughter, or the corn-cob costume lady who worked at Tim Hortons. He was happy with his life as it was. He enjoyed his job as a high school science teacher. He had lots of friends. He played in a hockey league on Monday nights. He had his family.

  No, it wasn’t the exciting life that Marianne had wanted, but he liked it. He didn’t need a replacement for his ex-fiancée.

  He did, however, need to take preventative measures to ensure he didn’t have to suffer through more matchmaking at the next family holiday. Thanksgiving had been a shit show.

  What would dissuade his family?

  Well, the most effective thing would be if he already had a girlfriend. His family wouldn’t set him up with anyone then. He didn’t want a real girlfriend, but maybe he could get a fake girlfriend?

  He wasn’t sure where the idea had come from, but once it popped into his mind, it wouldn’t leave.

  A fake girlfriend would be the perfect solution to his problem. He’d bring a woman to dinner on Chinese New Year—a woman of his choosing who knew the whole thing was an act.

  Zach had a bunch of female friends, but most of them were married or in relationships.

  However, there was one woman who would play the role perfectly.

  * * *

  “What would you like?” Dr. Jo MacGregor asked. “An elephant, a horse, or a dog?”

  “A dog!” Six-year-old Savannah bounced in the dentist chair.

  “A pink one or a yellow one?”

  “Yellow!”

  Jo pumped air into the yellow balloon then twisted it into the shape of a dog. She handed it to the little girl.

  Savannah frowned. “It’s just like the horse you made me last time.”

  “Savannah!” said the girl’s mother, Kyla. “What do you say when someone gives you something?”

  “Thank you,” Savannah said with a world-weary sigh.

  The girl was right. Jo’s dog was identical to her horse, but nobody had complained. Until today.

  Jo suppressed a laugh.

  Fortunately, she was a better dentist than balloon animal artist, but usually the kids enjoyed the balloon animals.

  “If you use your imagination,” Jo said, “I’m sure you can see that it’s a very nice puppy.”

  Savannah squinted at the balloon animal. “I see it now!”

  Having finished with her last patient of the day, Jo went over a few things, then returned home for a quick dinner before going out to the town’s bar.

  She had plans every Friday night at Finn’s. It was the highlight of her week, and she’d been thinking about it all day, as she’d looked in people’s mouths and filled cavities and made unimpressive balloon animals.

  “Here’s your Guinness.” Al set a pint in front of her.

  “Thank you,” she murmured, then returned to staring out the window, waiting for her friend as she sat at their usual table near the front. Sometimes he was a bit late, if he stopped to chat with someone on the walk over, but never more than ten minutes.

  And there he was now, wearing his red parka, a gray toque pulled low over his ears. He waved at her from outside and she waved back, trying to tamp down the giddy feeling in her chest.

  Really, it was embarrassing that she felt like this around him. She was a thirty-three-year-old woman, for God’s sake, not a schoolgirl.

  How many of his students had crushes on him? She couldn’t help wondering.

  “Hey,” she said as he walked up to the table.

  Zach Wong took off his toque, revealing his perfect dark brown hair. It was a little long and floppy, with a slight wave. Hugh Grant hair, she called it. It was unfair that his hair didn’t get messed up when he put on a winter hat. Hers, on the other hand...

  “Let’s sit at the back today,” he said. “I have something to ask you.”

  A handsome man was inviting her to the dark corner of the bar. Her heart beat a touch rapidly, even though she knew it didn’t mean that.

  “Sure,” she said with a smile, gripping her pint as she followed him. When she was sitting down, she asked, “What is it?”

  “Well,” he said, “the Lunar New Year is coming up soon.”

  “That’s in February?”

  “This year, it’s January twenty-fifth. I’m afraid my family is going to invite a date for me, like at Thanksgiving. So I was wondering...”

  He rested his elbow on the table and leaned closer to her. She inhaled his piney scent.

  Dammit, this attraction was so inconvenient.

  She’d known Zach since they were kids, but not well—she’d been three years ahead of him in school. Then one day four years ago, they’d both been drinking away their heartbreak at the bar, and they’d bonded over their broken engagements.

  They’d become friends, and two years ago, Jo had developed this inconvenient crush on Zach. Inconvenient because it was quite clear he had no interest in another relationship.

  Many times, she’d told herself that she should stop meeting him for drinks, and maybe then she’d finally rid herself of these stupid feelings.

  Except every week, they met at Finn’s. She couldn’t help herself.

  She had a successful dental practice, which she’d taken over from her father after his retirement. She owned a cute little house on the edge of town. She could cook. She could garden, and she grew the best tomatoes on the block. She was pretty good at many things.

  And yet...

  “I want you to come to my parents’ house on Chinese New Year,” Zach said, “and pretend to be my girlfriend.”

  A burst of laughter escaped Jo’s lips, and with it, unfortunately, a mouthful of dark beer. It landed on Zach’s sweater.

  Oh, God. She’d spit beer on Zach Wong.

  “You want me...to pretend to be your girlfriend?” she asked as she grabbed a handful of napkins and started frantically dabbing at his sweater. She could feel his muscles underneath, and mmm, that was nice.

  She leaned back. She should probably let him clean himself off.

  “Yes,” he said, “I want you to be my fake girlfriend so my family won’t set me up with anyone for Chinese New Year.”

  “Well, there’s a sentence that’s never been uttered before in Mosquito Bay.” Her cheeks flamed. “I’m so sorry. About the beer, I mean.”

  “It’s no big deal.” That was Zach, never fazed by anything. “So, will you do it?”

  “You think your family will believe we’re together
?”

  “Why wouldn’t they?”

  “Won’t it be a little suspicious if you suddenly show up with a girlfriend when you haven’t mentioned a girlfriend before?”

  “Good point.” He drummed his fingers on the table. “We’ll have to go on dates in the next few weeks. Do something other than drinking at the bar every Friday. Then my parents will hear about it through the gossip vine.”

  “Yes!” Jo said, with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm.

  She couldn’t help it. Zach was asking her on a date!

  True, it was a fake date, but still. Exciting times.

  God, she was pathetic.

  She had a sip of her beer and managed not to spit it on anyone this time, which she counted as a win.

  She would be Zach’s fake girlfriend; she couldn’t help herself from agreeing. But while they were pretending, she must absolutely not give away her feelings, or that might be the end of their friendship. Jo had a small circle of friends, and she didn’t want to lose one.

  Would he want to kiss her as part of their act?

  Her hands flew to her mouth.

  “Are you having second thoughts?” Zach asked.

  “No, it’s fine. I’ll do it.”

  “Thanks.” He raised his pint, and she clinked hers against it. “I owe you.”

  “Yes, you do,” she said good-naturedly.

  They drank their beer in silence for a minute before Al came around and talked to Zach about hockey. Normally, Jo would join in, but today, she was lost in thought.

  She was going to get exactly what she wanted.

  Pity it would all be fake.

  Chapter 2

  “More flowers for your mother?” asked the cashier at Foodland.

  “Not this time.” Zach smiled at her and she flushed.

  He knew his smile was powerful. It didn’t make every woman drop to her knees, but when he wanted to fool around, he had little trouble finding a partner. He certainly hadn’t been celibate since Marianne ended their engagement, but it wasn’t like he was sleeping his way through all the single women in town.

  “Who’s the lucky lady?” the cashier asked.