The Sweetheart Hoax Page 3

  “Hey,” Danny popped his head inside Phil’s door and cocked his head toward the reception area. “Where’s Margot?”

  “She made a run to the shopping warehouse for supplies. Her voicemail said she’d be in around ten.”

  Danny seemed appeased, but instead of going back to his office, he stood in the doorway and studied Phil. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “What do you mean?” Phil asked. Danny wasn’t one for office gossip and he sure as hell didn’t linger in doorways when he could be on the phone or at a building site.

  “You look like shit.” He made motions toward his head. “Your hair is all messed up and you’ve got a puppy dog look on your face.”

  Phil carefully finger combed his hair into place. “I’ve got less than three weeks to find a woman to ask home with me and I don’t have a clue who it’ll be.”

  “Somebody from the country club?” Danny suggested.

  “I was there last night. That well is dry.”

  “Why don’t you go into Charleston and hit a club?”

  “I’d rather hit myself over the head. Have you been to a club lately?” Phil chuckled at his own question. “Of course you haven’t. You’re happily married. Clubs make me feel like an old man in a sea of teenagers.”

  Danny moved to sit in a chair in front of Phil’s desk when he heard Margot enter the office with bags in hand.

  “What’s the big deal anyway? Just don’t take someone.”

  If only he could explain without sounding like an ass. The thought of people thinking he was gay really bothered him. God knew Danny would think it was hysterical. “I have to take someone. I told my mom I would and now I have to.”

  “Why don’t you take Margot?” Danny asked in a weird stage whisper.

  “Margot?” Phil choked. “Our receptionist, Margot?”

  “Do you know another Margot?”

  “I can’t believe you, of all people, would suggest such a thing. If I ask her to go home with me for the weekend and pretend to be my girlfriend, that smacks of sexual harassment.”

  “She’s quitting.”

  “Who’s quitting?” Phil asked. Couldn’t Danny concentrate on one thing at a time?

  “Margot’s quitting. If she doesn’t work here, she can’t accuse you of sexual harassment.”

  “Why the hell is she quitting?”

  “She finished her nursing degree. She’s getting a real job.”

  “This is a real job. Damn it.” He pounded his fist on the desk. What else could go wrong? “How do you know she’s quitting? You’re never in the office.”

  “She told Kate,” Danny said. “Kate told me.”

  “Why would she tell Kate?”

  “They’re friends. Sort of. Which is perfectly fine by me since Kate could use some women friends.”

  Kate and Margot were friends and Margot was a nurse. Phil almost got up to look in the mirror to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “Nursing? Why didn’t I know about this?”

  “Good question, since you spend most of your day together.”

  “I thought she was reading romance novels.”

  “To be honest, I did, too, before Kate told me about her plans.” Danny shook his head in disgust. “We should probably start paying more attention to our employees.” He stood up and looked down at Phil with his hands on his hips. “So ask her.”

  “Who?”

  “Margot. Ask Margot to go home with you and pretend to be your girlfriend.”

  Phil sat back in his seat and let his ball slip from his fingers. “Are you out of your mind? She’s too young.”

  “She’s old enough to be a nurse.”

  “Yeah, but she’s so…plain. Between her clothes, that snorting laugh of hers, and those crazy curls, no one in their right mind would believe we were a couple.”

  “Believe it or not, “Danny said, “she might be your only choice.”

  ***

  Margot stood frozen in the hallway with bags of toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies fisted in her ironclad grip. She looked down at the skirt she’d bought in high school and the clearance top she’d bought a few years ago. So what if she didn’t have even a spare dime to spend on clothes? Pretty soon all she’d have to wear were scrubs anyway. She couldn’t help the way she laughed, could she? God knew her hair was out of control, but she didn’t have time to straighten it every morning and she certainly couldn’t afford a salon treatment for hundreds of dollars. As if to mock her, a blonde lock fell unceremoniously over her eye. She supposed the steam coming from her ears had caused it to fall free of the clips she’d used to hold back her mane that morning.

  How dare he describe her like that! How dare he give voice to all of her shortcomings! When she saw Danny’s face as he exited Phil’s office, she knew he thought she’d overheard their conversation.

  “Good morning,” he said with a sheepish smile before slinking past her and closing his office door.

  “Not for me, it isn’t,” she mumbled and continued to the linen closet by the bathroom. She set the bags on the gleaming hardwood floor and began slamming supplies onto the shelves. Hearing Phil describe her in those terms certainly eased her guilt over quitting. And to think she’d turned down drinks with a doctor in order to study and work up the nerve to let Phil down easy. She crumpled the plastic bags in her fist, shoved them in the recycling bag she’d installed in the office, and marched to the entrance of Phil’s door.

  She took a deep breath and gave the trim a hearty rap.

  Phil’s head swung around as the sound of her knocking echoed off the walls of his office. “Margot. You’re back.”

  She swallowed hard, took two steps inside, and announced without preamble, “I quit.”

  The sight of his jaw going slack and his inability to form words should have been comical from the man who always knew just what to say in any situation. “Huh?”

  Unrequited love turned quickly to unworthy injustice in a finger snap. “I believe you heard me,” she said with her chin in the air.

  “Margot…”

  “I’ll give you two weeks and not a second more.”

  Phil unfolded himself from his chair and stood to look down at her. She wouldn’t be swayed by his impressive build or the weary look in his warm, candy colored eyes. “I understand you’re studying to become a nurse?”

  “Studying is over…almost over. One more test and I’ll be on staff at the hospital.”

  “I know I should offer my congratulations,” Phil said. “But I can’t seem to feel anything other than sorry you won’t be around.”

  Sorry my ass, she screamed inside her head. What a relief for him not to face her unsuitable clothes, her unsightly hair, and unbecoming laugh every moment of the day. “I’m sure you won’t have any trouble finding a more appropriate replacement.”

  He lifted his brows, blinked hard once, and lowered his eyes to the desk. “I hope you don’t think—”

  “Don’t worry, Phil. I don’t think anything at all. Would you like me to place an ad in the paper or would you?”

  He shot her an insipid glance. “Why don’t you write something up and let me take a look at it first?”

  “No problem,” she said and turned to leave.

  “Margot?” Phil called.

  She turned around slowly, afraid the indignation she’d felt earlier would burst free in a jagged sob from her aching throat. “Yes?”

  He seemed to study her in the doorway, his eyes sweeping from her bargain shoes, over her seasons-ago-fashionable skirt, to her hand-me-down blouse. “We’ll miss you around here.”

  Ha. “You won’t even know I’m gone.”

  Chapter 5

  Phil slammed his Mercedes into park when he saw Danny’s truck backing out of their lot. He shot to his feet and jogged to the driver’s side window before his elusive partner snuck away. Phil flagged him down just as Danny had removed the phone from his ear and had turned his tires toward the exit.

  “Did y
ou get a chance to look over those resumes I put on your desk?” Phil asked after Danny lowered the window.

  “I haven’t had time,” Danny said. “I’m playing catch up on the Millhaven project thanks to the permit issues. I’m barely treading water.”

  Phil sighed in frustration. “I’m not hiring a receptionist without your approval.”

  “Just pick one, Phil. I trust you.” Danny tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as beads of sweat formed along his brow despite the cooler October temperatures. Danny wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his t-shirt.

  Phil noted Danny’s red face and neck and was tempted to suggest he use sunscreen, but Phil knew better than to offer advice when Danny was in a mood. He’d been in a mood for over a week now. “Kate still not sleeping?”

  Danny jerked the truck into park and blew out a breath as he drew his hands through his hair. “Her back still bothers her at night, so she can’t get comfortable.” He rapped the steering wheel with his fist. “Damn it, Phil. What kind of parent am I going to be if I can’t stand the sight of my wife in pain? How the hell am I going to make it through delivery?”

  Phil lifted his hands in surrender. “You’ve just stepped way outside my area of expertise.” Phil resisted the urge to shudder. “From what I’ve seen in the movies, you just hold her hand and tell her to breathe.”

  “She says all I need to do is make sure she gets an epidural.”

  “Epidural?” Phil asked.

  “Pain meds.”

  “Ahh.” Phil felt a stab of loss for Danny’s bachelor days. Their morning conversations used to be a lot more interesting and, for Phil, much more relevant. What was next, breast-feeding? “So let me run in and grab the resumes. You can take them with you, look over them at lunch or whenever you get a second.”

  “I’m not going to have a second,” Danny said. He put the truck in drive as way of ending the conversation. “And I seriously don’t care.”

  “Just narrowing them down to ten took me forever,” Phil complained. “Now they’re just names on a page.”

  “So,” Danny said as he reached for his phone where it had begun to ring, “call them in for interviews.”

  “Ten interviews? I don’t have time for that.”

  Danny pointed to his phone. “I’ve got to get this.” He eased off the brake and brought to the phone to his ear. “Have Margot interview them first,” he said before pulling away.

  Hummm. Why hadn’t he thought of that? Margot knew the job inside and out. She’d be able to narrow the choices and possibly pick her successor. If only he hadn’t blown it with her and blurted out those comments about her hair and clothes.

  He’d worked hard over the years to establish a good rapport with her and, in one moment of panic, he’d ruined it. Now, instead of her happy smile, she greeted him with an eye roll and a scowl. He never knew how much he’d looked forward to her good-natured cheer until it was gone.

  Determined to win her over, he retrieved his suit jacket and breakfast from the car and started up the stairs to the small house they’d converted to their home base seven years ago. He loved the porch they’d added and the decorative door with beveled glass he’d designed and Danny had made to order. He spied the plants wilting in the urn. He’d have to replace the vinca he’d planted with pansies as soon as the cooler weather decided to stick.

  They’d contracted a designer on the interior, but he’d known what he wanted from the beginning. Warm browns on the walls, softer beiges in the fabrics and rugs. Everything about the house invited people to come in and stay for a while. He’d framed his sketches of their most impressive projects for the walls and had even had a few offers for commissioned drawings.

  He opened the door expecting to find Margot behind her desk, but all he found was her bag on the counter. He set the blueberry scone he’d bought for her at the bakery on a napkin and continued down the hall. She came out of the bathroom and glared at him in greeting. Great, he’d have to spend another day sucking up.

  He didn’t like how ever since she’d tendered her notice she’d dropped all pretense of civility. He knew she’d overheard his nasty comments. He hadn’t meant to say those things so loudly and certainly hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, especially since he was just desperate enough to ask her to spend the weekend in Cash with him.

  She’d started wearing more casual clothes, he’d noted with interest. Gone were the ugly polyester shirts and paper-thin skirts with ratty hems. Today she paired a snug graphic t-shirt with cargo pants. Her attire, while completely inappropriate for the office, emphasized a nice rack he hadn’t noticed before, but also underscored her age. She looked like a teenager.

  “Good morning,” he said with exaggerated cheer. “I brought you a scone.”

  “Thanks,” she said and continued past him to her desk.

  He watched her scoop up the scone and napkin and drop them in the trash. He reminded himself not to lose his temper, and it helped when she blushed knowing he’d seen her throw his gift away. “I was wondering if you’d mind setting up interviews with the ten people left on our list. I’d like for you to do the initial interviews and narrow my choices down to two or three. You know what we need, and then I’ll decide from the ones you think will work best.”

  “Fine.” She sat down and started typing on the computer. “Your mother called this morning.” She handed him a pink message slip without looking up. “Something about flight details.”

  He grabbed the sheet and crumpled it in his fist. He hadn’t forgotten he only had two days before the rates went sky-high.

  ***

  “So what’s it like to work for them?” Sonja D. Frank, current cashier at a warehouse store and one of the ten applicants for her job, asked during an interview.

  Margot gave her the standard answer she’d come up with after being asked the question four times previously by different applicants. “They’re fine as long as you do your job and are respectful to clients.” Margot let her eyes drift to the hallway where she knew Phil was huddled over his desk working on the designs for a new medical practice. She thought back over the last three years as Sonja went on about her previous responsibilities as head cashier. If Margot were honest with the applicants, she would have described Danny as occasionally grumpy, incredibly focused, and out of the office as much as possible. Whenever he worked in the office, he was either on the phone or working up bids with his door closed, and she knew not to disturb him. Kate was the absolute light of his life and the thought of becoming a father had him completely freaked.

  As for Phil…she sighed wistfully. Phil Williams could talk anyone into just about anything. He was as slick with his tongue as he was with his drawings. Working with him the past three years was like having an apprenticeship in personal negotiations 101. She intended to draw upon his tactics when dealing with patients in the hospital. But he was more than just that silver tongue; he was a man who paid attention. He planted pretty flowers in the urns on the porch and remembered to water them regularly. He always brought her little treats during the day—breakfast from the bakery, dessert from his lunches out, cards and gifts on her birthday and secretary’s day.

  She’d been intentionally rude to him in the last week, and as she escorted Sonja out of the building, she felt guilty for that as she spied a cookie on her desk. Damn him. White chocolate macadamia nut—her favorite flavor, and just in time to satisfy her afternoon sugar craving. She picked up the spreadsheet she’d finished and the cookie and took her first bite as she made her way to his office.

  Absorbed. That’s how he looked at the drafting table with a pencil in his hand, his brows furrowed in concentration, those long limbs jutting out over the desk as he worked out his ideas. Just once, she thought as she watched him from the doorway, just once she’d like to know what it felt like to have Phil look at her the way he looked at his work, serious, loving, totally enthralled.

  She must have sighed because his head whipped up and around. She’d broken th
e spell between the design and its master. “Interview over?” he asked as if coming out of a fog.

  “Yep.” She took a step inside. “Four down, six to go.”

  “Anyone satisfy your standards?”

  “Not as satisfying as this cookie.” She waved the half-eaten treat in the air. “Thank you.”

  “I’m glad to see it didn’t end up in the trash.”

  She felt her cheeks heat. “Touché.”

  He swirled around to face his desk after his eyes did a quick scan of her dumpy clothes. She’d had to revert back to her ugly wardrobe for the interviews. “Can we call a truce for the remainder of your time here?”

  “I’m not mad at you,” she said.

  His grin, the sideways lift of his spectacular mouth, had her rooted to the floor. “Liar.”

  “Well,” she dropped her eyes and shuffled her feet. “I’m not mad anymore.”

  “Good.” His grin bloomed into a full glorious smile showing off his perfect teeth and the crinkles around his eyes. “No more casual Tuesdays?”

  “I didn’t think the casual look would send the right message to your future employee.”

  He eyed her again, his gaze lingering on her chest. She was used to men staring at her breasts, but not Phil. “I like you in casual clothes. You look more…you, I guess.”

  Don’t, she wanted to say. Don’t do this to me again. Don’t suck me in just as I’m trying to make a clean break. But because she would never admit her feelings out loud, she said, “I’ve got the cost report on The Moorings.” She set the papers on his desk and turned to leave.

  “Margot?” She spun around at the sound of his voice. “I appreciate you doing the interviews.”

  “It’s no trouble,” she lied. It was a huge pain in the butt and had kept her from studying for the NCLEX.

  “I’m sure you’ll find the right person, but no one can fill your shoes.”

  “My ugly shoes,” she chided.