Chapter Six #2
“I know that.” She may not have had a serious love affair in her lifetime, but she had dated people for more than a few months. “I mean, what would be the overall goal? We’d get a blind item saying you spent the night or a pic in the Looking Glass of us heading out to breakfast?”
“You got a better idea?”
“Not really, but…”
She’d been thinking about this a lot the past few days.
There was a hole in Lewis’s plan. “Blind items aren’t read by everyone.
There’s no guarantee your message is going to reach the people you need to influence.
Same with attending a few social events.
” The more she thought, the more she wondered if their plan was a waste of time.
Or maybe it was that the phoniness of it all was beginning to chafe. Tipping off photographers, pretending for witnesses. Every gimmick was a reminder that she wasn’t good enough to be a real girlfriend.
It wouldn’t be so bad if he weren’t so damn amazing when they were together.
Like today when he’d shown up on her doorstep bearing coffee for their shopping adventure.
He even tucked in her scarf under the guise of keeping her warm while they walked.
All for the benefit of anyone who might be watching.
Why wasn’t she worthy of such treatment in private? Susan sighed. When she agreed to play along, it was so people like Courtney and Ginger would stop calling her pathetic. Now she wondered if she was merely proving them right.
“Earth to Susan…” A leather glove waved in her face. “You there?”
“Sorry,” she replied. “You were saying?”
“I was saying you’re right. We need to make a bigger splash. I’ll talk to Michael about scoring a profile article in one of the weekly mags. How do you feel about becoming a cover model?”
Awkward. “Who on earth would want to read an article about me?”
“I would. You’re a fascinating woman.” His smile made her stomach tumble. There he went again, making her feel special. “But I’m thinking about a profile about both of us. One of those ‘How Love Saved Me’ articles. What do you think?”
Terrific. So not only did he want to take their fake romance to the next fake level, he wanted to give an interview about how much he fake loved her. The idea gave her heartburn. “I think I need to check your coffee,” she said.
“Nothing but Italian roast, I swear. Here, do you want to test it?” He held out the cup.
Susan pushed it back. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“The more I think about it,” Lewis continued, “the more I can’t believe I didn’t think of the idea sooner. A feature article would convince people a lot faster and it would give Collier’s some good publicity, as well.”
“I didn’t realize you were in a rush,” she said.
“I’m not looking to dawdle—the season will be starting soon enough.”
“You’re going to have to hustle if you want to be featured before the holidays,” she said.
“Even weekly magazines have a lead time. Too close to the holidays, and you’ll have to keep up the ruse through January.
We only mapped out an agreement through the holidays, so unless you want to extend things… ”
“I’ll call Michael first thing on Monday morning,” he said. “I don’t want to tie you up longer than necessary.”
What he really meant was tie him up. The sooner he established himself as a reliable potential commentator, the sooner he could go about finding a woman who was more his type. She swallowed the bad taste that suddenly filled her mouth.
No sense dwelling on the inevitable. They had nearly a month to go before they parted company. Today was about “being coupley.”
“Is there a game plan for this shopping expedition or are we just going to parade up and down the street letting people stare at us?” she asked.
“Up to you. I’m more of an online shopper myself.”
“How personal.”
“How convenient,” Lewis replied. “One click and you’re done.”
Susan wondered if she was part of his “one click.” They’d decided they weren’t spending Christmas together. Did fake couples bother to exchange gifts if they weren’t being watched?
Stop whining. You knew what you were getting into.
“As much as I enjoy people staring, I think we should do something. Do you feel up to tackling a toy store? My niece Maddie wants Bugnoculars.”
“Bug-what?”
The way he scrunched up his face in confusion was adorable.
“Binoculars that let you look at bugs close up,” she explained.
Her niece had become a budding entomologist. “Actually, she wants two pairs. One for her and one for her stuffed pet, Bigsby. Oh, and a kitten too, but I was informed she’s already put in an order for the animal with Santa. ”
“Hope for her sake, he comes through.”
“Last year she asked for a visit from her dead mother, and got her wish. A ‘gray tiger kitten with a red bow’ shouldn’t be too difficult, considering.”
Naturally her sister-in-law’s reappearance at Christmastime was merely coincidence, but Maddie believed it was all Santa.
Susan saw no sense bursting her bubble. In a few years the little girl would learn the truth about Santa and that part of her innocence would die forever.
“How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa?” she asked.
“Six,” Lewis replied. “I told one of the other kids at the foster home that Santa was bringing me a race car set, and he let me know the score.”
Six years old. It saddened her, thinking of how disappointed he must have been.
“Wouldn’t you know, his mom got her act together for the holidays and showed up with the exact set I wanted. I got to watch him and his brother play with the thing all day.”
She didn’t dare ask about Lewis’s mother, suspecting she knew the answer. “Didn’t they let you join them?”
“Nah. Wasn’t part of the family,” he said, eyes looking off in the distance.
In that moment, his profile looked so forlornly beautiful it made her throat clutch.
She squeezed her coffee cup to keep from pulling him into a hug.
Lewis shook his head. “I was too young.” Maybe she was projecting, but his offhand comment came out flat.
“What about you,” he asked. “When did you figure it out?”
“Fourth grade.” She remembered well. “My classmates told me. Turned out I was the only one who was still a believer. The whole class got quite a laugh.” The memory of her embarrassment swirled in her stomach. “Oh, well,” she said. “Whatever. It was a long time ago. I’ve recovered.”
“My resilient little pea?”
His what? Right, they were two odd peas in a pod. Was it strange that whenever they shared sad childhood tales, she ended up feeling warm from the inside out?
She decided to change the subject before things became too maudlin. “Hamleys is only a block away. Ready to tackle the crowds?”
Breaching the gap between them, Lewis took her arm and tucked it in the crook of his own. “Crowds are what we want, luv. Remember?”
Good thing too because it was the opening weekend of Santa’s grotto.
As a result, the toy store was filled with children dressed in their Christmas finery waiting to go upstairs for their chance to speak with the man himself while their parents snapped a photo for the annual Christmas card.
If ever there would be a place where they’d be noticed, this was it.
Most of the kids would be too young to recognize Lewis, but their parents weren’t.
Susan saw a number of heads turn in their direction as they walked in.
“I think the science toys are on the second floor,” Susan told him.
She made it halfway to the staircase before she realized Lewis wasn’t following.
Figuring someone must have stopped him for an autograph or photo, she turned and scanned the crowd.
It wasn’t difficult to find his tall form in the crowd and she soon spied him by the animatronic display.
The store was famous for its fantastical panoramas.
This year, the wall was a winter resort with animals of all sorts enjoying the great outdoors.
Teddy bears rode a ski lift. A pair of rabbits were ice skating on a pond.
There was even a cutout of a lodge where a sloth lay stretched in a hammock by a roaring fire.
Lewis was mesmerized. His eyes were wide and shining and he had an almost slack-jawed look of wonder about him.
Maddie wore a similar look when Susan had brought her last year.
Lewis’s expression caused warmth to spread through her chest. He looked beautiful when his guard slipped.
She wanted to wrap her arms around him and soak him up.
Suddenly it hit her. He was viewing the display with a child’s eye for good reason. “You’ve never been in here at Christmastime, have you?” she asked.
“Never been in here period,” he replied. “No reason to.”
And probably too far away when he was a child.
How much childhood had he lost moving from home to home?
While she was the odd person out in her family, she at least had one.
Her heart ached picturing the little boy watching his foster siblings play with the toy he wished for.
It wasn’t just the toy that caused the pain; it was being shut out.
Without giving it a second thought, she wrapped her arms around his biceps and rested a head on his shoulder. Her way of saying he wasn’t frozen out anymore. The shifting of muscles beneath her cheek told her Lewis had looked down in surprise, but he didn’t say a word.
“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” she remarked. “It must take them months to plan everything out. All the little details.”
Lewis chuckled. “There’s a red squirrel dancing in one of the trees. I had a teammate who danced like that. Hector Menendez. Called it his booty dance. I should send him a video to show him how awkward he looked.” He took out his phone.
Susan was watching another set of rabbits, this pair chasing one another around a tree trunk. “My grandfather used to bring us here when we were little.”
“Same one who took you to the Kew Gardens?”
Susan nodded. “He took us a lot of places. The company museum was his favorite—always a good time.”
“Didn’t like learning about soap?”
“Thomas and Linus liked it. I was four years old. I just wanted ice cream. Come to think of it, there are days when I’d still rather eat ice cream than be at Collier’s. For that matter, I’d take ice cream over anything.”
“Anything?” Lewis asked. Actually he purred, making her insides flip. “I can think of a few things I might like better.”
There must be someone nearby watching because he had his nose dangerously close to her temple. Very well. She’d play along. “Is that so? Like what?”
“Sugar cookies, for starters.”
Susan nearly snorted. That was so not what she expected. But then, this was a show, not a seduction. Why shouldn’t he give a nonsensical answer? “Cookies over ice cream? Close call, but I don’t think so.”
“That’s your opinion. Lately I’ve been finding the aroma very tempting. Has anyone ever told you that you have gorgeous hair?”
The non sequitur threw her, along with a brush across the top of her head that felt a lot like a kiss.
For the crowd.
“I’ve gotten a few compliments,” she replied.
In reality, her hair was a source of vanity for her. She had the Collier black hair, one of the few family traits—maybe the only family trait—from that side of the family that had been passed down to her.
“Good. Glad to hear it didn’t go unnoticed.”
Like the rest of her, she almost said. Instead, she whispered, “Thank you,” and, closing her eyes, rested her cheek a little more firmly against his woolen coat.
“Did you know your hair smells like sugar cookies?” Lewis whispered back.
Susan’s eyes flew open. Pulling back, she looked at him expecting a grin. He was dead serious though. If anything, his eyes were slightly hooded. “Your shampoo,” he said. “Reminds me of sugar cookies.”
He just said he preferred sugar cookies. Was he trying to say…
The sound of her phone interrupted her thoughts before they could become coherent. Pulling her phone from her bag, she saw her brother Linus’s face on the caller ID.
“Might want to head to the hospital,” he said when she answered. “Baby number two has arrived.”