The Sweetheart Hoax (2 page)

Bo walked over and looked at his favorite meal as if it were sprinkled with poison. “You were praying when I walked in and you made me an omelet and bacon for breakfast.”

“So?”

“Come on, Judy. I’ve had nothing but oatmeal and cold cereal for three months. What gives?”

Judy sighed and brought his coffee to the table. “Oh, sit down. I’m not going to snatch it away.”

“Are you going to tell me what you’ve done?” He looked at his plate with a wicked smile on his face. “Or what you want me to do?”

“Why can’t I give thanks to the Lord and make your favorite breakfast without you getting all suspicious?”

“Because I know you.” He took a generous bite and closed his eyes. “Oh, how I’ve missed bacon.”

She let him enjoy the meal and felt a stab of unease about her motives. His health was more important than the cute smile that graced his handsome face. “Bo?” Judy asked in a sweet voice while rubbing his arm with her hand.

“I knew it,” he said.

“What?”

“Just spit it out so I can enjoy my breakfast.”

“Fine. I need a favor.”

“Must be a big one if I get bacon.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked her in the eye. “What is it?”

“I need you to talk to Devon, explain something to him for me.”

“Explain what? Quit talking in riddles and get to the point.”

“I need you to tell him about a tiny little white lie I told his brother.”

Bo set down his fork. “I already don’t like the sound of this, and I don’t have the foggiest idea what you’re talking about.”

“I told Phil that Devon had heard some rumors about him, and I need you tell Devon so that if Phil says anything to him, he’ll know what he’s talking about.”

Bo scowled at her. “What kind of rumors?”

She took a sip of coffee and then fiddled with the clasp on earring. “I told Phil that Devon heard he might be gay.”

Bo choked on a swallow of coffee. “You did what?”

“Now listen,” she said. “I can explain.”

“No wonder you were praying. Why would you do that?”

“He’s thirty-one years old and he’s never brought a woman home.”

“You think he’s gay?”

“Of course I don’t think he’s gay, but it was the best I could come up with.”

“What do you get out of telling Phil that Devon thinks he’s gay?”

“I didn’t tell Phil that Devon thinks he’s gay; I told Phil that Devon’s heard rumors he’s gay.”

“Oh, well, that makes all the difference.”

“Look, Mr. Smarty Pants, it worked. He’s bringing a woman home.”

“You lied to our son so he’d bring a woman home?”

“Yes. He left me no choice.”

“I don’t even know how to respond to that.” He looked down at his plate and poked the omelet with his fork. “Damn it, now you’ve ruined my appetite.”

“So will you?”

“Will I what?”

“Talk to Devon?”

Bo gnawed on a piece of bacon as if it were a piece of wood. “Why should I? You’re the one who lied.”

“True, but you’re the one who goes by his shop every Wednesday on your way to the Burger Barn.”

“I…” Bo averted his eyes. “How did you know about that?”

“This is a small town, Bo. Good Lord, did you really think I didn’t know?”

“I was hoping.” He sighed and glared at his wife with pity. “Why would you do this, Judy?”

“The boy was a walking hormone in high school. He used to bring girls home from college.”

“Mostly to make Julianne jealous,” Bo said.

“I know that, but he hasn’t mentioned having a woman in his life or brought one home the entire time he’s been in South Carolina.” She wrapped her hands around the mug. “I’m worried about him, Bo. He needs someone in his life.”

“So who’s he bringing and what the heck are we going to do with her?”

“I don’t know who he’s bringing, but I have a few ideas about what to do.”

“Uh oh.”

“That’s part of the reason I was praying. We’re going to expand our definition of acceptable behavior in the house for the weekend and I’m going to need you and Devon to move a few things around.”

“You need an awful lot from Devon. Seems like you should be the one to explain this plan to him.”

“It’ll sound crazy coming from me.”

“It won’t sound crazy coming from me?”

“It’ll sound like an order, which it is. Come on, Bo. Eat your breakfast. We’ve got work to do.”

***

Margot wolfed down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at her desk and hoped she’d get at least another fifteen minutes of study time in before Phil returned and she had to quit. She tried to push the afternoon ahead to the back of her mind and zone in on possible arterial blood gas results for a patient with a nasogastric tube attached to low suction. As she figured the levels in her head, the door opened and Danny strode inside the office with Phil in his wake.

“I thought you liked her?” Danny asked Phil over his shoulder as he picked up the message slips she’d left for him on the counter.

Danny had deposited a trail of mud on the new rug and Margot watched Phil’s eyes bug out as he knelt down to pick through the thin pile for chunks of dried dirt. “This rug was almost a thousand dollars,” Phil said through gritted teeth. “Can’t you use the boot scrape by the front door?”

After a cursory glance, Danny shrugged and continued flipping through his messages. “I told you not to spend that much on a rug.”

“And I told you that first impressions count, which is why we had to replace the rug we had before.” He stood up and looked down at Danny with disgust on his face.

Somehow Phil’s scowl and the added four inches didn’t faze the builder of their operation. “Sue me,” Danny said and continued along the hallway past Margot’s desk and into his office. Phil tossed the dried mud into Margot’s trash and set a small to-go container on the counter. “I got you carrot cake from Avenue 12. I know it’s your favorite. Would you mind running the vacuum over that, please, before the stain sets?”

Margot shoved her study guide into her oversized bag and wiped the crumbs off her lap. “No problem, Phil, and thanks for the cake.”

She pulled the cordless vacuum from her desk drawer and, in three swipes, had what was left of the mess cleaned up. After replacing the vacuum in her drawer, she picked up the thread of the conversation her bosses had started before coming into the office. Danny was laughing.

“A billboard?” Danny managed through strangled breaths. “Where?”

“Along the main road between Echo and Andover. I’m sure everyone has seen it by the way people stared at her at lunch.”

Margot fumed at her desk. Kelly Bristow? Was Phil really clueless enough to date trashy Kelly Bristow, the ‘
Lowcountry’s
Low Price Leader in Real Estate?’

“I knew she wasn’t your type,” Danny said. “If this real estate gig hadn’t worked out, she’d have been posing for one of those billboards along the interstate promising triple X lunch buffets.”

Ha. At least Danny had some sense. Of course, he was from Echo and had probably heard about her less than upstanding reputation in high school.

“Now you tell me.”

“Does she know you broke up with her because of the billboard?”

Phil sighed so loud Margot could hear it from her desk fifteen feet away. “Probably, but I don’t care. What the heck was she thinking? This is as scandalous as that judge a few years back who admitted he’d fathered a love child with his mistress.”

Margot sucked in a breath. Why, of all things for him to compare finding Kelly on a billboard to, why that?

Phil cursed and Margot heard him padding back and forth through Danny’s cramped office. “Now I’m really in a bind.”

“You should ease up on the women for awhile. Take some time to yourself and play golf or get one of your girly manicures.”

“One time I got a manicure,” Phil said. “And it was a gift. I told my mom I was bringing someone home for my dad’s retirement party. Now I’ve got no one to ask.”

“Sounds like a blessing to me. Those family deals are tough enough without dragging a woman along.”

“Yeah,” Phil said, sarcasm dripping from his lips. “Must be hard to drag your ball and chain to family functions.”

“I’m not talking about Kate.”

“Hey, wait a minute.” The excitement in Phil’s voice had Margot inching down the hallway. “I could take Kate to meet my parents.”

“My Kate? Are you smoking crack?”

“I’d just borrow her for a few days,” Phil explained. “Nobody would be the wiser.”

“If you seriously think I’d let you borrow my wife for a weekend, you’ve lost your mind. Besides, I’d like to see you explain away the baby.”

“Nobody would have to know about the baby.”

Danny chortled. “You haven’t seen her lately. She’s grown.”

“She’s showing already?”

“She’s seven months pregnant. According to her, it’s way past time.” Danny pulled a file out from under a pile on his desk. “Why did you tell your mom you’d bring someone home?”

“I…” He wasn’t ready to tell Danny the reason and listen to the original macho man make fun of his girly ways. “She’s putting the pressure on big time for a wife and kids. I thought I’d dangle a girlfriend in front of her to shut her up for awhile.”

“Dangling a living, breathing woman in her face won’t do anything but fan the flames.” He opened the file and began flipping through pages. “I don’t know why we’re talking about this. Find someone else. I’ve got work to do.”

“Find someone else,” Phil grumbled as he exited Danny’s office and headed for his own. “Easy for you to say.”

Margot scooted back to her desk and patted her fingers along the sleek surface with disgust. Phil had been planning to invite Kelly Bristow to meet his parents! My God, the man was losing touch with reality. She shouldn’t care; she shouldn’t feel like he’d shoved a knife right through her tender, open, bleeding heart. If
Phil Williams could be duped by Echo High’s most notorious slut
, then she’d wasted years of her life pining after a man with not one brain cell in his head.

She stood up and straightened the neckline of her polyester blouse. Now seemed as good a time as any to announce her resignation. Certainly, Phil would be too upset over losing Kelly to care one way or another that his receptionist, the one woman in his life he could count on, was leaving for bigger and better. She felt a small pang of guilt for kicking him while he was down, but she shoved it aside as she repeated her new mantra. “My new life is just beginning,” she said under her breath as she made her way down the hallway toward his office.

She smothered a scream as he bolted out of his door and nearly plowed her over in his hurry to leave. “Phil?” she asked his retreating back.

“I’m taking off early today,” he said, lobbing the rubber ball that kept his fidgety hands busy back into his office. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“But…” she started, but didn’t finish her protest. “I needed to quit today,” she said to the door after he’d closed it in her face. Darn it, this was supposed to be the phase of her life where doors were opening, not slamming shut. She turned around and thought about resigning to Danny, but changed her mind when she heard him threatening a supplier that he’d look elsewhere for materials if they couldn’t deliver them on time. She’d never intended to speak to Danny about her plans to leave. He was hardly ever around and Phil was the one who ran the office.

Darn it, her carefully laid plans to work her two week notice, take one week for intensive study for the NCLEX, and begin her job after passing the test were going up in smoke. She had half a mind to follow him to the driving range to quit, but she figured she’d never get past the security guard at the country club. Looked like she’d have to wait another day to start her new life.

Chapter 3

Phil couldn’t settle his mind on work any more than he could settle his hands as they tapped on the steering wheel along with the beat of George Strait. He’d switched from jazz to country when he needed the familiar sounds of home to help him think. Who could he take to Illinois to meet his parents? He never should have told his mom he’d bring a woman home. His kneejerk reaction to having to defend his sexuality had him backing himself into a corner.

He knew he defined the term metro-sexual—and he hated that term. Yes, he loved clothes, he liked his hair styled, was known for his impeccable grooming, and had a borderline obsession with wine. So what? He was also a rabid basketball fan, a devoted runner, and he started his day with ESPN like every other red-blooded American male. He couldn’t stand the thought of his parents or anyone in his hometown thinking he was gay. So instead of taking it like a man and letting it roll off his shoulders, he’d hung himself out to dry by announcing he’d bring a date. Now if he showed up without one, which was highly likely, he’d look like a closet gay who couldn’t face the truth.