Page 8 of Love's a Script
His words were sincere, but he was also a math professor at the community college and didn’t quite get Mary’s career, and Hattie, who was not only an engineer but married to the guy she’d loved since high school, even less so. For that reason, Mary avoided going into much detail about her job, but after a difficult week, things were looking up and she’d had the urge to relay that optimism.
She’d presented Ruben’s proposal to Cassidy over the phone, and her boss had been all in. “Excellent work securing this, Mary.” Even their discussion about the botched interview had gone well. “I’ve never heard you so riled up,” Cassidy had said with a laugh. “Didn’t know you had it in you. But you did good defending the agency.”
The fake reviews were being taken down, and just like that, the fretting Mary had done was obsolete, her guilt unnecessary. It left her free to imagine grander things like increasing her chances at cruise lead by successfully matching Ruben. All she had to do was put aside her misgivings about his motivations and treat him like any other client.
When the routine family chat ended, Mary’s father bid her and Hattie goodbye with a kiss to the back of their gloved hands and began a careful shuffle to his vehicle. Mary made a move to also leave, but Hattie stopped her. “We need to talk,” her sister said, pulling her back into the church foyer. “Dad’s seeing someone.”
“As in he’s dating? How do you know?”
“He came over to see the boys, and he was checking his phone constantly. He doesn’t remember to charge the thing half the time, so it was weird. I asked him what was up, and he told me.”
Mary couldn’t say she was surprised. It had been a while. Their father had mostly stayed single after the divorce, but when they were still teens, he’d dated a busty woman who always left her lipstick on their glassware. Mary hadn’t known the woman was her father’s girlfriend until Hattie started talking about weddings, but any subsequent worrying Mary had done over the reputations of stepmothers hadn’t mattered because Lorraine had stopped coming around soon after.
“Her name’s Aurora, and she lives five hours away,” Hattie said.
“Pretty name.”
“Sure, but who do you know over the age of thirty-five named Aurora?”
“Wait a minute,” Mary said. “Are you thinking he’s being catfished?”
“Well, yeah. He’s in the targeted age range for it. Also, the details he was giving me about her were vague as hell.”
“He’s smart, Hattie. Maybe he wants to keep things private for now.”
Her sister rolled her eyes. “Don’t do that.”
“What?” Mary asked.
“That let’s-all-get-along positivity crap you do. I’m not the bad guy for being concerned.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“Say you’ll do some investigating. Doesn’t your job have software for background checks?”
“No, we require independently done background checks for clients in certain tiers, but it’s not?—”
“Fine, okay. Whatever. Then do some internet and social media sleuthing. Because I swear if he gets fleeced of all his earthly possessions, he’s not moving in with me.”
Chapter Six
Ruben and some of his coworkers had paused in their work to gather in front of the mounted television and watch Mayor Laurie—who’d shown up to the annual ice sculpture exhibit with his fiancée—talk to the press on location. Though Ruben believed the mayor’s sudden engagement suspiciously timed, studying him now with his wife-to-be, he couldn’t deny they appeared as real as any lovebirds. His arm was about her waist and she looked at him adoringly as he spoke into various microphones that crowded them.
“Mr. Mayor, is there a date set for the nuptials?” an unseen reporter asked.
“We’re hoping for an autumn wedding. Something very intimate and private.”
“Oh, the restraint!” said Chesa. “A shame it wasn’t applied to the budget for his swearing-in ceremony.”
“Mayor Laurie,” another reporter piped up, “do you have any updates on how you’ll proceed with the auditor’s findings?”
The mayor stiffened, his friendly expression fading. “We are obviously taking it very, very, extremely seriously, and of course, obviously, we understand that the constituents would like this addressed sooner rather than later, obviously. But we are using the allotted time we’ve been given to prepare a robust response…”
“He’d sound more convincing recommending gas station sushi,” Ruben said.
After, the team dispersed to different areas while Chesa approached Ruben. The orange hockey jersey she wore was almost too fluorescent to look at directly. “Excited?” she asked.
“Yeah, excited to get it over with,” he replied. Mary was due at the station at any moment for his first meeting as an official client of Hearts Collide.
