Page 60 of Tuxedos and Tinsel
“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,hismom 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.”
