Page 3 of Mine for the Holidays
“I wouldn’t have known if you didn’t tell me,” I say, giving her a wink as I lift the cover of the folder open and peer inside. When she pulls her hand back to her side of the table, she takes the sugar dispenser with her, granulated crystals spilling everywhere.
“Shoot!” She moves frantically to try and scoop up her mess, and I’m quick to help and attempt to put her at ease.
“Hey,” I say, covering her hand with mine. “How about we try and relax a little? From what Liz told me, it seems like you’ve got a lot of pressure on you right now, and all you’re doing here is interviewing for some help.”
“I suppose you could look at it like that,” she says, pulling her hand away as the blush creeps from her cheeks down her chest. She’s adorable.
“OK. So let’s treat this like any other interview. Pretend you’re hiring me to work in your company. You work in skincare, right?”
“Right.” She smiles, and already I can see her start to relax as a waitress brings us our coffees then helps clean up the sugar from the table. I have a handful of facts available to me about Delaney since Liz is my best friend’s sister. In the few weeks I’ve been back in town, she’s told me enough about her job for me to know that Delaney is the brains behind a successful skincare range that’s only now finding its feet. On top of that, I know that Delaney’s family has been pressuring her to settle down and marry which is why she’s looking to hire a stand-in boyfriend to get them off her back.
“What would you ask someone you were interviewing for a position in sales or customer service?” I put it that way since really, that’s exactly what she’s hiring me for. It’s just that the customers are her family, and the product I’m selling is our fake relationship—not that that part is going to be particularly hard. If I’d met her under any other circumstance, I’d be dating her for free. But as it is, this is a business arrangement organized to make her life easier. From what Liz said, she doesn’t want a man in her life. Her business is her baby and that’s the way it’s going to stay, and I can respect that. It doesn’t stop me from wanting her, but I respect it. And quite frankly I need the cash. So, I tuck my basal reaction to her deep down inside and get into character mode. I didn’t spend all those years honing my acting skills for nothing.
“I’d ask what made you feel you’re right for the position and my company.” She blushes slightly as she lifts her mug to her lips and takes a sip.God, she’s sexy.
“OK. Would you like me to answer as me, Nate Charmers? Or as…” I pause as I open the folder and do a quick scan of the character sheet. “Liam Tribbiani. A dentist from Minnesota?”
“Um, both?” She grimaces a little as she laughs. I realize it’s my new favorite sound.
“OK. Well, as myself, I am a good fit because I’ve studied acting for most of my life, had a handful of supporting roles in both TV and film. And while I never became a shining star, I also didn’t receive many complaints. I’m good at what I do, and you’ll see that in how easily I slip into the character of Liam Tribbiani.”
“What made you quit?”
“Acting?” She nods. “A long line of things, really. It’s a hard industry—all entertainment is—and I realized that staying in LA, chasing after something that was never going to happen, was slowly chipping away at my self-esteem. Things in my life changed. It was just time.”
“That makes sense. I can’t imagine it’s easy dealing with the constant auditions and rejections. I’m impressed you stayed there so long.”
“I’m nothing if not tenacious.”
“That’s a point in your favor.”
“Good to know,” I say, grinning at her as we lock eyes and I take a sip of my coffee.
“OK, so now be Liam. I’d like to…meet him.” She giggles a little as she cradles her mug against the table. “This feels crazy,” she whispers. “I don’t know how I let Liz talk me into it.”
“It’s not crazy. You’d be amazed how many people hire actors to stand in for people in real-life situations.”
“So you’ve done something like this before?”
“Pretended to be someone’s boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“I have. A few times, actually. Not on this scale. But I have played the dutiful boyfriend or husband role more than once.”
“Strangely, that makes me feel a hell of a lot better. OK, so be Liam.”
“Show me your teeth.” She gives me an over-exaggerated smile. “Hmm. I can see you’ve got a slight rotation of the lower right canine that I’m happy to fix for you the next time you visit my office.”
She laughs and sits back in her seat as she meets my eyes. “Do you really think you can pull this off? I mean, you have to pretend to be into me for a solid month. We get a test run at Thanksgiving, but that’s only one day and night. We can meet in between to make sure we have our story ironed out, but once we get on that cruise ship, we’ll be stuck with each other for a whole ten days. There won’t be any hiding. Although, if you get tired of me, I suppose we can feign a fight or something…”
“I won’t have an issue pretending to want you, Delaney. I assure you.”
“OK.” She worries her lips together as she sucks a deep breath in through her nose, seeming to completely miss the compliment I just paid her.Did I mention she’s adorable?“Then I guess…I guess you’re hired.”
“I won’t let you down,” I say, holding my hand out to shake hers across the table. The moment she places her delicate paw inside the meaty hand that is mine, a brand-new blush creeps over her cheeks. “That’s something you’ll have to work on.”
“What is?” she asks.
