by Emma Quinn
“Get back to work,” I said before returning to my office.
6
Rachel
B
y the time I woke up that morning, David was already gone for work. Sitting on the small foldable dining table with a plastic top, big enough to seat only two people –maybe even three if we tried hard enough– was a mushroom and swiss cheese omelet with a health amount of ketchup sitting on a plate, a steaming cup of hot coffee sitting right next to it. David had left me a little note, scrawled onto a yellow Post-It in his chicken scratch: Have a good day! Text me what you want for dinner. Not pizza again! Three hard underline strokes were under that last part.
After scarfing down breakfast, I took my normal route to work. It had taken me four months, but I finally figured out my commute down to the second. I was really starting to get the hang of the job. Sauntering through the main lobby, head held as high as it could go, I thought today was going to be the start of something great. I’d just gotten my shoes polished, and I finally managed to save up a bit of money to buy a brand-new work for dress. It wasn’t anything special, just a black dress that was both flattering for my body shape, but also super comfortable to wear. I even managed to curl my hair.
Denise at the front desk happened to catch my eye. She looked absolutely miserable.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, because I wasn’t about to ignore someone who was so clearly distressed. That just wasn’t how I was brought up.
“She’s here,” Denise grumbled as she rubbed her temples with the tips of her pointy fingers. “Brace yourself. I think you’re going to be in for a rough one.”
I tilted my head at her and frowned. “Who are you talking about?”
“Mrs. Alance,” Denise practically hissed. “The boss’s mother. She walked in just a few minutes ago. I’d go rescue Mr. Alance quickly, if I were you.”
With Denise’s warning echoing around in my mind, I did just that, nervously picking at my fingernails as I rode the elevator up. I’d met Teresa Alance once before, all those months ago. To put things mildly, our encounter was less than pleasant. She had a haughty air about her, like she owned the very floor I walked on. I made it just in time to see the woman barging into Peter’s office, loud golden bangles around her skinny wrist jingling as she entered. They looked like they were in the middle of a heated argument. On the other side of the glass doors, Peter’s eyes caught mine. There was something desperate in his expression, a quiet plea as if asking for help.
I knocked on his door and was immediately waved in.
“Rachel, just who I wanted to see,” he sighed. “Come here, would you?”
“How can I help you, Mr. Alance?” I asked, approaching slowly.
Peter wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. Every muscle in my body tensed, like they’d turned into sharp, unbreakable fibers of ice.
“As I told you, Mother,” Peter continued, “I don’t need you trying to set me up with Anastasia. I’m already seeing somebody.”
The cold glare that Teresa gave me was as sharp as a knife, but I wasn’t scared. Far from it. If anything, I was incredibly confused.
“Her?” Teresa scoffed.
I felt Peter take in a deep breath. “Yes,” he forced out. He didn’t sound too convincing. “I’m fairly certain you’ve met before. This is Rachel Ellis.”
“Rachel Ellis,” the woman echoed, testing my name on her tongue. She examined me from head to toe, scrutinizing every little detail. Teresa looked a little offended at my taste, but I wasn’t sure if a woman like her could ever truly be impressed. “How long has this been going on?” she asked frigidly.
“A month or so,” Peter answered. “It’s, uh, very new. We’ve been keeping it a secret to avoid office rumors. Isn’t that right, baby?” He made a very deliberate show of grabbing my ass.
I felt my face flush bright red as he radiated from the top of my skull. “Yes,” I blurted out. “Yes, that’s right.” I laughed uncomfortably and prayed it wasn’t obvious how badly I wanted to go home, curl up in bed, and forget the rest of the world.
The death glare Teresa gave me was certified dangerous. She was even harder to read than her son, and ten times colder and unforgiving. I was most definitely going to have a talk with Peter the second his mother left, but until then, I had a part to play. I stepped toward him and placed my hand on his stomach, smiling as sweetly as I could manage given the circumstances. Maybe I’d use this as an excuse for a well-deserved raised.
“Well,” Teresa bit out, “I guess this invitation extends to you, then.”
“What invitation?” I asked.
Peter turned to me and said, “We’re having a family get together. It’s an annual thing. All the Alance’s in one room.”
Teresa huffed, “And I came to invite you in person, since you always manage to wiggle your way out by saying you didn’t receive the invitation.”
“That’s not true.”
“Please,” she scoffed, “that’s exactly what you did last Christmas, as well. So, I expect you and your…” Teresa’s eyes raked over me. “You and your girlfriend will be there. That’s all I came here to say. I hope I don’t have to disappoint your grandfather by informing him you’re not coming. Again.”
With that, Mrs. Alance turned on her nine-inch heels and walked out, nose pointed up to the air as her shoes clicked against the cold tile floor. Peter and I watched her step onto the elevator and disappear behind the sliding silver doors. The second the coast was clear, I took a giant step away, the ghost of his touch lingering on my waistline.
“What the hell?” I demanded, thankful that Peter’s office was pretty much soundproof.
Peter held his hands up in mock surrender, looking just as flabbergasted as I felt. “Relax, everything’s going to be fine.”
“You and I must have very different definitions of what’s ‘fine.’”
“I’m sorry I sprang things on you like that. It wasn’t fair.”
“Why didn’t you just tell her the truth? You could have saved us both the trouble.”
“The truth?” Peter laughed bitterly. “I don’t think she’d take too kindly to the fact that I’ve been seeing every woman under the sun. That’d only give her more reason to set me up with someone she deems appropriate.”
I sighed. “Whatever. There’s no way I’m going to that get-together.”
“Oh, I think you are.”
“Excuse me?” I gawked. “Look, I think I’ve been going above and beyond for you as a personal assistant. But pretending to be your girlfriend is definitely not in the job description. Especially if you’re going to be grabbing my ass without permission.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I was out of line. I… I panicked.”
“No kidding,” I replied dryly.
“Please, Rachel, just consider coming with me just once. You don’t even have to say anything to anyone. Just show up, look pretty. It’ll shut Mother up for a little while, at least.”
I rolled my eyes. “No,” I grumbled and began to turn away.
Peter stepped forward and grabbed my hand, easily keeping me in place. “I’ll pay you,” he rushed, almost tripping over his own words.
“You already pay me.”
“Then I’ll pay you more. I’ll double your salary.”
I squinted at him, unconvinced. “Triple,” I countered.
“You’re really pushing it.”
“Oh, come on. It’s not like it’s going to put a dent in your wallet.”
“Rachel–”
“Throw in a wardrobe allowance, too.”
“What? Seriously?
I smirked at him. “I have to look the part, right?”
Peter sighed in relief. “Does this mean you’ll do it?”
“Only if you agree to my terms.”
He leaned against his desk and shook his head slowly. “God. You’re probably the most demanding girlfriend I’ve ever had.”
I snorted. “Do what you want, then
? Either agree to triple my pay and buy me new clothes, or you can go to your family reunion while being hounded by your darling mother.” I stuck my hand out to shake. “Deal?”
It took him a moment, but Peter eventually came around and shook my hand. I couldn’t help but notice how easily mine slipped into his, the warmth of his palm sending a delightful tingle down my forearm.
“‘It’s not always about the money’ my ass,” he chuckled. “You might make a great businesswoman yet.”
I grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
7
Peter
I
didn’t know what it was like to be nervous. I was always confident. Whether I was giving a project pitch, speaking with the Board of Directors, smoothing over negotiations with foreign partners –I was always the epitome of calm. People thought that if they worked hard enough, they could eventually climb their way up to the top. But that wasn’t true. People like me, those who sat at the peak, we didn’t get there by accident. The sad fact of the matter was most people just didn’t have what it took to be the man in charge. You had to be born with a certain level of confidence, that level being one hundred percent at all times. An average man couldn’t survive in my position. He’d last less than a day before he called it quits, citing stress as his reason for stepping down.
But today, I was nervous.
It was a weird sensation. My stomach wouldn’t stop flipping, my palms were all gross and sweaty. There was wet, sticky lump stuck in my throat, and no amount of water that I drank could wash it away. My guts were a mass of knots, the bones in my legs felt like jelly, and I’d been nursing a terrible headache all day in anticipation for this evening.
All of my relatives were going to be here. It was a rare event, rarer still that I was even attending at all. I normally skipped out on things like this. I had better things to do than meet up with old Aunt Helen to hear nothing but stories about her fourteen different cats. I mean, it made sense that all she spoke about where her cats. She ran a successful pet store supply chain on the west coast, after all. I just didn’t find such things very interesting. I would much rather spend my free time at the office than struggle through an entire evening of cousins asking me for money to start up their own businesses.
And to make matters worse, I had a fake girlfriend to worry about, too.
I was standing outside her apartment building in the rain like an idiot. If we were going to do this whole we’re-in-a-totally-not-fake-relationship-to-save-face thing, I was going to do it right. I’d heard good boyfriends liked to pick their girls up before fancy evenings out, and I also thought Mother would be suspicious if Rachel and I arrived separately. I buzzed on her apartment number for the third time and was finally greeted by the voice of an incredibly disgruntled young man.
“What?” he snapped.
“I’m looking for Rachel Ellis,” I said into the intercom.
A beat of silence.
“Fine, come on up.”
An electrical hum sounded before the front doors unlocked. I was a little afraid to touch the door handle, since it was covered in people’s old gum and God knew what else. The hallways of the apartment complex smelled of burnt garlic, stale beer, dust, and I dare say a bit of mold. Rachel’s apartment was luckily on the first floor, so I didn’t have to worry too much about climbing the winding staircase –the elevator was apparently out of order– and breathe in more contaminated air than necessary. I reached Rachel’s apartment and knocked three times.
The door pulled open. On the other side, a young man stood in the way. His hair was a mop of dirty blond curls, flattened on one side like he’d been taking a nap. The collar of his grey t-shirt was stretched from one too many washes, but the oil stains nearer toward the bottom of the fabric remained. To finish his little ensemble off, he was in a pair of baggy shorts and dirty white socks with his flip flops. The only pristine thing about him were his pair of baby blue eyes behind his thick-rimmed glasses.
“So,” he grumbled, “you’re Peter.”
“And you are?” I asked. I wasn’t actually curious. I could already gather from context that this was the infamous not-boyfriend.
“David.”
I pushed past him, stepping into Rachel’s apartment. “Good to meet you,” I said dryly.
It was cleaner than I expected it to be. I’d judged the whole building based on its external appearance. I thought for sure that I’d be mugged if I stepped out onto the street. That was just how dilapidated and downright frightening this part of town was. How Rachel managed to live in a place like this was beyond me. For some reason, it didn’t sit right with me that she had to commute all by herself to get to work and back. I sometimes didn’t leave the office until around midnight, sometimes one in the morning. Did Rachel come home alone every single time? Surely it was too dangerous for her to be out walking in the middle of the night.
“Peter?” I heard her call my name from somewhere down the hall. “Is that you?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“I’ll be out in just a second.”
“Take your time,” I said, mainly because the more time I spent away from my family, the better.
I looked about the space, eyes drawn to a wall full of photographs. There were a couple of Rachel and David as children. One particular photograph almost made me smile. Rachel was standing on a giant boulder, arms stretched out wide as she gave the camera a toothy grin. Her hair was shorter, pulled into a set of pigtails on either side of her head. She must have been ten or eleven, if I had to venture a guess.
“How long have you known Rachel?” I asked David.
He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest to make a show of his muscles. “Since we were kids,” he answered as gruffly as he could.
I’d been in enough board room meetings to recognize when I was being sized up. I wasn’t worried, though. David was a good couple of inches shorter than me, and he was a scrawny little thing. What little muscle he did have was only because the poor boy just didn’t eat enough to fill in the rest of his frame with fat.
“You better behave yourself,” David warned me.
I took a step forward and squared up, looking at him down my nose. I offered him a small smile. “You must really care about her,” I hummed.
The tips of David’s ears burned red. “She’s my best friend. If you try anything, if you hurt her, I’ll–”
I raised my eyebrows and smiled wider. I liked this kid. He was a lot more fun than I thought he’d be. “You’ll what?” I asked softly.
“I’ll leak your story to the media. I’m sure they’d love to know how the great Peter Alance has to drag around a fake girlfriend for appearances sake.”
I clicked my tongue. “I don’t think you will.”
David set his jaw. “What?”
“If you did that, you’d risk dragging Rachel down right along with me.”
The young man’s face drained of color. This was far too easy. I patted him on the shoulder, but he flinched away from my touch like he’d been burned.
“Don’t worry. I won’t ‘try anything,’ as you said. She’s not even my type.”
David clenched his fists. “Take that back,” he hissed.
“Would you rather she was my type?”
He grabbed me by the lapels, fisting the fabric in his hands. He snarled at me, “Listen, you son of a bitch. I will end you if you so much as lay a finger on her. Do you hear me?”
I chuckled, prying his hands off of me. “Loud and clear, buddy.”
“I’m not your buddy.”
“Whatever you say.”
The sound of a door creaking open captured our attention. David let go of me and took a huge step back, straightening out his hair. The scowl he wore melted away into a genuine smile, accompanied by rosy cheeks as he admired Rachel’s appearance. She was dressed in a floor-length evening dress of emerald green sequins. An elegant string of pearls adorned her fair neck, and a beautiful rose gold watch en
crusted with diamonds decorated her thin wrist. Dangling earrings framed her thin face, drawing attention to her eyes. She’d curled her lashes and applied a bit of mascara, along with a delicate winged eyeliner.
For some reason, my heart was pounding in my chest, and that sticky lump in my throat was now a hard rock. There was no mistaking that Rachel looked gorgeous. She stepped forward, lips as red as the Louboutin soles of her new heels.
“Shall we?” she asked, smooth and elegant and graceful.
“I, uh…”
I cleared my throat, taken aback by my own hesitance. Why did my collar suddenly feel so tight? Did David somehow manage to strangle me with my own tie while I wasn’t looking?
“Yes. The car’s waiting downstairs.”
I turned and left immediately, unsure what to make of the swarming sensation in my stomach. Out in the hallway, I heard David whisper to Rachel, “Please be home before midnight.”
“I’ll do my best. Stop worrying, okay?”
“How can I not worry, Ray? The guy’s clearly a sleaze.”
“I’m a big girl. I can handle myself. There’s leftovers in the freezer.”
Before I knew it, I was out of ear shot, stepping outside into the cold evening. I took a deep breath in the hopes of clearing my nostrils of the building’s scent, but got a whiff of day-old curb garbage and alleyway piss for my troubles. How could anybody live in a place like this? I opened the car door for Rachel and watched her slip in. I followed shortly after, sighing in relief to be away from the out and open. The driver pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic, taking us to our destination.
“Your friend David is quite the character,” I chuckled after a moment.
Rachel fiddled with her watch, almost as if she was checking that it was still there. “Did he give you the ‘if you hurt her I’ll kill you’ speech?”