Undercover Professor

by December Gephart

  Granted, conversation and relationship wasn’t her main goal with him, most of the time. But there was more beneath the surface, she could feel it.

  His gaze skittered away and right on time, his cell rang again.

  “Dammit,” she muttered. What was he hiding? Was he a drug dealer or something nefarious like that?

  “Dammit,” he echoed. “It’s your cousin again.”

  “Why don’t you just end this once and for all with her?” Lucy wanted to stomp her foot in frustration. She stuffed her hands into her pockets instead. He was hiding something, and he couldn’t man up to break it off with Becca? Now she was starting to doubt her own character judgment. Not that it should be any big surprise. She did go off the list to be with him.

  “Because she won’t take no for an answer. I’ve tried! She’s just so craz—um, determined.” He ran a hand through his hair, looking like he was at the end of his rope.

  “Hey! She’s still my cousin!”

  “I’m sorry, I am trying to be as polite as I can, because she is your cousin. If she weren’t your cousin, I’d have laid it out. But she won’t listen to me! She hears what she wants to hear and deliberately misinterprets what I say. And she’s eerily good at it too.”

  “What, you think you can do better? You’d be lucky to have her,” Lucy spit out, not sure what the hell she was even saying anymore. But bad-mouthing Becca was a sure fire way to piss her off.

  “What? Do I think I can do... But I thought that you and I were... Wait...”

  “Ugh, you have no idea,” she stuttered, meaning she had no idea, but in the midst of a fight, she wasn’t about to back down. “I have to go back to work. Call me when you grow a pair.” She spun to walk off, but he caught her arm before she could rush off again.

  “Grow a pair?” His voice rose to match hers. “Before you hurt yourself up on that high horse of yours, what about you and the Boy Scout, Dell? Huh? Is that over too? You’ve ended it in an honest and up-front manner? Because we did have some fabulous sex the other day, and if you didn’t break it off with Dell, I think you’re in the same boat as me, doll.”

  “Doll? I. Am. Not. Your. Doll,” she gritted out through clenched teeth. But he had her number, he totally called her on it. “I am not your anything. Certainly not your Lovely Lucy, Mr. No Job, Mr. No Education, Mr. I Live With My Mom, And Try To Pick Up Chicks Playing Video Games.”

  He stepped back as though she slapped him and glanced down the street, to gather his thoughts. He looked surprised. “You’re right.” He took a breath. “I’m sorry.”

  She stared at him, just as surprised at his reaction. Twice now, he’d apologized for things that she was blowing out of proportion. “Well, right.” Now she wasn’t sure what they were really arguing about. She had just won, but she wasn’t sure what. Or why.

  “Listen, you need to get to work. I have to take care of some business.”

  She opened her mouth again to ask what business.

  He held up his hand to stop her questions. “I’m not proud of this, of where I am right now with my career.” The tension around his eyes made him look older suddenly. “I just need time to get some projects lined up, but I don’t want to jinx anything by telling you. Just give me a little time?”

  “Time. Before you can tell me what you do? Sure. Whatever. No biggie.” She rolled her eyes and flicked her hands dismissively.

  “Lucy, I’m serious. I need a little time. Two weeks. Three?”

  “You have to admit how bizarre this is, right?” She glanced at her watch. The afternoon rush at the store would be hitting soon, and she had to be on hand to step in if needed.

  “You need to get back to work. Let’s talk tonight. Can we go out for dinner?”

  “Sure. I’ll be home later, I’ll call you.” The fight deflated her like a balloon. He made her irrational and she hated that. She wasn’t the type. At least, not in public.

  Besides, why did she care? He didn’t make any false promises about that. And she couldn’t ask him to.

  He nodded, gave her an awkward hug. Should they kiss? They had only known each other for a few days. This wasn’t serious, she reminded herself. Despite telling herself that, she wondered about her gut reaction to his lack of honesty. She was just having fun and enjoying herself. Lucy turned and trudged down the street.

  His gentle grip on her arm turned her before she could go far.

  “Thank you. For trusting me, just a little. Even though I don’t really deserve it.”

  She nodded, searching his eyes. A good, decent man looked back at her. Or maybe, as he had accused her before, she was just seeing what she wanted to see.

  Chapter Ten

  The office phone rang as Lucy ran the daily reports and prepped files for month end.

  “Luuuuuuucccyyyyy,” Becca wailed.

  “What is it? Are you okay? Is Aunt Ruby okay? What’s wrong?”

  “Lucy, he, he...” she snuffled, gasping for breath. “He said he couldn’t see me anymore, that he liked someone else, and it wasn’t fair to me to not be honest.”

  “Wait, what? Who?” She already knew, but she wanted to hear it from Becca’s lips.

  “Andy,” she sobbed into a cough and a snort.

  “Breathe, honey, relax. Tell me what happened. Did he call, or meet you face-to-face?”

  After a few stabilizing breathes, Becca started again. “We met at the coffee shop. He looked so yummy, I just wanted to eat him up. Why does this always happen to me?”

  Lucy rolled her eyes at the dramatics. “Okay, so you met him, and then what?”

  “He said he was falling for someone else, and it just happened out of the blue, and he didn’t expect it, but he wanted me to be happy, and he didn’t think it could be with him,” she wailed again. Lucy could picture Becca flailing dramatically into her couch, sending throw pillows airborne.

  “Oh, honey. I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.” Lucy went through this same story time and time again. Becca was one of those girls who loved the idea of being in love, more then she actually loved the guy. It was nearly a quarterly occurrence, depending on the guy, and the longevity of the relationship.

  “I tried everything I could to keep him with me.”

  “Wait, did you just get home now?” It had been three hours since she and Andy had parted ways after lunch.

  “Yes. We talked for hours, but he wouldn’t budge.”

  Lucy tried to stifle her grin. Becca had really put Andy through the wringer. Poor guy. Her irritation with him slightly lessened. He had run the gauntlet of female angst and emotion for three hours.

  “I hope whoever she is, she stomps on his heart like he stomped on mine.” Becca sniffled and Lucy sobered. Oh. Yeah. This mystery woman was her.

  Sneaking around behind Becca’s back was wrong and underhanded, and made her feel really shitty. Especially because she knew Becca would be heartbroken. And explaining it would be hard as hell. But he wouldn’t be in town for long. Maybe Becca didn’t have to know. Besides, she’d be smitten with some new guy by the end of the week.

  “He can’t do better than you, hon.”

  Becca sniffed. “Thank you. I love you, Lucy. You always know just what to say.”

  “Do you have to work tonight, Becca?”

  “Yeah. But I think it’s for the best. I just need to keep myself busy, so I don’t think about him. God, he’s so yummy, why doesn’t he love me? Just a little bit? What’s wrong with me?”

  “Becca. Nothing is wrong with you, and don’t you ever let anyone tell you there is. It sounds like he was trying to be honest. You’re a beautiful, amazing, smart, special woman who has a heart as big as anything.”

  “Yeah.” She blew her nose. “There’s this special-needs baby there right now, I just bet being with her will help me feel better. She’s in the neonatal ICU until she stabilizes, and then she’s going into the system.”

  Lucy cringed. Becca’s job was truly thankless much of the time.

&nbs
p; “At least someone will benefit from my love.”

  “We all benefit from your love, but that baby needs you tonight. Go, be the super nurse you are. It’ll keep your mind off of it.”

  “Okay. Ugh, sitting here is all that gaming system stuff I bought. I can’t even look at it. Say, do you think Dillweed’s kids at the Y might like it?”

  Dell. If Andy stepped up to the plate and ended it with Becca, she couldn’t dodge Dell any longer. She had three unreturned calls from him. A peace offering of nearly a thousand dollars of unused equipment for his kids would ease the sting. “I bet they would love it. I have to call him anyway, I’ll mention it. Are you sure you don’t want to just return it?”

  “No, I know those kids can use it more then I need the money. I’ll talk to you later, thanks for listening, Lucy. I love you.”

  “Love you too, Becca.”

  Lucy hung up and started her next report run. Six o’clock. Dell should be done with basketball with his first group of kids and taking a break until his second group came in. Then at eight were his high school boys. He’d be there with them until the gym closed at ten. Without giving herself a chance to think too hard, she dialed his number.

  “Hey, Lucy! I was just thinking about you, what’s up?”

  “Dell, do you have a minute?”

  The background noise of kids muted with the snap of his office door. “You bet, what’s up?”

  “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. I don’t think this is working out between us. I wanted to be honest and let you know.”

  Silence.

  “Dell? Are you there?”

  “Was it because of the street fair? The kids kept telling me I should be with you, but they really needed a coach or I know they would have lost focus.”

  “No, no, not at all.” She paused, realizing she was lying. “Well, I mean, kind of, I guess. I like kids, don’t get me wrong. And I think your dedication to them is amazing. It’s really admirable. But unfortunately I don’t want to feel jealous of a bunch of eighth graders. It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to them.”

  “And it’s not fair to you either, Lucy. You’re right. My job is my life, and I wasn’t giving you one hundred and ten percent.”

  “Dell, it’s not a matter of giving it more effort,” she said softly.

  “I can do better. Just give me another chance?”

  Yikes. Lucy bit her lip. Oh this was not what she wanted to hear.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t think you should have to change for anyone, Dell. You’re a fantastic guy. I just don’t have the same goals as you do.”

  She tapped her pen nervously.

  “I hope you understand. And I know there’s a perfect girl out there for you, who will share your passions. No hard feelings?”

  He didn’t respond right away, and she suppressed the urge to jabber on, filling the silence.

  “Yeah, sure. No hard feelings.”

  “Oh, one more thing. Becca doesn’t need her gaming station equipment, she was wondering if your kids would like it for their TV room? It’s never been used, still in the box.”

  “Yeah. They’d love it.” His tone was flat.

  “Great, I’ll let her know.” She picked up the mouse and started filtering through her emails, prepping to close for the night.

  “Okay, well, I guess goodbye then?”

  “Yeah, talk to you later, Dell. Have a great practice,” she said softly, ending the call before focusing fully on the emails. A few minutes later she realized just how easy it had been to end things with him. Obviously good on paper meant nothing if there was no zing.

  * * *

  Drew slumped back on his mom’s couch, exhausted. After three hours with Becca, he just wanted to sit in silence for a few moments. The girl barely stopped talking the entire time. Three full hours.

  And as they talked he could see how huge her heart was. It pained him to see tears shimmer in her eyes. She gripped his hand so earnestly, so full of hope for their future. Unfortunately, he knew their future was not based in reality.

  It was so much easier to be passive-aggressive.

  He thought back on the strange argument he had with Lucy and tried to figure out why her opinion mattered so much. But he had a PhD, taught at a renowned university and, in fact, was the department head. Her pushing the community college just about made him crack. He wanted to tell her the truth, but there was no way.

  His research was nearly wrapped up. So close. At this point, how could he come clean about this huge lie to her? What, just come out and tell her? Impossible.

  It was sort of sweet how she tried to help him on his career path. If she knew, she’d probably find it humorous too. Someday they’d look back on this first fight and hopefully laugh. Not that there was a damn thing wrong with community college. Not at all. He was proud of her for pushing herself.

  His cell phone rang and his mom roused in her uneasy sleep in the chair before she relaxed again, breathing heavy.

  “Hey, Todd.” He lurched from the couch and headed into the kitchen to not disturb his mom.

  “Hey, Doctor. I got your email pitch. This is perfect. Well, almost perfect.”

  Drew frowned as he pulled a beer from the fridge. “Almost?” There was no almost about what Drew put together.

  “Almost, my man. Because this is such a huge effing tease. ‘What Women Really Want. The gamer guy’s guide to women, love, how to get laid and beat level seventeen of Lords’ Lair?’ Brilliant. Hell, I’m married, and I want to know.”

  Drew grinned. “Good to hear. Hopefully we can come up with a better title. Less assy sounding.”

  “Sure. But I already sent the synopsis out for your interview next week. You know Dunn’s going to shit a brick. You have to go in there guns blazing. Have you been working out? Tanning? You have to bury her.”

  Drew frowned, toying with the beer bottle. “I guess I could get back on track, do you think it’s that important? I mean, she’s my ex, what’s the big deal?”

  “What’s the big deal? You guys were tabloid fodder less than six months ago. Yeah, you need to be at your fighting weight, buddy. I want you to look like the guy who gets all the girls. The guy who women want and men want to be. But not too much. Real hipster professor, slash hunky movie star.

  “Huh?”

  “Nothing. I’ll take care of your wardrobe and props. You just keep working on this piece. I’ll do my job and get the media wheels pumping. I’m going to discuss the Comic-Con presentation with your editor, and get some buzz going on Wired mag. Stay undercover there, don’t you dare spill this early. I need to attack it just so.”

  “Right, well, you do whatever you need to do. I’ll be ready for the interviews and get my articles polished up.” There goes any chance to tell Lucy the truth.

  Truth was, he had a light outline and a bunch of data complied. Tons of great interviews from real down-to-earth girls who were genuine gamers. They didn’t have any clue who he was. And they all signed waivers, letting him use photos and quotes in his presentations and articles. The Shepherd Express paper freelancer lie had worked out perfectly. Not one of them had misconstrued his interest as being hit on, and they were brutally honest. Wait, that wasn’t exactly true. Becca had misunderstood his purpose. And the cute redhead mom from the street fair had left him three voicemails.

  But it wouldn’t be a problem. He had a few weeks to finish the article, prep his presentation and get ready to give the speech. His interview next week with Jessica would be a piece of cake. Their chemistry always sizzled anyway. Jessica was sharp as a tack. Actually, she probably would try to roast him over the title alone. No problem, he’d just explain it was marketing. His honest research would be the real meat of the story.

  His phone buzzed. Lucy. “Hey, I gotta go, Todd. Keep me updated.” He clicked off.

  “Lucy, I’m so glad you called. I just had some great news.” He snapped his mouth shut. Damn, he couldn’t tell her. He really wanted
to tell her.

  “What’s the great news? Don’t tease me like this! Did you get a job? Or a follow-up interview? What?”

  “Uh, let me take you out for dinner and I can tell you in person.” Dodge, duck and dive. Shit, now he had to come up with something to tell her. But he wanted to see her and be with her. “Give me a half hour to get mom situated, and I’ll come up, okay?”

  “Sounds good.”

  * * *

  He knocked briskly on the door of Lucy’s apartment, watching down the hall for Becca. He didn’t want to rub in her face that he was falling for her cousin. Besides, Lucy had asked him to not mention their relationship, and he understood.

  Staring at the grain of the wood door, he realized he did care about Lucy’s relationship with her cousin. Because he cared for Lucy. Shit, he was falling for Lucy.

  A ruckus came from inside the apartment. A man’s voice raised angrily and Lucy’s sharp retort. The door flung open and a good-looking guy stood, a mulish look on his face. Drew took a step back in surprise.

  “Kevin, what the hell are you doing answering my door?” Lucy asked, coming up behind him.

  “Who are you?” Kevin asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The man’s stance was declaring war. Was this yet another boyfriend?

  “I’m Andy. Who are you?” Drew stood awkwardly in the doorway, holding his apology bouquet like a chump. A foreign feeling. Dr. Drew Sullivan usually didn’t bring flowers, because Dr. Drew Sullivan usually didn’t apologize. He usually didn’t stick around long enough to have a fight with a woman, much less ask for her forgiveness. He was turning over new leaves all around town.

  “I’m Lucy’s stepfather.” He didn’t hold out a hand or welcome Drew in.

  Drew glanced uncertainty over Kevin’s shoulder to Lucy.

  “I told you not to call yourself that.” She sounded exasperated. “For God’s sake, let him in, you tool.”